THE GREAT FAIR AT ALLAHABAD.
“TALKING TO A MAN WHO IS IN ECSTACY (OF A RELIGIOUS NATURE PRACTISED OR
FEIGNED BY FAKĪRS) IS LIKE BEATING CURDS WITH A PESTLE[98].”
Booths at the Fair—Diamonds, Pearls, Shawls, Sable,
Coral—The Triveni—Suicide—Religious Mendicants—The
sacred Ginī—Consecration of an Idol—Household
Gods—Rosaries—Pilgrims, Carriers of Holy Water—Snakes—Arrival
of Lady Wm. Bentinck—Visit to the Fair—Description of the
Frontispiece—Chamelee, the Brahmanical Bull.
1833, _Jan._—The burā melā at Prāg, or the great fair at Allahabad, is
held annually on the sands of the Ganges below the ramparts of the Fort,
extending from the Mahratta Bund to the extreme point of the sacred
junction of the rivers. The booths extend the whole distance, composed
of mud walls, covered with mats, or thatched. This fair lasts about two
months, and attracts merchants from all parts of India, Calcutta, Delhi,
Lucnow, Jeypore, &c. Very good diamonds, pearls, coral, shawls, cloth,
woollens, China, furs, &c., are to be purchased. Numerous booths display
brass and copper vessels, glittering in the sun with many brazen idols:
others are filled with Benares’ toys for children. Bows and arrows are
displayed, also native caps made of sable, the crowns of which are of the
richest gold and silver embroidery.
The pearl merchants offer long strings of large pearls for sale, amongst
which some few are fine, round, and of a good colour. The natives value
size, but are not very particular as to colour; they do not care to have
them perfectly round, and do not object to an uneven surface. They will
allow a purchaser to select the best at pleasure from long strings.
The deep red coral is valued by the natives much more than the pink. I
bought some very fine pink coral at the fair: the beads were immense; the
price of the largest, eleven rupees per tola; _i.e._ eleven rupees for
one rupee weight of coral. The smallest, six or four rupees per tola; it
was remarkably fine. Some years afterwards the Brija Bā’ī, a Mahratta
lady, a friend of mine, called on me; she observed the long string of
fine pink coral around my neck, and said, “I am astonished a mem sāhiba
should wear coral; we only decorate our horses with it; that is pink
coral, the colour is not good; look at my horse.” I went to the verandah;
her horse was adorned with a necklace of fine deep red coral. She was
quite right, and I made over mine to my grey steed.
Some of the prettiest things sold at the Melā are the tīkas, an ornament
for the forehead for native women. The tīka is of different sizes and
patterns; in gold or silver for the wealthy, tinsel for the poorer
classes; and of various shapes. The prettiest are of silver, a little
hollow cup like a dew-drop cut in halves: the ornament is stuck with
an adhesive mixture on the forehead, just in the centre between the
eyebrows. Some tīkas are larger, resembling the _ferronnière_ worn by
European ladies.
The Allahabad hukāks are famous for their imitation in glass of precious
stones. I purchased a number of native ornaments in imitation of the
jewellery worn by native ladies, which were remarkably well made, and
cost only a few rupees. I also bought strings of mock pearls brought from
China, that are scarcely to be distinguished from real pearls, either in
colour or weight.
The toys the rich natives give their children, consisting in imitations
of all sorts of animals, are remarkably pretty; they are made in silver,
and enamelled: others are made of ivory very beautifully carved; and for
the poorer classes they are of pewter, moulded into the most marvellous
shapes.
At this time of the year lākhs and lākhs of natives come to bathe at the
junction of the Ganges and Jumna; they unite at the extremity of a neck
of land, or rather sand, that runs out just below the Fort. On this holy
spot the Brahmans and religious mendicants assemble in thousands. Each
fakīr pitches a bamboo, from the end of which his flag is displayed, to
which those of the same persuasion resort. Here they make pooja, shave,
give money to the fakīr, and bathe at the junction. The clothes of the
bathers are put upon charpāīs to be taken care of, for so many pāisa.
Every native, however poor he may be, pays tribute of one rupee to
Government before he is allowed to bathe.
Two boats, by order of Government, are in attendance at this point
to prevent persons from drowning themselves or their children. The
mere act of bathing in the waters of the Gunga, on a particular day,
removes ten sins, however enormous, committed in ten previous births.
How much greater must be the efficacy at the junction of the Gunga and
Yamuna, which the Saraswati, the third sacred river, is supposed to join
underground! The benefit arising from bathing at the lucky moment of the
conjunction of the moon with a particular star is very great, or at the
time of eclipse of the sun or moon.
