ten, and that these palaces of the powers of darkness have become desolate and forsaken.

SACRED PLACES.

Sacred places are very numerous in India. The fame of some of them, as Juggunath, Benares, Hurdwar, Dwarka, Nasseek, extend through all the country, and people go from the extreme parts of India on pilgrimage to them. These places are celebrated for the manifestation of some god, or some other remarkable events mentioned in their sacred books, and great merit is believed to be acquired by making pilgrimage to them, and there performing religious rites and ceremonies. It is believed that people who die at some of these places, obtain emancipation from future birth and sufferings, and so devotees and rich men often go there to end their days. There are hundreds of sacred places of less notoriety scattered all over the country, to which people in the districts resort on pilgrimage. These pilgrimages are generally festivals, and continue often for 2 or 3 days. A part of the time is spent in religious rites, a part often in transacting business, a part in hearing the Purans read, seeing shows, etc. At some of the large temples the idols are placed on large cars and drawn round the temple. The people have then an opportunity of worshipping the gods and of manifesting their homage by drawing the cars. The brahmins who have the charge of such temples, contrive many ways to extort money from all classes of the pilgrims. Thieving, robbing, lewdness, and all kinds and forms of villany and wickedness are rife at such places. Many lose all their means, and then have to beg their way home. The sufferings endured and the superstition manifested on such pilgrimages are very great.* Travelling in India is slow, and in the hot and the rainy months is unhealthy, and great numbers die of cholera, smallpox, and other diseases at the places of pilgrimage, and in going and returning.

* I have often seen persons proceeding on pilgrimage, who measured the distance by prostrating themselves on the ground, repeating every time the name of the god, or of the place to which they were going. Such labor, fatigue, and suffering are believed to be peculiarly pleasing to the god and to secure his favor. Such pilgrimages are generally made in the performance of vows.

Devotees who have become weary of life and are without any social or domestic connections to bind them to their fellowcreatures, sometimes go to such places with the purpose of sacrificing themselves. Some pilgrims, who are reduced to distress by sickness or the death of friends, form the same purpose. And some persons of a superstitious spirit, becoming excited almost to a state of frenzy by what they see and hear, suddenly resolve to devote themselves to the deity there worshipped. In view of such circumstances, it does not appear strange that some persons should throw themselves under the ponderous car of Juggunath, or leap into the most holy places of the Ganges, expecting to go immediately to the heaven of the god to whom they sacrifice themselves. Shocking as such instances of self-immolation are, yet to those acquainted with the character of the Hindus and the nature of their religious system, such acts are only the natural result of their idolatry and superstition. Such acts of self-destruction are less frequent now than formerly, partly because there is less enthusiasm and fanaticism among the Hindus, and partly because the English government has enacted laws inflicting punishment upon any who shall aid or coöperate in such acts of self-destruction, and in some places such self-immolation cannot be performed without religious rites and ceremonies, which require the aid and coöperation of other persons.

PRIESTS AND SPIRITUAL GUIDES.

The brahmins form the hereditary priesthood in India. None but brahmins can teach and explain the Vedas, and according to the Vedas they alone can properly perform any religious rites. And any brahmin who has sufficient knowledge of the prescribed formularies, can perform the rites required. But many of the brahmins do not possess this knowledge, and so are not competent to perform the rites of their religion in the manner required. And further, in some parts of the country the right and duty of performing all the religious rites and ceremonies in a particular village or district was assigned by the native governments to a particular family and its descendants. In such cases the individual or families claim the right of performing all the religious

ceremonies, and of receiving the remuneration for them in their respective village or district. The governments, native and European, protect them in these rights, and if any other brahmin should perform any such rites in such village or district, he is liable to prosecution and penalty. The temples also are always under the care of particular individuals or families, who manage the endowments, if there are any, and appropriate to their own use the offerings made to the god.

In some instances the officiating priests in the temples are not brahmins, but belong to some of the numerous castes into which the shudras have become divided. This arrangement, so different from the precepts of the Vedas and the prerogative of the brahmins, probably had its origin in a period anterior to the brahminical system's being received in these districts. It is probably a relic of the superstition of the primitive or aboriginal tribes. Brahminism, in its gradual progress, incorporated into its pantheon the local deities or demons, and had continued to tolerate usages and customs, which it has not power to extinguish or to reform. I saw many temples of this kind in India. Some of them are large and well endowed. Brahmins seldom worship in such temples, and learned brahmins generally look upon them and all connected with them with feelings of contempt.

