SIGHTS IN BENARES.—THE MONKEY TEMPLE.—SARNATH.—BUDDHISM.
They crossed the river on a bridge of boats, and the Doctor informed his young companions that in times of high-water the boats are removed, for fear they may break away and be lost, and the crossing is made by means of a ferry-boat. The front of the city along the river is about three miles in extent, and as one looks at it from the other side there is an almost unbroken view of temples, towers, minarets, palaces, and ghauts, or broad stairways, leading down to the water. The river is about fifty feet deep by 2000 in width, and in time of flood rises thirty or forty feet and increases its width to fully half a mile. The city is on a cliff seventy or eighty feet above the river, and the ghauts rise from the edge of the stream to the crest of the cliff; they were originally magnificent structures, but are now broken in many places, in consequence of the washing away of their foundations.
The buildings that rise on the summit of the cliff are of many styles of architecture, as they owe their origin to several different centuries and epochs. Many of them are spacious palaces, erected by wealthy princes who came here occasionally to bathe in the sacred river and wash away their sins. They are interspersed with temples and mosques, and altogether they present a magnificent panorama. An American traveller has given a fine description of the front appearance of Benares in the following:
"When it is recollected that the buildings above are a hundred feet or more long, and four or five stories high; that the ghauts are eighty feet in height, and are themselves constructions of which any city might be proud; that this row of palaces, temples, and ghauts extends for two miles along the river bank, worthily terminated by the mosque of Aurengzebe, with its graceful minars, and the whole scene was lighted up by an Eastern sun, bringing out the gaudy colors of the dress of the people and the gilded ornaments of the mosques and temples, the reader may perhaps understand and pardon the enthusiasm excited in me by the splendid architectural effect of this river front, which cannot be paralleled or surpassed by any similar scene in India, or in the world."
A WINDOW IN BENARES.
They had a long drive to the hotel, as the quarter where the Europeans live is nearly four miles from the end of the bridge of boats. The ride took them through a part of the Hindoo city where they had an opportunity to study features of architecture that were new to them. Frank was attracted by the elaborate carving of some of the windows, and the Doctor explained to him that he was now for the first time coming in actual contact with Saracenic art and its combinations with certain Hindoo forms. Fred attempted to count the temples and shrines they passed on their way, but soon gave it up, on account of their number; he was not at all surprised to learn that there were nearly 1500 temples in Benares and 300 mosques, or, to be exact about it, 1454 of the former and 272 of the latter. They passed crowds of natives in white or gay-colored garments, encountered an elephant in a part of the road where there were shade-trees, against which the huge beast was brushing his back as he walked along; they drove near several handsome bungalows where the wealthy Europeans reside, and finally reached the hotel, where they were welcomed by the English proprietor and his native wife.
There was only time for a short stroll before dinner, and after that meal was over the plans for the morrow were arranged. What was done by the youths in their excursions in Benares is best told in their own words, in their next letter to America:
"Sight-seers in India must rise early. We engaged a guide, who was recommended by the hotel-keeper, and proved to be a very good one, and his first bit of instruction was that we must be ready to leave the hotel an hour before daylight, in order to see the bathers at sunrise. Accordingly, we went to bed very early, and were ready for the guide when he came for us. The morning was frosty, and we shivered in our overcoats till the sun came up and warmed the atmosphere.
PART OF THE WATER FRONT OF BENARES.
"We had a drive of something more than half an hour to reach the upper end of the city at a place called the Dasasahmed Ghaut. Here we left the carriage, and took a boat that had been engaged by our guide; the carriage was sent to meet us at the lower end of the city, and we were ready to float down the stream in front of the temples. This is a very good arrangement, as the boat goes slowly along, and whenever there is anything to be seen which requires a landing it can be easily brought to the shore.
"Before starting on our boat journey we stepped aside a short distance to see the famous Observatory of Benares. There is a tall flag-staff close by it, and the guide says that the flag waving from it is to indicate that this entire ward of the city belongs to the Rajah of Jeypoor, and that the observatory was erected by his ancestor, Rajah Jay Singh, about the year 1693. The observatory is now very much out of repair, and several of the instruments cannot be used at all. They claim that the Hindoo almanacs are made from the observations taken here, but it is more probable that they help themselves from almanacs of European make.
"The most of the instruments are of stone, and the guide explained their uses; but, as we are not learned in astronomy, we could not make much out of them. We went from the observatory to our boat, and then began our wonderful voyage before Benares.
"We passed in front of the burning ghaut, where three or four bodies were undergoing cremation. Evidently they are not as particular here as at Calcutta, as one of the men in charge of the business threw into the river, while we were passing, a lump of charred flesh that must have weighed several pounds. The sights were the same as at Calcutta, and you can easily understand that we did not stop the boat for a moment. The guide told us that they used to burn widows with their dead husbands at this ghaut, but it was not allowed any more, and had not been in his time. We asked how it was done, and he said the widow who had determined to be burnt was dressed in her finest clothes, and when the funeral pile was ready she lay down on it by the side of her husband, and was tied there with ropes so that she could not get away. Then the eldest son of the dead man came forward with a torch and applied it to the pile, which had been saturated with oil so as to make it burn quickly. As the flames arose the crowd raised a great shout and noise of drums and tom-toms, which they pretended was in honor of the heroism of the woman, but was really intended to drown her cries at the terrible pain of being burnt to death.
