I.
"
HAT am extraordinary scene!" said Denviers, as we sat under the veranda of a Hindu house facing the street.
"Well," I responded, "after what we saw at Jaganath I am scarcely surprised at anything in India."
"The sahibs have reached Conjeve just in time," said our guide, Tassan, as he stood behind us watching what was transpiring with his grave eyes, "for of all the sights in Southern India this is surely the most remarkable!"
After our escape from the temple at Delhi and the capture of the diamonds from the sword-hilt of the idol which it contained, we had passed through the long plain of the Ganges, and eventually reached Calcutta. We then determined to travel along the coast of India, and, after witnessing the death of several voluntary victims beneath the wheels of the famous car of Jaganath, we pushed on to Madras, and thence to Conjeve, where we were destined to meet with a strange adventure.
"What is the cause of all this excitement, Hassan?" asked Denviers, as he looked into the thronged street.
"It is the first day of the festival which is kept every year," he answered; "the image yonder on the idol car is that of the principal god."
"The festival."
Amid the wild cries and excited gesticulations of the onlookers we saw a car fully forty feet in height, and shaped like a tower or gopuran, upon which was placed the gigantic image of a god riding upon a bull carved in black granite, and with its horns gilded. The whole of the car was covered with grotesque carvings, while before the solid wheels, on which it moved slowly along, was a crowd of pilgrims and devotees pulling with all their might at the ropes as they were cheered on by the vast concourse which lined the streets.
"We may as well get a nearer view of the car," said Denviers, as he rose from the chair on which he had been sitting. "The carving upon it is certainly worth closer examination." Hassan placed his hand on my companion's shoulder as he said quickly:—
