JUGGERNAUTH, or more correctly Jagannatba, though probably a relic of Buddhism, is a comparatively modern idol, of whom the worship dates from a little before the Christian era. Jagannath, the lord of the world, is believed to be an incarnation of Vishnu, who under this name, with the assistance of his brothers Bala-Rama and Krishna, conquered Brain. These incarnations, however, arc very con &mod ; 16la Rams is sometimes identified with Kriabna, and Krishna Ii a moiety of Vislui3. 1* OrimaJagannath is known as Ram Chandra. 'bum. was • king of Oude, whom queen. Sits, having been carried off by OM giant Havana, was reamed by Balit-Rama, under the form of the monkey flanssem.• From these care the three idols, Rama Chandra Jaganmath. Bale-Rants, and Sita. The idols themselves are ugly speedos busts of gigantic Rise, that of Bala-Rama 6 six feet high, Jyassteith 4111 feet, and Sita four feet. The image of the first is pa6ted white, of the second black, and that of Sita yellow. The faces are line; the eyes of Jagannath are round, those of the other two are oval. from the ears of the males arum project horizontally forward, but the female lacks erect this approach to the human form. A new Image, wording to Col. Phipps, In the Asiatic Journal' for March, 1111, 6 made about once In every seventeen years, from a Nim tree " on which no crow or other carrion bird has ever perched." Another tradition. related by Mr. Stirling. in' Asiatic Researches,' mays that Jagannath, or Vishnu, lived in Orissa under the form of N it %Alum ; him fame exeited the attention of Indradyutnna, Maharajah of Oujda. who desired to worship at the sacred shrine. On his arrival Medlars had &appeared, hut in a dream he was told a fresh avatar would shortly take place, and accordingly a log of the Nim tree (Mina asedirocAto) was seen to approach the °out, on which were seen conch shells, the lotus. Ins, which was accepttsi as the new avatar, removed to a consecrated place, and on the first blow of the sacred axe it split Into the three images already named, requiring nothing but the cha• meter:title colouring.
The great temple of Juggernauth 6 mid to hare been built in A.D. 480, but it became completely buried in sand, and remained so until 1198, when it was, rettored. But Col. Sykes maintains, from no allusion ever being made to it, that it could not have existed In the 5th century; and Depart of the present temple appears to be earlier in date than the lith or 12th century. It stands in the seaport town of Pdrd (Poorec), In the province of Oriate,and 6 a huge architectural mans, containing a Dort of pyramidal tower, 210 feet high, built of .coarse red granite, and covered with a rough coating of chunam, with two square pyramidal buildings adjoining, the top surmounted by an urn. They stand in the centre of a quadrangle enclosed by a high stone-wall, each side of which. 650 feet long, and 30 feet high. In front of the temple stands a oolumn of elegant proportions, brought from an ancient temple to the Nun at Katerak. It is polygonal, of light and elegant appearance,
and is surmounted by a figure of the monkey-deity Hameman. The material 6 a dark-ooloored basalt. The entrances of the temple are flanked by colossal figures of lions or griffins, with mythological porters rooting on their clubs carved on the side poet.. It is a very con pkuous land-mark, and is of considerable importance to navigators on the eat and uniform coast where it is situated. The country, to the distance of about a mile from the sea, 6 a waste of deep loose sand ; farther inland it consists of low .and-hi ls covered by a thick forest of dwarf trees. • The teeth-al of Jagannath, called Ruth Jetta, takes place every year, and the number of pilgrims is still very great, though much less than formerly, when Dr. Carey estimated them at 1,200,000; but In 1840 there were 180,000, and In 1849 and 1950 above 100,000. The idols are, in the Bert instance, dragged from their pedestals without decency or reverence, thrown down the steps, and hauled through the mud, until they reach the ears provided for each of them. That of Jagannath 6 45 feet in height, that of Bala llama 44 feet, and that of Site, or Snbuhdra, 42 feet. The first has sixteen wheels, the second fourteen the third twelve ; and the platforms decrease in similar proportions A mall rail surround. the platform of each car, in which an opening of a few feet 6 left In front of the idols. Cable. are attached to the ors, and by those the pilgrims drag it about a mile and a half to its destination, and then lack again, the whole procession occupying three days.
Mal, to hia ' History of British India (b. II. c. 6), says, " It 6 cum tomtry for numbers of congregated pencils to throw themselves untie, the wheel., and even fathers and rnothers with their children in their arms.. The chariot pumas on, AA II no Impediment existed, and crush lag them to death is supposed to convey them immediately to heaven.' Profanes IL IL Wilson says In his edition of Mill's work ), " thi practice 6 modern : Jagannath himself I. modern, and has no place it the N'aiahnara Puratim. It not improbable that the present shim , attained reputation as a place of pilgrimage no longer ago than esettuy" (that la, in 1740). Self immolation has been prohibited LI the government for many years, but numbers perish during the pil Crimea" front dinette or want of fond. Lieut. Burton asys, (' Pdgrimage to ILI Madinah and limo;) that " at Jagansth they worship a pyre Waal Week stone, fabled to have fallen from heaven, or miraculous') to have placed itself on the place where the temple now stands ;" ant he amens to consider it as of the sense nature as the Black Stone at thi Kean of Mecca, which be thinks is an *Credits.
(X J1, /hooey of Itritis4 Wileon ; Geographical, Stotutdcal cod llbstoricat Ammo, of Orissa Proper, or Cottock, by A. Stirling Is A "MOM' Reseerehu, vole :v.; W. F, B. Londe, TAP idol ;:Arino 1151 )