JUGGERNAUT AND JUGGLERS
The next day was Sunday, and none of the party appeared in the parlor till
quite late; not because it was the Sabbath, but because they were all very
tired, even the four lively boys, who had done more sightseeing than the
rest of the tourists. They were always on the wing, and while the older
ones rested, they always found some novelty which drew them away from the
hotel. Of the four servants only two attended upon them. They had
practically retired two of them with some difficulty when they were away
from the party, for they were a nuisance to them, so many of them.
Sayad and Moro were retained, however; for they were more intelligent than
the others, spoke English better, and were more enterprising, frequently
suggesting some means of amusement to them. They were interested in the
boys and girls, and Sayad told Louis and Felix all about them,--about their
homes, their schools, their sports; and Moro did the same for Scott and
Morris. On this Sunday they were conducted to a Sunday-school of two
hundred scholars, under the direction of the missionaries, though the
teachers are mostly natives.
It was a strange sight to them, the variety of races, the strange costumes,
and the absence of any considerable portion of costume at all. There were
Mohammedans, Chinamen, negroes, Jews, and a few Europeans. They fell in
with the missionary from England, who told them a good deal about their
work, and how interested they were in it, declaring that they could see the
fruits of their labors, detailing a number of instances of conversions.
They had a day-school also, and they hired a strict Hindu because he taught
English so well. He hated the Christians, and did his work only because he
was paid for it; but he had to listen to the prayers and exhortations, and
finally he yielded in spite of himself, and became a very useful Christian
minister.
This gentleman said that the number of Christians in India had doubled
within ten years. He invited the party to come to the church, and the boys
hastened back to the hotel to tell their friends about it. They all went to
this meeting, including their three distinguished guides. The service was
about the same as at home, the clergyman was a native of the Brahmin caste,
and he preached a very earnest and sensible sermon. The funds of the
mission were increased at least a thousand dollars by this visit.
In the evening the entire company attended the Church of England at the
invitation of Lord Tremlyn; and the sermon was preached by the Bishop of
Bombay. The Methodists were as much pleased with it as though it had been
delivered by one of their own fold. A portion of the day was passed in
writing letters to their friends at home, and quite a bundle of them was
collected for the post by Louis. They were all sealed, with stamps affixed,
and Morris's servant Mobarak was directed to put them in the mail-box. But
the fellow shook his head, and declined to obey.
His sahib was proceeding to give him a lecture in rather energetic terms,
when Sir Modava interposed, and explained that the servant had religious
scruples, knowing that the stamp had been wet on the tongues of the
senders, which made it unclean to him, and he could not touch it.
"I have heard of a young man not older than Mobarak who lost his life
rather than come in contact with the saliva of a foreigner; but I doubt if
many would carry their fanaticism to that extent," he added.
The next morning the party were up at six o'clock, and after they had taken
their coffee, carried up to them by their servants, went out to walk by two
and threes; but they returned by seven o'clock, and were assembled in the
parlor. The sights in the streets had become rather an old story by this
time, and there was not much to be said about them.
"Have you recovered from the fatigues of Saturday, Mrs. Belgrave?" asked
Lord Tremlyn.
"Entirely, my Lord. I am quite ready for the next item in your programme,"
replied the lady.
"How did you enjoy the play, madam?" inquired Sir Modava.
"As a religious exhibition, from my point of view, it was a failure."
"It does not convey much of an idea of even the mythology of the Hindus,"
added Professor Giroud. "If Krishna was a divinity, or even an incarnation
of one, he is a very bad representation of the piety and morality of the
gods. The affair was well enough as a love-story, but the conclusion looked
like a pleasant satire on those authors who insist that their tales and
novels shall have an agreeable ending;" and the professor indulged in a
hearty laugh as he recalled the manner in which Satyavama had been brought
back to life by the divinity in yellow paint.
