THE GODDESS DURGA.
My dear Children--From what I said, in my last chapter, about the
goddess Gunga, you see that the Hindoos worship goddesses as well as
gods. There is another goddess much worshipped the wife of the god Siva.
She has appeared in a thousand forms, with a thousand different names.
Of all these thousand forms, Durga and Karle are the most regarded by
the people. I will speak of Durga first. Of all the festivals in Eastern
India, hers is the most celebrated. She has ten hands, in which she
holds an iron club, a trident, a battle-axe, spears, thunderbolts, etc.
Thus armed, she is ever ready to fight with her enemies.
Were you to be present in the city of Calcutta in the month of
September, you might everywhere see the people busy in preparing for the
yearly festival of this goddess. Images representing her you would find
in great numbers for sale, as bread or meat is sold. In the houses of
the rich, images are to be found made of gold, silver, brass, copper,
crystal, stone, or mixed metal, which are daily worshipped. These are
called permanent images. Besides these, multitudes of what are called
temporary images are made--made merely for the occasion and then
destroyed. They may be made of hay, sticks, clay, wood, or other such
things. Their size varies from a few inches to twenty feet in height. If
any persons are too poor to buy one of these images, they can make them
for themselves. When the festival is near at hand, people are seen in
every direction taking the images to their houses. After they are thus
supplied, the festival commences. It lasts fifteen days. The greater
part of this time is spent in preparing for the three great days of
worship. Early on the morning of the first of the three great days, the
Brahmins proceed to consecrate the images, or to give them, as they
suppose, life and understanding. Until they are consecrated, they are
not thought to be of any value. They are looked upon as senseless. A
wealthy family can always receive the services of one or more Brahmins,
and a few of the poor may unite and secure the services of one of them.
At length the solemn hour arrives. The Brahmin, with the leaves of a
sacred tree, comes near the image. With the two forefingers of his
right hand he touches the breast, the two cheeks, the eyes, and the
forehead of the image, at each touch saying the prayer, "Let the spirit
of Durga descend and take possession of this image." By such ceremonies,
and by repeating various _muntrums_, it is supposed that the Brahmins
have the power to bring down the goddess to take possession of the
image. Having been thus consecrated, it is believed to be a proper
object of worship. Having eyes, it can now behold every act of worship
which is made; having ears, it can be delighted with music and with
songs; having a nose, it can smell the sweet perfumes which are offered;
having a mouth, it can be delighted with the rich food which is prepared
for it.
After the image is consecrated, the worship begins. The devotee comes
near the image, and falls down before it. He then twists himself into a
great variety of shapes. Sometimes he sits on the floor, sometimes he
stands, sometimes he looks in one direction, sometimes in another. Then
he sprinkles the idol with holy water, rinses its mouth, washes its
feet, wipes it with a dry cloth, throws flowers over it, puts jewels on
it, offers perfumes to it, and finishes by performing shaashtaangkum.
The worship of the idol is succeeded by a season of carousing, joy, and
festivity. On this occasion, large offerings are made to the idols. A
rich native has been known to offer eighty thousand pounds of
sweetmeats, eighty thousand pounds of sugar, a thousand suits of cloth
garments, a thousand suits of silk, a thousand offerings of rice,
plantains, and other fruits.
Bloody sacrifices are offered up on such occasions. The king of Nudiya,
some time ago, offered a large number of sheep, goats, and buffaloes on
the first day of the feast, and vowed to double the offering every day;
so that the whole number sacrificed amounted to more than sixty-five
thousand. You may remember that king Solomon offered up on one occasion
twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. If
all the animals slain throughout Hindostan, at the festival of the
goddess Durga, were collected together, they would amount to a much
larger number than Solomon offered.
After the worship and offerings have been continued for three days, the
festival closes. As the morning of the first day was devoted to the
consecration of the images, the morning of the fourth is spent in
unconsecrating them. This work is done by the Brahmins. They profess, by
various ceremonies, to send back the goddess to her heaven, concluding
with a farewell address, in which they tell her that they expect her to
accept of all their services, and return and pay them a visit again in
the coming year. Then all unite in bidding her a sorrowful adieu, and
many seem affected even to the shedding of tears.
Soon afterwards the images are carried forth into the streets, placed on
stages or platforms, and raised on men's shoulders. As the procession
moves onward through the streets, accompanied with music and songs, amid
clouds of dust, you might see them waving long hairy brushes to wipe off
the dust, and to keep off the flies and mosquitoes, which might trouble
the senseless images. But where are these processions going? To the
banks of the Ganges. And for what purpose? For the purpose of casting
the images into the river. When all the ceremonies connected with the
occasion are finished, those who carry the images suddenly fall upon
them, break them to pieces, and then throw them with violence into the
river. After this the people return to their homes.
