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152
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JUNE, 1882.
not allowed to approach beyond a certain point. This led us to ask for an explanation; and we quoted one of Tukârâm's most remarkable abhangs, beginning
to see him here ?" "Ah! but this is a special Vithobâ; this is a svayambhu image." "Well; but is it the image or the deity, you trust in ?" "The deity." And so on-the reader can
'Twixt the low and lofty, God no difference conceive for himself how Christian missionaries
would proceed from such a starting-point. We found then, as we had found and have found in a thousand other cases, that you may say anything you please to the people without giving offence, provided your manner and words be friendly. A little gentle irony is at times unavoidable; but anything approaching scorn or sarcasm must sedulously be shunned; and if this is done, the common people (though not always the Brahmans) hear you gladly.
knoweth ;
Still to faith He showeth
All his glory; in which the poet declares that the god Vithobâ assisted the Mhâr devotee, Tsokhâ Meļā, even to bear off dead cattle,-which is one of the most humiliating of employments. "Why then," we asked, "exclude Mhâr worshippers now ?" "That was all very well for the god," was the reply; "he may do as he pleases; but men must obey the rules of caste."
We were Missionaries; and of course we sought opportunities of conversing with the people and of preaching. We met no bitter opposition: many expressed a desire to hear us again. I do not enter either on the manner, or matter, of our addresses farther than as doing so may serve to illustrate the mental state of the pilgrims. We generally began, in humble imitation of the Apostle at Athens, with a conciliatio benevolentia. "You, good friends, are very much in earnest. Some of you have come 600 miles to this festival. The expense, the labour is very great; the risk to life not small; for you all know how frequently cholera breaks out at these gatherings. You expect much from this pilgrimage. How sad if you do not get what you want; but what do you want ?": -somewhat in this way began our addresses. "We bathe in the Bhima, and gaze on the god; and so all sin is removed, and much righteousness acquired," was the usual answer. "Are you sure that bathing in the Bhimâ washes away sin ?" "Why, who doubts it? have not I come 300 miles to be purified so ?" "And how does gazing on Vithobâ give righteousness ?" "Vithobà is févar; don't call the image a mere stone." We found a perpetual confusion of thought between the material image and an unseen Vithobâ. "Vithobâ," said one of the hearers, "is almighty and omnipresent." "Is he in your own village ?" "To be sure." "Then why. travel 400 miles
age:
Tukaram thus contrasts three great places of pilgrimAt Kat, they shave the head; at Dwaraka, they brand the arm;
We heard less of miracles being performed than we had expected. "We shall show you a stone that swims on water," said one. We said we should be glad to see it; but somehow the promise was not kept. "When the palanquin of Vithobâ goes to the Bhîmâ, the river rises to meet it," said another. We saw the procession of the palanquin by and by; but no one afterwards referred to the homage of the water.
We were anxious to discover what precise meaning was affixed to the phrase which we heard continually-that the waters of the Bhima "wash away sin." Evidently the pilgrims believed that the guilt of sin was removed; but did they hold that their hearts were also purified? We repeatedly put questions regarding this. "Unless our hearts are purified," said one man, "there is little good in our coming here." But were they purified? we persisted in inquiring; did experience show that they were? No one affirmed that they were; or if one or two maintained this, it was easy to silence them by proverbs current in all parts of India to the effect that those who go on pilgrimage generally come back worse men than before. "Visit Benares thrice," say our Marathâ people, "and you become a thorough scoundrel." We asked again-"when a pilgrim visits Pandharpûr, does he not generally carry home a load of pride and self-conceit ?" "Too often," was the reply. "Has he then got any good by bathing in the Chandrabhâgâ ?" "Very little." "Has he not got harm ?" "Perhaps."
But at Pandhari, all become one; The eighteen castes are all just Vaishnavas,There is no other belief at Pandhari.
