454 ORISSA Here the pilgrinis bathe. At the great festival, as many as 40,000 rush together into the surf; and every evening, silent groups may be seen purifying themselves for their devotions under the slanting rays of the sun. It is a spot sanctified by the funeral rites of generations. The low castes who bury their dead, dig a hasty hole in the sand ; and the hillocks are covered with bones and skulls, which have been washed bare by the tropical rains, or dug up by the jackals. Every evening, funeral pyres are lighted here for the incremation of the bodies of the more respectable Hindus who have died in the town. No trustworthy statistics exist as to the number of pilgrims who visit Jagannath. But a native gentleman, who has spent his life on the spot, has published as his opinion that the number that daily flocks in and out of the holy city never falls short of 50,000 a year, and sometimes amounts to 300,000. Not a day passes without long trains of footsore travellers arriving at the shrine. At the Car Festival, food is cooked in the temple kitchen for 90,000 devotees ; at another festival for 70,000; and on the morning of one of their solemn full moons, 40,000 pilgrinis wash away their sins in the surf. The old registers, during the period when the pilgrim tax was levied, notoriously fell below the truth; yet in five out of the ten years between 1820 and 1829, the official return amounted to between one and two hundred thousand. The pilgrims from the south are a mere handful compared with those who come from Bengal and Northern India, yet it has been ascertained that 65,000 find their way to Puri, across the Chilka lake, in two months alone. Along the great north road the stream flows day and night. As many as 20,000 arrive at a favourite halting-place between sunrise and sunset. As many as 9613 were actually counted by the police leaving Purí on a single day, and 19,209 during the last six days in June. This is the number absolutely ascertained to have departed ; and probably many more slipped off unperceived. The records of the missionaries in Orissa estimate the number of the pilgrims present at che Car Festival alone, in some years, as high as 145,000. Disease and death make havoc of the pilgrims. During their stay in Purí they are badly lodged and miserably fed. The priests impress on them the impropriety of dressing food within the holy city: and the temple kitchen thus secures the monopoly of cooking for the multitude. The eatables served out chiefly consist of boiled rice. Peas, pulse, clarified butter, sugar, and rice are also made into a variety of confections. The charges seem to be reasonable enough; a mess of rice sufficient for two men costing three - halfpence, except during the festivals, when the vast number of customers enables the cooks to raise their prices. Before being offered for sale, it is presented to Jagannath in the outer hall, but within sight of the image, and thus becomes holy food. When fresh, it is not unwholesome, although pilgrims complain
