Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 618

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TEMPLES ON ELEVATED SITES
large reservoirs, and especially on the summits
This practice of con-
of steep rocks, mountains, and hills.
st 1 acting buildings consecrated to religious worship upon
and other
elevated sites must have struck all persons who have
In fact there are few mountains, where
travelled in India.
a well or a spring is to be found, that are not surmounted
by a building of this sort. The choice of sites like these
does not appear to be a matter of caprice. We know that
the same practice exists among the majority of Asiatic
Not only the ancient heathen peoples, but even
nations.
the children of Israel, always chose elevated sites for pur-
poses of religious worship. When God ordered the Israelites
to take possession of the land of Canaan, He commanded
them above all things to destroy the heathen temples
erected on mountains and other lofty spots, to break in
pieces the idols, and to destroy the sacred groves with
which those buildings were surrounded, as are those of the
Hindus to this day. Holy Scripture refers often to these
high places and sacred groves.
One can only offer conjectures regarding this custom of
placing on elevated sites the temples dedicated to the
sacrifices and vows which the people addressed to their
gods.
Some authors have remarked that the worship of
the stars having always been more or less a part of pagan
ritual, the heathen constructed their temples so as to face
the east at a certain elevation, in order that the rising sun
might flood the interior of the temples with its light and
cast its rays upon the religious ceremonies which take place
at that time of day \
No doubt, too, they thought they
were thereby approaching as near as possible to the heavenly
powers whom they invoked. Furthermore, the duties of
the soothsayers often necessitated such elevated positions,
in order that they might see the heavens clearly.
Besides the temples of idols which one meets with at
every step in India, statues of stone, of baked earth, and
especially of granite, representing objects of popular wor-
ship, may be seen on the high-roads, at the entrances of
villages, near the choultries, on the borders of tanks, near
The ceremonies performed in honour of the infernal deities took
place at sunset ; and it is believed that the entrances of the temples of
these divinities faced towards the west.
Dubois.
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