Hurdwar, on the right bank of the Ganges, a place of great sanctity, is celebrated as the resort of Hindū pilgrims, in amazing numbers. Hurdwar, or Hurīdwar, (the gate of Hurī, or Vishnū,) is also called Gangū-dwāra—as at this place the Ganges, having traversed 150 miles from its secluded mountain birth-place, and having forced a passage through the last barrier or gate (dwāra), emerges in a broad clear stream upon the plains. Hurdwar contains many fine buildings parallel with the course of the river, some of which have their foundations in the sacred waters. They are generally of brick, but many are of very fine white freestone. The bed of the river is intersected with low woody islands, and is a full mile broad in the rainy season.
A fair takes place annually at Hurdwar, in the month of April, lasting nearly a fortnight; that being the period chosen by pilgrims, who flock from all parts of India to perform their ablutions in the Ganges: it is held in the bed of the river, which at that period is nearly dry. Two or three hundred thousand people are attracted to this fair, and every twelfth year, it is supposed a million of people assemble at this place. The scene is interesting in the highest degree. Merchants from Calcutta meet with others from Osbeck Tartary, and Cabul; and thousands of Seiks attend the fair. Horse merchants from Bokhara and Cabul occupy the central parts of the dry bed of the river; those from Tūrkistān encamp at the back of the town. Elephant dealers traverse the roads of the fair with their animals, morning and evening; and the place is crowded with camels, mules, and shawl and jewel merchants; in fact, merchandise of every description is collected at the fair from every part of the Eastern world, and it is difficult to convey even a faint idea of the swarms of living creatures, men and beasts of every description, which occupy every foot of ground during the fair.
The Hindūs receive from the Brahmans a certificate of having performed the pilgrimage; and carriers of holy water attend in great numbers to bring away the sacred stream in bottles, carefully sealed and stamped.
THE BATHING GHĀT.
The principal bathing ghāt has been lately rebuilt in a most splendid manner by the Government of Bengal, under the superintendence of an officer of engineers; it is now both elegant and commodious, and will prevent the destruction of so many human beings, which so often occurred by the sudden rush of the devotees through the old and narrow ghāt to reach the water at the propitious moment, which was often at midnight. The auspicious moment is calculated by the Brahmans, who aver that a great increase in the efficacy of the rite is derivable from its performance, when Jupiter is in Aquarius, which happens every twelfth year, or when the sun enters Aries.
A wandering mendicant in the foreground is playing on an ektara, a one-stringed instrument, formed of a gourd, surmounted by peacocks’ feathers—the Paganini of the East!
BARH.
The scene before you represents the encampment of the Commander-in-chief at Barh, at the foot of the hills, distant about thirty miles from Simla. Here the baggage elephants, and camels, deposit their loads, a part of which are carried up the mountains by the hill men; the remainder, with the carriages, palanquins, and tents, are either sent back to the plains, or placed in godowns belonging to a Simla firm at Barh. The ladies of the party are sitting in jampāns, ready to ascend “The Hills,” as these mountains are called, from being at the foot of the Himalaya. The jampān is a sort of arm-chair, with a top and curtains to it, to afford shelter from the sun or rain; long poles are affixed to it, and it is carried by four Paharīs, singular-looking little black, hill fellows, harnessed between the poles after their fashion. A group of them are sitting near the jampāns. They are little fellows, with flat ugly faces, like the Tartar race, dressed in black woollen coarse trowsers, a blanket of the same over their shoulders, and a rope round their waists; a black greasy round leather cap on their heads, sometimes decorated all round the face with bunches of freshly gathered hill flowers. They are very honest, and very idle; moreover, most exceedingly dirty. The women are good-looking and strong. Polyandry is a common institution. Gentlemen ascend the hills either in a jampān or on a gūnth, a hill-poncy, a most sure-footed, sagacious animal, who will carry you safely round the most dangerous places, where you have a wall of rock on the one side, and a precipice on the other. A jumna-par goat, with its long silky ears, is lying on the ground near a shawl goat from Cashmere. Some men of a corps of irregular horse are in attendance on the Commander-in-Chief, and the tom-tom wālā, with his drum, is seated on his blanket, on which the people throw cowries, and sometimes paisā, small copper coins: a tom-tom wālā is a constant attendant on every camp.
