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MODERN HINDUISM.
have a more vivid idea of the history of their gods than any people.
The festival of Durga in Bengal is especially elaborate, the sons of Durga, Sarasvati, the wife of Brahma, and Festivals of Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, being attendant
Durga. figures. Durga herself has ten hands, holding weapons emblematic of her victories. The forms of worship previous to the coming to life of the goddess are very long, and one or more animals may be sacrificed, sometimes a buffalo. So generally is this festival observed,-husbands and sons returning home for it, and business being suspended, that it has been termed the Christmas of Bengal. It is celebrated in the sixth month (parts of September and October). The festival of Lakshmi, which follows, is the occasion for sitting up at night playing cards or amusing themselves, for the goddess is believed during the night to pass over all who are awake. In the seventh month there is a very repulsive celebration of Durga in her bloodthirsty aspect. "In the images which represent her at this festival," says Mr. Wilkins, "she is black, as her name Kali implies, and her husband is lying down under her feet. Her tongue protrudes from her mouth, her four arms are extended, one hand grasping a sword, another the head of a giant, and the other two signalling to her hosts. As ear-rings she has two dead bodies of her foes; her neck is adorned with a necklace of skulls, and her only garment, a zone, is made of the hands of her vanquished foes, whilst her hair falls down in long tresses to her waist. Intoxicated with the blood of her foes, her eyes flash with rage, her eyebrows are dyed with crimson, and blood flows down her breast." This worship is attended with midnight sacrifices of animals, shrieking invocations, and drunken orgies. Many of the festivals assume the aspect of carnivals. At some of the festivals of Siva hooks used to be inserted in the backs of men, which were then swung in the air at a great height; but this is now discontinued, either a dummy being used, or the hook fixed to a rope round the man's body.
The next great department of Hindu worship is that concerned with pilgrimages to particular places of great
