Saint.
Usually he is the spokesperson of God, mysterious and holy, and also covered with a dreamlike color.
When hearing the word saint, a normal person's impression is that she is extremely beautiful, but has a high status and is sacred and inviolable.
Qian Long was in the stage of admiring Ai when he was young. Although he had not seen many beautiful women from his family background, he was still very interested and couldn't wait to see them.
Following Surya, we walked around the edge of the shantytown for a while, and then we saw a lively scene.
Incense is burning, colorful petals are scattered all over the sky, drums and music are singing, and Sanskrit chants are melodious, clear, subtle and solemn.
People kneeling on both sides of the road, wearing simple and shabby clothes, worshiped the monks on the road with extremely pious gestures. Some of them even held golden trays in their hands, offering flowers, fruits, spices, and their only money to the gods.
There are dozens of elephants in the huge team, all painted with colorful religious symbols, and carrying luxuriously decorated carriages on their backs.
At the front of the team, three priests were surrounded by a group of servants and stars, standing behind a huge fire altar with noble and majestic expressions.
The saint that Qian Long longed for was cautiously walking towards the fire altar with the support of his family.
Judging from her height, this saint was only about ten years old, but she was dressed like the brides Qian Long had seen in the city before.
She was wearing an exquisite and gorgeous red sari and expensive and luxurious jewelry. Mysterious patterns were painted on her exposed arms and legs, and her bare feet were also painted red.
Her face is still very young, but her features are delicate. She is indeed a beauty. Her forehead is dotted with red tikka, her mouth is smeared with lip sand, she is chewing betel nuts in her mouth, and her teeth are dyed black.
The saint's makeup was very gorgeous, but Qian Long always felt a little weird looking at it.
The priest carefully looked at the approaching saint, with a satisfied expression on his face, and began to pray around the fire altar.
When the saint came to stand in front of the fire altar, one of the priests took a silk scarf from the statue and tied it to her sari.
Then four servants came forward, took her from the hands of the saint's family, and escorted her to the elephant chariot.
The saint's family members watched her sit on the elephant chariot. Their faces were full of joy, and they worshiped the three priests with gratitude, and then stepped away.
Then the next saint came and repeated the same process.
Yes, there is not just one saint, but dozens...
Seeing this, Qian Long couldn't help but ask Sulie, "Why does this ceremony to welcome the saint look similar to those wedding ceremonies in the city?"
Surya pouted, "Because the saint is meant to marry a god, at least in name."
From his expression, Qian Long felt that things were not simple, "Does a god still need a wife?"
"Do you think it's ridiculous?"
Surya's smile was full of disdain, and he continued to explain, "Those believers believe that serving God is like serving people. After the gods bestow grace on the world, they will be tired and need to rest, so naturally they have to be served, so they have the God's Wife. Saint."
"Every year, a large number of girls are selected as saints and marry the gods in a grand ceremony on Shivaratri."
"Because the wife is chosen for God, the girl who wants to become a saint must be pure and flawless, otherwise it will be blasphemous to the gods. Therefore, only teenage virgins can be selected, and their appearance must be very outstanding, and there must be no physical defects, haha , it turns out that gods also dislike ugliness and prefer beauty..."
"After becoming so-called saints, they will be sent to temples. During the day, they will sit on the altar, accept worship from all directions, and accept the respect of believers. It seems very glorious and beautiful, but at night, they become A tool for sexual release.”
"Those monks blatantly replaced God and had sex with the saint. They said that through such behavior, they could get closer to God, communicate with God better, accept God's instructions better, and pray for believers better. …”
Qian Long was shocked when he heard this, "This, this, this... putting a green turban on a god, how can you be so confident?"
Surya sneered, "That's not all. Not only do saints have to serve these monks and priests, but high-caste dignitaries, or anyone who is willing to contribute money for sesame oil, can go to the temple to enjoy these saints."
"In addition, the saints who can stay in the temple are the best and freshest, and many more are sent to the market, where they find a room for her, hang up brightly colored curtains, and sit on a chair Waiting for customers to come to your door, no matter who they are, they can play as they please as long as they pay, and all the money earned must be sent to the temple and 'dedicated' to the gods."
These words completely overturned Qian Long's understanding of saints and even religion, "Why? Then why are there still people willing to send their daughters to be such bullshit saints? For money!?"
"It's not just about the money."
Sadness appeared in Surya's eyes, "After being selected as saints, their families will indeed receive a sum of money, but it is pitiful compared to the money that saints earn from selling their bodies."
"I told you before that here, the low castes and untouchables are not only poor and humble, but also deprived of the right to worship the gods, that is, they cannot receive the blessings and protection of the gods. There will be no afterlife after death, and the soul will be completely destroyed. destroy."
"Originally, they were regarded as the meanest and filthiest, and were not allowed to have any physical contact with other castes, and could not change from generation to generation. However, in order to satisfy their own lust and greed, some people came up with such a system of saints. He also used money to dress up the saint and create a grand ceremony that others would envy."
"In this way, not only do the saints gain the favor of the gods, but they can also pray for their families, so that their families can get the opportunity to be reincarnated, and they can even be reborn into high castes. Even other people also regard this ceremony as a way to get close to the gods. opportunity, so everyone supports the system..."
