Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Seite 644

604
RKLlClorS PROCESSIONS
A subject
people while they increase their own comfort.
tli is nature would be inexhaustible, and in order to treat
I believe I have
it fully I should require many volumes.
said enough, however, to give a fairly good idea of the rest.
But I must add a few words concerning the religious pro-
cessions of the Hindus, which in their eyes are a matter of
no small importance.
There is not a single temple of any note which has not
one or two processions every year. On such occasions the
idols are placed on huge massive cars supported on four
large solid wheels, not made, like our wheels, with spokes
and felloes. A big beam serves as the axle, and supports
the car proper, which is sometimes fifty feet in height.
The thick blocks which form the base are carved with
images of men and women in the most indecent attitudes.
Several stages of carved planking are raised upon this
basement, gradually diminishing in width until the whole
fabric has the form of a pyramid.
On the days of procession the car is adorned with coloured
calicoes, costly cloths, green foliage, garlands of flowers, &c.
The idol, clothed in the richest apparel and adorned with
its most precious jewels, is placed in the middle of the car,
beneath an elegant canopy. Thick cables are attached to
the car, and sometimes more than a thousand persons are
harnessed to it. A party of dancing-girls are seated on
the car and surround the idol. Some of them fan the idol
with fans made of peacocks' feathers others wave yak
Many other persons are
tails gracefully from side to side.
also mounted on the car for the purpose of directing its
movements and inciting the multitude that drags it to
continued efforts. All this is done in the midst of tremen-
dous tumult and confusion. In the crowd following the
procession men and women are indiscriminately mixed up,
and liberties may be taken without entailing any conse-
Decency and modesty are at a discount during
quences.
car festivals.
I have been told that it is common enough
for clandestine lovers, who at other times are subject to
vexatious suspicion, to choose the day of procession for their
rendezvous in order to gratify their desires without restraint.
The procession advances slowly. From time to time
a halt is made, during which a most frightful uproar of
of
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