They found the temple enclosed in an area of about ten acres in extent, and learned from their guide that each side of the enclosure measured 650 feet, and the lofty wall before them extended all the way around. On the eastern side, where they entered, there was a broad staircase of stone steps leading up to a platform twenty feet in height; this platform was about 450 feet square, and enclosed by a wall somewhat lower than the outer one, and it appeared to be pretty well filled with small temples, and pagodas that had been built with comparatively little regard to order or regularity.
The great pagoda rises from the centre of this platform or terrace; it has a base about thirty feet square, and its top is 200 feet above the foundation. It tapers gradually, and is rounded at the summit; the sides are cut full of niches for holding small statues, and at a distance the effect is quite pretty. Close by the entrance is a stone pillar nearly fifty feet high, hewn from a single block, and said to be a remarkable piece of work.
The enclosure and the temples were full of pilgrims who had come to make their offerings; some of them scowled at the strangers, but offered no violence, though a few crowded around and made remarks in a menacing tone till they were silenced by the guide. The interior of the temple is divided into four rooms or halls that open into each other: one is the hall of offerings, where gifts are made by the pilgrims, to be afterward appropriated by the priests; the second is the hall of the musicians and bayaderes; the third is the hall of audience, where the pilgrims gaze on the god, and the fourth and last is in the centre of the building, and occupied by the god Juggernaut, or Jaganath, with his brother on one side and his sister on the other.
JAGANATH AND HIS BROTHER AND SISTER.
Contrary to their expectation, our friends found that the statue of the god was only a log rudely fashioned into the shape of a human body without arms, while the figures on each side of him had rude representations of hands uplifted. The priests explain this deficiency by saying that Jaganath, or "the lord of the world," has no need of hands, as he can perform everything without their aid. Sometimes on festival occasions they fasten golden hands to his shoulders, and adorn him with jewels: his eyes are supposed to be of fine diamonds of enormous value; but according to tradition one of them was stolen by a sailor, who managed to conceal himself in the temple one night, and since then the diamonds have been removed and bits of glass put in their place.
The guide told them that the service of the temple consisted of a daily offering of fruit and flowers, together with articles of food, such as rice, butter, milk, salt, vegetables, cocoa-nuts, and the like. Four times a day the temple is closed for the god to take his meals, and it is hardly necessary to say that the food which has been collected is eaten by the priests and other attendants of the place. It has been estimated that the value of the offerings averages nearly twenty-five dollars daily, and all of it goes to the support of the priests. In addition to these offerings of food there are donations of money and jewels from wealthy pilgrims, which are estimated by Mr. Hunter to amount to more than $300,000 a year.
The pilgrims come from all parts of India to worship at this shrine: many of them are women, and they are collected by missionaries who are sent out from Pooree to the number of about six thousand every year. They go all over the country, and each has his field of labor assigned to him. He shows to the people the great advantages of a journey to the sacred shrine, and as soon as he has collected a band of pilgrims he starts with them for the holy spot. Most of the pilgrims are poor, and they go on foot and beg their subsistence as they proceed. Now and then a wealthy merchant concludes to make the pilgrimage, and he does it with carts and wagons and a whole train of servants, and it sometimes happens that a prince comes with dozens of elephants, and everything in grand style.