Qian Long smacked his lips, "Are these people so easy to deceive?"
Surya let out a long sigh, and then said, "There was a sage named Confucius in China who proposed that all people, no matter what their origins, are qualified to receive education. Even civilians have the opportunity to be promoted to officials or knights based on their talents, learning or military merit. It is possible to earn wealth by doing business.”
"But it doesn't work here. People of lower castes are not allowed to own land, are not allowed to acquire knowledge, and have no rights. They can only work as tenant farmers and laborers, or do the most menial and dirty work in the city, and their descendants are also That's the case, so they are ignorant and ignorant, and can only accept the coaxing of those 'apostles of gods'."
Qian Long was amazed and felt very much in his heart.
To be honest, as the powerful class, they definitely hope that the common people will be honest and obedient, always work hard without complaint, and willingly contribute all their value.
In order to achieve this goal, the rulers will inevitably control their thoughts and systems. Champa seems to be very successful in this regard, but the appearance is too ugly and the methods are too clumsy.
Barbarians are barbarians, they have no sense of benevolence and righteousness, and they have no shame...
Qian Long shook his head and looked at the saints with some sympathy and regret in his eyes, but he didn't have many other thoughts, let alone the idea of fighting for the injustice of the people at the bottom of Champa City.
In his opinion, it was probably because Surya had a similar background experience that he felt "sorrowful for their misfortune and angry for their misfortune" towards these low-caste untouchables.
The ceremony of 'marrying a wife to a god' continued, and more than thirty saints had been sent to the elephant chariot. Qian Long felt that there was nothing new to see, and was about to ask Suriya to leave.
At this time, he seemed to hear someone shouting something in Chinese.
"Let me go! I don't want to be a saint, I want to go home...I want to go home!..."
After listening carefully, Qian Long confirmed that he heard correctly. It was a woman's call, and the voice came from the crowd waiting for the wedding ceremony.
Qian Long's eyelids twitched and he asked Sulie, "Aren't these bullshit saints all from the untouchables? How come there seem to be people from Song Dynasty? Is it possible that I, a person from Song Dynasty, are also untouchables!?"
"Of course not." Sulie quickly denied, and then said, "The country is a vassal of the Song Dynasty. How dare you treat the people of the country as a lower caste? People of the Song Dynasty are still very respected in the country."
"How do you explain that shout just now? Look, those little ladies look completely like people from the Song Dynasty!"
After searching, Qian Long found that although there were four or five saints dressed similarly to the others, their appearances were obviously different, and the men and women guarding them did not look like their family members.
Sulie looked at what Qian Long was pointing at for a while, and a hint of darkness flashed across his face, "Brother Qian Xian, they, they should be slaves who were kidnapped and sold...just like my mother."
"What do you mean? Please make it clear!" Qian Long's face looked a little ugly.
"Don't worry, dear brother, they are not necessarily from the Song Dynasty." Sulie comforted him first, and then said with a wry smile, "Most of the Zhan people have dark skin, but high castes appear to be whiter, so fair-skinned slaves are more favored by higher castes. Caste dignitaries welcome.”
"So, Han women kidnapped mainly from Annan can often be sold at very good prices. In addition, there are also people who abducted women from the Song Dynasty and sold them. The rich and powerful bought such slaves, not only to use them as slaves, but also to use them as slaves. Most of them are for lust, but it is limited by canon rules and they are not allowed to have contact with low-caste untouchables, so traffickers or buyers will make slaves become saints first. In this way, they can bypass the canon rules, which is actually to use the name of a saint..."
The more Qian Long listened, the angrier he became, "Abducting my people into slavery!? I'm afraid it's not just abduction, right?"
"This, this, anyway, pirates usually provide the source of goods. How to get it may be more complicated." Sulie was a little embarrassed.
"No! Our dynasty has canceled the status of slaves, and even the servants of my family have to sign employment contracts. How can the Huawai vassal country dare to treat the people of our dynasty as slaves!? This is simply an insult and contempt for our dynasty! It makes me angry! I am so angry! Also, no matter which country they are Han Chinese in, they are still my Chinese descendants and cannot be enslaved!!"
Qian Long didn't have a sense of justice, but felt that this kind of thing was too shameful, so he was more excited.
To be more serious, there were not countless Han people who were slaves under the Mongolian rule in the north, but so what?
It's just that the insult of being slapped in the face by a small vassal country is even more intense.
Qian Long is now at an age where he can save face. Since he encountered this kind of thing, he made up his mind to take care of it. At least he would not let his fellow tribesmen become the slave playthings of the barbarians in front of him.
"Brother Su, please take me back to the city to the palace. Today, your father must order a ban on such things!"
Surya smiled bitterly, "Brother, from the bottom of my heart, I definitely support it, but even if you find my father and ask him to give the order, I'm afraid it won't really have any effect. Only by completely changing Champa can we eliminate it." With all this filthiness, I think we should focus on the overall situation at the moment..."
Qian Long pondered for a while, "What Brother Su said makes sense, but I can't watch my compatriots being pushed into the pit of fire. Please give me a way."
"Here, let me think about it..."
