Chapter II: Part 2

The Budjerow is taking in her sails; and the _sahib_, or gentleman on board, is likely to go without his dinner, as his cook-boat, with her torn sails, will most likely be unable to come alongside, and hand it over to the servants.

A voyage up the Ganges may be performed in boats, as various in shape as in size: a Pinnace is a first-class vessel; the next is a Budjerow, which draws very little water, and is divided into two commodious rooms, which may be furnished according to the taste of the traveller: a complete establishment consists of a horse-boat, a washerman’s-boat, and a cook-boat; in this country the cooking is always performed in a separate vessel.

The _dinghī_, or wherry, now making for the land, is generally manned by two rowers and a steersman: these boats are of slight construction, with a circular awning of bamboo-work and matting, under which a person can sit, and though in general well managed, are by no means to be considered safe conveyances.

RAJMAHAL.

The ruins of the palace of Rajmahal are on the bank. During the reign of Akbar, about 1591, Raja Maun Singh fixed upon this city as the capital of Bengal, and changed its name to Raja-Mahul—the Raja erected the palace, and surrounded the town with a rampart of brick and other fortifications. In 1608, the seat of government was removed hence to Dacca, by Islam Khan; but in 1639, the Sultan Shah Shuja brought it back again, and strengthened the fortifications, of which, however, few traces are now to be seen.

Prior to 1638 this town was the residence of the Sultan Shah Shuja, the brother of Aurunzebe; but few vestiges of its ancient magnificence now remain. The ruins of his palace are still standing, but have been much injured by the encroachments of the Ganges. Cows now ruminate quietly beneath the black marble arches that overlook the river, or seek for shelter in its empty halls, which still present images of their former grandeur. The marble floor of the Mosque remains, and a fine old _bāolī_ (a large well). Around Rajmahal is a beautiful _jangal_ of magnificent bamboos, fine clumps interspersed with date-palm trees overshadowing the cottages, around which are a number of small cows and fowls of a remarkably good breed: every thing has an air of comfort, and the walks in all directions are cool and pleasant. The steamers from Calcutta take in their coal a mile below, and therefore do not destroy the beauty of the old ruins with their smoke, and noise, and Birmingham appearance. The Rajmahal hills are distant about five miles inland.

Sooraj-oo-Dowlah, after his flight from Plassey, reached Rajmahal, and took shelter in the buildings of a deserted garden, where he was discovered by a _Fakīr_ named Dana Shah, whose nose and ears he had ordered to be cut off thirteen months before. This man recognized him, made the circumstance known, and the Nawāb was carried a prisoner back to Moorshedabad, where he was murdered by order of Meerun, the son of the new Nawāb Meer Jaffier Khan. His mangled remains were placed on an elephant, exposed throughout the city, and finally interred. Thus perished Sooraj-oo-Dowlah, in the twentieth year of his age, and the fifteenth month of his reign; a prince whose short career was connected in a most important manner with the British interests in India, both for good and evil.

SĪCKRĪ-GALĪ.

A country vessel is being towed by her crew round a rocky point; each man has his own _gūn_, or track-rope, fastened to a short, thick piece of bamboo, which he carries over his shoulder. A Pinnace, or budjerow, tracks, with ten or twelve men, upon one rope only.

The Sīckrī-galī pass, during the Hindū and Muhammadan Governments, was the commanding entrance from Bahar into Bengal, and was fortified with a strong wall; however, in 1742, a Mahratta army of cavalry passed into Bengal through the hills above Colgong. The village of Sīckrī-galī is eighteen miles above Rajmahal at the base of a high rocky eminence, commanding a fine view of two ranges of hills. There is here the tomb of a celebrated Muhammadan Saint, Pīr Pointī, and a cave in limestone rock; and higher up, at a place called Pīr Pointī, now a mass of ruins, is another tomb of the saint.

This pass is close upon the Rajmahal hills, and the only European inhabitant lives in the _Bangla_, commonly called Bungalow, the house at the foot of the hill. Wild beasts sometimes come to this place at night, and the footmarks of the tiger are often to be seen in the garden. Jackals roam howling through the village; bears, tigers, rhinoceroses, leopards, hogs, deer of all kinds, abound here, and feathered game in the hills. Elephants are absolutely necessary to enable a man to enjoy shooting amidst the high grass and thorny thickets. The place is so much disturbed by the people who go into the hills for wood, that the game retreat farther into the _jangal_. When a gentleman goes out shooting on foot, the _dandīs_ accompany him with long poles, to beat the bushes. In the marshy plains under the hills of this pass good shooting is to be found, but on account of tigers it is dangerous.

THE RAJMAHAL HILLS.

Beyond the heavy rain which is pouring down, the hills of Rajmahal are seen in the distance; they are beautifully wooded, and full of game of every description. No scenes can be more picturesque than those in the interior. The wild climbers hang from the forest trees in luxuriant beauty, especially that magnificent one, the _cachnar_ (bauhinia scandens)—a specimen of its leaves gathered in these hills is in the Museum.

The _dandīs_ from the boats that anchor at Sīckrī-galī go up the hills in gangs to cut wood for firing, and bring it down in great quantities.

