ORISSA. 447 The Temple. The sacred enclosure is nearly in the forn of a square, protected from profane eyes by a massive stone wall 20 feet high, 652 feet long, and 630 feet broad. Within it rise about 120 temples, dedicated to the various forms in which the Hindu mind has imagined its God. In the list are counted no fewer than thirteen temples to Siva, besides several to his queen, the great rivals of Vishnu. The nature-worship of primitive times is represented, even in this most complex development of modern superstition, by a temple to the sun. But the great pagoda is the one dedicated to Jagannath. Its conical tower rises like an elaborately carved sugar.loaf, 192 feet high, black with time, and surmounted by the mystic wheel and flag of Vishnu. Outside the principal entrance, or Lion Gate, in the square where the pilgrims chiefly throng, is an exquisite monolithic pillar which stood for centuries before the Temple of the Sun, twenty miles up the coast. The temple of Jagannath consists, like all the larger shrines in Orissa, of four chambers opening one into the other. The first is the Hall of Offerings (Bhog-mandir), where the bulkier oblations are made, only a small quantity of choice food being admitted into the inner shrine. The second is the Pillared Hall (Nat-mandir), for the musicians and dancing - girls. The third is the Hall of Audience (Tagamohan), in which the pilgrims assemble to gaze upon the god. The fourth is the Sanctuary itself (Bara deul), surmounted by its lofty conical tower. Here sits Jagannath, with his brother Balabhadra and his sister Subhadra, in jewelled state. The images are rude logs, coarsely fashioned into the form of the human bust from the waist up. On certain festivals the priests fasten golden hands to the short stumps which project from the shoulders of Jagannath. The service of the temple consists partly in a daily round of oblations, and partly in sumptuous ceremonials at stated periods throughout the year. The offerings are simple enough: fruits and flowers and the various articles of food in use among a primitive people. Rice, pulse, clarified butter, milk, salt, vegetables, ginger, and cocoanuts are offered to the images and eaten by the priests. Four times every day the priests clear the sanctuary, and close the tower gates, while the god is at his meals. At the door stand Vishnuite ascetics, waving large fans and singing his praises. In the Pillared Hall, a choir of dancing-girls enliven the idol's repast by their airy gyrations, while a few favoured servants attend him in his inner shrine The offerings are bloodless. No animal yields up his life in the service of Jagannath. The spilling of blood pollutes the whole edifice, and a set of servants are maintained to hurry away the sacrificial food that may have been thus contaminated. Yet so deeply