"The priests used to say that the woman who thus gave herself for a sacrifice would have 30,000,000 of years in paradise, while if she refused she would not get there at all. Before it was stopped the practice prevailed quite extensively; between the years 1815 and 1826, 7154 cases were officially reported, and there were more than twice that number that the Government never heard of. The laws of India are very severe upon it, and any person who takes part in a suttee or widow burning is liable to be tried and punished for murder in the first degree.
"To prove what he said about widows having been burnt here, the guide pointed out several slabs like gravestones, which had been erected to their memory, and it was said the women were burnt on the spots where these monuments stood. He said there were hundreds of them altogether around the various ghauts of Benares.
TEMPLE AT MANIKARNIKA.
"We landed at the Manikarnika ghaut to see several things of interest, and among others the holy well which is said to have been dug by Vishnu, one of the Hindoo gods. Thousands of pilgrims come to see it every year, and it is said to have the property of bringing immediate forgiveness for every crime, no matter what its character, to any one who washes in its water. The water has a disagreeable smell, but this does not deter the pilgrims who come to it; there is a flight of stone steps on each of the four sides leading down to the water, and these steps were placed there, according to the tradition, by Vishnu's own hands. Close by the mouth of the well are several altars where the pilgrims place their offerings; and if any of them are worth taking, they are carried away by the priests as soon as the worshipper's back is turned.
"The steps of the ghaut were crowded with pilgrims who had come there to bathe, and to say their prayers to the rising sun. The sun was just coming above the horizon as we reached the ghaut and paused to look at the multitude. There were many groups scattered along the ghaut, some of men and others of women, and they showed by their manner that the occasion was a solemn one. They left their heavy garments on the steps farther up, and walked down to the water's edge, clad only in white robes, and repeating their prayers as they went along. Some paused on the steps and stood motionless before small idols, and others, too poor to bring idols, placed little heaps of mud on the steps and worshipped them instead. They brought bunches of jasmine and other flowers to sprinkle on the steps and in the Ganges, and though the morning was frosty, and the water must have been cold, not one of them shivered in the least on entering the sacred river.
"There is a curious stone here which is said to bear the impression of Vishnu's feet; of course it is highly venerated, and is visited by every pious Hindoo who comes to Benares. There are temples and shrines all around here, and every foot of the ground is holy in the eyes of the natives. One of the temples contains a figure of the god Ganesh; he has three eyes and a trunk like an elephant, and when he goes about he is supposed to ride on a rat.
"We passed ghaut after ghaut, and saw thousands of pilgrims and residents taking their morning bath, and finally came to the mosque of Aurengzebe the Great. At its foot, as at many other points along the bank, there were dozens of great umbrellas, under which the priests sit to give absolution to the faithful who are willing to pay for it; the umbrellas protect them from the sun, and at a little distance they resemble enormous mushrooms. We asked the guide if there were any accidents in bathing; he said a few persons were drowned every year by getting beyond their depth, and once in a while a crocodile came and carried away somebody. He told a story we had heard before, that a thief who was an expert swimmer once fixed up the skin and head of a crocodile so that it was a very good counterfeit; he would swim around near the bathing place and watch his chance to drag some of the women under water, where he drowned them for their gold and silver ornaments.
"Every day one or more would be taken away, and the fear of the crocodile was great. But one time there came along a real crocodile, who ate up the counterfeit; the dried skin and head were found a few miles farther down, and then it was found how the murders had been perpetrated.
"As we walked in the crowds we thought they were very respectful, as they made way for us wherever we went; we afterward learned it was not respect, but fear of pollution, that made them move out of our path. You must remember that nearly all the people we see are pious pilgrims, who have come long distances to worship at the shrines of Benares, and have a cordial hatred for our race and color. As our guide walks along in front of us he says something to the people in Hindostanee which, of course, we do not understand; we are told that he warns them to get out of our way, so that they will avoid being polluted by our touch!
MOSQUE OF AURENGZEBE THE GREAT.
"We went inside the mosque, but did not climb to the top of the minarets, from which there is said to be an excellent view of Benares and the country around it. The mosque is identified with the history of Benares, as it dates from the time the Mohammedan rulers of Northern India captured the city, destroyed nearly all of its Hindoo temples, and built their own places of worship from the ruins. The mosque stands on the site of an ancient Hindoo temple, and after the Hindoos came in possession of the city again they allowed the building to remain, though it might have been expected that they would tear it down. The Mohammedans make very little use of the mosque, and of all the 400,000 inhabitants of Benares there are less than 40,000 who adhere to the religion of the Prophet of Mecca. There is nothing remarkable about the building except the minarets, and we only remained there a few minutes.
A STREET NEAR THE GREAT MOSQUE.