The _byā_ birds hang their long nests from the extreme end of the slight branches of the delicate _bābul_-tree pendant over a pool or stream for security. The Museum also contains nests of this little bird suspended on the broad leaf of the fan-palm. The fable declares that the “Old birds put a fire-fly into their nests every night to act as a lamp.” For a further account of these interesting little creatures, see “Wanderings of a Pilgrim,” (vol. I. 220, 221, and vol. II. 74). The marshes at the foot of the hills are full of leeches the low-lands abound with wild fowl, hares, and partridges of a peculiar sort, said to be found only at Rajmahal, and one other station in India.

The hill-men are a most singular race of people; they are about five feet high, very active, remarkable for lightness and suppleness of limb, with the piercing and restless eye, said to be peculiar to savages. They wear their hair drawn tight up in a knot on the very top of their head, the ends fastened in with a wooden comb. They are good-natured, gay-looking people. Their principal food is Indian corn, boiled and mashed. They kill wild hogs with a poisoned arrow, taking the precaution to cut out the flesh around the wound before they eat the animal. Their bows and arrows are rough and wild-looking; the strips of feather on the latter are from the wing of the vulture. They assert that they procure the poison, into which they dip their arrows, from a remote hill-tribe, and are ignorant of its nature: it appears to be a carefully guarded secret. Three of these arrows are in the Museum. At the proper season the hill-men descend into the plains to gather in the crops of uncut rice.

A country boat filled with bales of cotton is floating down the stream; and the crew of a Dacca _oolāk_, which is aground, are striving to shove her into deeper water.

A native, sitting on the bank, is quietly watching the noisy scene, and smoking his _nāriyal_, or cocoa-nut pipe, by the side of his _charpāī_, or bed, which is on the bank. Native vessels are towed by the _dāndīs_, or boatmen, most part of the way, except during the rains. These men work from daylight till sunset in the most laborious way, frequently in the water for hours, up to their middles, towing the vessel or shoving it with their backs over sand banks: their labour does not cease until the boats are _lugāo’d_ (moored) at night; then they cook on shore and eat their daily meal of boiled rice and curry, or flour cakes, called _chappatīs_. Occasionally, when a fair wind blows, they get some rest; for then an immense square sail is hoisted, tacks, sheets, and haul-yards are fast belayed: they all go to sleep except the steersman, and the safety of the boat depends upon the rotten state of the cordage and sails: frequently very strong and sudden squalls come on, and, before a single rope is let go, every thing is blown to ribbons.

THE FOOLISH FAKĪR.

Beneath a group of beautiful palm-trees, a half-witted young _Fakīr_, adorned with peacocks’ feathers, is sitting and talking to the men around him, who regard as prophetic whatever his wandering and unsettled mind induces him to utter, and look upon him as the favourite of heaven—the natives treat persons thus afflicted with the greatest kindness, and supply them with food. A leaf of the fan palm, here represented, may be seen in the Museum. The whole group, as well as the trees, are portraits.

On the sands below and close to the edge of the river, is an Hindū in the last stage of illness. His friends have carried him down to the sacred stream on a _charpāī_, (a rude native bed,) and are in the act of making him drink the Ganges water, ere they half immerse his body in the sacred stream. His wife, on the edge of the bed, is weeping, and her _dopatta_ (or veil), is drawn over her face; the Brahman is offering the prayers usual on this occasion.

The Hindūs are extremely anxious to die in sight of the Ganges, that their sins may be washed away in their last moments. A person in his last agonies is frequently carried on his bed, by his friends or relatives, in the coldest or in the hottest weather, from whatever distance, to the river-side, where he lies, if a poor man, without a covering day and night, until he expires. With the pains of death upon him, he is placed up to the middle in water and drenched with it; leaves of the shrub goddess, the sacred _tulsī_ plant, are also put into his mouth, the marks on the pebble god, the _Salagram_ are shown to him, and his relations call upon him to repeat, and repeat for him, the names of Rām, Hurī, Ganga, &c. In some cases the family priest repeats some prayers, and makes an offering to Voitŭrŭnēē, the river over which, they say, the soul is ferried, after leaving the body. The relations of the dying man spread the sediment of the river on his forehead and breast, and afterwards with the finger write on this sediment the name of some deity. If a person should die in his house, and not by the river-side, it is considered as a great misfortune, as he thereby loses the help of the goddess in his last moments. If a person choose to die at home, his memory becomes infamous.

If these unfortunate people recover, after having been exposed by their relatives to die on the banks of the river, they take refuge in the village of Chagdah on the left bank of the Matabangah, forty-six miles from Calcutta, of which people who ought to be _corpses_, are the sole inhabitants. They are considered to prefer a debased existence to a righteous end, agreeing therein with the highest authorities. Pope’s Homer makes Achilles in the Elysian fields say:—

“Rather I’d choose laboriously to bear
A weight of woes, and breathe the vital air,
A slave to some poor hind that toils for bread,
Than reign the scepter’d monarch of the dead.”

Solomon deems it better to be a live dog than a dead lion; and Job, called by Byron “the Respectable,” says, “Why should a living man complain?” to which Byron adds, “For no other reason that I can see, except that a dead man cannot.” In the face of these grave authorities the Hindostanī proverb is of a different opinion, which asserts “it is better to die with honour, than live with infamy.”

The passage in the Psalms, “They shall be a portion for foxes,” appears obscure; but give it the probable rendering, “they shall be a portion for jackals;” and then the anathema becomes plain and striking to an Hindū, in whose country the disgusting sight of jackals, devouring human bodies, may be seen every day. The dying who are left by the side of the Ganges, are sometimes devoured alive by these animals in the night.

