948 INDIA, OR HINDOSTAN. 



its waters. The Suttee, or burning of widows upon the funeral pile of their husbands,* and 

 infanticide in various forms, have long been practised, but the authority of the British gov- 

 ernment has lately been employed in abolishing these hateful rites, as well as those celebrated 

 in honor of Juggernaut.! 



The ceremonies are so many, that the people have little time for amusements. None dance 

 but the professional dancing girls, who are of a religions order. They are generally handsome, 

 and dressed with elegance. The wrestlers are very adroit, and the jugglers are unequalled. 

 The people have an adventurous mode of swinging. They are lashed at the end of a long 

 horizontal bamboo, which revolves upon a perpendicular post, which is carried swiftly round by 



*" After waiting a considerable time," says Hodg-es, 

 " the wife appeared, attended by the Brahmins, and music, 

 with some few relations. The procession was slow and 

 solemn ; the victim moved with a steady and firm step ; and 

 apparently with a perfect composure of countenance, ap- 

 proached close to the body of her husband, where for some 

 time they halted. She then addressed those who were near 

 her, with composure, and without the least trepidation of 

 voice or change of countenance. She held in her left 

 hand a cocoa-nut, in which was a red color mixed up, and 

 dipping in it the fore-finger of her right hand, she marked 

 those near her, to whom she wished to show the last act 

 of attention. At this time I stood close to her; she ob- 

 served me attentively, and with the color marked me on 

 the forehead. She might be about 24 or 25 years of age, 

 a time of life when the bloom of beauty has generally fled 

 the cheek in India, but still she preserved a sufficient 

 share to prove that she must have been handsome; her 

 figure was small, but elegantly turned ; and the form of 

 her hands and arms was particularly beautiful. Her dress 

 was a loose robe of white flowing drapery, that extended 

 from her head to the feet. The place of sacrifice was 

 higher up on the bank of the river, a hundred yards or 

 more from the spot where we now stood. The pile was 

 composed of dried branches, leaves, and rushes, with a 

 door on one side, and arched and covered on the top ; by 

 the side of the door stood a man with a lighted brand. 

 From the time the woman appeared, to the taking up of 

 the body to convey it into the pile, might occupy a space 

 of half an hour, which was employed in prayer with the 

 Brahmins, in attention to those who stood near her, and 

 conversation with her relations. When the body was ta- 

 ken up, she followed close to it, attended by the chief 

 Brahmin, and when it was deposited on the pile, she 

 bowed to all around her, and entered without speaking. 

 The moment she entered, the door was closed ; the fire 

 was put to the combustibles, which instantly flamed, and 

 immense quantities of dried wood and other matters were 

 thrown upon it. This last part of the ceremony was ac- 

 companied with the shouts of the multitude, who now be- 

 came numerous, and the whole seemed a mass of confused 

 rejoicing." 



t From a town called Buddruck, in the province of 

 Orissa, Dr. Buchanan writes, under date of 30th May, 

 1806: " We know that we are approaching Juggernaut 

 (and yet we are more than 50 miles from it) by the human 

 bones which we have seen for some days strewed by the 

 way. At 9 o'clock this morning, the temple of Jugger- 

 naut appeared in view, at a great distance. When ihe 

 multitude first saw it, they gave a shout, and fell to the 

 ground and worshipped. I have heard nothing to-day but 

 shouts and acclamations, by the successive bodies of pil- 

 grims. From the place where I now stand, I have a view 

 of a host of people, like an army, encamped at the outer 

 gate of the town of Juggernaut; where a guard of sol- 

 diers is posted, to prevent their entering the town, until 

 they have paid the pilgrim's tax." This tax is a source 

 of revenue to the East India Company, who probably 

 make about £1,000 a year by it. It was originally im- 

 posed by the Mahrattas and Mahometans. On the 14th 

 of June, Dr. Buchanan writes : " I have seen Juggernaut. 

 The scene at Buddruck is but the vestibule to Juggernaut. 

 No record of ancient or modern history can give, I think, 

 an adequate idea of this valley of death ; it may be truly 

 compared with the Valley of Hinnom. The idol, called 



Juggernaut, has been considered as the Moloch of the 

 present age ; and he is justly so named, for the sacrifices 

 offered up to him, by self-devoteraent, are not less crimi- 

 nal, perhaps not less numerous, than those recorded of the 

 Moloch of Canaan. This morning I viewed the temple; 

 a stupendous fabric, and truly commensurate with the ex- 

 tensive sway of the ' horrid king,' As other temples are 

 usually adorned with figures emblematical of their reli- 

 gion, so Juggernaut has representations, numerous and 

 various, of that vice which constitutes the essence of his 

 worship. The walls and gates are covered with indecent 

 emblems, in massive and durable sculpture. I have also 

 visited the sand-plains by the sea, in some places whitened 

 with the bones of the pilgrims ; and another place a little 

 way out of the town, called by the English, the Golgotha, 

 where the dead bodies are usually cast forth, and where 

 dogs and vultures are ever seen. The vultures generally 

 find out the prey first, and begin with the intestines; for 

 the flesh of the body is too firm for their beaks, immedi- 

 ately after death. But the dogs soon receive notice of the 

 circumstance, generally from seeing the hurries, or corpse- 

 carriers, returning from the place. On the approach of 

 the dogs, the vultures retire a few yards, and wait till the 

 body be sufficiently torn for easy deglutition. The vul- 

 tures and dogs often feed together ; and sometimes begin 

 their attack before the pilgrim be quite dead. There are 

 4 animals which are sometimes seen about a carcass; the 

 dog, the jackal, the vulture, and the hurgeela or adjutant, 

 called by Penant the gigantic crane." On the 18th of the 

 same month. Dr. Buchanan writes: "I have returned 

 home from witnessing a scene which I shall never forget. 

 At 12 o'clock of this day, being the great day of the feast, 

 the Moloch of Hindostan was brought out of his temple, 

 amidst the acclamations of hundreds of thousands of hia 

 worshippers. The throne of the idol was placed on a stu 

 pendous car or tower about GO feet in height, resting on 

 wheels which indented the ground deeply, as they turned 

 slowly under the ponderous machine. Attached to it 

 were 6 cables, of the size and length of a ship's cable, by 

 which the people drew it along. Upon the tower were the 

 priests and satellites of the idol, surrounding his throne. 

 The idol is a block of wood, having a frightful visage 

 painted black, with a distended mouth of a bloody color. 

 His arms are of gold, and he is dressed in gorgeous appa- 

 rel. After a few minutes, it stopped ; and now the wor- 

 ship of the god began. A high priest mounted the car in 

 front of the idol, and pronounced his obscene stanzas in 

 the ears of the people, who responded at intervals in the 

 same strain. ' These songs,' said he, ' are the delight of 

 the god. His car can only move when he is pleased with 

 the song.' The car moved on a little way, and then 

 stopped. The characteristics of Moloch's worship are ob- 

 scenity and blood. After the tower had proceeded some 

 way, a pilgrim announced that he was ready to ofl^er him- 

 self a sacrifice to the idol. He laid himself down in the 

 road, before the tower as it was moving along, lying on 

 his face, with his arms stretched forwards. The multitude 

 passed round him, leaving the space clear, and he was 

 crushed to death by the wheels of the tower. A shout of 

 joy was raised to the god. He is said to smile when the 

 libation of blood is made. The people threw cowries, or 

 small money, on the body of the victim, in approbation 

 of the deed. He was left to view a considerable time; 

 and was then carried by the hurries to the Golgotha." 



