HINDU TEMPLES, IDOLS AND WORSHIP.
A thousand pilgrims strain
Arm, shoulder, breast and thigh, with might and main,
To drag that sacred wain,
And scarce can draw the enormous load,
Prone fall the frantic votaries in its road,
And calling on the god,
Their self-devoted bodies there they lay
To pave his chariot-way.
On Jaga-Naut they call,
The ponderous car rolls on, and crushes all.
ROBERT SOUTHEY.
Every city of India has its temples by the hundreds, in some cases by
the thousands. On all the hills, in all the valleys, scattered over
all the fields, in the densest jungles or open plains are temples,
shrines and idols. The rivers are sacred, trees are worshiped and
very many animals receive religious reverence. The temple-courts are
filled with chattering monkeys, and here and there we see the sacred
bulls, garlanded with flowers and fed by the devotees. There is no end,
seemingly, to their temples and idols. Probably no country in the world
has more of these than India. It is one of the marks of heathenism
to multiply the objects and places of worship. Of course, we cannot
here make mention of all these, we can but describe a few of the more
important, which may serve as specimens of the rest.
IDOLS AND TEMPLES OF JUGGERNAUT.
Juggernaut is a celebrated god. He is called the “Lord of the world.”
His images are as ugly as can be conceived. Generally they are made of
wood; in some temples placed three together, one of blue, one of white
and one of yellow. Juggernaut has many temples; the one at Puri, on the
western shore of the Bay of Bengal, being the largest, and esteemed the
most holy. This pagoda stands at the end of the principal street of the
city, which is very wide, and lined with dwellings for the priests,
small shrines and other sacred buildings. The wall which surrounds
the temple is 21 feet high, and forms an inclosure 650 feet on each
side. The principal edifice rises to the height of 184 feet. The main
gate-way is crowded with Fakirs. On each side of the entrance is a
mammoth lion. Just before the visitor, as he enters, is an image of the
monkey-god, Hanuman.
[Illustration: THE MOST SACRED TEMPLE OF JUGGERNAUT AT PURI.]
The temple is dedicated to Krishna, or Juggernaut, (sometimes written
Jagan-nath,) and his companions--Siva and Sathadra. The idols of each
are rude, hideous-looking sculptured blocks of wood, each about six
feet high. The representations of the human face in these idols are
hideous. Krishna is painted dark blue, Siva white and Sathadra yellow.
Before the altar an image of the hawk-god, Garounda, is placed. Every
day, we are told, the idols are feasted. Their food consists of 410
pounds of rice, 225 pounds of flour, 350 pounds of butter, 167 pounds
of treacle, 65 pounds of vegetables, 186 pounds of milk, 24 pounds
of spices, 34 pounds of salt and 41 pounds of oil. While the food is
being placed before the gods, all but a favored few are excluded from
the temple, and the doors are shut. There are over 20,000 holy men
connected with this temple, and we can easily guess that _they_
help the idols to get rid of this great mass of food, at any rate it
all speedily disappears. The idols, strange as it may seem, are washed
and dressed daily with great seriousness.
[Illustration:
H. Melville, Painter. Illman Brothers, Engravers & Printers.
THE HINDU MOTHER.
ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR ERROR’S CHAINS]
[Illustration:
SIVA. SATHADRA. KRISHNA.
WORSHIP IN THE TEMPLE OF KRISHNA, OR JUGGERNAUT.
The Hawk God, Garounda, is seen in the foreground.]
[Illustration: HINDU DEVOTEES DRAGGING JUGGERNAUT’S CAR AND
IMMOLATING THEMSELVES.]
On the 18th of June Juggernaut’s great festival occurs. Formerly great
multitudes assembled at this time from every part of the land. Men,
women and children in crowds thronged to the city days in advance,
and waited with impatience for the festival day to come. The Car-??
