HINDOO FESTIVAL. Of the numerous self-inflicted tortures still resorted to by the Hindoos in almost every part of India, under the deceitful hope of expiating sin and securing peace to the troubled conscience, the practice, of which the above engraving is given in illustration, must be regarded as among the most painful and distressing. The particular instance now offered to the notice of our readers was observed by the Rev. W. Beynon, at a Hindoo festival celebrated in June last, near Belgaum, of which, under date of July 25, he furnishes the following account :"Last month I visited a festival about sixty miles north-east of the station. The object of worship is commonly called Yellemma, which means in Canarese, 'the mother of all.' It is one of the forms of Parvatee, the wife of Shiva. During the three days I was at the festival, I witnessed the most revolting scenes. The remark made to me by a native Christian, as he looked upon the spectacle, was, 'Come, let us flee and leave the place, for this is literally Sodom and Gomorrah.' "A great number of people displayed their superstitious and frantic devotion at this festival by swinging. Some were suspended by hooks pierced through the tendons of the back; others were suspended by hooks penetrating the tendons of the legs. The latter was a scene I had never before witnessed. This mode of swinging appeared much more painful than the former, as those who underwent it could only endure being suspended for a short time. I can hardly describe my feelings at first in the midst of such abominations; but however painfully I felt it, I considered it my bounden duty to lift up my voice against the pollutions and iniquities of the place. Many appeared to feel and acknowledge the force of what I said. Some fell at my feet, lamenting what they had done, and saying that they had done it in ignorance; others declared they would not discharge the vows they had taken upon them. For these vows they assigned different reasons, but all of a worldly nature. The chief reason assigned was that of recovery from sickness. The devotees were mostly of the Shoodra caste." Such statements as the preceding must always prove the occasion of deep regret and sorrow to the Christian mind, and would, therefore, tend to no valuable purpose, unless regarded as showing the urgent necessity which exists not merely for unrelaxed, but greatly augmented exertion on behalf of India, whose moral and spiritual condition still, to a fearful extent, accords with the most awful scriptural representations of the state of the heathen world in the sight of a just and holy God. In connexion with the present subject, however, it may be stated on the united testimony of many of our brethren in India, that the idolatrous festivals of the Hindoos are gradually declining, both as it respects external splendour, and the numbers attending them; and the Missionaries are unanimous in the opinion, that if ever there was a time when, under God, effectual exertions might be made to turn these long deluded people from darkness unto light, that time is the present. MADAGASCAR. ACCOUNTS have just come to hand from one of our Missionary brethren who visited this island in August last, correcting a mistake in the name and other circumstances of the individual who suffered martyrdom last year, and conveying the mournful tidings of another native Christian having been put to death by the heathen rulers, whose enmity against the Christians seems as strong as when the last accounts were received. The name of the person who suffered is Rasalama instead of Rafaravavy. We hope to give the particulars in the next number. PRESSING CLAIMS OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Ar no former period in the history of the Society has the Lord given more abundant and decisive testimonies to the word of his grace, than those which, within the last few months, it has been the privilege of the Directors to transmit to the members and friends of the Society; and never have the claims of numerous portions of mankind, who have evidently arrived at a crisis in their history, been more strongly enforced upon the attention of the Society than those of the inhabitants of India, Africa, the South Sea Islands, and the West Indies, have been. On their behalf the Directors feel that the most prompt and vigorous efforts are demanded. Seldom, if ever, have the appeals of our brethren in some of the most important stations abroad, for additional labourers, been so urgent and often reiterated, as within the last two or three years. When these appeals began to arrive, the Directors could only meet them with expressions of humiliation and regret; and it was long their reluctant and painful duty to reply in effect to those who, sinking under the accumulating pressure of excessive labour in exhausting climates, had appealed unto them for help; "We are anxious to send you relief, we are encouraged to believe that the churches would cheerfully sustain the additional expense this would incur, but we have not men qualified and willing to go forth." The churches throughout the land were informed of the great deficiency of pious and suitable men for the work, and a spirit of prayer to the great Lord of the harvest, was extensively excited, that He would send forth more labourers. These petitions were not offered up in vain; a larger number of men, duly qualified by piety and ability, offered themselves for the work than had ever been known during any equal period since the formation of the Society. The Directors were thus enabled to meet to some extent the pressing claims that had been so long and so affectingly urged upon them, and sixty-one individuals were sent out during the period embraced in the last Annual Report of the Society. Twenty-three additional labourers have been already sent forth during the present year, and several more are about to embark for South Africa. Ten additional students have also been received, and are pursuing their studies under the auspices of the Society. The claims of the Missionaries, and the peculiar state of the chief Missions of the Society, will admit of no relaxation of effort without imminent danger to the success of the measures now in progress. All must be vigorously sustained, and some of them rendered still more efficient as soon as practicable. Holy and devoted men are prepared to go forth, and the Directors are only deterred from extending the operations of the Society by the deficiency of its income to meet its expenditure, even on its present scale. Though the income of the