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176
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JAGANNATH
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BOOK III
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a
pendant from his neck which reaches to the waist, and the smallest of
these diamonds weighs about 40 carats ; he has bracelets on his arms,
some being of pearls and some of rubies, and this magnificent idol is
called Kesora.1 The revenues of this great pagoda are
sufficient to feed 15,000 or 20,000 pilgrims daily, and these numbers
are often to be found there, the pagoda being the object of the highest
devotion by the Indians, who visit it fr#m all quarters. It should be
remarked that jewellers, who come like others, are not now permitted to
enter the pagoda, since one of them intending to steal it, who allowed
himself to be shut up during the night, extracted a diamond from one of
the eyes of the idol. As he was about to leave in the morning, when the
pagoda was opened, this thief, they say, died at the door, and the idol
performed this miracle as a punishment for sacrilege. What makes this
grand building the principal pagoda in India, is, that it is situated
on the Ganges, the idolaters believing that the waters of that river
have a special virtue, which cleanses them from defilement when they
bathe in it. The great wealth of this pagoda (for it supports upwards
of 20,000 cows) depends upon the amount of the offerings made every day
by the incredible multitude of people who arrive from all parts. But
these alms are not altogether at the discretion of those who give them,
as they are fixed by the High Priest, who before granting permission to
the pilgrims to shave themselves, to bathe in the Ganges, and do the
other things necessary
On
the occasion of the late Lord Mayo's last journey, which was cut short
by his murder in the Andaman Islands, he had it in contemplation to
visit Puri on his return to Calcutta, and a rumour was then abroad that
a special concession about entering the temple was to be made in his
favour. The temple has been described by Hindus, and in especial detail
by Dr. Rajendra Lala Mitra, in his Orissa.
1
Kesava Rai, ' he with the flowing locks ', or Krishna. The bones of
Krishna, who had been killed by a hunter, were placed inside an image,
which was never completed owing to the impatience of King Indra, who,
however, obtained from Brahma a concession that the idol should become
famous as Jagannath. (Ward, The Hindoos, 2nd ed., ii. 163.) The
story of the bones of Krishna is based on the veneration of relics in
Buddhism, of which many survivals are found in the Vaishnava customs of
Jagannath (Hastings, Ency. Religion and Ethics, vii. 464).
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