Festival celebrated at Puri is usually attended by more than 500,000
pilgrims, nearly half of whom are females. There is great suffering
among these pilgrims, and many of them die in consequence of excessive
fatigue, exposure to the annual rains, and the want of suitable and
sufficient food. The plains, in many places, are literally whitened
with their bones, while dogs and vultures are continually devouring
the bodies of the dead. At the appointed time each idol was washed,
dressed in silk and gold, and placed upon his triumphal car. The car of
Juggernaut consists of an elevated platform, thirty-four feet square,
supported by sixteen wheels, each six and a half feet in diameter. It
is covered with cloth of gold and costly stuffs, and a Juggernaut is
placed under a canopy. Six ropes, or cables, 300 feet in length, are
attached to the car, by means of which the people draw it from place to
place. The whole car is covered with sculptures in the Hindu style.
Thousands seize these ropes, as many as could get hold. In their
fanatical frenzy they crowded and shouldered and shoved one another,
counting themselves happy if they could only lay a hand on the ropes.
The Car-Festival was the great event of the religious year of the
worshipers of Juggernaut. Its object was to convey Juggernaut from the
temple to his country house, a mile distant. When the image was placed
in the car the multitude fell on their knees and bowed their foreheads
in the dust.
As the car began to advance the drums beat and cymbals clashed, while
from its platform the priests shouted, harangued and sang songs, which
were received with applause by the multitude. And so the dense mass,
tugging, sweating, singing, praying, dragged the car slowly along.
Some were knocked down and trampled upon, and some were accidentally
crushed by the ponderous wheels, while a few, mostly those who were
sick or in much trouble, sought death by throwing themselves in the
way of the wheels, this latter being encouraged by some of the priests.
The priests and priestesses chanted songs in praise of the gods, the
multitudes flung flowers and other gifts about the car.
[Illustration: THE IDOL JUGGERNAUT USUALLY CARRIED ON THE
CAR.]
Such was the Great Car-Festival of Juggernaut in ancient days. Of late
years it has lost much of its popularity, and though thousands still
attend annually, it is now looked upon more as an annual fair than a
religious festival. The devotees are not half so zealous as formerly,
and the priests find almost no one to drag the car. No longer do any
self-made victims fall beneath its wheels, unless it be some poor, weak
wretch, tired of life and desiring thus to commit suicide. The British
government has caused much of this change, but more has been done
by the influence which Christian missionaries have exerted upon the
people. The “Lord of the World,” as they call this idol, shall yet bow
before the Lord of Lords.
From this account of Juggernaut and his worship one cannot fail to
see the terrible degradation which Hinduism imposes on its devotees.
That God should be deemed to be fitly represented by such ugly
conceptions as are seen in these idols is evidence of a most degraded
system of religion. Still more so is the teaching of the priests, that
God actually lives in some substance in the idol’s heart. Contrast
this with the teachings of the Bible concerning Him whom the heaven
of heavens cannot contain! Juggernaut’s worshipers regard him as a
_thing_ whom they are to keep from getting angry by petting him
and caring for and feeding as for a little child; that He is a being
who needs such things as clothing to protect and food to sustain Him,
and who needs to be washed, and to retire to a summer resort to escape
the summer’s heat.
[Illustration: DISROBING AND DISJOINTING JUGGERNAUT.]
A striking illustration of the inferiority of idols is given in the
incident pictured below. Several converts from Hinduism concluded
to undress and disjoint their idol, and finally they chopped up the
several parts and used them for firewood, thus more than fulfilling the
words of Isaiah (chap. xliv., 9–20), who tells of idolaters making an
idol of parts of their wood and burning the residue to warm themselves
and to roast their meat.
KALI, THE GODDESS OF BLOOD.
Kali is a very popular goddess, and yet her images are the pictures of
terror. She wears a head-dress of snakes, and a necklace consisting of
a chain of skulls. In her hand she holds a murderous-looking knife.
Kali is the wife of Siva, the destroyer. In September a festival is
held in her honor, called the Doorga-pooja. In all of Kali’s temples
her idols are gayly adorned with flowers, and prayers are offered to
her during days of dancing and singing.
[Illustration: THE GODDESS KALI.]
