s in third-class compartments at less
than half a cent a mile, and without much other inconvenience than an
excess of dust and stiffened bones. The writer has seen many
globe-trotters pass through India of whom few were not surprised at
the relative comforts of travel here during the winter months, and no
other time of the year should be chosen for travelling in India.

It will be convenient to start upon our tour from Madura, the
missionary home of the writer. It is a large, wide-awake centre of
enthusiastic Hinduism in the extreme south of the peninsula. In the
heart of this town, of more than a hundred thousand people, stands its
great temple, dedicated to Siva. The principal monuments of South
India are its temples. They are the largest temples in the world. The
Madura temple is only the third in size; but in its upkeep and
architectural beauty it far surpasses the other two, which are larger.
It covers an area of fifteen acres, and its many _Gopuras_, or
towers, furnish the landmark of the country for miles around. It is
erected almost entirely of granite blocks, some of which are sixty
feet long. Its monolithic carving is exquisitely fine, as it is most
abundant and elaborate. Hinduism may be moribund; but this temple
gives only intimation of life and prosperity as one gazes upon its
elaborate ritual, and sees the thousands passing daily into its shrine
for worship. It represents the highest form of Hindu architecture,
and, like almost all else that is Hindu, its history carries us to the
dim distance of the past. But the great Tirumalai Nayak, the king of
two and a half centuries ago, spent more in its elaboration than any
one else. And it was he who built, half a mile away, the great palace
which, though much reduced, still stands as the noblest edifice of its
kind south of a line drawn from Bombay to Calcutta.

In this same temple we find, transformed, another cult. It is called
the Temple of Meenatchi, after its presiding goddess, "the Fish-eyed
One." When Brahmanism reached Madura, many centuries ago, Meenatchi
was the principal demoness worshipped by the people, who were all
devil-worshippers. As was their wont, the Brahmans did not antagonize
the old faith of the people, but absorbed it by marrying Meenatchi to
their chief god Siva, and thus incorporated the primitive
devil-worship into the Brahmanical religion. Thus the Hinduism of
Madura and of all South India is Brahmanism _plus_ devil-worship. And
the