Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | 页面 641

DEMANDING WIVES FOR IDOLS
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livelihood; or else fanatical sectaries of Siva or
Vishnu, actuated by religious mania, or more often by an
inordinate desire of securing the applause and admiration
of the public.
Apart from ordinary superstitious practices which flourish
everywhere, there are certain temples which, in this respect,
enjoy special privileges such, for example, as that of
Tirupati in the south of the Peninsula. This temple, which
is in the Carnatic, is dedicated to Vishnu under the name
Immense multitudes of pilgrims flock to
of Venkateswara.
it from all parts of India, bringing offerings of all sorts, in
food, stuffs, gold, silver, jewels, costly cloths, horses, cows,
&c, which are so considerable that they suffice to maintain
several thousands of persons employed in the various offices
of worship, which is there conducted with extraordinary
magnificence.
Among the noticeable peculiarities which distinguish the
great feasts of this temple there is one which I must not
pass over in silence. At a certain time of the year a grand
procession is formed, which attracts an immense crowd of
persons of both sexes. While the image of Venkateswara
is borne through the streets on a magnificent car, the
Brahmins who preside at the ceremony go about among
the crowd and select the most beautiful women they can
find, demanding them of their husbands or parents in the
their
;
name
of Venkateswara, for whose service, it is asserted,
they are destined. Those husbands who have not lost all
common sense, understanding, or at least suspecting, that
a god of stone has no need of wives, indignantly refuse to
deliver up theirs, and bluntly speak their mind to the
hypocritical rogues.
The latter, far from being discon-
certed, proceed to apply to others who are better disposed,
for some of the men are delighted at the honour conferred
upon them by so great a god in condescending to ally himself
with their family, and do not hesitate to deliver their
wives and even their daughters into the hands of his
priests \
It is thus that the seraglio of Tirupati is recruited. When
the god takes it into his head that some of his wives are
1
Such proceedings would hardly be tolerated
—Ed.
in
the present day.