[Illustration: IDOL OF THE BLOODY GODDESS KALI. AT CALCUTTA,
INDIA.]
There used to be a sect of murderous stranglers, known as Thugs, who
were especially devoted to the worship of Kali, and who performed
their murderous work as a religious service to that goddess. The story
of this people opens up a chapter of the greatest cruelty, going far
beyond all the ordinary records of crime. Yet it was all done from a
religious motive, as well as for love of plunder. Strange that it could
be so! The legend that accounts for their origin is as follows: A long
while ago a giant demon infested this world destroying mankind. The
goddess Kali, to save mankind from utter destruction, attacked this
demon and cut him down; but from the drops of blood that fell to the
ground immediately there sprang up other demons--a host of them. Then
Kali created two men, to whom she gave handkerchiefs, and whom she
taught to strangle the demons without shedding blood. This was done,
lest if their blood be shed more demons should spring up. Kali intended
in this way to destroy the whole brood. When these men had strangled
all the demons, she bade them strangle men in the same way, to repay
her for her service to mankind. From these two men the Thugs came.
[Illustration: NIGHT FEAST OF THE BLOODY GODDESS, KALI.]
The Thugs were born such; at each one’s hearthstone his children were
trained to the work of becoming murderers. The handkerchief with
which the victim was strangled, and the pick-axe with which his grave
was dug, were obtained from the priest, and were regarded as very
sacred. Their method of procedure was like this: They waited about the
inns or loitered along the roads waiting for travelers to overtake
them. The Thug and his intended victim would journey together, and,
little by little, he would worm out of him all his plans and intended
movements. Thus the Thug could decide on the most suitable place and
time. When they came to this, he would throw his strip of cloth about
the unsuspecting stranger’s neck and draw it tighter and tighter until
he was suffocated. If the Thugs traveled together with a party of
merchants, each selected his victim, and all were strangled together.
After death a hole, about three feet deep, was dug, and the corpse was
buried face downwards. The greatest care was taken to shed no blood,
and the whole was generally done under cover of the darkness of night.
The whole sect was so banded together, having their scouts and spies,
and systems of signaling one another, when they performed their work,
that they were rarely detected. Every year several thousands of persons
lost their lives at the hands of the Thugs. In the year 1826 the
British government first discovered their existence. During the period
of some nine years over fifteen hundred of the Thugs were arrested
and executed. The sect is very nearly destroyed now. How astonishing
that such a sect should not merely exist, but that they should perform
their dastardly deeds as a religious service. The cannibalism of the
barbarous South Sea Islanders is regarded with the greatest abhorrence;
but their ignorance and degraded condition lessens our condemnation of
their abominable deeds. For the Thugs, an intelligent people, living in
a semi-civilized land, with opportunities of getting knowledge far in
advance of the Islanders of the Pacific, we can see almost no reason
for hesitating to condemn most strongly their awful practices. What
a contrast is here furnished between the religion of Jesus Christ,
with its teachings of mercy and love, and the religion that not only
tolerated, but even taught, that to murder was to render a service to
the gods.
[Illustration: GODDESS KALI, FROM A HINDU PICTURE.]
Kali’s feasts were generally held at night. Great crowds of religious
fanatics gathered around her most fearful images. These were generally
placed in a grove for this occasion. In two of her four hands the idol
held skulls; formerly these were human skulls, now they are made of
wood. The devotees walk round and round the idol, bearing torches,
beating drums, and dancing in odd ways.
Kali is one of the most celebrated goddesses of all the Hindu worship,
and is the especial favorite divinity of the people of Calcutta. Her
images are very different, but she has always one character ascribed to
her; she is cruel and revengeful. We meet her temples everywhere--by
the roadside, in palm groves, under the wide-spreading banyan tree.
This goddess of destruction being more feared than all others, is
worshiped more than all. She is represented sometimes as standing on a
lion or a prostrate man, always with four hands. These hold knives or
skulls, or, perhaps, human heads, as already noticed. Often she wears
a necklace of skulls. The Hindus bring to her idols the first fruits
of the garden, vineyard or orchard. Some of Kali’s temples, like that
at Calcutta, are beautifully sculptured, and her idols decorated with
precious-stones.
