416 ORISSA. great source of his wealth. No one comes empty-handed. The richer pilgrims heap gold and silver and jewels at the feet of the god, or spread before him charters and title-deeds, convcying rich lands in distant Provinces. Every one, from the richest to the poorest, gives beyond his ability; many cripple their fortunes for the rest of their lives in a frenzy of liberality; and hundreds die on the way home, from not having kept enough to support them on the journey. It may be mentioned that Ranjit Singh bequeathed the celebrated Koh-i-Nur diamond, which now forms one of the Crown jewels of England, to Jagannath. The total annual value of these offerings can never be known. Some have stated it as high as £70,000. This is perhaps excessive; although it should be remembered that, according to native historians, the Muhammadans managed to extract £100,000 from the pilgrims before they entered the city at all. A moderate computation estimated the offerings to the priests at twice the gross sum which the British officers realized as pilgrim tax; and now that the tax is withdrawn and the pilzrims enter the city so much the richer, the oblations cannot fail much short of three times the amount. This would yield a yearly sum of £37,000, which, added to the £400o derived from the temple lands, and to the revenues of the religious houses valued at £27,000, makes the total income of Jagannath not less than £68,000 per annum. A religious society so ancient and so wealthy naturally gathers around it a vast body of retainers. A quarter of a century ago, there were as many as six thousand male adults as priests, warders of the temple, and pilgrim guides. The number has probably increased since then; and, including the monastic establishments, their servants and hired labourers, along with the vast body of pilgrim guides who roani through every Province of India, it is probable that not less than 20,000 men, women, and children, live, directly or indirectly, by the service of lord Jagannath. The immediate attendants on the god are divided into thirty-six orders and ninety-seven classes. At the head is the Rájá of Khurdha, the representative of the ancient royal house of Orissa, who takes upon himself the lowly office of sweeper to Jagannath. Decorators of the idols, strewers of flowers, priests of the wardrobe, bakers, cooks, guards, musicians, dancing - girls, torch - bearers, grooms, clephantkecpcrs, and artisans of every sort, follow. There are distinct sets of servants to put the god to bed, to dress him, and to bathe him. special department keeps up the temple records, and affords a literary asylum to a few learned men. The baser features of a worship which aims at a sensuous realization of God, by endowing Him with human passions, appear in a band of prostitutes who sing before the image.
