THE CEREMONIES OF JUGGERNAUT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1764, 12 September 1885, Page 25

THE CEREMONIES OF JUGGERNAUT.

I have seen Juggernaut, (wrote Dr Buchanan). No record of ancient or modern history can give, I think, an adequate idea of this valley of death. The idol has been justly considered as the Moloch of the present asje ; for the sacrifices offered to him by self-devotement are not less criminal, perhaps no less numerous, than those of the Moloch of Canan. As other temples are usually adorned with figures emblematical of their relisfion, so Juggernaut has representations, numerous and varied, 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 pilgrims ; and nnother place, near the town, called by the English the. Golgotha, where the dead bodies are Past, and where dogs and vultures are ever seen.

I have witnessed a scene which I shall never forget. The throne of the idol was placed on a stupendous car or tower, about sixtyfeetin height, resting on wheols which indented the ground deeply as they turned slowly under the ponderous machine. Attached to it were six cables, of the size and length of a ship's cable, by which the people drew it along. Thousand* of men, womau, and children pulled by each cable ; infants are made to exert their strength in this office, for it is accounted a merit of righteousness to move the god. Upon the tower were the priests and satellites of the idol, surrounding iris throne : there were about one hundred and twenty persons in tho car altogether. The idol is a block of wood having a frightful visage, painted black, with a distended mouth of a bloody colour ; his arms are of gold, and he is dressed in gorgeous apparel. Five elephants preceded, bearing towering flags, dressed in crimson caparisous, and having bells hanging to them. When the worship of the god began, a high priest mounted the car and pronounced obscene stanzas in the ears of the people. A boy was then brought forth, to attempt something yet more lascivious, who exhibited such gestures that the god was pleased ; and the multitude, emitting a sensual yell of delight, urged the car along. After a few minutes it stopped again. An aged minister of the idol then stood up, and with indecent action, completed this disgusting exhibition. I felt a consciousness of doing wrong in witnessing it. I was appalled at the magnitude and horror of the spectacle. The characteristics of t Moloch's worship are obscenity and blood. After the tower had proceeded some way, a pilgrim was ready to offer himself a sacrifice to the idol ; he laid himself down in the road, before the tower as_ it was moving .along, 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 money on the body of the victim, in approbation of the deed. He was left to view for some time, and then carried to the Golgotha, where I have just seen him. These sacrifices are not confined to Juggernaut. At Jshera, eight miles from Calcutta, once the resi- | dence of Governor Hastings, is a temple of the same idol.

The tower here is drawn along, like that at Juggernaut, by cables. The number of worshippers at this festival is computed to be about one j hundred thousand. The tower is covered with , indecent emblems, which were freshly painted for the occasion, and were the objects of sensual gaze by both sexes. One of the victims of this year was a wellmade young man of healthy appearance and comely aspect. He had a garland of flowers round his neck, and his hair was dishevelled. He danced for a while before the idol, singing in an enthusiastic strain ; then rushing suddenly on the wheels, he shed his blood under the tower of obscenity.

Many of the pilgrims came froni remote regions, with their wives and children, travelling slowly in the hottest season of the year. They are sometimes upwards of two months on their journey.

Many of the pilgrims die by the way, and their bodies generally remain unburied, &o that the road to Juggernaut may be known for the last 50 miles by the human bones which are strewed in the way.