[98] See Appendix XXI.
Benares—Bathing in the Ganges—Water-carrying by Women—Extent and Population of Benares—Attempted Tax—Mosque of Aurungzebe—Observatory of Rajah Jey Singh—Bazaars—Jewellery—Cultivation of Sugar—Secrole—Murder of Mr. Cherry—State Prisoners—The Maharannee of Lahore.
We anchored off the ancient and sacred city of Benares, at eight o'clock in the evening. The Sanscrit name of the district of Benares is Varanase, from "Vara" and "Nashi" ("two streams"); it is in the Province of Allahabad, and was ceded to the East India Company by Asophud-Dowlah, the Nawab of Oude, in 1775. Its national appellation was "Kasi," or "the Splendid." It is built upon the left bank of the Ganges, along which it stretches in a semi-circle for six or seven miles. On the outer side of the curve, which is the most elevated, stands the holy city of Benares. Generally speaking, the banks of every river are higher on the side where its course is convex, and they are always high alternately, if the river has a winding course, high on the convex side, and low on the concave of the curve which it forms.
It is customary with the natives to build on rising spots of ground, because such localities are more healthy, and can be easily drained.
Benares is seen to great advantage from Ramnuggur, on the opposite bank of the Ganges. Its appearance is strikingly grand and picturesque; the ground is covered with buildings even to the water's edge, and some of the ghâts, which are constructed of large blocks of red chunar-stone, have a flight of thirty or forty steps leading down to the river. Here a most animated scene generally presents itself. Men and women, boys and girls, may be seen bathing early in the morning, and evening, and, during the cold season, also in the middle of the day; for the cold does not deter even the gentler sex from adventuring into the river. Hither, too, resort the girls and young women of Benares, to fetch water from the sacred stream. Their figures are elegant and their stature erect. They all carry two or three water-pots on their heads, each successive pot being smaller than the one beneath it. Having dipped them into the stream, and filled them with water, they replace them upon their heads, and return homewards. This habit of carrying their gharahs, or jars, filled with water, from their early youth, may account, in a great measure, for their graceful carriage. They balance their pitchers so equally as not even to require any assistance from the hand. The sight of these women, with their water-pots, powerfully recalls to mind passages in Holy Writ;[99] and many of them refer to periods of so ancient a date, that we cannot avoid coming to the conclusion that the Hindoos are a people of great antiquity.
As I ascended into the city, I found the streets so exceedingly narrow that it was difficult to penetrate them, even on horseback. The houses are crowded close to each other, with turrets rising from their terraced roofs. They are built of stone, and some of them are six stories high. The windows are always extremely small, to keep the apartments cool, as the natives suppose, as well as to prevent their neighbours from looking in, for the opposite sides of the street approach very closely to each other, and, in some places, are united by galleries. The natives in eastern countries generally sleep on their flat roofs, in the verandah, or even in front of their dwellings. Here, again, the Bible illustrates the practice of sleeping on the roofs.
According to an old Brahminical legend, Benares was originally built of fine gold; but, owing to the depravity of its inhabitants, the gold was converted into stone; and as they degenerated more and more, the houses were transformed into brick and mud.