TEMPLE DECORATIONS.
There is one thing which characterizes almost all of the better Hindu
temples, this is the exquisite richness of the sculptures which
decorate their walls. They seem to trust more to the impression which
appeals to the sight make upon the minds of the people than to any oral
teaching or readings from books. The Hindus are accustomed to depict
in these decorations the whole of their mythology, the legends of the
gods, the stories of the lives of their deities, their ideas of the
future life, of the present world and the like. The preceding picture
gives a sculpture representing the Hindu notion of the universe, and
of the relative position of the world. To the untutored Hindu mind it
answers fully the question, How is the world upheld? Of course those
Hindus who have received the light of a truly scientific education
laugh at such notions as are here indicated. They know far better, as
do we.
[Illustration: HINDU NOTION OF THE UNIVERSE.]
[Illustration: GOLDEN TEMPLE OF THE HINDUS OF UMRITSUR.]
[Illustration: ENTABLATURE FROM A HINDU TEMPLE.]
In the accompanying engraving the transmigration of the soul is
illustrated. This is drawn from a photograph of the entablature of
a temple near the foot of the lofty Himalayas. The sculpture which
follows tells of the romantic adventures narrated in the Ramayama.
These sculptures are the common people’s teachers; indeed, the world
over, the language of pictures is far more loved and better understood
than any other. Pictures and sculptures constitute the one language
intelligible to people speaking widely different dialects.
[Illustration: CHILDREN AT WORSHIP IN A TEMPLE IN BENARES.]
Herein, too, is one of the great powers of heathenism over the
children. Before they can read for themselves or remember the doctrines
taught them, they see the pictures and enjoy the stories they
communicate. These become part of the children’s mental store. They
are realities to them. They are never forgotten. They never lose
their power. This is abundantly demonstrated in the experience of every
teacher. When verbal description has failed a picture has made all
clear.
[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF FROM A HINDU TEMPLE.]
BENARES.
True Hindus consider the city of Benares to be situated in the very
centre of the earth, and to be the most sacred city in the world. There
are not less than 80,000 Brahmins, or “holy caste” Hindus, residing
here, and the city also is stocked with the so-called “sacred bulls and
sacred monkeys.” There are more than 1,000 temples and over 500,000
enshrined deities. More than 100,000 pilgrims visit Benares annually,
20,000 of whom may be seen rushing at one time into the River Ganges,
at a given signal, that they may bathe at the proper moment. The river
is reached by flights of broad steps, and on these the Hindus pass the
busiest hours of the day, bathing, dressing, saying their prayers,
lounging and gossiping. Benares is believed by some to be 80,000 steps
nearer to heaven than any other part of the world. Ten miles around
Benares is said to be such holy ground, that whoever dies within this
area is sure of going to heaven, however great a sinner he may have
been.
THE SACRED CITY OF THE SIKHS.
Umritsur, in North-western India, is the holy city of the Sikhs. This
is a sect of reformed Hindus, who at first rejected idolatry, but who
afterwards found its fascination too strong for them. In the centre of
a large tank--called the Lake of Immortality, because whoever bathes
in it is shielded from everlasting death--is a temple of pure white
marble, with a roof made of plates of copper, richly gilded; this is
called the Golden Temple. Before crossing the bridge or causeway to the
temple, one must put off the shoes from his feet, so holy is the place.
The Sikhs are very fanatical, and they do not receive visitors with
any expressions of friendliness. The city of Umritsur has no celebrity
apart from this temple. The sect of the Sikhs originated about the
middle of the fifteenth century, and now numbers about 5,000,000.
[Illustration: APPROACH TO THE TEMPLE OF UMRITSUR.]
CAVE-TEMPLES OF ELEPHANTA AND GWALIOR.
