Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/586

514 Ganges. From the various streets of the teeming city processions stream down to the holy river, each with its image, while multitudes of spectators flock to the shore. The images are borne to the brink and placed between two boats, which are united for the purpose, and then rowed to the middle of the stream. The attendants now fall upon the representative of their god, strip it of its ornaments, dash it to pieces, (it is made of painted earthenware,) and cast it into the water.

Thus ends the Durga-pujah, and thus are millions of our fellow-men now living and worshipping. Thus have they lived for ages past, and thus will they live for ages yet to come, unless the church of Christ, in dependence upon the power of God, says that darkness shall no longer brood over the face of fair and fertile India.

We give one more glance at idolatry as seen in Calcutta, and then turn to brighter subjects.

The other popular object of idolatry, in Bengal to which we referred is the goddess Kali, another form of the dread being, who, when manifested as Durga, performed such prodigies of strength and courage. If, as Durga, she was a terrible being, as Kali, she is a thousand