The holy waters are convenient for washing away a man’s sins, and as
efficacious as a pope’s bull for this purpose. Groups of natives stand in
the river whilst their Brahman reads to them, awaiting the happy moment
at which to dip into the sacred and triple waves. They fast until the
bathing is over. Suicide committed at the junction is meritorious in
persons of a certain caste, but a _sin_ for a Brahman!
The holy men prefer the loaves and fishes of this world to the immediate
moksh or beatitude, without further risk of transmigration, which is
awarded to those who die at the sacred junction.
Bathing will remove sins, gain admittance into heaven, and the devotee
will be reborn on earth in an honourable station.
A married woman without children often vows to Gunga to cast her
first-born into the river: this in former times was often done at Prāg,
it now rarely occurs. If the infant’s life is preserved, the mother
cannot take it again.
RELIGIOUS MENDICANTS.
The most remarkable people at this Melā are the religious mendicants;
they assemble by hundreds, and live within inclosures fenced off by
sticks, a little distance from the booths. These people are the monks
of the East; there are two orders of them; the Gosāins, or followers of
Shivŭ, and the Byragies, disciples of Vishnoo. Any Mahomedan may become
a fakīr, and a Hindoo of any caste, a religious mendicant. The ashes of
cow-dung are considered purifying: these people are often rubbed over
from head to foot with an ashen mixture, and have a strange dirty white,
or rather blue appearance. Ganges mud, cow-dung, and ashes of cow-dung,
form, I believe, the delectable mixture.
The sectarial marks or symbols are painted on their faces according to
their caste, with a red, yellow, white, or brown pigment, also on their
breasts and arms. Their only covering is a bit of rag passed between the
legs and tied round the waist by a cord or rope.
One man whom I saw this day at the Melā was remarkably picturesque, and
attracted my admiration. He was a religious mendicant, a disciple of
Shivŭ. In stature he was short, and dreadfully lean, almost a skeleton.
His long black hair, matted with cow-dung, was twisted like a turban
round his head,—a filthy jŭta[99]! On his forehead three horizontal
lines were drawn with ashes, and a circlet beneath them marked in red
sanders—his sectarial mark. If possible, they obtain the ashes from the
hearth on which a consecrated fire has been lighted. His left arm he had
held erect so long that the skin and flesh had withered, and clung round
the bones most frightfully; the nails of the hand which had been kept
immoveably clenched, had pierced through the palm, and grew out at the
back of the hand like the long claws of a bird of prey. His horrible and
skeleton-like arm was encircled by a twisted stick, the stem, perhaps,
of a thick creeper, the end of which was cut into the shape of the head
of the cobra de capello, with its hood displayed, and the twisted withy
looked like the body of the reptile wreathed around his horrible arm.
His only garment, the skin of a tiger, thrown over his shoulders, and a
bit of rag and rope at his waist. He was of a dirty-white or dirty-ashen
colour from mud and paint; perhaps in imitation of Shivŭ, who, when he
appeared on earth as a naked mendicant of an ashy colour, was recognized
as Mahadēo the great god. This man was considered a very holy person.
His right hand contained an empty gourd and a small rosary, and two long
rosaries were around his neck of the rough beads called mundrāsee. His
flag hung from the top of a bamboo, stuck in the ground by the side of a
trident, the symbol of his caste, to which hung a sort of drum used by
the mendicants. A very small and most beautifully formed little gynee
(a dwarf cow) was with the man. She was decorated with crimson cloth,
embroidered with cowrie shells, and a plume of peacock’s feathers as a
jika, rose from the top of her head. A brass bell was on her neck, and
around her legs were anklets of the same metal. Numbers of fakīrs come
to the sacred junction, each leading one of these little dwarf cows
decorated with shells, cowries, coloured worsted tassels, peacock’s
feathers, and bells. Some are very small, about the size of a large
European sheep, very fat and sleek, and are considered so sacred that
they will not sell them.
Acts of severity towards the body, practised by religious mendicants,
are not done as penances for sin, but as works of extraordinary merit,
promising large rewards in a future state. The Byragee is not a penitent,
but a proud ascetic. These people bear the character of being thieves and
rascals.
Although the Hindoos keep their women parda-nishīn, that is, veiled and
secluded behind the curtain, the fakīrs have the privilege of entering
any house they please, and even of going into the zenāna; and so great is
their influence over the natives, that if a religious mendicant enter a
habitation leaving his slippers at the door, the husband may not enter
his own house! They have the character of being great libertines.
