Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 631

EXPEDIENTS TO STIMULATE DEVOTION
591
bound with chains. Cruel
announced, have brought it to this humilia-
ting condition because it could not pay certain sums of
money which it had borrowed in times of need and they
have sworn not to restore it to liberty until the whole
sum, capital and interest, which is due to them shall have
been repaid. Touched with compassion, the devotees will
hasten to consult together and exact contributions from all
and
feet of their cherished idol
creditors,
it is
;
possible sources until the sum necessary to liquidate the
deity has been furnished to the Brahmins.
As soon as the money is secured, the chains of the idol fall
In some famous
off, to the great satisfaction of everybody.
temples, such as that of Tirupati, they use silver instead of
iron chains to bind the sacred limbs of the idol.
There is another expedient to which the Brahmins fre-
quently have recourse. All of a sudden it is proclaimed
abroad that the idol has been attacked by a dangerous
disease caused by the grief it experiences on seeing the
devotion of the people abating from day to day. The idol
is taken down from its pedestal and carried to the entrance
of the temple, where it is exposed to the public gaze.
Its
head and temples are rubbed with sundry lotions drugs
and medicines are placed before it the priests from time
to time feel its pulse with a display of the gravest uneasi-
ness.
Still the symptoms of the disease develop from day
to day, and the priests begin to despair of the recovery of
the idol. This alarming intelligence is bruited abroad, and
presents and offerings soon arrive from all sides.
At sight
of these the idol's strength begins to return little by little
liabilities of their
;
;
:
then
it
becomes convalescent
restored to
;
and
finally it is
cured and
its place.
Fear and awe are also means which the Brahmins turn to
good account in order to renew the wavering faith of the
They engage certain confederates, into whose
people.
bodies they affirm the angry god has sent a pisacha, or
demon, in order to avenge some outrage which it has
received from wicked men.
One frequently meets with
charlatans who fall into dreadful convulsions and make
contortions and grimaces calculated to frighten the stoutest
heart.
In their calmer moments they give a piteous and
detailed account of their misfortunes, which they attribute