island at the same time, and lasts for three days, during which an extensive trade is carried on in articles brought from Calcutta, mats from Eastern Bengal, and stoneware platters and cups, principally from Chhotá Nágpur. I condense the following account of this festival from H. H. Wilson’s Essays on the Religion of the Hindus, vol. ii. pp. 164 to 169, edition 1862:— ‘At the winter solstice, bathing at the confluence of the Ganges with the ocean is particularly meritorious; and accordingly a vast concourse of people is annually assembled at Gangá Ságar, or the mouth of the Húglí branch of the Ganges, at the period of the makara sankránti, identified with the 1st Mágh or the 12th February. Wherever such assemblages take place, objects of a secular nature are now, as they have ever been, blended with those of devotion; and the melá, which originates in purposes of pilgrimage, becomes equally, or in a still greater degree, a meeting of itinerant merchants, or a fair. The number of persons that assemble at Gangá Ságar is variously estimated. Some years ago they were considered to average about one hundred thousand; but I have been informed by high authority that latterly the number has increased to double that amount. They come from all parts of India,—the larger proportion, of course, from the contiguous Provinces of Bengal and Orissa; but there are many from the Dekhan and from Hindustán, and even from Nepál and the Panjáb. They are of both sexes and of all ages; many come with small peddlery for petty traffic, many from idleness or a propensity to a vagrant life not uncommon in India, and there is a very large proportion of religious mendicants of all sects.
‘The place where the melá is held, is—or perhaps it were more safe to say, was, some years ago—a sand-bank on the southern shore of the island, immediately to the west of the inlet called Pagoda Creek, from a small pagoda or temple also on the west of the creek, but nearer to the sea than the bank of sand, and separated from the latter by a smaller creek running inland. South from this to the sea-shore extended a thick jungle, with a pathway leading into the interior, where was a large tank for the supply of the people with fresh water. Tigers lurked in the jungle, and not unfrequently carried off the pilgrims. Along the sea-side, for more than a mile, extended rows of booths, shops, and small temporary temples, with the travelling gods of the religious mendicants who received the adoration and contributions of the pious. Besides the numerous shops for the supply of provisions and sweetmeats, a
