Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/127

Rh P U R P U R 115 parts of the earth," so must the souls of His disciples also go away into the invisible place allotted them by God, and there remain until the resurrection, when, receiving their bodies and rising as their Lord arose, they shall come into heaven and into the presence of God. On the other hand, it is impossible to point out in any writing of the first four centuries any passage which describes the state of any of the faithful departed as one of acute suffer- ing, although Tertullian's belief that martyrs had the exceptional privilege of being taken to " paradise " at once clearly shows that for ordinary Christians the state after death was regarded rather as one of expectancy than of enjoyment. Still less would it be possible to show that the intermediate state was regarded by them as one in which satisfaction was made for sin. Origen's doctrine of Trvp Kaddpo-iov is intimately connected with his doctrine of apokatastasis ; in his view the application of purgatorial fire was not to take place until the last judgment, nor was its efficacy to be limited to those who had closed their life on earth as believers in Christ. In a different connexion Augustine, expounding 1 Cor. iii. 15 as referring more immediately to the purification of Christians by means of the trials of the present life, goes on to speak of it as a supposable thing that the process might be continued after death, but without committing himself to the belief ("incredibile non est, et utrum ita sit quperi potest"). Gregory the Great was the first to formulate in express terms the doctrine which afterwards became that of the whole Roman obedience " de quibusdam levibus culpis esse ante judicium purgatorius ignis credendus est." Such utterances as this were never accepted by the Greek Church, which in its doctrine of the intermediate state still occupies as nearly as possible the standpoint of the ante-Nicene fathers. PURI or POOREE, a district of British India in the Orissa division of the lieu tenant -governorship of Bengal, lying between 19 28' and 20 16' N. lat. and 85 0' and 86 28' E. long., with an area of 2472 square miles. It is bounded on the N. by the native states of Banki and Athgarh, on the E. and N.E. by Cuttack district, on the S. by the Bay of Bengal, and on the W. by the Ganjam district of the Madras presidency and by the tributary state of Rampur. For the most part the country is flat, the only mountains being a low range which, rising in the west, runs south-east in an irregular line towards the Chilka Lake, and forms a water-parting between the district and the valley of the Mahanadi. The middle and eastern divisions of the dis- trict, forming the south-western part of the Mahanadi delta, consist entirely of alluvial plains, watered by a network of channels through which the most southerly branch of that river, the Koyakhai, finds its way into the sea. The principal rivers in Puri are the Bhargavi, the Daya, and the Nun, all of which flow into the Chilka Lake and are navigable by large boats during the rainy season, when the waters come down in tremendous floods, bursting the banks and carrying everything before them. The chief lakes are the Sar and the Chilka, the former, a backwater of the Bhargavi, being 4 miles long by 2 broad. The Chilka Lake is one of the largest in India; its length is 44 miles, and its breadth in some parts 20 miles. It is separated from the sea only by a narrow strip of sand. The lake is saline and everywhere very shallow, its mean depth ranging from 3 to 5 feet. Puri district is rich in historical remains, from the primitive rock-hewn caves of Buddhism the earliest relics of Indian architecture to the mediaeval sun temple at Kanarak and the world -renowned shrine of Jagannath. The chief roads in the district are the Cal- cutta and Madras trunk road and the pilgrim road from Cuttack to Puri. The climate of Puri is dry and healthy, and the average rainfall is 55 '80 inches. The census of 1881 returned the population of Puri district at 888,487 (446,609 males and 441,878 females). By religion 873,664 were returned as Hindus, 14,003 as Mohammedans, and 819 as Christians. The only town with a population exceeding 5000 is PURI (q.v. ). Puri is strictly a rice-growing tract, but pulses, jute, hemp, flax, and oil-seeds are also produced, while among its mis- cellaneous crops are tobacco, cotton, sugar-cane, and turmeric. The principal manufactures are salt, earthenware, and brass and bell- metal utensils and ornaments. In 1882-83 the total revenue of the district amounted to 79,493, towards which the land-tax contri- buted 60,255. Puri first came under British administration in 1803. The only political events in its history since that date have been the rebel- lion of the maharaja of Khurda in 1804 and the rising of the paiks or peasant militia in 1817-18. Since then the country has been gradually restored to order and tranquillity. PURI or POOREE, chief town of the above district, and commonly known as Jagannath, is situated on the Orissa coast in 19 48' N. lat. and 85 51' E. long. Its chief interest is centred in the sacred shrine of Jagannath, a temple which dates from the 12th century, and which lies at the southern extremity of the town. In 1881 the popu- lation of Puri was 22,095 (males 11,769, females 10,326), of whom 21,913 were Mohammedans. PURIM (D"nQ), a feast of the later Jews, celebrated in honour of the deliverance of the nation from the schemes of Haman recorded in the book of Esther. The historical value of this record has been discussed in the article ESTHER, where also mention is made of the now very prevalent opinion that the feast is an adaptation of a Persian festival. The derivation of the name " Purim," as well as the thing, from the Persian Furdigan (Pordigan, Pordiyan) has been raised above the level of a mere guess by Lagarde, who has shown that the readings ovpfj.aia and (jtovp&ia in one of the Greek recensions of Esther point with great prob- ability to a form ovp8aia (tOTtta)' instead of Purim, exactly corresponding with the Persian word (Ges. Abk., p. 164 ; Armen. Stud., 1339). The feast falls on the 14th and 15th of Adar, and is, in accordance with Esther ix. 22, of a joyous character, but quite secular in tone, with a great deal of hard drinking, the only quasi-religious features being the reading in the synagogue of the book of Esther and the section about Amalek, Exod. xvii. 8 sq. This cele- bration appears to have made its way among the Jews only gradually ; according to Josephus, however, it was generally observed in his day in all parts of the Jewish world. On the other hand, the preparatory fast on the 13th of Adar, which is based on Esther ix. 31, cannot have been observed in Palestine till a later date, for in the Megillath Ta'anith (after the death of Trajan), Adar 13, " the day of Nicanor," is still one of the days on which fasting is forbidden. PURITANS. See ENGLAND, CHURCH OF, vol. viii. p. 376 sq.; INDEPENDENTS, vol. xii. p. 726 sq. ; and PRESBY- TERIANISM. PURNIAH, a district of British India in the Bhagalpur division of the lieutenant-governorship of Bengal, occupy- ing an area of 4956 square miles, is situated between 25 15' and 26 37' N. lat. and 87 and 88 33' E. long. On the N. it is bounded by the state of Nepal and the district of Darjiling, on the E. by the Jalpaiguri, Dinaj- pur, and Maldah districts, on the W. by Bhagalpur, and on the S. by the Ganges, which separates it from the districts of Bhagalpur and the Santal Parganas. Purniah is a level depressed tract of country, but for the most part of a rich loamy soil of alluvial formation ; it is traversed by several streams, which flow from the Himalayas lying to the north and afford great advantages of irrigation and water carriage, and is well cultivated ; but in the west the soil is thickly covered with sand deposited by the Kusi river, which rises in the Nepal mountains and flows southwards to the Ganges. The country is destitute of anything that can be called forest, but much scrub jungle is found in the