In the harbor of Bombay is an island containing a celebrated
cave-temple. Hundreds of years ago the Hindus excavated this temple
from the solid rock; pillars, idols and chapels are all cut from
the one great mass of stone. For three hundred years past there has
been little worship here. The temple was devoted to the worship of
Siva. After ascending a flight of several hundred steps we stand
before the great square gate-ways. Immense columns ranging away in the
darkness support the roof of solid rock. On the walls are sculptured
the fantastic forms of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. The metamorphoses of
these are also shown in sculpture. The cave is shaped like a cross. At
the end of the main passage-way, opposite the principal gate-way, is
an altar supporting a gigantic, three-headed idol. The central face
is calm and benevolent, the forehead is covered with a lofty diadem,
like a mitre, covered with delicate carvings representing necklaces.
The face on the right expresses terrible rage; its mitre is covered
with sculptured skulls and serpents, and its outstretched hand holds
a cobra. The other face is smiling and the hand holds a flower. The
triple idol represents Siva as the passive god, the destroying god and
the saving god. The sculptures are much worn away, but enough remains
to indicate the wondrous majesty and beauty of the Elephanta Cave.
[Illustration: GREAT IDOL OF THE CAVE OF MANDAR. INDIA.]
[Illustration: CAVE OF ELEPHANTA.]
[Illustration: THE WONDERFULLY EXCAVATED TEMPLE-CAVE OF
ELEPHANTA, BOMBAY, INDIA.]
At Gwalior are a number of Hindu temple-caves. The precipitous sides
of the great mountain are cut and carved into hundreds of statues,
from one foot to forty feet high, and deep recesses in which they seem
hidden away. One of these caves was probably made about 300 years
after Christ. After passing through several archways we stand before
three idols, each twenty feet high. The worship of these has long
since ceased, and they only remain to show us what the people of India
worshiped hundreds of years ago. More than a thousand years before this
cave was excavated, and over twenty-five hundred years ago, another
great cave was prepared at Gwalior, that of Ourwhai. This is an old
Jain temple. For about 800 feet, the hard surface of the rock
has been dressed so as to form a smooth wall, and the lower part of
this wall has been excavated, and there the statues were sculptured.
First there are nine gigantic statues, each thirty feet high, placed
in niches. Behind these is a small chamber containing another great
statue in a lying position. From this chamber a door leads into a
tank. Following the paved foot-path which surrounds this tank, you
come to another and larger chamber, which is specially dedicated to
the statue of Adinath, thirty-five feet high. Around the idol are rich
sculptures, and on the cushion on which it sits is a long inscription.
This mountain contains twelve rooms, in each of which are from one to
nine statues; most of these are from twenty to thirty feet high. For
nearly ten miles around this mountain are bas-reliefs, statues and
excavations. There is a natural tendency among the superstitious people
to seek places of darkness for the observances of their religious
rites. Oftentimes the priests are enabled to impose on the credulity of
the people much more easily when they add some element of weirdness or
mystery to their strange religious performances.
[Illustration: IMAGE OF GANESHA.]
[Illustration: ANNUAL BOAT-FESTIVAL OF GANESHA, ON THE
GANGES.]
[Illustration: A WAYSIDE IDOL OF GANESHA, GOD OF WISDOM.]
GANESHA, GOD OF WISDOM.
Another exceedingly popular idol of the Hindus is that of Ganesha, the
God of Wisdom. It is partly in the shape of a man and partly in the
shape of an elephant. The children in the schools are taught to worship
it, and it is adored by all who wish to become acquainted with Hindu
learning and so-called wisdom. The images of this god are not only
found in the temples and schools, and at the corners of the streets in
the cities, but also under the trees on country roadsides.
The sagacity of the elephant is well known, and it is presumed that
the elephant-idol is worshiped for this reason, just as the serpent is
worshiped as the symbol of cunning, or the sun as the symbol of power.