"I like that kind of a winding up of a story, and I don't like the other
kind," added the magnate of the Fifth Avenue. "We read novels, if we read
them at all, for the fun of it, with some incidental information in the
right direction. When I was a young man I had a taste for the sea, as most
boys have, and I read Marryat's novels with immense pleasure. In 'The
King's Own,' after following the young fellow in his adventures all over
the world, his life terminated just as he was reaching home, and I was
disgusted. I have read most of this author's books again, but I never
looked into 'The King's Own' a second time."
"I think we all like to have a story 'end well,' though it was a rather
violent bringing up Saturday night," said Dr. Hawkes. "But the actresses in
that play were all exceedingly pretty girls, and I did not suppose so many
of them could be found in all India."
"That was just what I was saying to Govind after the performance, and he
laughed as though he would choke himself to death," interposed Lord
Tremlyn, laughing rather earnestly himself. "There was not a single female
on the stage; for the custom of the theatre here does not permit women to
appear, any more than it did in the time of Shakespeare."
"But I saw them!" exclaimed the surgeon. "I think I know a woman when I see
one, though I am an old bachelor, and rather a tough one at that."
"Not always, Doctor; for not one of those you call girls was a female. A
woman on the Hindu stage is a thing unknown," rallied the viscount.
"I suppose I must give it up, though I would not do so on any less
authority than that of your lordship," replied the surgeon good-naturedly.
All the rest of the party expressed their astonishment in terms hardly less
strong; and the ladies were even more incredulous than the gentlemen.
"As Govind told me, all the female parts were taken by boys remarkable for
their beauty and the sweetness of their voices," added his lordship. "But
this is understood to be our last day in Bombay, though the limitation of
time does not come from any suggestion of mine; and we must make the best
use of what remains. You have not half seen Bombay yet."
"We should need ten years for our trip if we were to exhaust every place we
visit," replied Captain Ringgold. "All we expect is to get a fair idea of a
city; and I think we have done that here, especially as we shall see the
same things, as far as manners and customs are concerned, many times before
we finally take our leave of the country at Colombo in Ceylon."
"While we are quietly seated here, I should like to ask for some
information in regard to Juggernaut," said Uncle Moses. "I used to read the
most horrible stories in my Sabbath-school books about that idol."
"Those stories, as I have been informed by elderly Englishmen, were
published in the United Kingdom, and all of them are inventions or gross
exaggerations," replied Sir Modava, with his pleasant smile. "Puri, or
Juggernaut, is in the district of Orissa, on the western shore of the Bay
of Bengal. It is one of the holiest places in India among the Hindus. It
contains a temple of Juggernaut, in honor of Vishnu, in which is an idol of
this Hindu god, called Jagannath, which is mentioned in history as far back
as A.D. 318. Vishnu is the Preserver of the Hindu trinity, and therefore in
an especial sense the god of the people; and sometimes 100,000 natives
gather at this shrine, bringing offerings to the value of nearly £40,000.
"The town has a population of twenty-two thousand, and it contains six
thousand lodging-houses for the pilgrims who visit it. The chief temple has
a hundred and twenty others in an enclosure, with a tower one hundred and
ninety-two feet high. Juggernaut's car, of which you have read, Mr.
Scarburn, is a sort of temple, thirty-five feet square, and forty-five feet
high, with wheels seven feet high. The car-festival is the chief of
twenty-four held every year, when the idol is dragged to the country house.
Though the distance is less than a mile, the sand is so deep in the roadway
that it requires several days to complete the journey.
"The idols in the temple are hideous-looking objects, with enormous eyes
and crescent-shaped mouths, the horns pointing upwards. But they are very
richly ornamented; for the idol has an income of over £30,000 from lands
and religious houses. It used to be currently reported and believed that
fanatical, crazy devotees cast themselves under the wheels of the car, and
were crushed to death, immolating themselves as an offering to the god. But
these statements have been strictly investigated, and branded as the
calumnies of English writers. Two distinguished savants have declared that
self-immolation is utterly contrary to the worship of Juggernaut, the very
unusual deaths at the car-festival being almost invariably accidental."
