Indian Antiquary Vol 04

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 32

22
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
the quadrangle of St. Xavier's College at Bombay, attended by not less than 4000 persons; at least two-thirds of them were of the Goanese obedience. This meeting was presided over by the Vicar Apostolic (who is commonly known, as you style him, as the Bishop of Bombay), the Vicar General of the Portuguese jurisdiction sat on his right hand, and numbers of each jurisdiction were seated alternately on the daïs. Each motion was proposed and seconded by persons of each jurisdiction. The utmost goodfeeling prevailed, and the two telegrams which resulted from the meeting-one to the Pope congratulating him on his 83rd birthday, and the second to the German Bishops, offering them our sympathy under persecution-were sent signed by the Vicar Apostolic and by the Vicar General, in the name of " the Catholics of both jurisdictions." The clergy of the two jurisdictions constantly officiate in each other's churches at Bombay, Mahim, and Bandora, and doubtless elsewhere. It is true that there was at one time a dispute between the two jurisdictions which ran to the scandalous length of disputes in civil and criminal courts, but what I have said above is, I hope, evidence to prove that the quarrel was of short endurance, and that now there is not only no feud, but Catholic harmony between the separate jurisdictions. As to the alleged Altkatholiken sympathies of the Goanese Catholics, I point to the telegram of our March meeting to the Catholic Bishop of Germany in refutation of it.
I have lived for four years under the Goanese jurisdiction, and have not been able to discover any difference in doctrine or in sympathy . I see that you, in common with the English press, use the very puzzling word Ultramontane in connection with the Jesuits. The word was first coined in reference to the temporal power of the Pope, but it is difficult to say what it now means. I have come to understand it to mean "a consistent, firm, and enthusiastic Catholic;" if you use it in this sense, I take leave to apply it to the clergy of both jurisdictions here.
THE GOD VITHOBA OF PANDARPUR.
The defilement and injury of this idol, which have been already referred to, form a regular case of Hara versus Hari (Śiva versus Vishnu Vithobâ being held to be an incarnation of the latter). Three devotees of Siva from one of the great South of India shrines found access to the temple of Vithobâ, and from jealousy, it is sup
Ind. Ant. vol. II. p. 272.
[JANUARY, 1875.
posed, of his popularity, and from covetousness of his emoluments, set to belabour him with stones suspended from their necks. They inflicted serious injuries on the face, belly, and feet of the image before they could be disarmed. They were nearly beaten to death by Vithobâ's votaries, but saved ultimately by the police. On being brought before the magistrate (a native judiciously selected), no person appeared to prosecute them for the supposed sacrilege of which they were guilty; and they were duly set at liberty, and have disappeared from the scene. The calamity was then, with telegraphic speed, bruited throughout the whole of the Maratha Country and other provinces of India. The inquiry universally arose among the natives, What can be done to mitigate the catastropho? The doors of the temple were shut, and workmen were understood to be busy, either in effecting repairs, or in constructing a new image likely to be floated on a tank by the help of a board beneath it, and given forth as the return of the "self-formed" image so long worshipped. While repairs have been effected in the way expected, the image worshipped in the shrine frequented by the lowest castes has interchanged places with the article that was mended, and which was wont to be worshipped by the thousands and tens of thousands of Maratha pilgrims.-Dr. J.
Wilson.
AGARIS.
Agari: a numerous caste in Thânâ district, and found on or near the sea-coast. There are two divisions: 1, Jus âgari; 2, Mithagari,-the former working in cocoanut plantations, drawing the toddy, is said to be addicted to drinking, yet to rank as Marâţhâs or Kunabis: the latter, or Mithagaris, work in the salt-pans on the low, flat shore. Their work is very arduous and necessitates long exposure to the sun's rays: character similar; also said to be a branch of the Marâthâs, but they neither eat nor intermarry with Agaris; and it seems probable that the whole of the people termed Agaris are of the same origin as the Kolis, whom they are said to resemble in every part of their character. In Gujarât the salt-preparers are Kolis, and in Kânarâ a corresponding people have been noticed, the Khårwist-wrongly, it would seem, termed Sadras, in the Leper return of that district,-intimating that there also an idea prevails that the caste belongs to the Sadra division. Khârwis are also compared to Bhills They are probably of aboriginal origin. Trans Med. & Phys. Soc. of Bombay, No. XI. N. S.
+ Ind. Ant. vol. II. p. 154, and conf. vol. III. p. 77.