Sacrifices to Juggernaut.
A CORRESPONDENT of the London Times, attended the recent sacrifice to Juggernaut, in Hindostan, which lasted from May 28 to June 6, 1864. He says: "Though the heat was intense, the thermometer marking 135 degrees, thousands of people were present to witness the ceremonies. The centers of attraction were the two Juggernaut cars, immense lumbering masses of wood 60 feet in height, on which stood the hideous idol, moving upon six heavy wheels. Multitudes rushed to the ropes, eager for the honor of pulling their deity along. Their efforts to start it were for a long time in vain, till at last the huge mass moved forward a few yards, crushing out a life with every revolution of its wheels. The vast multitude then seemed suddenly possessed with delirium. They fought and struggled with each other to get near the car, which had stopped as if by magic. They stooped down and peered beneath its wheels, and rose with scared faces to tell their friends of the sight. Three human victims, two men and a woman, had been crushed to death, and lay there heaps of mangled flesh. Two other men lay before the car when it stopped, waiting for it to move. The Brahmins on the car looked down upon the poor wretches with perfect unconcern, and even signalled to the crowd to pull again; but the policemen present made them drag the car back, so that the bodies could be got out from between the wheels. There was no question that these were voluntary sacrifices. The government of Christian England should be more rigorous in preventing the performance of such cruel heathenish rites, as within the last summer took place within twenty miles of the capital of the Indian empire."