"It is a great pity that these horrible stories were ever poured into the
minds of children, and I am thankful that the libraries contain nothing of
the kind now," added Uncle Moses.
The company breakfasted with excellent appetites after the exercises of the
morning; and then Lord Tremlyn conducted them to the large saloon where the
Nautch had been given, and they were astonished to find that one end of it
was occupied by no less than fourteen men, not one of whom was more than
half clothed, though the tom-tom player had on a pair of short trousers.
This fellow began to beat his instrument with frantic energy, moaning and
howling at the same time as though he was in great agony.
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Belgrave, putting her fingers into her ears.
"Can't you stop that hideous noise, Sir Modava?"
"No more howling!" protested he in Hindu.
The chief juggler declared that they could not go on, and Uncle Moses
suggested that they had to overwhelm the senses of the audience to enable
the jugglers to deceive them. Their Hindu guide talked with them, and then
ordered them to leave the hotel. The performers were not willing to forego
the rich reward expected; and a compromise was effected by which the
tom-tom was to be used, but the howling was to cease. Lord Tremlyn had
announced the nature of the entertainment as they entered the apartment,
and most of the tourists had heard of the wonderful skill of Indian
jugglers.
A couple of the performers produced two swords twenty-six inches long, and
pushed them down their throats to the hilt, and then asked Dr. Hawkes to
feel the point in their stomachs. Another put a stone in his mouth, and
then began to blow out smoke and a cloud of sparks from his nose as well as
his mouth. Turning a somerset, he cast the stone on the floor. One took an
iron hoop from a pile of them, and set it to spinning on a pole in the air.
He continued to add others, one at a time, till he had eighteen of them
whirling above his head.
Another set a lot of small swords circling in the air, till he had ten of
them buzzing about his head. At the same time a sleight-of-hand man was
doing a variety of tricks very skilfully, and acrobats were mounting on
each other's shoulders, and pitching themselves about very promiscuously.
While the party were wondering at the skill of the performers, though many
of them had seen most of the tricks at home, a boy about eight years old
came into the room with a good-sized basket in his hands, which he placed
on the floor as the men spread out into a semicircle. The child stepped
into the basket, which did not seem to be big enough to hold him, even when
reduced to his smallest dimensions.
The drummer played a new tune, and sang in a low tone. The boy seemed to
have a fit, and writhed as though he were in convulsions, finally dropping
down into the basket very slowly. Mrs. Blossom was sure the basket was not
big enough to contain him, and wondered what had become of him. Then the
performers threw themselves on the basket, closed the lid, and began to
punch it in every direction with long and wicked-looking knives. The ladies
were appalled at the sight; but they were assured that it was all right.
The Hindus finally crushed down the basket till it was almost flat, and it
did not look as though there was any space in it for a kitten, much less an
eight-year-old boy. Then the men formed a circle around the basket, and
began a sort of chant. Something like a voice seemed to be sounding in at
the open windows. It continued to come nearer, and at last appeared to
proceed from the basket, which began to be distended, till it was restored
to its full size. Then the lid was removed, and the child sprang out, to
the great relief of Mrs. Blossom.
Then one of the jugglers set a top to whirling, placed the point on the end
of a stick, and balanced it on his nose. So far it was no new thing; but
one of the spectators was asked to say stop at any time he pleased. Captain
Ringgold gave this command; and when he did so, the top ceased to whirl,
though, upsetting the bicycle theory, it kept its place on the stick. "Go!"
added the commander, prompted by Sir Modava; and the plaything began to
whirl again, as though its gyrations had not been interrupted. It was
stopped and started again several times, till the spectators were
satisfied.
The stick and the top were critically examined by the whole party, but not
one of them could suggest an explanation of the trick. The last two acts
were the most surprising; and the rest of the performance, though skilfully
done, did not amount to much. His lordship gave the chief juggler a handful
of silver, and they left the hotel with a profusion of salaams; for they
did not often make in a month what they got for an hour, the Hindu
gentleman said.