Travels in India (Tavernier) 129.1.2

129.1.2

It should be remarked that jewellers, who come like others, are not now permitted to enter the pagoda, since one of them, who allowed himself to be shut up during the night, extracted a diamond from one of the eyes of the idol, intending to steal it. As he was about to leave in the morning, when the pagoda was opened, this thief, they say, died at the door, and the idol performed this miracle as a punishment for sacrilege. What makes this pagoda, which is a grand building, the principal one in India, is, that it is situated on the Ganges, the idolaters believing that the waters of that river have a special virtue, which cleanses them from defilement when they bathe in it. That which causes this pagoda to be otherwise so rich (for it supports up to 20,000 cows) is the great amount of the offerings made every day by the incredible multitude of people who arrive from all parts. But these alms are not altogether at the discretion of those who give them, as they are fixed by the High Priest, who before granting permission to the pilgrims to shave themselves, to wash themselves in the Ganges, and to do the other things necessary to fulfil their vows, taxes each one according to his means, of which he is very exactly informed. Thus he receives enormous sums, from which he himself derives no profit, all being expended on the feeding of the poor and the support of the pagoda.