Through flesh and bones it ploughs its dreadful path.
Groans rise unheard; the dying cry.
And death, and agony
Are trodden under foot by yon mad throng,
Who follow close and thrust the deadly wheels along."
Curse of Kehama, xiv. 5.
1814.—"The sight here beggars all description. Though Juggernaut made some progress on the 19th, and has travelled daily ever since, he has not yet reached the place of his destination. His brother is ahead of him, and the lady in the rear. One woman has devoted herself under the wheels, and a shocking sight it was. Another also intended to devote herself, missed the wheels with her body, and had her arm broken. Three people lost their lives in the crowd."—In Asiatic Journal—quoted in Beveridge, Hist. of India, ii. 54, without exacter reference.
c. 1818.—"That excess of fanaticism which formerly prompted the pilgrims to court death by throwing themselves in crowds under the wheels of the car of Jagannáth has happily long ceased to actuate the worshippers of the present day. During 4 years that I have witnessed the ceremony, three cases only of this revolting species of immolation have occurred, one of which I may observe is doubtful, and should probably be ascribed to accident; in the others the victims had long been suffering from some excruciating complaints, and chose this method of ridding themselves of the burthen of life in preference to other modes of suicide so prevalent with the lower orders under similar circumstances."—A. Stirling, in As. Res. xv. 324.
1827.—March 28th in this year, Mr. Poynder, in the E. I. Court of Proprietors, stated that "about the year 1790 no fewer than 28 Hindus were crushed to death at Ishera on the Ganges, under the wheels of Juggurnaut."—As. Journal, 1821, vol. xxiii. 702.
[1864.—"On the 7th July 1864, the editor of the Friend of India mentions that, a few days previously, he had seen, near Serampore, two persons crushed to death, and another frightfully lacerated, having thrown themselves under the wheels of a car during the Rath Jatra festival. It was afterwards stated that this occurrence was accidental."—Chevers, Ind. Med. Jurispr. 665.]