As of almost all the other gods, Ganesha has his festivals, when the
people come together in great crowds to do him honor. At one of these
annual festivals they bring forth the god Ganesha, place him in a boat,
and accompanied with other boats containing priests and musicians, they
row up and down the Ganges. The great crowds of people lining the shore
fill the air with their shouts and songs, and the occasion is one of
exuberant joy.
PAGODAS.
Scattered about the large temple inclosures are great pagodas or
towers. These contained the rooms of the priests and servants of the
temple. Sometimes they served simply as gate-ways, at other times they
were used as houses for the idols. Rising high above the surrounding
country, everywhere they could be seen by the people, and thus their
devotion to their idolatrous worship was increased. The priests sought
by the use of every possible means to fix the people’s faith in their
idols; like Demetrius, whose business of making shrines in Ephesus was
spoiled by Paul’s preaching, these priests do not wish to lose their
hold upon the people, because thus their means of support would be
destroyed. But, notwithstanding all their efforts, they cannot hold the
people in their bondage, and each year witnesses more and more refusing
to listen to them. None of these great pagodas are new. For very many
years they have towered above the dwellings of the people in their
majestic grandeur; when they fall into decay they are not replaced.
Many of these pagodas are several hundreds of feet high, and are
covered with sculptures representing scenes in the lives of the gods of
the temple, or of eminent saints.
[Illustration: GATEWAY OF MADURA TEMPLE.]
Another famous pagoda is at Pondicherry, in Southern India. The
gate-way to this temple is most intricately carved. The heathen aim to
set forth in a durable way, as by these sculptures, the parts of their
worship. They depend largely upon the sight for instructing the people
in their faith, rather than upon their hearing, preaching, or reading
sacred books.
[Illustration: PAGODA OF PONDICHERRY, FAMED FOR ITS
SCULPTURE.]
The interiors as well as the exteriors of these temples are covered
with sculptures. The service is in nowise like that in Christian
churches. The people come and go as they please. They beat the drums to
call the attention of the gods to the prayers they are about to offer,
rub their hands together as they mumble over some prayers, leave their
offerings before the idol of stone or wood, and go away believing that
dangers will be averted, or that good fortune will come to them.
In Ongole, near the great pagodas, the people used to be very
idolatrous, having many idols in their houses as well as in their
temples. But even here they are rapidly losing their faith in their
idols. Recently, in a single year, 20,000 people in this district
became Christians, and in one week they brought to the missionaries a
thousand idols which they had ceased to worship.
[Illustration: DISUSED IDOLS AND SACRED ARTICLES FROM ONGOLE,
INDIA.]
[Illustration: BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF PAGODAS AND TEMPLE GROUNDS.
This view is taken from Eagle Hill, in the Madras Presidency,
India. It looks toward the east, and when combined with its
counterpart, looking toward the west, it shows the extent and
grandeur of these sacred grounds and buildings.]
[Illustration: BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF PAGODAS AND TEMPLE GROUNDS.
This view is taken from Eagle Hill, in the Madras Presidency,
India. It looks toward the west, and when combined with its
counterpart, looking toward the east, it shows the extent and
grandeur of these sacred grounds and buildings.]
HINDU WASHINGS FOR SIN.
A writer for young people thus describes the custom of the Hindus
resorting to the Ganges, and the reasons for it:
“The heathen know well that sin needs to be washed away, but as to how
this can be done they have very strange ideas. Some will walk through
fire, as if that would burn away all impurities; some will cover their
bodies with filth, as if that would cleanse the soul; others still
fancy that the water of certain streams has power to remove all taint
of sin. The Hindus believe that there is wonderful cleansing power in
the water of the Ganges, so that whoever can bathe in that river is
freed from guilt. From all parts of India pilgrims go to the Ganges,
and they believe that whoever dies in that stream is sure of future
bliss. But India is a vast country, and comparatively few of the poor
people who live in the southern portion can travel the thousand miles
or more to reach the Ganges. Hence they have their own sacred streams
and fountains, which, though not regarded as so sacred as the Ganges,
are yet supposed to have power to cleanse from sin.
[Illustration: HINDUS WASHING IN THE SACRED RIVER GANGES AT
BENARES.]