last year exhibited a considerable increase above that of the previous year, it was less than the expenditure by about £6,500. Towards making up the deficiency, about £2,400 have been received; including which the contributions of the present have been nearly equal to those of last year; but the enlarged operations of the half-year, that has elapsed since the period at which the Annual Report was closed, have increased the excess in the expenditure to upwards of £11,000. To meet this expenditure, the Directors have been under the necessity of diminishing those funds which, from the commencement of the Society, it has been considered necessary to have in advance of the receipts of each current year, but which are now so reduced as not to be more than adequate to carry forward their operations for three or four months. Below this amount, it must be evident to all who consider the heavy responsibility of those who conduct the Society's affairs, and the fact that the bills drawn by the Missionaries, often amounting to several thousand pounds by a single arrival, and that the money required for supplies must be provided, whether adequate contributions have been received or not, this sum cannot be reduced without extreme embarrassment, or danger of arresting the progress of the work. From this short account, the Directors feel assured that the friends and supporters of the Society will see the strong necessity that exists for immediate efforts of such a character as may to them appear best suited to raise the annual income of the Society to an amount equal to the increased expenditure which the number of Missionaries now engaged renders indispensable. Every friend of the Society will feel that it would have been better to have detained in this country the Eighty-four individuals who have gone forth within the last 18 months, than that their efforts should be crippled for want of support. Besides those now in the field, others are ready to embark for stations where their aid is most urgently required. Several, as already stated, expect to leave during the present month for South Africa, and a still greater number are duly prepared, and will embark for India and China shortly, if the means be furnished to send them forth. The Directors now present this brief statement of the pressing claims of the Society to its members and the friends of Missions throughout the country, desiring to feel more deeply themselves, and to press upon all who co operate with them in this great work, the conviction that they are not their own, that they are bought with a price, and that not of corruptible things as silver and gold, but the precious blood of Him who, by the arrangements of his providence, and the claims of the heathen, no less than by the injunctions of his word, and the constraining influence of his love, calls upon all who profess his name to come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. HEATHEN FESTIVAL AT COMBACONUM, SOUTH OF INDIA. THE subjoined account of a great idolatrous festival held at Combaconum, in March last, and of the efforts made by means of the reading and distribution of religious tracts, and the preaching of the Gospel, to diffuse among the deluded multitudes attending it, that knowledge which is able to make wise unto salvation, has been lately received from Mr. Nimmo, the Missionary labouring at the above station. In addressing the Foreign Secretary on the subjects now noticed, Mr. Nimmo, whose letter is dated 22nd March, observes :-" Knowing you will be interested with a brief description of the Mahamahum, one of the most popular heathen festivals, which occurs here once in 12 years, I have the pleasure to forward the following literal translation of a common Hindoo story with reference to it and also a few extracts from my journal bearing on the same point :— Fabulous Account of the Origin of the Festival. hair of thy head? How is it then that my original beauty has been thus deformed? Seven in reply said, 'Because many millions of great sinners have visited and bathed in you, and because you have borne away all their sins, and shown them the good way; all their sins have surrounded you, and this deformity has happened to you. However, I will cause an holy bathing to originate in Combaconum, and grant to it the virtue of removing all sins. I shall there be known by the bank of the holy bathing by the name of Vesooveasooren, and Parvathee by the name of Veesalatchee. At that great Mahama• World of the gods. "The Ganges besides taking upon itself the form of water, sometimes at its pleasure assumed the form of a handsome woman. After a certain time, that form became very uncomely, which caused it much grief, upon which the Ganges went, and complained to Bramah. Bramah desired it to go and ascertain the cause from Seven, who he said would give the necessary information. Ganges, hearing of this, went to Seven and said, Didst not thou fetch me from the Dhevalogum* to this earth on the hum, once in twelve years, even when the planet Jupiter comes into the sign of Leo, should you leave this and go to bathe there, your sins being removed, you will again obtain your original beauty. As many will come to that bathing, so must you.'"'" According to the above story, the deluded Heathen believe that the very waters of the Ganges flow into this Tank once in twelve years, and that it is thereby rendered efficacious to the removal of all sins. Hence persons from almost every part of India come here on the day appointed; and in order to make this festival more popular, all the great cars in Combaconum are caused to be drawn on the day previous to the bathing. Mr. Nimmo then furnishes the extracts from his journal, giving a view of his engagements and proceedings at and during the festival, in conjunction with the native assistants employed at the Combaconum station Appearance of the Town. March 7.