I have now given you a specimen of the image-worship of the Hindoos; and
how different is it from the worship which the Bible enjoins. "God is a
Spirit; and they who worship him, must worship him in spirit and in
truth." The very reverse of this, as you have seen, marks the worship of
the heathen. They are not satisfied, unless they can have some object
before them, to which they can make their offerings and their prayers.
Thus daily are they engaged in a service which, above all others, is the
most offensive and provoking to a holy God--a service which has caused
him to declare, that idolaters shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
This, too, is the service in which every person, who has never given
himself to the Saviour, is engaged; and, of course, in which you are
engaged if you have not given your hearts to him. Those who think more
of their money than they think of Christ, just as certainly worship the
image which is stamped on a dollar or a cent, as the heathen worship
their idols. Those who love their fathers and mothers, and brothers and
sisters more than Christ, make these their idols. And are you, my dear
children, yet out of Christ? If so, you have your idols. And what are
these idols? Are they the world and its vanities? Then God is as angry
with you as he is with the heathen, and unless you give up these idols,
you too must be lost.
In a tract of mine, published by the American Tract Society, entitled,
"Knocking at the Door"--a tract which I _most earnestly_ entreat you to
get and read--you will find an account of the death of a young lady, who
had chosen the world and its vanities as her idols. I was her physician.
After having attended her for about a month, I perceived, one morning,
that her disease must soon prove fatal. I told her that she could not
live. She then exclaimed, "Doctor, can I not live a month?" I informed
her that she could not. Again she exclaimed, "Can I not live two weeks?"
She was told that she could not live two weeks. And such a scene of
horror followed as I never before witnessed, and may God be pleased to
grant that I may never witness such another. Until laid upon a dying
bed, I fear that she had neglected to think about her soul's concerns.
Now she requested to be taken from it, and placed upon her knees, that
she might call upon God to have mercy upon her. As her case excited much
attention, some of the youth came to see her. These she warned, in the
most solemn manner, not to put off repentance, as she had done, to a
dying hour. Looking up at me, on one occasion, she exclaimed, "Doctor,
cannot you save me?" Alas, what could I do for the poor sufferer.
Witness, now, how anxious she was to obtain the favor of that God whom
she had hitherto neglected. Yes, so anxious that she requested her
friends not to allow her to sleep, that she might spend every remaining
breath in calling upon God to have mercy upon her. One very affecting
circumstance occurred. She requested her trunk either to be brought to
her bedside, or to be opened. From this a ring, which was set with red
garnets, was taken out by herself, or by another, and handed to her. She
then called a young friend to her bedside, put the ring upon her finger,
and said to her, "Don't you put off repentance, as I have done, until a
dying hour." That ring is now in my possession. In less than forty-eight
hours after I told her that she could not live, she passed into
eternity. Would that I could show you that mournful countenance, which
continued long after the last spark of life had become extinct; yes,
even up to the moment when the lid of her coffin for ever hid it from
our view. Never, never shall I forget it. It was a sad monument of the
wreck within.
Now, my dear children, you would not like to die as, I fear, this young
lady died. Well, then, if you would die differently, you must live
differently. You must live for Christ, if you would die in Christ. And
are you Christ's, or are you yet gay and thoughtless--as gay and as
thoughtless as this young lady was, until laid upon her dying bed? If
you are so, and if you continue to remain in this sad condition, your
season of sorrow too will certainly come, and it will come when you
expect it not. As the little insect which flies round and round your
candle is dazzled with its brightness, and feels nothing but pleasure,
until it unconsciously strikes the blaze with its little wings, and is
swallowed up in the flame; so you are dazzled with the pleasures of the
world, thinking nothing of the flames which may swallow you up in a
moment, and put a stop to all your joys for ever. O, that the death-bed
scene of Miss Matthews might have a happy effect upon you. O, that the
solemn warning which she gave to her young friend, not to put off
repentance as she had done, until a dying hour, might continue to sound
in your ears, until you would no longer delay repentance. My dear
children, this young lady, though dead, yet speaketh. She speaks to you.
She calls upon you from her tomb--from the eternal world, to delay
repentance no longer. Will you, then, be so mad as to turn a deaf ear to
this call? Will you ever take another sip from the cup of unhallowed
pleasure? Will you ever direct your little feet to the ballroom, or
other places of sinful amusement? Will you hereafter prefer your worldly
joys to Christ? O, you must not, you must not. It will not do for you to
be lost. Who, O who can lie down in everlasting burnings? Who can dwell
for ever with devouring flames?