“Several years ago, in a village near Madura, a Brahmin named Sokappen
read in one of the sacred Hindu books, that near the temple of his
village there was a spring far under ground, and that if one would
only dig deep enough water would flow at that spring from the Ganges,
while the river itself was more than eleven hundred miles away. The
Brahmin thought that would be a glorious work to do, and so worked for
years, spending all his own money and begging from others, until he had
finished a great, tank and walled it with hewn stone, with stone steps
leading down to the sacred water. He finally heard of Christ, and of
the forgiveness he offered, and since then he has often preached that
only the blood of Christ can take away sin.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THE SACRED FOUNTAIN.]
“Though many people of India have now heard the Gospel, there are yet
millions who have faith in their sacred bathing places. Those who live
too far from the Ganges find some river, if they can, as at Mowli,
where two rivers, the Yenna and the Krishna, meet, and where multitudes
bathe. The dead, also, are taken there, some to be buried, as was
the ‘saint’ whom Mr. Bruce describes, and others to be burned, that
their ashes may be mingled with the sacred waters. In the district of
Tinnevelly, South India, is a famous artificial tank. It is sometimes
called the ‘Sea of Sacred Milk.’ Granite steps lead down to the water’s
edge, and in the early morning hundreds of men and women gather to
bathe and to worship the sun. The water is stagnant and dirty, though
it is esteemed as specially holy. Here the people wash not only
themselves, but also their clothes. The cost of building these bathing
places is immense, yet the people build them in many parts of India
because they think that, at any cost, provision should be made for the
removal of sin. They know of no better way than by bathing in these
filthy places.”
HINDU HOLY MEN, DEVOTEES AND FAKIRS.
[Illustration: THE FAKIR OF THE IMMOVABLE FOOT.]
[Illustration: THE HOLY MAN WITH THE IRON COLLAR.]
One singular feature of the Brahmin worship is the ways the worshipers
devised to show their zeal. They built great temples, carved immense
idols, and brought great riches into the temple treasuries. They would
perform the strangest penances, the like of which was never seen
elsewhere in all the world. The superior priests never show themselves
but with great pomp. With guards of cavalry preceding them they will
ride on richly caparisoned elephants through the triumphal arches
prepared for them, while the people bow as they pass. The lower priests
renounced every display, indeed they sought its opposite; with them the
vilest uncleanness was most allied to godliness. There was, and is, one
order of priests known as Fakirs, who excelled in self-tortures. They
often give up all clothing, sometimes sitting in a bed of ashes. Often
they forge great iron collars about their necks, or heavy iron bands
upon arms and ankles. Some let their hair grow long and never comb it.
Their bodies are covered with vermin; sometimes they will hold an arm
or leg in a fixed position, never moving it. Until recently they would
often fasten hooks in their flesh on their backs, then be elevated
into the air, and be dragged through the streets by the people. By many
such horrible acts they hoped to earn an entrance into a happier life.
The people regarded these men as unusually holy; they sought them for
cures, and for relief from sorrows. At the great idol festivals these
Fakirs were present in crowds.
[Illustration: THE FAKIR OF THE LONG HAIR.]
[Illustration: A FAKIR WHO NEVER HELPS HIMSELF.]
In India, China and Japan, there are a great many men called
“devotees,” who give themselves up to miserable lives; many of them
hoping by this means to obtain the favor of the gods in whom they
believe and great happiness after death. Some of them, however, are
moved more by a desire to obtain money and honor from their fellow-men,
and they think it a respectable and honorable way of getting a living.
Most of the people fear rather than respect these devotees, thinking
some evil will follow if they displease them, or fail to give them
what they want. Many of these devotees, in all three of the countries
named, spend their time wandering from place to place, and making
long pilgrimages to famous temples. Others torture themselves in all
imaginable ways. Some repeat the name of their favorite idol during
all their hours of wakefulness. Some bathe very frequently, while
others do not wash themselves at all, but permit their hair, beard and
nails to grow to great length; they wear little if any clothing, their
bodies are covered with ashes, and their whole appearance is dirty and
disagreeable. Some of these devotees are really sincere in denying
themselves for their religion; they feel the burden and weight of their
sins, and, knowing not the true way of obtaining pardon and peace, they
take these false ways.
