BETWEEN INDIAN AND JEWISH IDEAS AND CUSTOMS. 
85 
observation goes, he does not seek to glorify himself, or his 
office, by the use of gorgeous vestments or ornaments for his 
own person. On the contrary, he divests himself of such 
adventitious and superfluous assistance. It may be asked 
whether the belief in idols and in their religion by Hindus is 
sincere ? There can be no doubt of it in many cases, and their 
beliefs seem often to be strengthened by events as, for example, 
•when Sultan Mujahid, Shah of Gulbarga, slew a number of 
Brahmans, who took refuge in a shrine of Hunuman (the 
favourite monkey god), he himself struck the image in the 
face with his battle-axe, mutilating its features, whereupon 
a dying Brahman, with his last effort, rose up and exclaimed, 
“ For this act you will never see your kingdom again, and will 
not return to it alive,” a prophecy which proved to be only too 
true. The late General Brooke told me that, when he first 
went to Mount Abu, fifty or sixty years ago, an Englishman, on 
being informed that no kine could be killed upon the sacred 
hill (. Arbudhci , the Mount of Wisdom), defied what he 
•considered to be foolish prejudice, and caused a calf to be 
slain in his own grounds. That night there was an earthquake, 
and the dome of the great Jain temple at Dilwara on the 
mountain, which had stood more than 900 years, cracked 
across, because the cow on which the earth rests was angry. 
The officer fled for his life. This was certainly an extraor- 
dinary coincidence, though some might think it was the work 
of the devil, who was permitted long ago to display his power 
in the case of Job. 
Just before I went to Jeypore the priests of one of the 
principal sects persecuted their rivals who had long been in 
power. The former succeeded in turning out the latter, and 
they left the city headed by their pontiff. That personage, who 
was a priest of Vishnu, solemnly cursed his Sivaite enemy, 
saying that, although he would be enriched as he wished to be, 
he would die of hunger and thirst. This curse so weighed 
upon the mind of the unfortunate Brahman that he imagined 
that he was always full of food and drink, and feared to take 
.any more, and in the end he died of starvation, a prey to his 
own superstitious fears. 
Is belief in idols incompatible with modern education ? Not 
■ even generally so perhaps. The present High Priest of Kali 
in Calcutta had an English education up to University 
standards, and wrote a useful pamphlet on plague, in doing 
which he afforded much valuable assistance to my department 
in allaying the fears of his countrymen. On the other hand 
