TEMTI.E OF JUGGERNAUT. 



tain Fatten, and lieutenant Woodcock, commanding the military 

 force. Mr. Hunter distinguished himself at the college by his pro. 

 ficiency in the Oriental Languages. He is a gentleman of polished 

 manners and of classical taste. The agreeable society of these 

 gentlemen is very refreshing to my spirits in the midst of the pre- 

 sent scenes. I was surprised to see how little they seemed to be 

 moved by the scenes at Juggernaut. They said they were now so 

 accustomed to them, they thought little of them. They had almost 

 forgot their first impressions. Their houses are on the sea-shore, 

 about a mile or more from the temple. They cannot live nearer, 

 on account of the offensive cfiluvia of the town. For, independ. 

 cntly of the enormity of the superstition, there are other circum- 

 stances which renders Juggernaut noisome in an extreme degree. 

 The senses are assailed by the squalid and ghastly appearance of 

 the famished pilgrims ; many of whom die in the streets of want or 

 of disease ; while the devotees, with clotted hair and painted flesh, 

 are seen practising their various austerities, and modes of self tor. 

 ture. Persons of both sexes, with little regard to concealment, sit 

 down on the sani's close to the town in public view ; and the Sa- 

 cred Bulls walk about among them and eat the ordure*." 



" The vicinity of Juggernaut to the sea probably prevents the 

 contagion which otherwise would be produced by the putrefac- 

 tion of the place. There is scarcely any verdure to refresh the 

 sight near Juggernaut ; the temple and town being nearly encom- 

 passed by hills of sand, which has been cast up in the lapse of ages 

 by the surge of the ocean. All is barren and desolate to the eye ; 

 and in the ear there is the never.intermitting sound of the roar. 

 Lug sea.'* 



" Juggernaut, ISth of June, 1806. 



" I hare returned home from witnessing a scene which I shall 

 lifever forget. At twelve o'clock of this day, being the great day 

 of the feast, the Moloch of Iliudostan was brought out of his tem- 

 ple amidst the acclamations of hundreds of thousands of his wor- 

 shippers. When the idol was placed on his throne, a shout was 

 raised by the multitude, such as I had never heard before. It 



This singular fact was pointed out to me by the gentlemen here. There ft 

 fin vegetation for the sacred Bulls on the sand-plains. They are fed generally 

 xvith vegetables from the bauds of the pilgrims. 