_Lugāo’d_, or moored off a sand-bank, is a budjerow, her baggage, and her cook-boat. The crews are cooking and eating their dinners on the sand-bank, and will not recommence their voyage until daybreak, the river being too dangerous to allow of their proceeding further during the hours of darkness. On a clean dry bank in the centre of the Ganges, covered with the finest and most sparkling sand, it is far more agreeable to _lugāo_ your vessel for the night, than on the banks of the river: it is cooler, and you are better defended against thieves; nevertheless a look-out must be kept during the night.

“Shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand,” &c., (Matt. vii. 26.) The fishermen in Bengal build their huts in the dry season on the beds of sand, from which the river has retired. When the rains set in, which they often do very suddenly, accompanied with violent north-west winds, and the waters pour down in torrents from the mountains, a fine illustration is given of our Lord’s parable: “the rains descended, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell.” In one night multitudes of these huts are frequently swept away, and the place where they stood is, the next morning, undiscoverable. On one of these occasions a Hindū child was carried down the stream, seated on a part of the roof of a hut, and rescued from destruction at Allahabad. The child could not tell whence she had been carried away by the force of the torrent, nor could the little creature remember the names of her parents.

In some parts of Bengal, whole villages are every now and then swept away by the Ganges when it changes its course. This river frequently runs over districts, from which, a few years before, it was several miles distant. “A nation whose land the rivers have spoiled.” (Isa. xvii. 2.)

The rocky islands of Colgong in the distance are singular and beautiful, there are four of them, of unequal size. Rocks on rocks, covered with fine foliage, they rise in the centre of the river which runs like a mill-sluice, and is extremely broad. They say that no one lives upon these rocks; that a _Fakīr_ formerly took up his abode there, but having been eaten by a snake (an _ajgar_), one of enormous size, and an eater of human flesh, the people became alarmed; and no holy or unholy person has since taken up their residence on these rocky islands. Small boats fish under the rocks, and snakes, they say, abound upon them: when a gun is fired the echoes awaken and startle the myriads of birds that inhabit them. The proverb says, “The hypocrites of Bhagulpur, the _Thags_ of Kuhulgaon (Colgong), and the bankrupts of Patna are famous.”

SUNSET—A WILD SCENE.

The Ganges now presents an extraordinary picture, the expanse of water is very great, interspersed with low sand-banks; the sun is going down, and flocks of wild geese are passing to the other side the river. No human habitations are to be seen, nothing but the expanse of the broad river and its distant banks. After the heat of a day in India the coolness of the evening is most refreshing: the traveller quits his boats, and wanders on the banks of the Ganges, enjoying the wild, the strange beauty, and the quietude of the scene around him, until his attention is aroused by the yells of jackals, and the savage cry of pariah dogs, contesting with vultures, who shriek and flap their heavy wings, to scare the animals from their feast on some dead bullock. Beasts of the forest and birds of prey

“Hold o’er the dead their carnival:
Gorging and growling o’er carcase and limb,
They are too busy to look at him!”

they eye the traveller askance: they are too busy to look at him: but when the shades of evening fall, and the friends have left the dead, it may be the dying Hindū, on the banks of the river, trusting, that Ganga will receive him to eternal beatitude, then, in that solitary, that awful hour, the dying man may be awakened from his trance by the sharp tooth of the jackal, and the fierce beak of the vulture! Such is the power of superstition, that the Hindū might rejoice, even at this fearful moment, to end his days by the side of the sacred river, and escape the infamy of seeking refuge at the village of Chagdah.

“On Ganga’s brink it is fearful to tread
By the fest’ring side of the tombless dead,
And see worms of the earth, and fowls of the air,
Beasts of the forest all gathering there;
All regarding man as their prey,
All rejoicing in his decay.”

“Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles (or rather the vultures) be gathered together.” (Luke xvii. 37.) The vulture is equally ravenous after dead bodies as the jackal; and it is very remarkable how suddenly these birds appear after the death of an animal in the open field, though a single one may not have been seen on the spot a long time before.

The jackal is considered an incarnation of Dūrga, when she carried the child Krishna over the Jumna, in his flight from King Kansa. The worshippers of the female deities adore the jackal as a form of this goddess, and present offerings to him daily. Every worshipper lays the offering on a clean place in his house, and calls the god to come and partake of it. As this is done at the hour when jackals leave their lurking places, one of these animals sometimes comes and eats the food. In temples dedicated to Dūrga and other deities, a stone image of the jackal is placed on a pedestal and daily worshipped. When a Hindū passes a jackal, he must bow to it; and if it passes on the left hand, it is a most lucky circumstance.

Crocodiles are very numerous in this part of the Ganges: they show themselves continually, swimming low in the water, peering over the edge of a sand-bank, or basking in the sun upon it. Near this place is a village full of a caste of people who live on the flesh of the crocodile; the _dāndīs_ say they understand it smells rank and is very hard. In the evening you sometimes hear a shrill peculiar scream, which the men declare is the cry of the crocodile. When fired at, they slink quietly into the water. The long-nosed crocodile is not so formidable as the snub-nosed alligator: it is said the latter will attack men, the former avoids them if possible. Human bones and ornaments are sometimes found in the interior of these animals. To disagree with a superior, under whose command you may be, is, the natives assert, “To live in the river and be at enmity with the crocodile.”

BENARES—RAJ GHĀT.

