450 ORISSA. disfigure his walls, indecent ceremonies disgrace his ritual, and dancinggirls put the modest female worshippers to the blush by their demeanour. But these are not the sole corruptions of the faith. The temple of Jagannath, that colluvio religionum, in which every creed obtained an asylum, and in which every class and sect can find its god, now closes its gates against the low-caste population. It were vain to attempt to trace the history of this gross violation of the spirit of the reformed Vishnuite faith. Even at the present moment no hard-and-fast line exists between the admitted and the excluded castes; and the priests are said to be much less strict to mark the disqualification of caste in pilgrims from a distance, than among the non-paying local populace. Speaking generally, only those castes are shut out who retain the flesh-eating and animal-life-destroying propensities and professions of the aboriginal tribes. A man must be a very pronounced nonAryan to be excluded. Certain of the low castes, such as the washermen and potters, may enter half-way, and, standing humbly in the court outside the great temple, catch a glimpse of the jewelled god within. But unquestionable non-Aryans, like the neighbouring hill tribes or forest races, and the landless servile castes of the lowlands, cannot go in at all. The same ban extends to those engaged in occupations either offensive in themselves, or repugnant to Aryan ideas of purity, such as wine-sellers, sweepers, skinners, corpse-bearers, hunters, fishers, and bird-killers. Criminals who have been in jail, and women of bad character, except the privileged temple girls, are also excluded — with this difference, however, that a criminal nay expiate the defilement of imprisonment by penance and costly puri fications; but a woman once fallen can never more pass the temple gates. The name of Jagannath still draws the faithful from the most distant Provinces of India to the Purí sands. Day and night throughout every month of the year, troops of devotees arrive at Purí; and for 300 miles, along the great Orissa road, every village has its pilgrim encampment. The parties consist of from 20 to 300 persons. At the time of the great festivals, these bands follow so close as to touch each other; and a continuous train of pilgrims, many milcs long, may often be seen on the Purí high-road. They march in orderly procession, each party under its spiritual leader. At least five-sixths, and often nine-tenths, of them are females. Now a stragaling band of slender, diminutive women, clothed in white nuslin, and limping sadly along, shows a pilgrim company from Lower Bengal; then a joyous retinue with flowing garments of bright red or blue, trudging stoutly forward, their noses pierced with claborate rings, their faces freely tattooed, and their hands cncumbered with bundles of very dirty cloth, proclaims the stalwart female peasantry of Northern Hindustan. Nincty-five out
