The number of stone and brick houses, from one to six stories high, was estimated in the year 1815 to be upwards of 12,000, and the mud houses above 16,000. I find by Shakespear's version of the Statistics of the North-Western Provinces[100] that the Hindoos of the city of Benares amounted to 147,082 persons, and the Mahomedans to 36,409, making a total of 183,491, giving 34,621 inhabitants to a square mile, which is the largest amount of population of any city.
Benares, as I have already observed, is a very crowded city. In speaking of Kanoge, I stated that, according to Mr. Maurice,[101] it was supposed to have been a hundred miles in circumference, with a population of 2,500,000 or 3,000,000. Taking the former number to be correct, there would have been 4,000 souls to every square mile. A country is considered to be well peopled which has 100 inhabitants to every square mile. Certainly, neither London, nor any city in Europe, can have an amount of population equal to one-fourth of Benares. The late Mr. James Prinsep took the census, between the years 1824 and 1827, and it is not called in question now. Recollecting, also, that there are many six-storied houses, not only along the banks, but rising in tiers, closely behind one another, with only a few feet space between them, the European traveller will not be so much surprised at the immense mass of habitations thus congregated together. In 1815, Benares was computed to contain 8,000 houses, occupied by the families of the Brahmins, who receive charitable contributions, and subsist chiefly on the daily offerings of the wealthy inhabitants and pilgrims, although many of them possess private property of their own.
In 1803, the supposed population of the city and suburbs of Benares amounted to 582,000, exclusive of the attendants of the three Mogul princes, who were reported to be 3,000, making an aggregate of 585,000 souls. At that time the Mahomedans were considered to be one to every ten Hindoos. The above return gives 36,409 Mahomedans to 147,082 Hindoos, or a total of 183,491 in the city of Benares, making the Hindoos to exceed the Mahomedans in the ratio of about four to one. Mr. Prinsep took a census in 1824, and gave the returns at 181,482. It is probably now 200,000. Mr. Prinsep's census gives six as the average number of inhabitants to a chowk (yard or court), whether in the city or in the rural outskirts, seven to a pucka (brick) house, and four and a half to a kucha (mud) house.
In the year 1809, the Government resolved to impose a tax on all the houses in the city; upon which thousands of Brahmins and other inhabitants quitted it, and great excitement and uproar prevailed. A serious riot would inevitably have taken place, had not Mr. W.W. Bird, the late Deputy Governor of Bengal, an able and excellent officer, hurried to the spot and promptly quelled the disturbance. The inhabitants hereupon petitioned the Government; and vowed that if the tax were persisted in, they would represent the matter at Calcutta. The authorities, who had not displayed much judgment in the imposition of the tax, had the good sense at once to abolish the obnoxious impost; but in consequence of the émeute, the Government considered it prudent to have a European corps at hand, in the event of any future disturbance; and a royal regiment was accordingly stationed at Ghazepore.
Notwithstanding its dense, close, and crooked streets, taken as a whole, there are few cities that can carry off the palm from Benares, with its gilded pagodas, its temples, and its mosques, their slender minarets, rising in majestic grace amid countless domes and cupolas, all standing out in bold relief, among the varied forms and foliage of groves of mangoes, tamarinds, and plantains, the sombre cypress, and the beauteous palm, beneath the deep blue canopy of heaven, and lighted up by the glorious effulgence of an Eastern sun.
The most celebrated of these mosques is that built by the Emperor Aurungzebe. In order to mortify the Hindoos, he destroyed their most renowned temple, that of Vishnu, and not only raised his mosque upon its site, but, as if to heighten the indignity, caused the materials of their sacred edifice to be used in the construction of this rival temple, which was to celebrate the triumph of the Koran over the laws of Menu. What a contrast to the liberal spirit evinced by Akbar, in the exercise of his power. That great emperor, at the solicitation of his Brahmin prime minister, rescinded a caput tax, which had been imposed upon all his Hindoo subjects. History and experience teach us by many a lesson, how much we lose by harshly opposing the prejudices of others; and how much we gain by the adoption of conciliatory measures—provided no principle be involved—but alas! how slow we all are to learn this important lesson.
This mosque rises in the centre of the noble range of temples, ghâts, and edifices, that run along the left bank of the sacred Ganges. As seen from the river, it presents a most striking appearance. It stands at an elevation of eighty feet above the level of the Ganges, while its graceful minarets, tapering as they rise, tower to a height of 147 feet from their foundation. It is the most conspicuous edifice in the city, being visible for many miles round. The precise date of its erection is not known, but as the emperor died in 1707, we may assign 150 years ago as the period.
I ascended one of the two lofty minarets which flank the principal cupola. It had lately been restored to its original state by the British government, under the able superintendence of Mr. James Prinsep, British Resident at Benares. This was a most critical undertaking; for the minars were more than a foot out of the perpendicular. I enjoyed an extensive and magnificent view of the city and adjacent country, which for ten miles round is held sacred by the Hindoos. Indeed so highly is it venerated, that pilgrims resort to it from all parts of India, and those who, from age, or other circumstances, are unable to perform the lengthened journey themselves, send willing proxies, to whom they pay considerable sums. Many come there to wash away their sins; and not a few to die within its hallowed precincts.
Looking down from this dizzy height, upon the almost miniature world below, such a strange sensation came over me, that I could well conceive the propensity of certain minds to precipitate themselves from a lofty elevation. Several melancholy instances of this kind are said to have occurred here; a few perhaps from impulse, others from despair, and some from mere foolhardiness, with a view of immortalizing their names. Among the last, I was told, was a Fakeer, or devotee, who, whether by accident or design, contrived his fall so cleverly that it was broken by his being caught midway by the matting of a roof, and he alighted almost unscathed upon the floor. The people of course considered this as a miracle; and the Fakeer would doubtless have been idolized by them, had not his cupidity exceeded his love of notoriety, and induced him to make his escape with sundry articles belonging to the good Samaritan who had poured oil and wine into his bruises.
The city of Benares has long been known as the ancient seat of Brahminical learning; and to this day it retains its fame. The arts and sciences still flourish; and the schools and colleges for the training of the priests are yet celebrated, while the laws of Menu continue to be expounded in Sanscrit. But with all his erudition and research, the learned Brahmin is sunk in the most abject ignorance; and with all his wisdom, he degrades the nobler faculties of his mind, by bowing down to worship the most disgusting of monster-idols. Here, as elsewhere in our Indian possessions, the germs of Christianity have been sown under the fostering care of various British Protestant Missionary Societies, especially of the Church Missionary Society. Benares already boasts of fifteen missionary schools, one of them being founded by a wealthy Hindoo. All these schools are more or less frequented by Hindoo children; and the public preaching of the Gospel has been the means of making many of the natives acquainted with the superiority of the Christian religion.