The appearance of Benares, from the Ganges, is very beautiful. It is covered with buildings to the water’s edge: the architecture of some is Hindū, of others Muhammadan; many of them are of imposing appearance and great picturesque beauty. The magnificent flights of steps called _Ghāts_, which descend deep into the river, are thronged at all times with people; some fetching water, others washing, and most performing their ablutions in the sacred stream. The view is surprisingly picturesque, and so singular, that no city in Europe can convey an idea of Benares.

For a detailed account of Benares or _Bunarus_, deriving its name from two streams, the Burna and the Ussee, you may refer to a beautiful work by the late James Prinsep, Esq., who states that the ancient denomination of this city was _Kashi_, “The splendid,” whereof the fabulous wonders are fully detailed in the _Kashi-Khund_, one of the chapters of the _Skundu-Poorana_. According to this mythological history, Kashi is a place of most profound antiquity, sanctity, and splendour: it has survived in age a hundred lives of Brahma, each of whose days is equal to 4,320,000,000 of years; it stands raised from the ground, supported upon the _trisūl_ or trident of Mahadēo, and is never shaken by earthquakes: the whole city was once of pure gold, but has since degenerated into stone and brick.

Bunarus (Sanscrit, _Bàrànusee_) quasi _Burna-Ussee_, or from Raja Bunar, who founded the town A.D. 1000. It contains about 600,000 souls—one-fourth Musalmans. The city stands on a high ridge of _kankar_ (nodules of lime stone), free from the floods which sometimes cover all its suburbs. The houses are of stone, from two to six stories high, with terraces on the summit, and open interior courts. The streets are very narrow, from four and a half to nine feet wide, with low doors on each side. The trade is in sugar, cotton, indigo, opium, _kimkhwab_, jewels, &c.

No building in the town now standing can be traced to a higher antiquity than the time of Man Singh, who was Rāja of Jypoor in the reign of Akbar. Both the temple and the _man mundil_, or observatory, described by Tavernier, were erected by him. The astronomical instruments were not added until the time of Jy Singh, 1680, more than a century later.

The scene now before you on the left bank of the Ganges represents the holy city commencing from Raj Ghāt, the place at which the steamers from Calcutta are moored, as well as pinnaces and budjerows. The distance from the latter place via the Bhagirathī is 696 miles, and by land or _dāk_, 428. The civil and military station is about four miles inland. Native merchants bring goods of all descriptions for sale to the steamers and vessels anchored off this ghāt; jewellery, shawls, portraits of the natives, &c. Provisions of all sorts, with wine and beer, are procurable in the city.

The house situated above Raj Ghāt is the hotel that was so recently destroyed, when the fleet of magazine boats containing gunpowder was blown up, the vessels having been moored off this ghāt.

Bruhma Ghāt is ancient, and of irregular form; it derives its name from a temple of Siva, under the title of Brumeswur, “the Lord of Brumha.” The temple and ghāt were repaired (perhaps built) 200 years ago, by the Marhattas, and again recently by the ex-Peshwa Baji Rāo. From the number of Marhatta families residing in the neighbourhood, and the comparative privacy of the spot, it is by courtesy set apart as a bathing-place for their women. They resort hither in groups, with their children and female servants. Their wet garments are shifted with dexterity under a large wrapper, which is also worn over their silk dresses, in passing through the streets. The Brahman of the ghāt is of course a privileged person; he receives a small gratuity for taking care of the clothes, and brass or silver water vessels; he also affixes the _tiluk_ (frontal mark) and pronounces the _muntra_ or morning benediction upon his spiritual daughters.

On this ghāt wood is collected in large piles for sale: “Our wood is sold to us.” (Lamentations v. 4.) The poor Hindū, living in the country never purchases wood for fuel. When such a person removes to a large town, he speaks of it as a great hardship, that he is obliged to buy his very fire-wood.

Benares is considered as the most holy city of India, and it is certainly one of the most picturesque. “A little to eat and to live at Bunarus” is the wish of a pious Hindū; but a residence at this place is rather dangerous to any one inclined to violate the laws.

“Kala-Bhoirāva the Tremendous, is a naked Siva, smeared with ashes; having three eyes, riding on a dog, holding in one hand a horn, and in another a drum. In several places in Bengal this image is daily worshipped. Siva, under this name, is regent of Kāshī (Bunarus). All persons dying at Bunarus are entitled to a place in Siva’s heaven; but if any one violate the laws of the shastrŭ during his residence there, Kalŭ-Bhoirŭvŭ after death grinds him between two millstones.”

The dog carries Kalŭ-Bhoirŭvŭ, a form of Siva, and therefore receives the worship of many Hindūs, whenever his master is worshipped; still he is considered as an unclean animal: every offering which he approaches is considered unacceptable to the gods, and every one who touches him must purify himself by bathing.

THE MINARETS.

The Madhoray Ghāt and _musjid_ or mosque, are now before you—the mosque was erected by Aurunzebe, on the site and with the materials of the temple of Vishnū. The mosque has little architectural beauty to boast of, but the _minars_ have been deservedly admired for their simplicity and boldness of execution. They are only eight and a half feet in diameter at the base, and the breadth decreases to seven and a half feet, while they have an altitude of 147 feet 2 inches, from the terraced floor of the _musjid_ to the _kalsā_ or pinnacle. The terrace is elevated about eighty feet above the river at low water level.

