Eight Lectures on India

by Halford John Mackinder

|3.
Buddhist Tope at Sarnath.| |4.
Sculptures at Sarnath.| |5.
Lion-capital at Sarnath.| Old Benares, whose ruins are now known as Sarnath, was a few miles north of the existing city. We have here one of the Buddhist topes of Sarnath, which was the spot to which Buddha removed after he had received enlightenment at Gaya. Here he and his disciples began to teach. We have another view at Sarnath, showing some of the ancient sculptures, and a gigantic lion-capital recently excavated. Its size can be appreciated by noticing the man behind.

|6.
Plan of Benares.| |7.
View across the Ganges to the Southern Shore.| |8.
Panchganga Ghat, Benares.| |9.
The Same—another view.| |10.
Palace of the Raja of Bhinga, Benares.| |11.
The Same—another view.| Benares extends for four miles along the northern bank of the Ganges. This bank is here higher than the southern, and descends to the river edge with a steep brink. Down this brink are many flights of steps, known as “ghats,” which we may translate by the word “approaches.” We have already heard the word “ghat” applied to the steep mountain-high brinks of the southern plateau of India, where the upper ground breaks away to the shore of the Arabian Sea on the one hand, and to the low-lying plain of the Carnatic on the other. The city of Benares is situated on the plateau top above the ghats, and for four miles the river front is crowned with palaces and temples, built of a yellow sandstone. The opposite, the southern, shore lies low and without buildings. Here is a view looking southward across the river from the brink edge; it shows the low and non-sacred southern shore. Here are two views of the brink itself, faced and crowned with buildings of yellow sandstone. There follow two views of the palace of the Raja of Bhinga, and in both we see the ghat steps descending to the water’s edge.

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Dasashwamedh Ghat, Benares.| |13.
Manikarnika Ghat, Benares.| The population of Benares numbers some two hundred thousand, of whom the great majority are of the Hindu faith, and no fewer than thirty thousand are Brahmans, the priestly caste. It is said that more than a million pilgrims visit the city every year. In the early morning they descend the ghats to bathe in the river and to drink the sacred water. Here we have the scene at one of these ghats, with the conical towers of a temple, and the great sun umbrellas. Another scene of a similar character follows at another ghat, the most sacred in Benares.

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Burning Ghat, Benares.| |15.
Another Burning Ghat, Benares.| Some of the ghats are used for the burning of dead bodies. Wrapped in a white shroud, the corpse is dipped into the river, then laid on a pile of faggots, and other faggots are built around, and a light is set to the pile. The ashes are thrown into the river. These rites are performed by the nearest relatives. We have here the body of a woman of the poorer classes nearly consumed, and the few relatives looking on. Here preparations are in progress for another cremation. The corpse may be seen, with its feet in the water, resting aslant at the foot of the ghat. The bodies of the higher castes are burnt at the Raja Ghat on costly fires of sandal-wood. At night, from the water, the city, with its thousands of lights and the tall flames at the Burning Ghats, is deeply impressive.

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The Observatory, Benares.| |17.
The Samrat Yantra in the Observatory.| |18.
Eclipse Festival, Benares.| Perhaps the most interesting of all the buildings at Benares is the Observatory, a lofty structure placed on the river brink and commanding a wide view. Within are instruments of stone on a great scale for the observation of the movements of the heavenly bodies. This is the Samrat Yantra, used for observing the declination and right ascension of the stars. Astronomy plays no inconsiderable part in the rites of Benares. The pilgrimages are thronged at the time of eclipse of the sun, and there are certain ghats of special resort during the occurrence of eclipses.

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Roof of Golden Temple, Benares.| |20 Vishnagi Temple, Benares.| |21.
Aurangzeb’s Mosque, Benares.| |22.
The Same—another view.| Set a little back from the river front in a small square is the chief temple of the Hindus. Europeans are not permitted to go within, but only to peep through a hole in the wall, and also from an upper balcony of a neighbouring house to look down upon the gilded roof. Beside this temple there is another, half of which is in ruin, and the remainder has been converted to the purpose of a Musulman mosque. The old part is of yellow-grey sandstone, tawny with age, but the mosque has been white-washed and shines brightly in the sunlight. We have here a view of this temple-mosque, and then there follow two views, showing the tall minarets of Aurangzeb’s Mosque, built on the site of another Hindu temple which he destroyed. For two centuries until the advent of British power the rulers of this Hindu land were of the Musulman faith, conquerors from the northwest. The Musulmans destroyed many of the ancient Hindu temples of Benares, so that most of the buildings of the city are comparatively modern.

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A Fakir, Benares.| |24.
Snake Charmers, Benares.| As in a Christian country, such a resort of pilgrims brings together men from far distant and different lands, and we have at Benares an epitome of all Hindu India. In the narrow deep-shaded streets, and the sordid and tawdry purlieus of the temples may be seen many a typical scene of Eastern life. Here, for instance, close to Aurangzeb’s Mosque, is a Fakir or religious enthusiast, to whom the alms of the faithful are due. He rests on this bed of spikes day and night. Such Fakirs get much alms, which they are supposed by the envious to bury underground. We have another characteristic scene here, two snake charmers on one of the ghats, with a fine assortment of reptiles—cobra, python, and other snakes, as well as scorpions. There is always a ready crowd for them, as for jugglers of curious skill.

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Bullock Cart, Benares.| |26.
A Camel, Benares.| |27.
A Bridegroom, Benares.| The traffic in the streets is of the most various kind. Here is an ox waggon, with cumbrous wooden wheels, laden with rough stone for road making, and here a tall camel bringing in tobacco from some outlying village. This is a bridegroom of the highest, the Brahman caste, mounted on a white horse, and clothed in a golden dress shot with pink. He is probably on his way to pay a ceremonial call.

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Prince of Wales Hospital, Benares.| |29.
Queen’s College, Benares.| |30.
Central Hindu College, Benares.| Further inland, near the railway station, is grouped the European quarter, with a Christian church, the post office, the regimental barracks of the cantonment, missionary colleges, villas of officials, and a few fine public buildings of recent date. Here for instance, with a bullock cart passing it, and another vehicle behind with a sun-hood, is the Prince of Wales Hospital. Here is Queen’s College, where a modern education is given to some five hundred students, and here finally is the Central Hindu College, opened in 1899, “for the education of Hindu youth in their ancestral faith and in true loyalty and patriotism.” This college contains about two hundred and fifty students.

|31.
Army Factory, Cawnpore—Native Cutters at work.| We now leave Benares, noticing the great railway bridge over the Ganges, and travel by rail over the grey monotony of the plains, varied by patches of cultivation, herds of long-eared goats, long-legged pigs, large black vultures, and here and there a string of camels. So we come to Cawnpore, the Manchester of India. Cawnpore is the chief inland manufacturing city of India, a great contrast in all its ways with Benares. Western capital, Western ideas, and Western organisation are at work on a large scale. There are mills and factories for the spinning and weaving of wool, mostly Indian wool, but some Australian brought by way of Calcutta. One of these mills seen by our artist had on hand at the time of his visit an order for eleven thousand coats, and had just finished thirty-three thousand for the police of the great native state of Hyderabad. This is the mill in question. The cutters are shearing coats from a great piece of khaki, on which the patterns to be cut have been chalked. Both the spinning of the yarn and the weaving of khaki cloth have been accomplished by native labour and British machinery at Cawnpore. Khaki signifies the colour of khak, or dust.