Men of different castes often set themselves up for religious teachers, principally in the way of using and teaching mystical words and phrases, fortune-telling, etc. Such men often acquire great influence among people of their own caste. They are commonly called Gurus, and their followers often worship them, saying, "they are to us instead of God." They are supposed to acquire great influence with the gods. Their favor and blessing are earnestly desired, and their displeasure and curse are exceedingly dreaded. They often select particular favorites among their followers, pretend to impart to them special instructions, and so prepare them to become their successors in spiritual power and influence. These fanatics and impostors have sometimes given the governments, Hindu, Mohammedan, and English, great trouble, and it has been necessary to employ military force to restrain and to subdue them.

SACRED DAYS.

Nearly every

The number of sacred days in the Hindu religion is very large. Among these are the days of the new and full moon, and also certain days in its increase and in its decrease. Their name for Sunday, as with us, is derived from the Sun, and this is regarded as more sacred than any other day of the week. month has some great holiday. Some of them continue for only one day, and others continue for 2 or 3 and more days. These are observed in honor of some god or mythological event. Business is generally suspended, and people spend their time in religious rites, visiting, amusements, etc. On some of these days, the rites and revelry, and the songs and amusements are of a very exceptionable character, and exert an unhappy influence upon the moral state of the people. One of these called Holee, which usually takes place in March, resembles the Saturnalia of the Greeks and Romans, and continues for several days. The amusements in which the men engage, the songs they sing, and the scenes which are witnessed in the streets at these times, are so exceedingly indecent and obscene that the native women avoid being seen in the streets or in their houses.

The Hindus are also very superstitious in respect to lucky and unlucky days.. Their almanacs are chiefly valued for the information they are supposed to contain on these subjects. The large and small concerns of life are managed in a full belief of such lucky and unlucky days, and the trouble, loss of time, and difficulties which such a belief occasions, are among the burdens which the Hindus suffer from their religious system.

WORSHIP, RITES, ETC.

The Hindus can scarcely be said ever to worship the self-existing and eternal Spirit. Some say it is impossible to worship him, as it transcends our capacities in our present state, and that he does not take any cognizance of worship, and not having commanded it, so he will not regard it. Others have a more natural and common sense opinion on this subject and talk more reasonably, but their opinions have little influence upon their

conduct. Temples are never without idols, and people if they wish to worship, always procure an idol or get to one, if possible. But when this is impracticable, they call upon their gods by repeating their names, offering short petitions, making vows, etc., and they believe that the gods hear them. Mental and spiritual worship is thus sometimes practised among them, but only when no access can be had to idols. One way of worship is for the worshipper to stand before the idol, fix his eyes upon it, join his hands, and bowing his head, repeat the name of the god, adding perhaps a short petition. Another way is to perambulate the idol, bowing to it as often as the worshipper comes before it. Another way is to prostrate the body on the ground before the idol. Garlands of flowers are often put upon idols, and offerings of flowers, fruit, sweetmeats, jewels, money, etc., are put before them. All such offerings, unless designed to be placed upon. the idols, belong to the priests, who have the charge of the idols, and are appropriated to their own use. In some instances the idols on certain festival days are removed from the temples, placed on large cars, and drawn round their temples.

The rites and duties prescribed for the brahmins, if all were performed, would require a large part of the time. They consist of repeating the names of the different gods, reading the sacred books, ablutions intermixed with many ceremonies, repeating the Gayutree* and other mystic verses, at the same time keeping the head and body in various positions, etc. Few brahmins now perform the whole routine of daily ceremonies, and many perform only a small part of them. The other castes also have their daily rites, though compared with those of the brahmins, they are few in number and easily performed. But the Hindu religion is emphatically one of ceremonies. Religious

as:

* Gayutree is the name of a holy and mystical sentence, or text, in the Vedas which brahmins repeat in performing their rites. It is variously translated, "Let us meditate on the adorable light of the divine ruler; may he direct our intellects." “We meditate on that adorable light of the resplendent sun; may it direct our intellects." "We meditate upon the superexcellent light of the resplendent sun; let him direct our intellects.” "We meditate upon the glorious sun; may he illuminate our minds." They must look at the sun, if visible, when repeating the words, and when the natural eyes gaze at the sun the mind should be fixed upon the Supreme Being, to whom the prayer as some pretend is really addressed.