DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.644#0043
20 EASTERN HINDOOSTAN.
*' pillars, feveral of which are fingle ftones thirty-five feet long
" and nearly five in diameter; and thofe which form the roof
" are Hill larger; in the inmoft inclofures are the chapels,
tl About half a mile to the eaft of Seringbam, and nearer to the
" Caveri than the Coleroon, is another large pagoda called Jum-
" bakißna, but this has only one inclofure. The extreme ve-
" neration in which Seringbam is held, arifes from a belief
a that it contains the identical image of the god Wißcbnu,
" which ufed to be worfhipped by the god Brahma. Pilgrims
** from all parts of the peninfula come here to obtain abfolu-
" tion, and none come without an offering of money; and a
** large part of the revenne of the ifland is allotted for the
" maintenance of the Brabmins, who inhabit the pagoda; and
" thefe, with their families, formerly compofed a multitude not
" lefs than forty thoufand fouls, maintained without labour by
" the liberality of fuperftition. Here, as in all the other great
" pagodas of Jndia, the Brabmins live in a fubordination which
'* knows no refiftance, and flumber in a voluptuonfnefs which
'* knows no wants; and fenfible of the happinefs of their con-
u dition, they quit not the filence of their retreats to mingle in
" the tumults of the ftate, nor point the brand flaming from
tl the altar againfl: the authority of the fovereign, or the tran-
«« quillity of the government."
In the year 1751, our army, and that of the Nabob of Ärcot,
then defpoiled of his territories by the Frencb, who fupported
his rival Cbunda-fabeb^ found it necefläry to poflefs themfelves of
this pagoda-, they entered as far as the third inclofure, but at the
earneft intreaties of the Brabmins, defifted from going nearer to
6 the
*' pillars, feveral of which are fingle ftones thirty-five feet long
" and nearly five in diameter; and thofe which form the roof
" are Hill larger; in the inmoft inclofures are the chapels,
tl About half a mile to the eaft of Seringbam, and nearer to the
" Caveri than the Coleroon, is another large pagoda called Jum-
" bakißna, but this has only one inclofure. The extreme ve-
" neration in which Seringbam is held, arifes from a belief
a that it contains the identical image of the god Wißcbnu,
" which ufed to be worfhipped by the god Brahma. Pilgrims
** from all parts of the peninfula come here to obtain abfolu-
" tion, and none come without an offering of money; and a
** large part of the revenne of the ifland is allotted for the
" maintenance of the Brabmins, who inhabit the pagoda; and
" thefe, with their families, formerly compofed a multitude not
" lefs than forty thoufand fouls, maintained without labour by
" the liberality of fuperftition. Here, as in all the other great
" pagodas of Jndia, the Brabmins live in a fubordination which
'* knows no refiftance, and flumber in a voluptuonfnefs which
'* knows no wants; and fenfible of the happinefs of their con-
u dition, they quit not the filence of their retreats to mingle in
" the tumults of the ftate, nor point the brand flaming from
tl the altar againfl: the authority of the fovereign, or the tran-
«« quillity of the government."
In the year 1751, our army, and that of the Nabob of Ärcot,
then defpoiled of his territories by the Frencb, who fupported
his rival Cbunda-fabeb^ found it necefläry to poflefs themfelves of
this pagoda-, they entered as far as the third inclofure, but at the
earneft intreaties of the Brabmins, defifted from going nearer to
6 the