The musjid and the minars were repaired by Mr. James Prinsep—a hazardous undertaking as regarded the latter, for they were both found to incline outwards fifteen inches from the perpendicular. One of them was struck by lightning the very day the scaffolding was removed, but it escaped with the displacement of a stone in the upper cornice. Several instances have occurred of men throwing themselves from the top of the southern minaret. One of them, a man who had gambled away his money and his wife during the _Diwâlī_:—another, a sailor, who was killed on the spot:—another, a _Fakīr_, who, falling through the tiles and mat-work of a roof, scraping the flesh from his sides, alighted on the floor beneath, with every bone safe. Such an escape was deemed miraculous; and crowds attended to minister to one so favoured by heaven. The _Fakīr_ disappeared immediately on recovering from his bruises, and sundry solid moveables of his host disappeared with him.

Men, women, and children bathe together, uniting the worship of the Ganges or of the gods with their ablutions, washing their long hair with mud, making clay images for _pūjā_, (worship), or pouring out libations to their deceased ancestors, whilst the children gambol in the water, or collect clay to assist in making the great image of Bhīm Singh the giant, which is so frequently seen on the side of a ghāt, or that of Hunumān the monkey god. The Hindūs pour out water to the sun, three times a day; and to the moon at the time of worshipping her, which illustrates a passage in Scripture, “To pour out drink-offerings to the queen of heaven.” (Jer. xliv. 17.)

Ghoosla Ghāt unites great solidity with a graceful and appropriate elevation: the double-arched door case in front of the gate has a very rich effect under the strong shadows of midday, giving an artificial magnitude to the entrance, in just proportion to the dimensions of the front. The river rises above the top of the doorway, entering the staircase, and affording a comfortable bath within, where there are convenient recesses on the sides of the steps for the accommodation of bathers.

The ferry-boat is crossing the river laden with camels, buffaloes, and cows.

RAJRAJESWURREE GHĀT.

On the sands in the foreground is the hut of a _Baniyā_, or grain merchant, from whom the _dandīs_ procure _chabenī_, the parched grain of Indian corn (maize), also flour for their _chappatīs_. A group of pilgrims are seated on one side of the hut.

Rajrajeswurree Ghāt, which is seen in the distance, takes its name from an ancient temple of _Devī_, under the appellation of _Rajrajeswurree_ (“queen of queens”). The title _Devī_, is usually applied to Bhawanī. The façade of this building is a good specimen of the mixed style of Hindū and Moresque architecture; the former is observable in the lower half of the central compartment; while the projecting stone gallery, with its parapet, _tukya mootukka_, and the domed octagonal _buruj_ at the two corners, giving relief to the rectangular pavilion in the centre, are seen to be essentially Moorish, from the character of the pillar, and scalloped arch (_mehrab_).

The man in green is one of a very fine corps of men, called Gardner’s Horse; they were raised by the late Colonel Win. Linnæus Gardner, a most highly distinguished and gallant officer: they are such masters of their horses and weapons, that it is said, single-handed, nothing can resist them; and one of these men, well known in the up-country, was considered to be the finest horseman in India. For an account of Colonel Gardner’s romantic, adventurous, and distinguished life, we refer you to a work lately published, the “Wanderings of a Pilgrim during Four and Twenty Years in the East.”

The two men who next appear belong to Skinner’s Horse, a most efficient irregular corps, taking its name from its gallant colonel, by whom it was raised and stationed at Delhi. Skinner’s Horse rendered important services in the Mahratta and Pindaree campaigns. They are well mounted and appointed, and are an intelligent, fine body of men: with a lance of great length, they are exceedingly expert, and excellent shots with the matchlock, a most unwieldy fire-arm.

A native carriage, called a _bilī_, drawn by two bullocks, stands in the rear: these decorated carriages are principally used by women in the higher ranks of life; and within the curtains, which are closely drawn and fastened down, a lady is completely protected from the profane gaze of man.

In the distance you now behold the Dusaswumed Ghāt. The mythological legends which give rise to the name of this ghāt and temple, are connected with the story of Divadas’s usurpation of Siva’s kingly authority in _Kashī_. Siva having sent from heaven the _yoginis_, or heavenly nymphs, and tried various other stratagems in vain, to turn the earthly monarch aside from virtue, next deputed Brumha himself, who entered the place, disguised as an old Brahman, and obtaining access to the king, received permission from him to perform ten (_dus_) _aswumedha_, or horse sacrifices, upon the spot here represented. The horse sacrifice, as described in the _purans_, is a very curious ceremony. A horse having peculiar colours and qualities is selected, and after a course of _pūja_ (worship), is turned loose upon the world, followed by the sacrificing party, with an armed retinue: if stopped by the sovereign of another country through which the animal may pass, war must be declared, and the interrupter of the sacrifice subdued:—in this way, after traversing the world, the horse returns, and is put to death by suffocation.

THE SNAKE CHARMERS.

The group of natives seated on the ground are a particular cast of Hindūs, who profess to charm serpents, to reduce them to subjection, and to prevent their poison from proving fatal. They roam about the country, carrying a boa constrictor in a basket, which they twine around their necks and display to the passers by. They have also a number of the cobra di capello, which, being placed on the ground, rear themselves up, and, spreading out their hoods, sway themselves about in a fashion which the men call dancing, accompanied by the noise of a little hand-drum. The snake charmers strike the reptiles with their hands, and the snakes bite them repeatedly on their hands as well as on their arms, bringing blood at every bite: although the venomous fangs have been carefully removed, the bite itself must be disagreeable; nevertheless the natives appear not to mind it in the least. At the conclusion of the _tamāshā_ (fun), they catch the cobras and cram them all into _gharās_ (earthen vessels), and carry the boas off in a basket. The snake charmers remind us of the text, “They are like the deaf adder, that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.” (Psalm lviii. 4, 5.)

