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.