Columns and idol-dwellings, Goth or Greek,
With nature’s realms of worship, earth and air,
Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer!”
The Great Peak of Bhadrināth—No Glaciers in the Snowy Ranges—Ceremonies performed on visiting Holy Places—Kedarnāth—Moira Peak—Gangoutrī—The Jaunti Peak—Jumnotrī—The Himalaya Range formed by Mahadēo—Palia Gadh—The Dewtas—Bandarponch—Hŭnoomān—The Cone—Height of the Himalayas.
1838, Sept.—You wish me to send home some sketches from the Hills; I will strive to comply with the request, and in the mean time will forward you a map, copied from a portion of a survey: it will show you the elevation of the Himalaya, and give you a definite idea of the shape of the mountains.
THE GREAT PEAK OF BHADRINĀTH.
The highest peak, that of Bhadrināth, 23,441 feet above the Sea, is a conspicuous object from the summit of Landowr. Some of the mountains of the Snowy Ranges display high, rocky, sharp peaks, covered with snow—smooth, hard, unbroken, and glittering white; others are cut into fantastic shapes. There are no glaciers, because, in all probability, an uniform cold—below the freezing point—prevails in so elevated a region. Bhadrināth is a noted place of pilgrimage, and during my stay in the Hills some of my Hindū servants requested leave of absence to visit it.
“The Hindūs have a way to heaven without dying: if the person who wishes to go this way to heaven, through repeating certain incantations survive the cold, he at last arrives at Himalŭyŭ, the residence of Shivŭ. Such a person is said ‘to go the Great Journey:’ Yoodhist’hirŭ, according to the puranŭs, went this way to heaven; but his companions perished by the cold on the mountain: this forms another method in which the Hindūs may meritoriously put a period to their existence; it is also one of the Hindū atonements for great offences.” The ceremonies performed on visiting holy places are as follows:—“When a person resolves to visit any one of these places, he fixes upon an auspicious day, and, two days preceding the commencement of his journey, has his head shaved; the next he fasts; the following day he performs the shraddhŭ (funeral obsequies) of the three preceding generations of his family on both sides, and then leaves his house. If a person act according to the shastrŭ he observes the following rules:—First, till he returns to his own house, he eats rice which has not been wet in cleansing, and that only once a day; he abstains from anointing his body with oil, and from eating fish. If he ride in a palanquin or in a boat he loses half the benefits of his pilgrimage; if he walk on foot he obtains the full fruit. The last day of his journey he fasts. On his arrival at the sacred spot, he has his whole body shaved, after which he bathes, and performs shraddhŭ: if the pilgrim be a woman, she has only the breadth of two fingers of her hair behind cut off; if a widow, her whole head is shaved. It is necessary that the pilgrim stay seven days at least at the holy place; he may continue as much longer as he pleases. Every day during his stay he bathes, pays his devotions to the images, sits before them, and repeats their names, and worships them, presenting such offerings as he can afford. In bathing, he makes kooshŭ grass images of his relations, and bathes them. The benefits arising to relations will be as one to eight, compared with that of the person bathing at the holy place. When he is about to return, he obtains some of the offerings which have been presented to the idol or idols, and brings them home to give to his friends and neighbours; these consist of sweetmeats, toolŭsee leaves, the ashes of cow-dung, &c. After celebrating the shraddhŭ he entertains Brahmāns, and presents them with oil, fish, and all those things from which he abstained: having done this he returns to his former course of living. The reward promised to the pilgrim is, that he shall ascend to the heaven of that god who presides at the holy place he has visited.”
The mighty Bhadrināth towers far above Chimboraco, although—
“⸺Andes, giant of the western star,