The two men on the left are pilgrims with holy water. In the cold season of the year, Hindūs from all parts of Upper India, perform pilgrimages to the sacred places on the Ganges: although the stream throughout is considered holy, there are parts of peculiar sanctity, such as Hurdwar, Benares, Allahabad, &c. The roads swarm with devotees; they proceed in large groups, generally well dressed, carrying on their shoulders a large bamboo, supporting at each end a covered basket, containing small stumpy bottles of the thinnest green glass, having long necks: they are filled with Ganges water at the sacred places, and sealed with the seal of the Brahman. These people travel all over the country, selling the sacred water at a high price at the distant stations. Some of the bottles contain a quart; others are not above two inches high; they are of all sizes, and the price varies accordingly. The salutation of these people on passing is, “_Ram ram_,” or “_Bom bom Mahadēo_,”—a pilgrim of this class is called a _Kanwar-wālā_. The men come for this water to place it in their houses for religious and medicinal uses, and sometimes perform a journey on the occasion of five or six months; it is also used in the English courts of justice, in administering an oath to an Hindū. The frames in which the baskets are carried are decorated with feathers of the sacred peacock and small red flags; and every party appears to have one amongst them more ornamented than the rest, with a large arched cover, and numerous bells attached to it.

A _jumna-pār_ goat, so called because these goats are bred on the other side the Junma, is lying on the ground—they are of enormous size, with very broad, long, thin, and silky ears, as soft as velvet. These animals are better adapted for marching than the small Bengalī goat; but unless they can go into the _jangal_ and browse, they become thin and lose their milk.

On the opposite side of the river is the Jellinghy flat and her steamer, returning from Allahabad to Calcutta. The steamer herself is not the vessel in which passengers live; but attached to, and towed by her, is a vessel as large as the steamer herself, called a flat, built expressly to convey passengers and government treasure. It is divided into cabins, with one large cabin in the centre, in which the passengers dine together. The deck is covered with an awning.

The view on the left of the native vessel exemplifies the structure of the ghāts on the water’s edge. The continuity of the line of steps is interrupted by hundreds of stone piers of various forms, which may be classed under three distinct heads: some are merely intended to give solidity to the masonry; others are built for the accommodation of the _ghātiyās_ (ghāt attendants), and _gangā-putras_ (sons of the Ganges), who enjoy hereditary possession of most of the ground between high and low water mark, and whose ancestors have resided on the spot from time immemorial in hereditary attendance upon pilgrims; the third sort consists of _mut’hs_ or small temples, erected at the expense of pilgrims and others: they generally have a flat roof, which serves the _ghātiyā_ as a _chabūtāra_ or terrace to sit and converse upon. The large _chatrs_, or umbrellas, so numerous on the ghāts, are fixtures, to protect the people from the intense heat of the sun in India.

On the river’s edge are seen one or two _murhīs_—chambers into which the sick are removed when at the point of death, that their sins, to the last moment of existence, may be washed away by the holy stream.

In the midst of hundreds and hundreds of temples and ghāts, piled one above another on the high cliff, or rising out of the Ganges, the mind is perfectly bewildered: it turns from beauty to beauty, anxious to preserve the memory of each; and the sketcher throws down the pencil in despair. Each ghāt presents a study: the intricate architecture, the elaborate workmanship, the elegance and lightness of form, and the picturesque groups of natives that crowd to their devotions, form as fine a subject for a picture as an artist could select.

How soon Benares, or rather the glory of Benares—its picturesque beauty—will be no more! Since the year 1836 many ghāts and temples have sunk, undermined by the rapid stream which now sets full upon the most beautiful cluster of the temples on its banks: some have been engulphed, some are falling; and ere long, if the Ganges encroach at an equal rate, but little will remain of the glory of the most holy of the Hindū cities.

In the rains, some of the temples are submerged to the cornice; many Hindūs, notwithstanding, are bold enough to swim through an impetuous current, and to dive under the porch and doorway, for the honour of continuing their customary worship despite of perils and personal inconvenience.

JULSYN GHĀT.

Julsyn _Ghāt_ and Raj Bulubh Shīwala are now before you. On the terrace of the latter is a brahmanī bull: these animals walk about the buildings with seeming indifference, ascending the steps, mixing with the crowd, and constantly attending for their food. They are seldom disturbed; but when molested they are vicious, and will use their horns. The rice and flowers offered to the idols are swept up, and for the greater part eaten by the brahmanī bulls. The proverb says:—“At Benares you should be on guard against the women, the sacred bulls, the steps, and the devotees.”

