CHAPTER IX.

HINDOO TEMPLES--CARS--PROCESSION OF IDOLS.


My dear Children--I will proceed to give you a description of the Hindoo
temples. These are very numerous. One is to be found in almost every
village. They are to be found, also, in out-of-the-way places, distant
from villages, in woods, on the banks and in the middle of rivers; but,
above all, on mountains and steep rocks.

This latter practice, of building temples on mountains, is very ancient.
The Israelites were accustomed to choose a mountain when they offered up
their sacrifices to the Lord. Solomon, before the building of the
temple, chose Mount Gibeon on which to offer his burnt-offerings; and
when the ten tribes separated themselves, in the reign of Jeroboam, they
built their altars on the mountain of Samaria. This practice may have
come from the circumstance, that Noah offered to God a great sacrifice
of thanks on one of the highest mountains of Armenia. Probably Mount
Ararat continued long to be remembered, by him and his descendants, as
the scene of their deliverance.

Besides the temples of the idols, there are various objects of worship,
made of earth and stone. Some of the idols are carved. Some consist
merely of the rough stone. These are to be seen on the high-roads, at
the entrance into villages, and, above all, under lofty trees. Some of
these are covered; but generally they are exposed in the open air.