Hindoo Pilgrims.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 848, 1 June 1888, Page 9

Hindoo Pilgrims.

BY A HINDOO, IN THE 4 GRAPHIC. s • Pilgrimages form a most important point, of the Hindoo religion. They are undertaken professedly for the expiation of sin, wind), according to Brahmiuical notions, is , inherent, in every man, and their merit consists in the hardship! and sufferings undergone during the journey, in the ablutions performed at the shrine, and in the. worship of the deity presiding therein, who, of course, cannot be approached but through the priests, to wli® satisfactory presents must be made. Hindoo pilgrims generally travel long distances before they reach the holy places, and the greater the distance the pilgrim goes the more mentorioils is his pilgrimage. They are very often seen in companies of, forty or fifty men and women, and sometimes even little children—the men having scanty coverings on their persons, the women with bundles on their heads and a pot under one arm—-;ruag-in a their way under a fierce sun at the rate of° fourteen or fifteen miles a day. i-'ome pilgrims, bent on securing for themselves an extra amount of sanctity, measure with their bodies all the distance that lies between their homes and the holy places they want to visit. They will move upon their hands and knees, letting their chest touch the ground each time they made a forward motion, and proceed thus for hours together under a blazing sun. And it is some months before they accomplish their journey, which, indeed, is considered by them more sanctifying than the worship of the Deity himself. Once one of these devotees was seen to be accompanied by a woman, apparently his wife, who carried a little broom in her hande. With which she, every time the man moved forward, slightly swept the ground before him, so that the little stones aud gravel might not pierce his hands and knees. This operation snocked his companions,.who at once made him go back to his home, whence he had to start afresh in a pilgrim-like manner. Certain it is that tk.Q belief of the Hindoo pilgrims in the removal of jth.eir sins, by t hua bringing upon themselves so mucli suffering in their long journeys, is not feigned, but real; and, indeed, it is nothing but their blind faith and credulous sincerity that support them so long under their self-inflicted trials and hardships. A few of tho pilgrims die on their way to the holy places through constant exposure.to the in.clemencies ot the weather, or succumb to the physical ailments brought on by continuous irregular living, pr are killed by robbers or wild beasts. But none the less do they consider themselves as having accomplished the chief object of their pilormage—the expiation of sins and happiness hereafter. Once some pilgrims were returning home from, a holy place on the hills during the hot. sickly season, when an old man and his wife having walked a good distance under a scorching sun, stopped under tho shade of a tjree, fatigued and hungry. They partook of a melon and some parched grain, which instantly produced an attaok ot cholera. Both of them died in a few hours. Tlioy were, no doubt, returning home with light hearts, having spent the last years of their lives in the performance of their sacred duties, and secured, in their imagination, the longed-for beatitude. Perhaps they fondly believed at their death-bed that the melon and tfie parched grain transported them to Paradise { and their companions, too, were glad that they had died tiius, -in the very act of earning the boon or eternal happiness. The most renowned places of pilgrimago ill India are Gaya, Prayag, Haridwar, Jagannath, and Benares. Gaya is near Patna, the capital of the fertile district of Behar, in North-Eastern India, it in resorted to principally by those who aro anxious to propitiate the spirits of their departed fathers . by making tneir offerings in the shape of balls of rice, Prayag is tho old Hindoo town-, changed by the followers of Allah into Allahabad, in Northern, India. Below Allahabad, where the Ganges and Jumna unite, a third -river, called Saraswati, is. according to old Hindoo notions, saia to flow under them. This junction is called Tribenee, literally the three-braid, and the sanctifying influences of the of , three holy waters are secured to tno holy ones by lying for a short time in the water at the point of .confluence ip a certain pres-

cribed position. Most people go to Handwar —the door of Hari, or Vishnoo near the pass through which the holy Ganges bursts from the Himalayas to wash their sins ; but tlidusaud3 from Oabnl, Cashmere, country beyond the Indus are attracted to -Haridwar by the brisk traffic in all sorts df things that goes on there during the periodical festivals. Benares, the holiest of holy places to the Hindoos,ie too well known toneed any description. Next to Benares, Jagannath, which is unique in many ways among the holy places of tho Hindoos, attracts the largest number of pilgrims from all parts of India. The Shrine of Jagannath, commonly called Juggernaut—literally, the Lord of the Universe —stands on the coast of Orissa, amidst level burning sands ; and, to those wlio sail up or down the Bay of Bengal, it appears in the distance like a vast black obelisk. It is built ot huge blocks of granite, transported with incredible labor from the neighboring mountains, and consists of a grotesoiie pyramidical structure about 350 feet in" height, aud a spacious area enclosed by a lofty wall. Around the wall on the inside there runs a gallery, supported by a double range of pillars, aud forming 276 arcades. The four faces of the pyramid are covered with sculptured figures of deities, and its apex is crowned with ornaments of gilt cupper which flash and glitter in the suu. The interior of this stupandous structure, which is in perpetuAV darkness, is lighted up by a hundred lamps,'burning day and night in front of the idol. The image iskinado of wood, thickly' painted and rehenved every three years, when the original borisff of the deified hero, Krishna, are removed by a Brahmin from the inside of the old idol to that of the new one. The priest, during tfiis aw/ul operation, covers his eyes, lest the sight of such myßterioun.re.lic3 should consume him like lightning.. This priestly terror ot'course represses in' the minds of the worshipers.all desire to see Krishnas bones. Thousands of poople from all parts of India annually,visit the Temple of .Jagannath. The approaching pilgrims cover the road before and behind as far as the eye pan reachj and when the temple appears in view at a distance, the whole multitude, uttering a joyful shout fall down prostrate on the ground,''.the very touch of which is con- ; sidered sacred by the orthodox people, lhere is one great peculiarity about this temple ; all casts and tribes Q.fJlindoos, who are so particular 'iultfie matter of,eating and drinking, '.mayi And do,! eat hejraritpgether of the same -food, cooked and served by peoplo of any i caste, or, sect, or rahk. -.They all resume their caste oraetices as sOon as they leave the piecincts of the temple. The self-immo-lation of pilgrims, by throwing themselves under the car of Jagannath, which was at one time carried to a fearful' extent, is too well known.. The huge idol, which is cerlainly not-pre'tty*' is once a year drawn in a car ot enormous size, amid, much pomp and ceremonvy though very few-peoplo are allowed at the presentiday to be crushed by it. me Temple of’Jagannath'is credited with some miraculous powers,,;.. It is believed that l seven pots of rice." be placed here, one on the top of another, to boll, the rice in the topmost pot will be cooked and .ready for use first. Anyone acting hypocritically in or about the temple is said to become a leper ; this i 3 believed in even by those'who have resided in the place nearly all their luetime without ever seeing such a transformation.