[Illustration: A HINDU HOLY MAN TORTURING HIMSELF BY HANGING
FROM A HOOK.]
Some of these Fakirs are but little better than wild beasts, their
habits all tend to make them so. They generally live in holes or caves
or under banyan trees, and they think that they, by their penances,
make atonement for their own sins and for those of the people who care
for them. Besides the penances already mentioned, we may add that some
drag heavy chains or cannon-balls; some crawl on their hands and knees
for years; some roll their naked bodies over and over from the banks
of the Indus to the banks of the Ganges; some stand for life before a
slow fire; some impose upon themselves a silence of years, and others
hang for hours head downwards. All this is done to merit salvation. In
no other country in the world, probably, have so many different ways
been devised by which men hoped salvation would be earned. Here again
is seen the contrast between the offered salvation of Jesus Christ
and the sought salvation by penances taught by this heathen faith,
most striking. The British government has now forbidden altogether
many of these cruel performances, and has limited others. But earnest
missionary work has done more than anything else to destroy the
people’s faith in the sanctity and wisdom of these so-called holy men.
[Illustration: FAKIR HANGING TO A LIMB.]
Mr. Bruce, an American missionary at Satara, records an event which in
its day caused great excitement. This is his story:
Three or four years ago when we went into Satara, we used to see,
sitting in the veranda of his house, an old man covered with rags and
surrounded with filth. Sometimes we would see him on the street, with
rags innumerable upon his person. In America we should have called
him a crazy man, but ideas differ in different lands. Here he was a
“_saint_,” in whom one of the gods dwelt. When his saintship came
to be known by the populace, he was honored and worshiped everywhere.
Men who ought to have known better would, on seeing him approach, leave
their work, and run and prostrate themselves at his feet. His rags were
removed, and he was clothed with a rich robe of purple. No expense was
spared to supply all his wants, and he was attended to by two servants,
furnished by the Prince of Ouah. At last this rag-man, crazy-man,
saint, died. He had said previously, “Wherever I die, there let my tomb
be built.” He died in the city, and there the people wished to bury him
and erect a tomb which should ever after be an object of worship. But
the municipal officers interfered and ordered the body to be removed
from the city. Then they buried him in the temple grounds, and another
god was added to the millions of Hindu deities.
[Illustration: DEVOTEE ENDURING FIRE.]
[Illustration: FAKIR OF THE LONG NAILS.
The growth of the nails shows how long the hand has been held
in this one position.]
This story will serve to illustrate the delusion under which the Hindus
are resting, and the readiness with which they yield their faith to
any pretender that comes along. The climate of India awakens a dull,
lethargic condition. The activity of Western nations is unknown. The
people are accustomed to move slowly and to avail themselves, as far
as possible, of all the helps obtainable to lessen the toils of daily
life. This also leads them to fall in readily with the declarations of
any foolish fanatic who may arise, rather than to go to the trouble of
sifting them and rejecting them as they deserve. The whole system of
Hinduism lends its aid to this. It is, itself, a gigantic system of
fraud. The Hindu priests laugh in their sleeves at the folly of the
multitudes in listening so readily to their instructions. But few of
them have any faith in the millions of gods, whose representatives they
are. This is their profession, by their priesthood they obtain their
living, and, consequently, they do all they can to make their religion
predominant in all the affairs of their neighborhoods. Hence it comes
about, that instead of at once exposing the pretensions of Fakirs,
holy men and devotees, they lend their aid to gain acceptance for them
with the multitude. So India groans beneath this oppressive load of
priestcraft; each day the priests add link after link to the chains
that bind her; some day, though, she will arise in her might and cast
off her burdens, walking in freedom. Christian mission work will speed
the coming of that day.