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.
The man on the right is a religious mendicant, a disciple of Siva. When this portrait was taken, his long black hair, matted with cow-dung, was twisted like a turban round his head: he was dreadfully lean, almost a skeleton. His left arm had been held erect so long, that the flesh had withered, and the skin clung round the bones most frightfully; the nails of the hand, which had been kept immoveably clenched, had pierced through the palm, and grew out at the back of the hand, like the long claws of a bird of prey. His skeleton arm was encircled by a twisted stick, the stem perhaps of a thick creeper, the end of which was cut into the shape of the head of the cobra di capello, with its hood displayed; and the twisted withy looked like the body of the reptile wreathed around his horrible arm. His only garment was the skin of a tiger, thrown over his shoulders, and a bit of rag and rope. He was of a dirty ashen colour from mud and paint; perhaps in imitation of Siva, who, when he appeared on earth as a naked mendicant of an ashy colour, was recognized as Mahadēo, the great god. This man was considered a very holy person. His right hand contained an empty gourd and a small rosary, and two long rosaries were around his neck of the rough beads called mundrāsī. Acts of severity towards the body, practised by religious mendicants, are not done as penances for sin, but as works of extraordinary merit, promising large rewards in a future state. The Byragī is not a penitent, but a proud ascetic.
A very small and beautifully-formed ginī (a dwarf cow) was with him. She was decorated with crimson cloth, embroidered with cowrie shells, and a plume of peacocks’ feathers as a jika, rose from the top of her head. A brass bell was on her neck, and around her legs were anklets of the same metal. Many Fakīrs lead these little dwarf cows about the country, they are fat and sleek, and considered so holy that they will not sell them.
A barber sitting on a ghāt, is shaving an Hindū, he makes use of water, but not of soap, while he shaves all round the head, leaving a tuft of hair in the middle of the back of the head, which is commonly tied in a knot. Shaving is usually done under a small shed or a tree, very often in the street or road.
We have now given as many views of Benares as it is possible to introduce within the limits of our Diorama, and we take leave of the holy city with regret. The Vedas and Shastrs all testify that “Viswaswara is the first of Devas, Kashī (Benares) the first of cities, Gangā the first of rivers, and charity the first of virtues.” Vishveshvur, “Lord of the Universe,” is one of the most exalted titles of Siva.