Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/415

Rh and debaucheries. Lying, theft, robbery, gambling, murder, fornication, incest, malice, revenge, and sin in every shape and form, are the characteristics of their gods, even by the showing of their own worshippers. If such be the gods, what must be the people! Yet, for such Christ died; and such he is ready to wash in his blood, and receive to his own glorious abode! Oh the wonders of the grace of God!

To worship all of the three hundred and thirty millions of gods, or even the thousandth part of them, is clearly an impossibility. It is the practice, therefore, of different sects and individuals, to attach themselves to the service of one or more of their deities, to wear a mark on their forehead as the badge of their sect, to devote themselves in a special manner to their worship, and to look to them for protection. Of the great triad, Brahma is not worshipped, having been cursed for telling a lie; no temple is dedicated to him, no sacrifice offered before him. Siva and Vishnu divide the mass of the people into two great parties. The former is commonly worshipped under the representation of a black stone, shaped like a sugar-loaf, and called the Linga. Vishnu is worshipped in the many forms which he is said to have assumed