Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 630

MAXIPl'LATIXC; IDOLS AS ORACLES
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which are exempt from all taxation, and the produce of
which is exclusively assigned to the maintenance of the
temple and of its numerous staff. I have mentioned that
in the case of these persons perquisites are of no small
importance. The offerings of rich devotees, which are
divided among them in proportion to their rank and dignity,
are sometimes so considerable, in the principal temples, that
they have aroused the cupidity of the princes of the country,
particularly of Mahomedans.
These latter, as a sort of
compensation for tolerating a religion which they abhorred,
thought fit to take possession of more than half of these
offerings.
There is no trick which the Brahmins will not employ in
order to excite the fervour of the worshippers, and thus to
enrich themselves by their offerings.
The most obvious
means generally produce the best results. In the foremost
rank we must place the oracles, a rich mine of wealth
which pagan priests of other countries worked long ago
with great success, and which the lapse of ages has not yet
exhausted for the heathen priests of India. Here it is the
idol itself which addresses the dull and profoundly atten-
tive crowd of worshippers, who are unable to understand
that some cunning rogue, concealed inside or close by the
god of stone, is speaking through the mouth of the idol.
The idol, or its interpreter, also undertakes to foretell the
future
but these oracles, like those of ancient Greece,
contain some ambiguous or double meaning. Consequently,
whatever the issue may be, the Brahmins always find some
way of making it agree with their predictions \
If the flow of offerings by any chance decreases, the idol
will inveigh vehemently against the indifference and mean-
ness of the inhabitants of the district, proclaiming once for
all that if this state of things continues, it will withdraw
its protection from them, and will even resort to the ex-
pedient of decamping in search of other more grateful, and
especially more generous worshippers 2
Or perhaps the devout mob will some day find the hands
;
.
These false oracles are confined to temples dedicated to the inferior
Ed.
- This remark
also applies only to the temples dedicated to the inferior
deities.
Ed.
1
deities.