 |
vol. title: Miscellaneous Scraps from January 1st 1878 vol. period: 1875-1878 pages in vol.: 153 |
The Idol of Dacore
A correspondent sends to the London Times the following account of the Temple and Idol of Dacore: “Dacore is a small but flourishing town in the Talooka of Thasura, containing a population of about seven thousand souls. It owes its prosperity to the high sanctity which it enjoys throughout the whole of Guzerat in the estimation of its Hindoo inhabitants. Crowds of devotees flock to the celebrated shrine of Remcharjee every full moon. The number of pilgrims each ordinary pooruma is estimated at about ten thousand. Most of them are poor and generally drawn from the adjoining villages. The principal days of pilgrimage are the full moons of the Guzeratee month of Ockwin, Kartick, Falgoon, and Chytra, and also Kuth Faha, which happens to be in the month of Oshad. On each of these occasions more than one hundred thousand pilgrims assemble, and goods of various sorts are sold there, and the traffic is believed to amount to four lacs a year. It is popularly believed that the full moon night is selected for the religious festivities because the idol of Remcharjee was brought to Dacore from Dwarika by a Rajpoot adventurer on the pooruma of the month of Kartick, in the year of Kerum 1212, A. D. 1156. The story connected with this adventure is as follows: There lived in Dacore a Rajpoot, named Vujey Kurum; his surname was Boodhana, and he had a wife called Gungaboi, much attached to him. Once it happened that some men from Malwa were passing through this town as pilgrims to Dwarika, a holy place of the Hindoos in Kattywar. A conversation occurred between them and Boodhana, and the latter thereupon made a resolution to visit that place. The idol called Remcharjee, which is now seen in the temple of Dacore, was in Dwarika at the time he joined them. On his arrival at Dwarika, having had religious conversation with the people living there regarding the idol, his devotion increased. His religion so much engrossed his attention from this time that, although he returned to Dacore, he could think of nothing but Dwarika and its Remcharjee—so much so that he used to place clay on the palm of his hand, pour water upon it, and plant a holy shrub called ‘Toolsee’ in it, the same way as different kinds of plants are made to grow in earthen and china pots. This shrub is considered by the Hindoos to be a great favorite with the God Vishnu, who is represented by Remcharjee in one of his innumerable incarnations. After three or four months, when the shrub grew up to a good size, he would proceed to Dwarika and place it at the foot of the idol. This practice was continued by him for a period of seventy years, till at last the god was pleased with his devotions, and called upon him to ask anything he liked most. Boodhana, who had renounced all wordly desires, and who was a model of perfect resignation, humbly left that choice to the god himself. The god, having thus put his disinterested devotion to the last trial, resolved to go with him and bless him with his constant presence at Dacore. Accordingly, Boodhana was desired to procure a carriage and take the idol with him to his native place. He brought an old cart and kept it near the town gate. The idol left the temple secretly at midnight and came walking to the place where Boodhana was waiting. The idol ascended the cart, desired Boodhana to sit in it, and drove the bullocks with a rapidity which only superhuman power could produce. They reached Dacore at daybreak. This was the morning of Kartick Soodh Pooruma, the 15th day of the lunar month in Lomwut 1212, A. D. 1156. They halted near our present Sunly station for a while, where the people worship the footprints. These are believed to have been made by the idol at the time. The arrival of the idol was made known to the people of the town, who, rejoicing at the information received, flocked to visit the shrine. When the priests of Dwarika opened the temple next morning to their surprise they missed the idol. They inquired for it in the neighboring towns, but to no purpose. Thinking that Boodhana always came to Dwarika and went back on foot, but that this time he had brought a cart and was not to be seen in the town, the priests suspected him of carrying away the idol to his own town. They followed him, but were unable to overtake the cart, as it had reached Dacore by superhuman power in a very short space of time. They nevertheless pursued him as far as Dacore. No sooner did Boodhana hear of their arrival than he threw the idol into a tank, called ‘Gomtee,’ through fear, and went to the priests alone. When the priests saw him coming towards them they threw an arrow at him, which pierced his heart and left him dead on the spot. The arrow which killed Boodhana went also into the waters of ‘Gomtee’ and struck the idol, which was lying in the tank. Thereupon the idol emitted a vast quantity of blood, which reddened the waters. The priests thus came to know that the idol was concealed in the tank, and accordingly they all exerted themselves to take it out, but to their surprise they found it so heavy that they were unable to move it, even with all their united strength. Having failed in their attempt they resolved rather to die on the spot than to return disappointed to Dwarika. The idol, after eight or ten days, finding them dying of hunger, went to Gungaboi, the widow of