Across India; Or, Live Boys in the Far East

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XXI

  JUGGERNAUT AND JUGGLERS

  The next day was Sunday, and none of the party appeared in the parlor tillquite late; not because it was the Sabbath, but because they were all verytired, even the four lively boys, who had done more sightseeing than therest of the tourists. They were always on the wing, and while the olderones rested, they always found some novelty which drew them away from thehotel. Of the four servants only two attended upon them. They hadpractically retired two of them with some difficulty when they were awayfrom the party, for they were a nuisance to them, so many of them.

  Sayad and Moro were retained, however; for they were more intelligent thanthe others, spoke English better, and were more enterprising, frequentlysuggesting some means of amusement to them. They were interested in theboys and girls, and Sayad told Louis and Felix all about them,--about theirhomes, their schools, their sports; and Moro did the same for Scott andMorris. On this Sunday they were conducted to a Sunday-school of twohundred scholars, under the direction of the missionaries, though theteachers 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 wereMohammedans, Chinamen, negroes, Jews, and a few Europeans. They fell inwith the missionary from England, who told them a good deal about theirwork, and how interested they were in it, declaring that they could see thefruits of their labors, detailing a number of instances of conversions.They had a day-school also, and they hired a strict Hindu because he taughtEnglish so well. He hated the Christians, and did his work only because hewas paid for it; but he had to listen to the prayers and exhortations, andfinally he yielded in spite of himself, and became a very useful Christianminister.

  This gentleman said that the number of Christians in India had doubledwithin ten years. He invited the party to come to the church, and the boyshastened back to the hotel to tell their friends about it. They all went tothis meeting, including their three distinguished guides. The service wasabout 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 themission were increased at least a thousand dollars by this visit.

  In the evening the entire company attended the Church of England at theinvitation of Lord Tremlyn; and the sermon was preached by the Bishop ofBombay. The Methodists were as much pleased with it as though it had beendelivered by one of their own fold. A portion of the day was passed inwriting letters to their friends at home, and quite a bundle of them wascollected 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. Butthe 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 religiousscruples, knowing that the stamp had been wet on the tongues of thesenders, 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 liferather than come in contact with the saliva of a foreigner; but I doubt ifmany would carry their fanaticism to that extent," he added.

  The next morning the party were up at six o'clock, and after they had takentheir coffee, carried up to them by their servants, went out to walk by twoand threes; but they returned by seven o'clock, and were assembled in theparlor. The sights in the streets had become rather an old story by thistime, and there was not much to be said about them.

  "Have you recovered from the fatigues of Saturday, Mrs. Belgrave?" askedLord 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 incarnationof one, he is a very bad representation of the piety and morality of thegods. The affair was well enough as a love-story, but the conclusion lookedlike a pleasant satire on those authors who insist that their tales andnovels shall have an agreeable ending;" and the professor indulged in ahearty laugh as he recalled the manner in which Satyavama had been broughtback 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 otherkind," added the magnate of the Fifth Avenue. "We read novels, if we readthem at all, for the fun of it, with some incidental information in theright direction. When I was a young man I had a taste for the sea, as mostboys have, and I read Marryat's novels with immense pleasure. In 'TheKing's Own,' after following the young fellow in his adventures all overthe world, his life terminated just as he was reaching home, and I wasdisgusted. I have read most of this author's books again, but I neverlooked into 'The King's Own' a second time."

  "I think we all like to have a story 'end well,' though it was a ratherviolent bringing up Saturday night," said Dr. Hawkes. "But the actresses inthat play were all exceedingly pretty girls, and I did not suppose so manyof them could be found in all India."

  "That was just what I was saying to Govind after the performance, and helaughed as though he would choke himself to death," interposed LordTremlyn, laughing rather earnestly himself. "There was not a single femaleon the stage; for the custom of the theatre here does not permit women toappear, 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 seeone, 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. Awoman 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 lessauthority than that of your lordship," replied the surgeon good-naturedly.

  All the rest of the party expressed their astonishment in terms hardly lessstrong; and the ladies were even more incredulous than the gentlemen.

  "As Govind told me, all the female parts were taken by boys remarkable fortheir beauty and the sweetness of their voices," added his lordship. "Butthis is understood to be our last day in Bombay, though the limitation oftime does not come from any suggestion of mine; and we must make the bestuse 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 wevisit," replied Captain Ringgold. "All we expect is to get a fair idea of acity; and I think we have done that here, especially as we shall see thesame things, as far as manners and customs are concerned, many times beforewe finally take our leave of the country at Colombo in Ceylon."

  "While we are quietly seated here, I should like to ask for someinformation in regard to Juggernaut," said Uncle Moses. "I used to read themost horrible stories in my Sabbath-school books about that idol."