"We went into several Hindoo temples, where sacred cows and bulls were walking about as though Benares belonged to them, which it really does. They are respected and worshipped by the people and never molested, and the result is they go around as they like, and help themselves wherever there is anything to eat. The merchants of grain, rice, and meal find them a great nuisance, as nothing can be left in their reach that they do not seize upon immediately; it must shake the faith of the merchants sometimes when they think what thieves their gods are, as represented by these prowling cattle, and how ready they are to rob anybody without regard to his wealth or poverty.
"We got back to the hotel in time for a late breakfast, and in the afternoon made an excursion to the temple of the goddess Durga, which is popularly known as the temple of the monkeys. There were hundreds of monkeys all around the temple, and they are regarded as gods in spite of their thievery and the trouble they cause in the neighborhood. As we came up to the temple the monkeys scampered toward us from every direction, as they know that the arrival of strangers is pretty certain to procure them something to eat. Two or three grain peddlers were near the front of the temple, and we bought a shilling's worth of grain, which was scattered on the pavement for the monkeys to eat. They fought over it in a very undignified way, which did not increase our respect for them, and as soon as they found they would get nothing more they clambered to the tree-tops or up on the roofs, where they had been sunning themselves.
"These monkeys do a great deal of mischief, by robbing gardens and other depredations, and we are told that they organize raids, and sometimes go two or three miles in bodies of fifty or a hundred for purposes of robbery. They became so bad a few years ago that one of the magistrates, who did not wish to offend the natives by killing their deities, had a great number of these monkeys put into cages and carried off to the jungle; but they seem to be about as numerous as ever, and quite as regardless of the rights of human beings as monkeys generally are.
"Doctor Bronson had a letter of introduction to Doctor Lazarus, the agent of the Maharajah of Vizanagram, a native prince who owns a very large estate in and around Benares. The maharajah is on pleasant terms with the English, and with all foreigners who come properly introduced, and likes to show them attentions. We called on Doctor Lazarus before going to the Durga temple, and had a pleasant interview with him; and after we had seen the temple we went to the palace of the maharajah and looked through it. The next morning the Doctor sent us an elephant for a ride through Benares, and we had a delightful excursion of a couple of hours.
AN ELEPHANT RIDE.
"Elephants are used here for a great many purposes, but they are forbidden to move about the streets of Benares, except in certain hours, because of the accidents arising from the frightening of horses. Horses have an unaccountable fear of elephants and camels, as we saw repeatedly, and on two or three occasions we narrowly escaped being thrown from our carriage by the 'shying' of the horses when passing an elephant. The elephant we had was a stately old beast who would not go faster than a walk, and the fact is we were quite satisfied with that pace. He came very near brushing us off as he went under the trees, and once the howdah where we were seated was brought against a limb so forcibly that for a few seconds we thought we should be spilled out. However, we got safely back to the hotel, and gave a liberal backsheesh to the mahout, or driver, who had piloted us on our novel excursion.
BUDDHIST TOWER AT SARNATH.
"In the afternoon we went to Sarnath, where the founder of Buddhism is said to have commenced the meditations which resulted in the religion that has more followers than any other in existence. The ruins consist of two towers, about half a mile apart, and the foundations of several buildings which are thought to date from the time of Buddha, or from the century following his death. According to some Chinese writers, who visited Benares in the fifth century of the Christian era, there were formerly several buildings and towers here, and they showed the tank where Buddha bathed, and another where he washed his clothing; on the bank of this last tank there was a flat stone that showed the marks of the cloth where it was spread out to dry, but we couldn't find either the stone or the tank.
CARVING ON THE TOWER AT SARNATH.
"Of course we looked at the tower, which is very much in ruins, and has bushes growing on the top and in various places on the sides. There is nothing remarkable about the structure except in its historical associations, and we didn't stay there long; but we have since read the description of the ruins of Sarnath, and the account of the excavations made there. The tower is 110 feet high as it stands at present, and ninety-two feet in diameter at the base, and where the outside stone has not been torn away there are some fine sculptures. They represent flowers and scroll work, and were evidently done by an accomplished artist. The lotos flower is represented more frequently than anything else, and as the lotos was the emblem of Buddha, the sculpture shows that the tower was erected in his honor. There are niches for statues on the sides of the tower, and it is supposed that they once contained the figures of the great preacher, in the sitting posture so common in the Far East.
"Anybody who wishes to know more about Benares and the ruins at Sarnath than we are able to tell him, can find what he wants in a book called 'The Sacred City of the Hindus,' by Rev. M. A. Sherring. The author lived a long time in Benares, and has made a very interesting volume.
"Doctor Bronson says there is a curious parallel in the histories of Buddhism and Christianity—that neither of them is the religion of the city of its origin. Benares was the sacred city of the Bramins before Buddha was born, just as Jerusalem was the sacred city of the Jews. In each city a new religion was developed, and missionaries went out to instruct the people; Buddhism was finally driven out of Benares in much the same way as Christianity was expelled from Jerusalem. Buddhism does not exist at Benares to-day, nor has there been more than a trace of it for the last thousand years; the Braminism that followed its expulsion was worse than that which preceded it, and consequently India gained nothing at all by the reformation."
WATER-BEARING OX AT BENARES.