OR CUTTACK. 325 



reason, Or when the festival occurs late, the proportion of deaths caused by 

 exposure to the inclemency of the weather, is very melancholy. The fol- 

 lowing is a statement of pilgrims of all classes who attended for the last 

 five years at the three great festivals, procured from the most authentic 

 sources, viz. 



1817-18, Paying Tax, 3-5,94 1 Exempt 39,720 Total 75,641 



1818-19, do. 36,211 do. 4,370 Total 41,111 



1819-20, do. 92,874 do. 39,000 Total 1,31,874 



1820-21, do. 21,946 do. 11,500 Total 33,446 



1821-22, do. 35,100 do. 17,000 Total 52,160 



The Khetr of Jagannath or Vishnu contains temples innumerable sacred 

 to the worship of all the other principal deities, and some secondary ones 

 rarely met with elsewhere, as the god Cuvera or Plutus, who has a curious 

 antique looking temple amongst the sand hills on the coast. Shiva and 

 his female energy are likewise fabled to reside constantly within its limits, 

 in sixteen different forms, eight male and eight females. The male ones or 



1 2 



Sambhus are figured by images called Yameswara, Visveswara, Gopal 



3 4 5, 6 7 



Mochan, Markandeswara, Nilkantheswara, Trilochan, Bhuteswara, and 



8 



Pataleswara ; the female figures or Chandis have the appellations of Man- 



i 2 3 4 5 6 7 



gala, Bimla, Sarvamangala, Kali, Dhatri, Kamakhya, Ardha Asti, and 



8 



Bhawikii. There is also a small Sikh College amongst the sand hills inha- 

 bited by three or four priests of that sect. The horrid practice of self-im- 

 molation of widows prevails less at Piiri than might perhaps have been 

 expected, with reference to the general character of the place and the nu- 

 merous families which resort there to pay their devotions, the average of 

 Satis not exceeding six per annum for the police division in which it is 

 comprized. The concremation both of the dead and the living bodies 

 takes place on the sea shore, close to the civil station, at a spot impiously 

 called the Swarga Dwara or passage to heaven. There is this peculiarity 

 in the rite as performed here, that instead of ascending a pile, the infatu- 



