﻿IIEllEDITARY LIVING DEITY. 385 



revenue. — The expences attending the charitable 

 worlvs of tliL Deo. such as supporcins: sacred esta- 

 blisliments, feeding and iiourislnn"- Bramins, and 

 holv and poor people, have amounted of late years, 

 it is averred, on an average, to a hikji of rupees : 

 Part of tliis is made up by the casual presents made 

 by pious visitants, according to their f;..ith, hope, 

 or charity, but doth not amount, in general, to more 

 than five thousand rupees ; and the deiicienc}', of 

 more than half a lak^h, is therefore acknowledged to 

 be miraculously acquired. 



I WILL diii'ress a moment liere to observe, that it 

 is not a very uncommon circumstance tor a holy man 

 professing poverty, and without the apparent means 

 of gaining a rupee, and rejecting all offerings, to dis- 

 burse thousands of rupees monthly with a very lavish 

 hand. A convenient personage of this description 

 resides in Moorgoor, a town twenty-five miles nor- 

 therly "from Darzcar — Mr. Uhthopf and I were 

 there in 179'^^, but did not then know of this mira- 

 culous prodigality, as it is reputed to be. 



Presents are made in kind to the Deo of Chi?i- 

 cJioor : cultivators of land bring him grain, manu- 

 factures, cloths, &C.- — the rich bring money and 

 what they please. These are iaid up in store-houses, 

 after being registered by the servants of the temple, 

 to which are attached a dewan, chobdars, account- 

 ants, &c. &c. all Bramins, as is every individual 

 about the Deo; his palkee bearers on a journey 

 only excepted. 



However meritorious and honourable it may be 

 deemed to be employed, even menially, about the 

 sanctified person of the holy man ; carrying the same 

 a journey is rather too laborious and unprofitable a 

 service for Bramins to undertake voluntarily. Where 

 priests are the task-masters, it were unreasonable to 

 expect that they, more than others, would allot the 

 severest to themselves. 



C c The 



