The religion of the Hindoos at the present time is very different from that of the Vedas or Manu.  Idolatry is universal, and every month has its special worship,—­April, October, and January being most sacred.  April begins the Hindoo year.  During this sacred month bands of singers go from house to house, early in the morning, singing hymns to the gods.  On the 1st of April Hindoos of all castes dedicate pitchers to the shades of their ancestors.  The girls bring flowers with which to worship little ponds of water dedicated to Siva.  Women adore the river Ganges, bathing in it and offering it flowers.  They also walk in procession round the banyan or sacred tree.  Then they worship the cow, pouring water on her feet and putting oil on her forehead.  Sometimes they take a vow to feed some particular Brahman luxuriously during the whole month.  They bathe their idols with religious care every day and offer them food.  This lasts during April and then stops.

In May the women of India worship a goddess friendly to little babies, named Shus-ty.  They bring the infants to be blessed by some venerable woman before the image of the goddess, whose messenger is a cat.  Social parties are also given on these occasions, although the lower castes are kept distinct at four separate tables.  The women also, not being allowed to meet with the men at such times, have a separate entertainment by themselves.

The month of June is devoted to the bath of Jugger-naut, who was one of the incarnations of Vischnu.  The name, Jugger-naut, means Lord of the Universe.  His worship is comparatively recent.  His idols are extremely ugly.  But the most remarkable thing perhaps about this worship is that it destroys, for the time, the distinction of castes.  While within the walls which surround the temple Hindoos of every caste eat together from the same dish.  But as soon as they leave the temple this equality disappears.  The ceremony of the bath originated in this legend.  The idol Jugger-naut, desiring to bathe in the Ganges, came in the form of a boy to the river, and then gave one of his golden ornaments to a confectioner for something to eat.  Next day the ornament was missing, and the priests could find it nowhere.  But that night in a dream the god revealed to a priest that he had given it to a certain confectioner to pay for his lunch; and it being found so, a festival was established on the spot, at which the idol is annually bathed.

The other festival of this month is the worship of the Ganges, the sacred river of India.  Here the people come to bathe and to offer sacrifices, which consist of flowers, incense, and clothes.  The most sacred spot is where the river enters the sea.  Before plunging into the water each one confesses his sins to the goddess.  On the surface of this river castes are also abolished, the holiness of the river making the low-caste man also holy.