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.