The Survey October 1916-March 1917 . he Kalighat is a temple devoted to the worship of theone-eyed goddess of hate, Kali, whom Nirman Singhs to raise her child to the view of the dread goddess, for theybelieved the sickness of children was incurred through Kalisdispleasure at lack of attention and sacrifice. At the en-trance to the courtyard across from the shrine, lounged agroup of loafers. One of these cried to his fellows, Come!Quick! Sahib and Memsahib want to see Kali, one-eyedgoddess! These men formed what might be termed a flyingwedge to open a way for the white man, they mercilesslybuc
The Survey October 1916-March 1917 . he Kalighat is a temple devoted to the worship of theone-eyed goddess of hate, Kali, whom Nirman Singhs to raise her child to the view of the dread goddess, for theybelieved the sickness of children was incurred through Kalisdispleasure at lack of attention and sacrifice. At the en-trance to the courtyard across from the shrine, lounged agroup of loafers. One of these cried to his fellows, Come!Quick! Sahib and Memsahib want to see Kali, one-eyedgoddess! These men formed what might be termed a flyingwedge to open a way for the white man, they mercilesslybucked the struggling mob of women in front of the each woman of this squirming mass gained a placewhere she might for an instant hold up her child to thega/.e of the hideous one-eyed idol, she turned to pass down adouble line of almost naked priests who sold holy ashes,Rowers or trinkets. At the end of this double line was theplace of sacrifice. The stone floor was slippery with blood. THE SU RV EY FOR NOVEMBER 4, 1916 117. ^RJORY DAW The old English refrain in girlish trebles sounds just as sweet in this alien environment as with us. And these English wordsmean just as much to our young Bengalis as do Eney meney miney mo to our bairns Young goats, each with all four feet tied, were stacked in apile like cord-wood. One priest selected a goat and held itto the block, a second collected the cost of the goat, a thirdwas ax-man. The sick child was held close to the descendingax, so that the blood spurting from the decapitated trunkmight cover its face before reaching the ground. The virtueof the sacrifice was lost if the blood should strike the pave-ment before the child was baptized in it. In the event of suchpollution, it was necessary then to purchase another a farm coolies wage for a days labor is not as muchas a carfare,—the eagerness of these poverty-stricken mothersto save a second fee may be imagined. The gloomy surroundings, the screams of children a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidsurv, booksubjectcharities
