Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/131

Rh ing to the cry, put forth their strength; they tug; they strain; they yell. The priests urge them on, and now another strain, and the towering pile, grating harshly on its wheels, moves slowly through the street. Their god is propitious; he is moving on his way, and a cry of joy and worship goes up from the labouring and the gazing crowds. Old men, who cannot help, lift up their hands in homage; and mothers, rushing forward, hold up their babes to catch a sight of the god.

In former days, Englishmen high in station did honour to such scenes. They attended them, while their subordinates drove the people to the ropes, and forced them to drag the car. Those were happy days for the Brahmins; but it is so no longer. Those times have gone, we trust, no more to return. The connection of government with idolatry has almost wholly ceased, and soon will be entirely severed. The priests and gods must take care of themselves, for English Christians will no longer suffer them to be propped up by English influence.

Devotees, as is well known, were accustomed to throw themselves under the wheels of the car to be crushed; this is no longer permitted.