PENANCES PROCESSION OP IDOL CARS. 23i 



man, beat it till blood flowed, without being able to excite 

 any movement beyond what might have been expected from 

 a log of wood. These yogues, according to the same au- 

 thor, are not humble penitents, but proud ascetics. They 

 are impressed with the belief that the practice of these 

 unnatural severities leads directly to the possession of divine 

 and supernatural powers. They relate stories of impious 

 men, nay of asoors or demons, who by such means have 

 obtained an empire over nature, and even over the gods. 

 There was, it appears, a band of giants, who, by suspending 

 themselves with their heads downward over a slow fire for 

 eight hundred years, and tearing the flesh from the bones, 

 became so mighty, and caused such an alarm throughout 

 the Hindoo heaven, that the battle in which Doorga van- 

 quished them ranks among the most distinguished exploits 

 ■of that terrible divinity. Another doctrine of this strange 

 creed teaches that the immortals, instead of viewing with 

 satisfaction these acts of devotion, are struck with alarm, 

 lest the performers should thereby arrive at a power dan- 

 gerous to the stability of the celestial dominion. They do 

 not therefore scruple to employ means for seducing them 

 into such sensual indulgences as may cause them to relin- 

 quish these lofty pretensions. 



Indian superstition assumes a still darker form in prompt- 

 ing to religious suicide. Various are the modes in which 

 its blinded votaries consign themselves to death. One of 

 the most common is exhibited at the procession of their 

 idol cars, particularly at the festival of Juggernaut, when 

 the precincts of the temple are crowded by vast multitudes 

 of pilgrims from the remotest quarters, many of whom 

 perish through fatigue and want of accommodation. The 

 car is a lofty ornamented structure, in which are seated 

 representations of the god, and of Bala Rama and Soobhadra, 

 said to be his brother and sister. Large cables are attached 

 to the vehicle, which the multitude eagerly grasp, and drag 

 it along in triumph amid the shouts of surrounding thou- 

 sands. This is the moment when, as the wheels pass 

 swiftly on, the self-devoted victim rushes forward, throws 

 himself before them, and is crushed to death. He thus 

 commands the admiration of the bystanders, and exults in 

 the hope that he will thereby expiate all his sins, and se- 

 cure a passage to the celestial abodes. The best repre- 



