ETHNOLOGY OF THE TRESENT DAY. . 209 



of music, on the eve of the festival, march through the streets and places 

 through which the procession is to pass on the following day. On the first 

 day, the procession takes place only in the interior of the pagoda ; from the 

 second to the sixth day, the figure of the divinity to whom the temple is 

 consecrated is borne through the streets in solemn array and with music. 

 On the seventh, however, it is placed in the uppermost window of the 

 temple tower, when all the people rush to the pagoda, in order to deposit 

 in the hands of Brahmins rich ofl?erings for the divinity. On the eighth 

 and ninth days, the Brahmins themselves carry the likeness of the god 

 about within the temple ; on the tenth day, the festival is closed with the 

 principal procession through the streets. The gong (tantam), firing of 

 cannon, and explosions of gunpow^der, are the signals for assembling. A 

 crowd of musicians, with noisy instruments, form the head of the proces- 

 sion ; a number of whom, gliding on their backs, keep up with the others 

 and maintain the time of the tune, a performance considered particularly 

 meritorious. After these follow several thousand worshippers, in two rows, 

 with gaudy flags, parasols, banners, and a staff three feet long, on one end 

 of which an oil lamp is fastened, the processions usually commencing 

 towards nightfall. Then, often borne by thirty or forty men, comes the 

 image screen, called Ter, in the form of a temple with pillars, and contain- 

 ing the idol ornamented with costly jewels. This small portable chapel 

 is frequently placed upon a prodigious car resting upon four wheels, richly 

 ornamented, furnished with a gaudy canopy and numerous flags, and drawn 

 by a great multitude of persons. Around the idol and its car the dewadashis 

 perform their sacred dance. Youths, overburdened with finery, go behind 

 the car; and officers of government and the authorities generally, together 

 with the rich and men of rank, bring up the close of the procession. 

 From time to time it stops near small chapels erected for the purpose, in 

 which the idol, being taken from the car, is placed for a little while. For 

 the particular edification of the worshippers, a number of small puppets, 

 suspended on silk strings, descend from the upper part of the chapel, 

 paying, as it were, their respects to the divinity, and dancing and jumping 

 around its image. During this solemn procession, the pious phrensy of the 

 people often goes to such lengths, that some persons, either in order to 

 wipe away their sins, or the more certainly to obtain future salvation by 

 means of their self-immolation, place themselves in the track of the 

 immense car to be crushed by its wheels. The plaintive cries of the 

 dying, if indeed they utter anything of the sort, are smothered by the 

 crashing music and the noise of the passing multitude of people. 



Many different kinds of oblations, and various accompanying ceremonies, 

 occur among the Hindoos. They are partly such as are daily offered to 

 th^ gods, in order to obtain from them protection and favor ; partly of 

 a solemn, mysterious nature, which take place only at certain times. 

 The offerings consist of all sorts of provisions, flowers, spices, and money. 

 All are acceptable to the Brahmins, as they form a part of their subsistence. 

 Blood, as a rule, is not shed at the oblations ; in certain cases, however, 

 living animals are the victims, and it is even said that human beings have 



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