CHAr. TL]
HINDOO KITES AND CEREMONIES.
53
Idol of Juggernaut.
From Fergusson's Hindoo Architecture.
make the image famous in its present shape. Accordingly, when it was set up he not only invited all the gods to be present, but condescended to act as high- priest, and gave both eyes and soul to Juggernaut, whose fame was thus com- pletely established.
The above legend is so far defective that it does not account for the fact that the temple, instead of being consecrated to Vishnu alone, under his form of Jug- gernaut, is held as a kind of joint tenancy between him and two other gods. Tlie Brahmins of Orissa have availed themselves of this circumstance to maintain that the worship in that temple is more spiritual than what is generally practised elsewhere. Their explanation is that the deity worsliipped at Juggernaut is not subordinate to any other but the supreme Spirit itself; that the images are shapeless because the Vedas declare that the deity has no particular form; and that their grotesque and hideous form has been given them in order to terrify the vulgar into the discharge of duty. It may be true that some allegorical meaning, far more rational than that which is generally received, may be hidden under both the shape and the number of the shapeless idol, but the only thing which can be asserted without contradiction is, that if the object was to produce terror, it has been accomplished.
The number of annual festivals celebrated at Juo-gernaut is thirteen, bat two, called the Asnan and the Rath Jatras, are greatly distinguished above the rest, because then only the monstrous idols are publicly exposed to view. The Rath Jatra, again, takes precedence of the Asnan, because on it alone the idols, besides being publicly exposed, pay a visit on their car to a place about a mile and a half distant. To the Rath, therefore, as the greatest of all th.e festivals, our attention will now be confined. In anticipation of the appointed day, vast numbers of pilgrims have assembled from all parts of the country. Many of these, affecting superior sanctity, or desirous of acquiring superior merit, have measm-ed the whole length of the way with their own bodies, and others of them suffer voluntarily or of necessity so many privations, that the pilgrimage is said to be every year the direct or indirect cause of from 2000 to 3000 deatlis. This computation will not appear exaggerated when it is considered that the aggregate number of pilgrims is not less than 50,000, and that the roads leading to the temple are in many places literally strewed with the bones or other remains of human beings.
The festival is celebrated on the second day of the new moon in Asar, that is in the end of June or beginning of July. After various prayers and cere- monies within the temple, the idols are brought forth beyond the principal
A D, —
Brahmin ical explanation of tlie worship offered to Juggeriraut.
His annual festivals.