The principal Hindū temples in Benares are crowded with people of both sexes and of all ages, who daily assemble to pay their devotions to the deity of the place, from the hour of eight in the morning until nearly four in the afternoon. The form of worship is very simple: the votary enters the temple and prostrates himself, praying aloud; he then rises and strikes a bell suspended over a form of _Mahadēo_, thrice repeating the word _bom_, or hail, at each stroke; then putting a few grains of boiled rice, and a small quantity of milk or oil, or Ganges water, on the Mahadēo, he strews a few flowers over it, and, repeating the same, sometimes adorns the head of the idol with a chaplet of flowers. This ceremony being over, the votary lays down a few cowries, and retires to make room for others. The women generally enter with their garments quite wet, after having performed their ablutions in the Ganges. The quantity of milk, oil, water, and flowers, thrown about the place, renders it dirty and wet until the evening, when, the crowd retiring, the Brahmans clean the temple for the next day.

The music and bells of a hundred temples strike the ear amidst the buzz of human voices; at the same time the eye rests on the vivid colours of different groups of male and female bathers, with their sparkling brass vessels, or follows the holy bulls as they wander in the crowds munching the chaplets of flowers liberally presented to them. Then, as night steals on, the scene changes, and the twinkling of lamps along the water’s edge, and the funeral fires and white curling smoke, and the stone buildings lit up by the moon, present features of variety and blended images of animation, which it is out of the artist’s power to embody.

The large building that now appears is on Oomraogir’s _pushta_ or _ghāt_. On the exterior of the building is a _mut’h_, an Hindu temple, dedicated to Ganesh, the god of wisdom, and the patron of literature. In _pūja_ this idol is invoked ere any other god is worshipped. Ere a pious Hindū commence any sort of writing he makes the sign of Ganesh at the top of the page. With the simplicity of the child he unites the wisdom of the elephant: his writing is beautiful, “Behold! he writes like Ganesh!” Who can say more? He is called two mothered, uniting the elephant’s head to his natural body, therefore having a second mother in the elephant. The worshippers pour oil and the holy Ganges water over the head of this god, who is thus bathed daily; and offerings of boiled rice and flowers are made at the time of prayer. Around the idol are placed the vessels used in _pūja_, brass bells, the conch shell, the holy spoons, flowers, &c. In the Museum is a solid white marble image of Ganesh, which weighs 3¼ cwt. For a further account of this idol, see the frontispiece, and the Introduction to the “Wanderings of a Pilgrim during Four and Twenty Years in the East.”

The Fākir seated on the ghāt is one in the highest stage of exaltation, in which clothing is almost dispensed with, and his only _garment_ is a _chatr_, an umbrella made of basket work: his long hair and his beard, matted with cow-dung and ashes, hang in stiff straight locks to his waist, his body is smeared with ashes; he always remains on the same spot, and when suffering from illness, a bit of tattered blanket is thrown over him. Passers by throw cowries and grains of boiled rice at his feet, he remains speechless, disregards all visible objects, asks for nothing, but subsists on alms. He will not answer any question addressed to him, which elucidates the proverb: “Talking to a man in ecstasy (of a religious nature) is like beating curds with a pestle.” Persons in this state affirm that their minds do not wander after worldly things, that they live in a state of pleasure, abstraction, and joy, and that they have attained to that state of perfection required by the _shastrs_. His red flag is displayed from a bamboo, below which is a small lantern made of coloured _ubruk_ or talc; sometimes the lamp is formed of clay, pierced through with fret-work in remarkably pretty patterns. The Hindūs suspend lamps in the air on bamboos in honour of the gods during a particular month, and in obedience to the _shastrs_. The offering of lamps to particular gods is an act of merit, so this offering to all the gods, during the auspicious month, is supposed to secure many benefits to the giver. Lamps suspended from bamboos are also indicative of the ceremony in honour of Ananta, the great serpent.

On another bamboo is displayed the _trisūl_ or trident of Mahadēo, and a small double-headed hand-drum, shaped like an hour-glass, called _damaru_, used by _Fakīrs_; and in front by the side of the Devotee, is an altar, or pillar, hollowed at the top, containing the sacred _tulsī_ plant (ocimum sanctum) purple stalked basil. This plant is worshipped in honour of a religious female who requested Vishnu to allow her to become his wife. Lukshmī, the goddess of beauty, and wife of Vishnu, cursed the woman on account of the pious request she had preferred to her lord, and changed her into a _tulsī_ plant. Vishnu, in consideration of the religious austerities long practised by the enamoured devotee, made her a promise that he would assume the form of the _shalgram_, and always continue with her. If one of these sacred plants die, it is committed in due form to _Ganga-jee_: and when a person is brought to die by the side of the sacred river, a branch of the _tulsī_, the shrub-goddess, is planted near the dying man’s head, and the marks upon the _shalgram_ are shown to him. This pebble god is a small heavy black circular stone, rather flattened on one side, with the _cornu ammonis_ strongly marked upon it. Devotees walk round the sacred plant, pour water upon it, and make _salām_. Of an evening a little _chirāgh_, a small lamp, is burned before it. In the courts of justice the Hindū swears by the Ganges water on which is placed a branch of the _tulsī_.

MANIKURNĪKA GHĀT.

A brahmanī bull is going up to the idol Ganesh, expecting a share of the flowers that are offered to the image. In the distance a band of pilgrims are coming down to fill their baskets with holy water; and in the foreground is a picturesque figure, also a carrier of holy water, which is put into small sealed bottles placed in baskets suspended from a bamboo poised on his shoulder, over which is a covering of red cloth.

