Juggernaut Festival Rath Yatra 

‘My dearest Mother, My continuing hope is to civilise the Hindus of Juggernaut, in some small measure. As yet, they have had no advantages of Christian instruction. They continue to worship the Idol they call Juggernaut. I found the road to Juggernaut strewn with human bones. Countless pilgrims die here. With their bodies unburied, dogs, jackals and vultures live on human flesh. The vultures exhibit a shocking tameness.’ This is a quote from The Claudians: gardens, landscapes, reason and faith: John Claudius Loudon and Claudius Buchanan, Tom Turner (Kindle, 2024).

More about the Juggernaut Festival, 

More accurately known as the Ratha Yatra, it is associated with the 12th-century Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha. Lord Jagannath is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. Ratha Yatra festival, translates ‘Chariot Procession’ and the festival celebrates the annual journey of three deities: Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra, and their sister Subhadra. Each deity has a decorated chariot, crafted anew each year, pulled by thousands of devotees through the streets of Puri. It symbolises the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth. Claudius Buchanan’s account of devotees throwing themselves under the chariots for religious sacrifice is now interpreted as accidental deaths due to the large crowds.

Buchanan's remarks about ritual masturbation were based on his own observations and conversations with Hindus. His work has however been criticised as biassed and inaccurate. Some scholars have argued that Buchanan's claims about masturbation were based on his prejudices and that he did not have any reliable evidence to support them. Other scholars have argued that Buchanan's claims may have been accurate, but that they were taken out of context. They point out that Buchanan was writing in a time when masturbation was considered to be a serious moral failing in the West. As a result, they argue, Buchanan may have been more likely to see evidence of masturbation in Hindu society, even if it was not as widespread as he claimed.