  "Those stories, as I have been informed by elderly Englishmen, werepublished in the United Kingdom, and all of them are inventions or grossexaggerations," replied Sir Modava, with his pleasant smile. "Puri, orJuggernaut, is in the district of Orissa, on the western shore of the Bayof Bengal. It is one of the holiest places in India among the Hindus. Itcontains a temple of Juggernaut, in honor of Vishnu, in which is an idol ofthis Hindu god, called Jagannath, which is mentioned in history as far backas A.D. 318. Vishnu is the Preserver of the Hindu trinity, and therefore inan especial sense the god of the people; and sometimes 100,000 nativesgather at this shrine, bringing offerings to the value of nearly L40,000.

  "The town has a population of twenty-two thousand, and it contains sixthousand lodging-houses for the pilgrims who visit it. The chief temple hasa hundred and twenty others in an enclosure, with a tower one hundred andninety-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 feethigh, with wheels
seven feet high. The car-festival is the chief oftwenty-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 roadwaythat it requires several days to complete the journey.

  "The idols in the temple are hideous-looking objects, with enormous eyesand crescent-shaped mouths, the horns pointing upwards. But they are veryrichly ornamented; for the idol has an income of over L30,000 from landsand religious houses. It used to be currently reported and believed thatfanatical, crazy devotees cast themselves under the wheels of the car, andwere crushed to death, immolating themselves as an offering to the god. Butthese statements have been strictly investigated, and branded as thecalumnies of English writers. Two distinguished savants have declared thatself-immolation is utterly contrary to the worship of Juggernaut, the veryunusual deaths at the car-festival being almost invariably accidental."

  "It is a great pity that these horrible stories were ever poured into theminds of children, and I am thankful that the libraries contain nothing ofthe kind now," added Uncle Moses.

  The company breakfasted with excellent appetites after the exercises of themorning; and then Lord Tremlyn conducted them to the large saloon where theNautch had been given, and they were astonished to find that one end of itwas occupied by no less than fourteen men, not one of whom was more thanhalf clothed, though the tom-tom player had on a pair of short trousers.This fellow began to beat his instrument with frantic energy, moaning andhowling 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 Mosessuggested that they had to overwhelm the senses of the audience to enablethe jugglers to deceive them. Their Hindu guide talked with them, and thenordered them to leave the hotel. The performers were not willing to foregothe rich reward expected; and a compromise was effected by which thetom-tom was to be used, but the howling was to cease. Lord Tremlyn hadannounced the nature of the entertainment as they entered the apartment,and most of the tourists had heard of the wonderful skill of Indianjugglers.

  A couple of the performers produced two swords twenty-six inches long, andpushed them down their throats to the hilt, and then asked Dr. Hawkes tofeel the point in their stomachs. Another put a stone in his mouth, andthen began to blow out smoke and a cloud of sparks from his nose as well ashis mouth. Turning a somerset, he cast the stone on the floor. One took aniron 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 themwhirling above his head.

  Another set a lot of small swords circling in the air, till he had ten ofthem buzzing about his head. At the same time a sleight-of-hand man wasdoing a variety of tricks very skilfully, and acrobats were mounting oneach other's shoulders, and pitching themselves about very promiscuously.While the party were wondering at the skill of the performers, though manyof them had seen most of the tricks at home, a boy about eight years oldcame into the room with a good-sized basket in his hands, which he placedon the floor as the men spread out into a semicircle. The child steppedinto the basket, which did not seem to be big enough to hold him, even whenreduced to his smallest dimensions.

  The drummer played a new tune, and sang in a low tone. The boy seemed tohave a fit, and writhed as though he were in convulsions, finally droppingdown into the basket very slowly. Mrs. Blossom was sure the basket was notbig enough to contain him, and wondered what had become of him. Then theperformers threw themselves on the basket, closed the lid, and began topunch it in every direction with long and wicked-looking knives. The ladieswere 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 itdid not look as though there was any space in it for a kitten, much less aneight-year-old boy. Then the men formed a circle around the basket, andbegan a sort of chant. Something like a voice seemed to be sounding in atthe open windows. It continued to come nearer, and at last appeared toproceed from the basket, which began to be distended, till it was restoredto its full size. Then the lid was removed, and the child sprang out, tothe great relief of Mrs. Blossom.

  Then one of the jugglers set a top to whirling, placed the point on the endof a stick, and balanced it on his nose. So far it was no new thing; butone of the spectators was asked to say stop at any time he pleased. CaptainRinggold 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 towhirl again, as though its gyrations had not been interrupted. It wasstopped and started again several times, till the spectators weresatisfied.

  The stick and the top were critically examined by the whole party, but notone of them could suggest an explanation of the trick. The last two actswere the most surprising; and the rest of the performance, though skilfullydone, did not amount to much. His lordship gave the chief juggler a handfulof silver, and they left the hotel with a profusion of salaams; for theydid not often make in a month what they got for an hour, the Hindugentleman said.