Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 2.djvu/90

 54 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book IV.

AD. — entrance, called the Lion Gate, from its being flanked with colossal figures of

lions, or more properly griffins in a sitting posture. Balbhadra, Juggernaut,

The festival and Subliadra, the so-called deities, are nothing more than wooden busts, about

jatra. six fcct in height, fashioned into a rude resemblance of the human head, resting on a sort of pedestal. The first two, as representatives of Siva and Vishnu, or rather of their incarnations Bala Rama and Krishna, are considered brothers ; the third as an incarnation of Devi or Kali is their sister. The brothers, painted respectively white and black, have arms projecting horizontally forward from the ears; the sister, painted yellow, is left devoid of similar appendages. All three have frightfully grim and distorted countenances, and w^ear a head-dress of cloth of different colom^s, shaped somewhat like a helmet. In bringing them out without the gate the priests, after placing them on a kind of litter, fasten a common rope round their necks. This done, some drag them down the steps, and through, the mud, while othei's keep them erect, and help their movements by shoving them from behind in the most unceremonious manner. Balbhadra, as the elder brother, enjoys a kind of precedence which it would be dangerous to withhold, owing to the fanaticism of the Sivaites, who honour in him their favoui'ite divinity. He is brought out first, occupies the largest car, and takes the lead in the procession which is to follow, but neither he nor his sister receives a tithe of the adoration which is paid to Juggernaut, whose appearance is hailed with an universal shout, to be likened only to that which at the council of Pan- demonium "tore hell's concave." The cars, respectively 43, 41, and 40 feet high, move on ponderous wheels, of which Baibhadi'a's has sixteen, and each of the others fourteen wheels. To put them in motion strong cables have been pro- vided, and the moment the signal is given, first the inhabitants of the neigh- bouring districts, whose peculiar duty and privilege it is, and then the multitudes generally, make a rush, and seizing the cables, drag forward the raths or cars. The shoutings which they raise, the clatter of hundreds of harsh- sounding in- struments, and the creaking, crashing sound of the ponderous machines are absolutely deafening. The violent effort required in dragging cannot be continued without alternate pauses, at each of which the dy talcs, or charioteers of the god, advance to a projecting part of the stage, and, by words and gestures, give utter- ance and display to gross obscenity. The multitude shout applause, and the dragging is resumed. At one period numerous instances of self-immolation oc- curred. Devotees, throwing themselves in front of the cars while in motion, were in a moment crushed to death beneath the wheels. Such cases are now so rare that they cannot be fiiirly represented as forming part of the regular cele- bration of the festival, but numerous other abominations and extravagances remain to justify the worst that can be said of it. The following description of an eye-witness, in June, 1814, is given in the Asiatic Journal: —

" The sights here beggar all description. Though Juggernaut made some progress on the 19th, and has travelled daily ever since, he has not yet reached