the deceased Boodhana, and told her to go to the priests and ask them whether they wanted the idol or gold equal in weight to it. As desired, Gungaboi went to the priests and asked them to make a choice of the two alternatives proposed. The greedy Brahmins preferred gold to the idol. The contract was made public, and both the parties agreed before the assembled mass to abide by the result. Though the poor woman had entered into their agreement, her heart trembled and she knew not how to procure gold equivalent in weight to the idol, which was very large and heavy. The god bade her not despond, but with perfect faith to weigh the idol against her nose-ring, which she was told, would be found heavier in the scales through the miraculous intervention of the god whom she served so devoutly. Thus encouraged, Gungaboi went to the tank on the appointed day, brought out the idol with ease, and placed it in the scale against her nose-ring before the crowds of men who were attracted to the spot by the novelty of the occasion. The scale containing the ring went down. The priests seeing this cried out that the balance was false, and that the scales should be changed, That was done, but with no better result. On this the disappointed priests struck their heads with passion and bitterly repented their folly in preferring gold to the idol. They saw that they were utterly ruined by their greed, and in their despair they resolved rather to plunge their swords into their breasts and die than return without the idol to Dwarika. For fifteen days they abstained from food and drink, constantly prayed to their god, and thought of nothing else but the recovery of the idol. The god was pleased, appeared to them in a dream, and said that it was impossible for them to get back the idol, for that was in the possession of the Boodhana family; they must content themselves with another idol of the god they would find in a well on their way to Dwarika. Thus the old idol remained in Dacore, while the new one was placed in its stead at Dwarika. The present temple of Remcharjee was built by Gopalrow Tombwayku at a cost of eight lacs, in Samont 1828, until which time the idol was kept in the Temple of Dunknath and Luxnerjee. He procured from the Peishwah the village of Dacore, and from the Guicowar that of Hungree, in Samont 1828, as endowments for the Temple, and they produce for it annually 20,000 rupees. The income from the pilgrims amounts to about 30,000 rupees per year. The management of the revenues is in the hands of the Rao Sahib, a descendant of the said Gopalrow Tombwayku. A distant relative of the Boodhana family still exists, who gets a pension of twenty rupees per annum from the fund. The number of pilgrims has been steadily increasing ever since the extension of railway communication to Guzerat. Formerly the people from Kaira and Ahmedabad Collectorates only visited the shrine, but nowadays they come to it from distant places along the line of rails, the Dacore branch having placed still further facilities in their way.”
The Maharana of Oudeypore
<Untitled> (Queen Victoria has instituted a new order)
Queen Victoria has instituted a new order for the decoration of her own sex and for the promotion of loyalty among the beauteous Begums of India. It is to be called the Imperial Order of the Crown of India, but it seems to be a pity that it should be extended to English ladies not of the same exalted rank as the Begums, for the Begums doubtless have the passions of their kind, and think a good deal of the “set” into which they are asked. The new British order makes, we think, sixteen “orders for ladies” now existing in Europe. Bavaria leads the list with four—the orders of St. Elizabeth, of Theresa, of St. Anne of Munich and of St. Anne of Wurzburg. The oldest of these dates from 1766. Austria confers the proudest of all such orders, that of “the Starry Cross,” founded by the Empress Eleanore in 1668. Mecklenburg-Schwerin gives women now and then the Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown; the Shah of Persia was gallant enough to found the Order of the Shah for ladies in 1873; Prussia has two—the Order of Louise, founded to celebrate the virtues of his noble wife by Frederic William III. in 1814, and the “Cross of Merit,” founded by the Emperor William in 1871. Czar Peter of Russia founded the Order of St. Catherine for women in 1714, and King John of Saxony founded the Order of Sidonia in 1871, in which year also Charles of Wurtemberg founded the Order of Olga in honor of one of the best of queens and of women. One of the most highly prized of these orders is that of St. Charles, founded by the unhappy Empress Charlotte of Mexico, because nobody who has it not now can ever get it.
<Untitled> (Dr. Scudder says that the Oriental nations)
Dr. Scudder says that the Oriental nations will never become converted to Christianity until their women first become Christians, and he says that the women can be converted only by the personal agency of women who go there from Christian countries. Hindoo women will not listen to male missionaries. Dr. Scudder was in India for over twenty years and ought to know. *
I wish the Rev. may get it ... any how, the Reverend froud may go to his Christian Hell first. Hindu women will no more listen to female flapdoodle humbugs then to the male cheats, who like Scudder go about deceiving "heathen" – for less heathen then themselves.
Editor's notes