166 . ' ■ 'V STATISTICAL SKETCH 



temples are derived from two sources— the offerings of votaries, and the 

 rents of assigned lands ; but the difficulties of access, by checking the resort 

 of rich pilgrims, renders the first branch less productive than might have been 

 expected. The season of pilgrimage commences at the beginning of May, 

 when the temple is opened, and concludes in November, when it is again 

 closed : in ordinary years, the number of pilgrims varies from seven to ten 

 thousand, of which, however, the greater portion are Jogis and Byragis. The 

 offerings in such years, amount to between 4 and 5,000 rupees, but at the Kum, 

 and half Kihrit the numbers and receipts are proportionably greater. In 

 1820, the pilgrims who reached the temple, amounted to 27,000, while 

 many thousands turned back from the fear of the cholera, which then raged 

 in Gerhwal, or fell sacrifices to that distemper on the road. The receipts, at 

 the same time, were 15,750 rupees, exclusive of gold and silver ornaments 

 and vessels, to the value of near three thousand more. The revenue derived 

 from land by no means corresponds with the number of villages with which the 

 temple is endowed. The institvition possesses no less than two hundred and 

 twenty-six villages, one hundred and seventy in Gerhwal and fifty-six in Kamaon. 

 Of the former, many are large and populous, and were acquired rather from the 

 poverty than the piety of the former Rajas, having been assigned in satisfaction 

 of considerable loans. The rents are paid partly in produce and partly in mon^y, 

 agreeably to the specification in the original grants. As the proprietors of 

 these villages were almost universally Brahmins, the assessment was fixed in 

 permanency at a very low rate in the deeds in question. The value of the 

 proceeds of every description from these villages, may be estimated at 2,000 

 rupees ; 1,500 from Gerhwal, and 500 from Kamaon. The expenditure is re- 

 gulated, in some measure, by the receipts, and consists chiefly in the support 

 of the Bdwal and numerous establishment, in the daily distribution of food 

 and alms to pilgrims, and in the regular allowances to Brahmins on various 

 festivals. In ordinary years, the disbursements exceed, by a few hundred 

 rupees, the gross income, as above estimated, at between 6 and 7^000 rupees, 