A tank of peculiar sanctity is now before you, on the steps of which men are ascending and descending: it is called the _Chakra kunda_, and its history is as follows:—“After one of the periodical destructions and renovations of the world, Siva and his bride were alone in the _ananda-vana_, or happy forest, occupying the present site of Munikarniká, they found, as man and wife may sometimes do, that their tête á tête was growing dull, and to vary the party, Siva created Vishnu. After a while, the married pair wished again for privacy and withdrew into the forest, desiring Vishnu to amuse himself by doing what was fit and proper; which, after some consideration, he judged to be a supply of water for the irrigation of the trees, and with his _chakra_, or discus, he dug a hole, which he filled with the ambrosial perspiration from his body, induced by his hard work; and the pool so dug and filled, has remained a spot of peculiar sanctity, termed, from the _chakra_, or discus, _chakra kunda_, or _chakra puskkarnī_, discus-pond. When Siva returned and saw what Vishnu had done, he nodded his head in approbation so energetically, that the jewel (_mani_) of one of his ear-rings (_karniká_) fell off, and the place was thenceforth called _Manikarnika_.” (See _Kasi Khand_, Part I. chap. 26).

A Brahman sitting beneath a porch is reading aloud, with his book on his knees, and bending his body backwards and forwards as he reads.

Beneath the shade of a fine _pīpal_ tree (ficus religiosa) is a four-headed and holy piece of sculpture, with the bull (_nandī_) reposing before it; also another singularly sculptured stone representing two heads, their bodies formed of snakes entwined. The _pīpal_ is universally sacred: the Hindūs are seen in the early morning putting flowers in _pūja_ at the foot of the tree, and pouring water on its roots. They worship the idols placed beneath it in a similar manner, and they believe that a god resides in every leaf, who delights in the music of their rustling, and their tremulous motion.

Near this place is the spot on which the dead are burned; it is dedicated to Vishnu, as _Jalsāī_, or “sleeper on the waters;” and there, many a Hindu widow has devoted herself to the flames with the corpse of her husband. In the Museum is a brazen image of _Jalsāī_ floating on Anantā, the great serpent.

THE HINDŪ SCHOOL.

In the Bengalī schools a boy learns his letters by writing them, never by pronouncing the alphabet, as in Europe; he first writes them on the ground with a stick, or his fingers; next with an iron style, or a reed, on a palm-leaf; and next on a green plantain-leaf. The Bengalī schoolmasters punish with a cane, or a rod made of the branch of a tree; sometimes a truant is compelled to stand on one leg, holding up a brick in each hand, or to have his arms stretched out, until he is completely tired. Almost all the villages contain common schools. The allowance to the schoolmasters is very small: for the first year’s education, about a penny a month, and a day’s provisions; when a boy writes on the palm-leaf, twopence a month; after this, as the boy advances in learning, as much as fourpence or eightpence a month is given. There are no schools for girls among the Hindūs. “Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote upon the ground.” (John viii. 6). Schools for children are frequently held under trees in Bengal, and the children who are beginning to learn, write the letters of the alphabet in the dust. This saves pens, ink, and paper. “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron.” (Jeremiah xvii. 1). The letters are formed by making incisions on the palm-leaf: these books are very durable.

The scene now represents the _gyan-bapī_, or the well of knowledge, which is regarded as peculiarly sacred by the Hindūs, and it is related that it was dug by Isana with his _trisūl_, or trident, when he was wandering about Kashī. One of the officiating Brahmans is seen receiving the offerings of rice, &c. from a party of pilgrims, just about to commence the circuit of the temples. If a rich Hindū present any thing to an inferior, the latter, as a mark of respect, puts it on his head. An offering of cloth, for instance, received at a temple, the receiver not only places on his head, but binds it there. The rice and flowers were formerly thrown into the well; but they rendered the water so putrid, that a defence of planks has been since put up to prevent it. The man near the _gyan-bapī_ carrying a staff, is a _dŭndī fakīr_. This name is given because these devotees receive a staff (_dŭndŭ_) when they first enter this order. The Brahmans, on meeting one, prostrate themselves before him. The _dŭndī_ shaves his head and beard every four months. He travels with a staff in one hand, and an alms-dish in the other; he does not beg or cook his food, but is a guest at the houses of the Brahmans. The ceremonies to which this order attend, are, repeating the names of Vishnŭ, bathing once a day, and, with closed eyes, meditating on the attributes of the god by the side of the river. When about to bathe, they besmear themselves all over with the mud of the Ganges. The _dŭndīs_ do not burn, but bury their dead, repeating certain forms of prayer.

THE BALANCING GOAT.

In front of a beautiful Muhammadan Mosque a group is assembled around an Hindostanī juggler, with his goat, two monkeys, and several bits of wood, made in the shape of an hour-glass. The first piece he places on the ground, the goat ascends it, and balances herself on the top: the man by degrees places another bit of wood on the edge of the former; the goat ascends and retains her balance: a third piece, in like manner, is placed on the top of the former two pieces; the goat ascends from the two former, a monkey is placed on her back, and she still preserves her balance. The man keeps time with a sort of musical instrument, which he holds in his right hand, and sings a wild song to aid the goat: without the song and the measured time, they say the goat could not perform the balance. A grass-cutter is looking on: he has just returned from cutting a bundle of _dūb_-grass: every horse in India has his _sāīs_, or groom, and his grass-cutter. When a beautiful _begam_ (a native princess) is suffering from the pangs of jealousy, she often exclaims, “I wish I were married to a grass-cutter!” because a man of that class is too poor to be able to keep two wives.