Dasahara by L. G. MOOKERJEE

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 22, 1910

Dasahara

By L. G. MOOKERJEE

L. G. MOOKERJEE

A SHORT time ago great crowds of Bengalis, men, women, and children, collected at the several bathing-ghats of the river to celebrate the Dasahara by bathing in the sacred river Hugli (one of the mouths of the Ganges), on which stands Calcutta, the capital of all India and of Bengal. No fewer than twenty thousand persons, most of them from the poorer classes, had arrived on the two previous days at the two Calcutta stations, Howrah and Sealdah, by the different railways. We saw files of pilgrims walking along the streets with the end of the sari (ten-yard cloth worn by women) or dhotee (ten-yard cloth worn by men) of one tied to that of another, and so on, lest some should lose their way in the many streets of this metropolis.

The river is most revered in East Bengal; therefore the Bengali people were in the majority. They all bathed at Kalighat (a bathing-place in front of the goddess Kali’s temple), believing that a plunge in the sacred stream there is productive of more good than bathing at any other place.

Dasahara is another name for the Ganges, which, according to the Hindu tradition, absolves a man from dasa, or the ten different kinds of sins, if he takes a bath in it on a particular day. The festival, it is said, had its origin on the day on which Bhagiratha, a scion of the Solar dynasty, brought down the Ganges from the heavens to bring to life his sixty thousand ancestors, who were reduced to ashes by the curse of a rishi (religious mendicant).

As the festival is held on the tenth day of the waning moon of the lunar month, and as ten different kinds of sins are washed away by bathing in the river, the number ten became mixed with other ceremonies on the occasion, so that ten different kinds of flowers, fruits, and leaves are offered to the river.

What sad sights we witnessed as we stood by the Ganges, seeking to distribute literature bearing the last message of mercy! There were thousands of people offering fruits, etc., to the Ganges, then reverently taking a dip. Such ignorance,—worshiping the water, not knowing the Fountain-head! Such experiences lead us to pray more earnestly for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, when one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight.

Dear brethren and sisters, what are you doing for this sea of humanity? Have you any part in giving this message to these poor souls? While writing this article, I have heard some people carrying a dead body past the house, with their usual chant, to perform the last rites. Another soul gone without hearing this truth! Thousands are dying in this way without hearing the message which you and I love and cherish. What can you do for those who are left?—Furnish the means, and send forth men to herald this message of salvation all through the length and breadth of India.

We could not sell many papers, as the crowds were so largely composed of women, and we had no lady worker to go among them. Pray to the Lord of the harvest, that he will send a lady reaper for this vast city of Calcutta, with its teeming population.

Calcutta, India.