-This forenoon having made all necessary arrangements for the work before us, we united in prayer, and sought the Divine direction and blessing on the labours we were about to commence. In the afternoon we went into the town, and took our stand in one of the school-rooms, not far from the great Tank Mahamahum. All the houses having undergone a thorough repair, and tatts being put before them, the town wore a grand aspect. The streets I found pretty thickly crowded. Bandies and palanquins, from all directions, were seen to pour in. Men, women, and children of all classes and tongues, incessantly walked to and fro. Here were persons from Madras, Jaffna, Coimbatore, Cuddapah, and other countries, mingling together, their whole soul bent, as it were, upon serving Baal. Combaconum, though confessedly a large town, now appeared insufficient to hold the unusually large concourse of people that were gathered together, so much so, that some hundreds of these poor creatures were obliged to make open fields and the shades of large trees their resting places. Small pialls and huts in Combaconum, which could be had at other times for a single fanam for a whole month, now rented at a rupee, or more, for only two or three days. Mendicants of all descriptions occupied the sides of the streets. Great preparations were making for drawing the idol cars. In the midst of all this noise and pomp, I bless God, we were enabled to proceed in our work with much calmness. I preached three times on this occasion, and three of the assistants read tracts and portions of Scripture, and preached alternately till we were all quite exhausted. Our hearers heard us attentively. We had no contentious persons to trouble us; all was peace and quiet. In the afternoon we distributed about three hundred tracts, and could have distributed four times that number, but preferred economising our stock and disposing of it with discrimination. Several individuals from Jaffna thankfully accepted tracts, and spoke kindly of the Missionaries and their work there. During the night, I Of the above cars, the first seven belong to the Esooveren Pagodas, and the last five to the Vishtnoo Pagodas. Beside the above cars, six other chaparums, or chaises, were carried on men's shoulders, three of which, named Kalatheesooveren, Kambatta Veesoovanadhen, and Abimooktheesooveren, belong to the Esooveren Pagodas; and three to the Vishtnoo Pagodas, named Varadharajah Peroomal, Gobala Swamy, and New Varadharajah Peroomal. The number of persons employed to carry them were above 1,000; making altogether 58,000 persons. Independently of this large total, many others who came to see the festival voluntarily shared in the labour. The various chaparums, or chaises, on which the idols of both Esooveren and Vishtnoo Pagodas were borne on the eight days antecedent to the car festival and the day following immediately after it, were as follow: In the Esooveren Pagodas :1st Day, Common Chaise. Mr. Nimmo, and the native Evangelists, having continued their labours in the same manner as on the preceding day, the former thus proceeds : Loss of life by Car-drawing. March 8.-This evening, the drawing of the remaining cars was commenced. All night the hum of the multitude was heard more than two miles from the town, and it was as the rushing sound of the mighty ocean. I have since been informed, that several men, women, and children were crushed to death by the mob, and that a great number of children were missed in the crowd. Oh! the awful infatuation of this people! The ponderous car of Vishtnoo, though drawn all night by upwards of 12,000 men, was moved only a few yards from the starting point. Bathing in the tank. March 9.-This morning, as usual, we united in prayer, and proceeded to our work. Going through one of the streets both myself and my people were almost crushed down. With no small difficulty, we reached the school-room. Thousands upon thousands were returning from the Tank as filthy as could be imagined. The water having been previously pumped out of it, the people simply daubed themselves with the clay or sediment remaining in the Tank, and were running to the river Cawvery to wash themselves clean. Brahmins were seated on the steps of the Tank to receive money from all those who bathed in it. Red olai leaves, black beads, a red stuff, called Koongoma, saffron, limes, flowers, fruits, betel-nuts, and cocoa-nuts, were thrown into this reservoir in abundance; and some of the rich natives threw in pearls, and stones of value. Here the Brahmins, Soodras, and Pariahs seemed to have forgotten all distinctions of caste, and mingled together in bathing in this sacred Tank, so renowned for its supposed efficacy in removing all bodily and spiritual pollution. During the day, the Rajah of Tanjore and other great men came with great pomp to the Tank to bathe. Preaching, Distribution of Tracts, &c. Amidst all this noise and bustle, the Lord graciously privileged me to preach to large crowds of people. Four of my assistants also alternately read scriptures and tracts. Our hearers were remarkably attentive and patient, and appeared to be interested with all they heard. Not one exhibited a contentious spirit. Most of our hearers were persons from distant countries. The hours of our labour were from nine o'clock in the morning till four in the evening. About 2000 tracts were distributed on this occasion. The call for them was great, and I was glad to find some of the people afterwards carefully reading them. In the evening, I sent the school assistants and students in two different directions, and they reported they preached to upwards of 250 persons, and gave away about 100 tracts. March 10.-This morning, as usual, we again united in prayer and proceeded to our work. In my way to the school-room, I distributed about fifty tracts. Though the multitude had somewhat decreased, the streets were still thickly througed. From the schoolroom, I preached three times to very large and attentive congregations. Three of the assistants were also engaged here in reading scriptures and tracts, and in preaching to the people. Three other assistants were engaged in the same work a small distance from the school-room. Our hearers heard: us very quietly, and thankfully received tracts. Only one individual, after having received a tract, tore it to pieces, and threw i in my face. My other hearers, however, were much displeased with him for his disgraceful conduct. After much reproof, the man appeared to be humbled, and openly acknowledged his fault. The whole number of tracts distributed on this occasion were upwards of 800. In the middle of the day, the school assistants and students conversed with many that were returning home, and distributed about 200 tracts more. In the afternoon, we again united in prayer and went to the school-room. Here, I and my assistants once more raised our voices against idolatry, and proclaimed to them salvation through a crucified Saviour. In conclusion, we preached to them of the awful realities of the great day of final retribution. Distributed, on this occasion, A certain fabulous tree, supposed to be in the invisible world bearing all kinds of fruits, and to be imperishable in its nature. The invisible world, inhabited by Seven. |