On this day I purchased curious old china dishes and brass circular
locks of remarkable form. Also some brass idols that are scarce and very
valuable. I have a large collection of idols of all sorts and sizes: some
have undergone pooja for years, others are new. A native will buy a new
brass idol, Gopalu, perhaps, for fourpence (two ānās); he takes it to his
gooroo, or priest, who dips it in the Ganges; and having performed pooja
with divers ceremonies, the spirit of the god enters the idol, upon which
the gooroo receives ten or twelve rupees from the Hindoo, and restores
the idol a pukkā god! Before the money was paid or the pooja performed
it was nothing. Every Hindoo has some particular god whom he worships
especially; he keeps his image tied up in a little bag, sometimes in his
kamarband (cloth round the waist), at times in his turban, and sometimes
stuck into the thatch of the roof of his house. It accompanies him
wherever he goes: these little lares are seldom more than an inch, or two
inches in height. When a man bathes, he takes his little god out of some
corner of his attire, bathes the idol, and replaces it most carefully: to
lose it is a sign of ill luck[100].
The rosary is made use of in Persia and India by Muhammadans as well as
Hindoos, and appears with both to answer the same purpose. A bead is
dropped through the finger and thumb at the contemplation of certain
names and attributes of God, who has many appellations. The Brahmans
are constantly seen with rosaries in their hands. It is remarkable that
Christians, Hindoos, and Muhammadans, people so distant and distinct,
should use rosaries for the same purpose.
Moor mentions,—“The thousand names of Vishnŭ and Siva are strung together
in verse, and are repeated on certain occasions by Brahmans, as a sort
of Litany, accompanied sometimes by the rosary; as each name is mentally
recited, with the attention abstractedly fixed on the attribute, or
character, that such name excites the idea of, a bead is dropped through
the finger and thumb: such operation is supposed to assist and promote
abstraction, an attainment that enthusiastic Hindoos think exceedingly
efficacious.”
I have a short rosary which I obtained from a fakīr in Bengal with five
or six small idols that had been worshipped for years: he gave the whole
for a few rupees. The rosary consisted of beads of chalcedony, sulimāni
stones, coral, amber, cornelian, agate, and other stones, curious and of
some value.
The rosaries usually worn by the Byragies are of large rough berries,
called mundrāsee; I believe they come from Madras: they are the seeds
of a tree, and are sacred. They wear them of different lengths, but the
beads are all of the same size. Brahmans wear them, and fakīrs are seldom
without one. These long mālās are worn round the neck, falling to the
knees, or over the right shoulder, and under the left arm. They exclaim,
“Ram, Ram,” as they count each bead[101].
Another mālā or rosary, which is reckoned extremely holy, is always made
of the wood of some sacred tree. On every head is carved the name of
their warrior god Ram; and they count it, saying at every bead, “Ram,
Ram.” These are made at Benares, and sold at the Melā at Prāg. They are
either black and white, or pink and white. The longest I procured at
the fair, contained one hundred and eight beads; the small ones, for
the hand, contain only twenty-three[102]. Necklaces are also made of
the babūl, and every other sort of sacred wood. The men wear them, and
consider them very holy. Other rosaries are formed of the grey nut, the
seed of the bonduc-tree. During the fair time, you will see turners
sitting on the sands and turning these very minute wooden beads. It is
remarkable that they bore the beads at the same time that they turn them,
with great rapidity—bored and turned at once. The smaller the bead, the
more expensive the necklace; but the utmost price amounts only to two
ānās.
I also bought a mālā for a horse, which the natives say possesses great
power as a charm; of what it is composed, I know not: the beads are
somewhat of the shape and size of a pigeon’s egg, and opaque white, but
appear not to be of glass or china. It looks well on the neck of a black
horse. The natives tie one bead of this sort upon a horse’s fetlock to
avert the evil eye and keep off maladies. With a whole mālā the horse
must bear a charmed life!
Rosaries are counted for devotion, but oftener for good luck. The rosary
counted by the prime minister during breakfast, at the King of Oude’s,
consisted of pearls of enormous size. No one could be more superstitious
than the Nawāb Hakīm Mehndi; doubtless he told his beads for good luck.
Pilgrims, carriers of the holy water, come in gangs from great distances
to the Triveni; the processions are most picturesque, and they are very
remarkable people. They carry two baskets, suspended by a bamboo over
their shoulders, with a canopy above them, gaily decorated with bells
and flags; these baskets contain small stumpy bottles of the thinnest
green glass, having long necks; they are filled with Ganges water
at the junction, and sealed with the seal of a Brahman at the Bene
(bathing-place). These people travel all over the country, selling the
sacred water at a high price at the distant stations. Some of the bottles
are not above two inches high, others contain a quart; they are of all
sizes, and the price varies accordingly. The salutation of these people
on passing is, “Ram ram,” or “Bom bom mahadēo;” a pilgrim of this class
is called a Kanwar Wālā. The men come for this water to place it in their
houses for religious and medicinal uses, and sometimes perform a journey
on the occasion of five or six months; it is also used in the English
courts of justice, in administering an oath to an Hindoo.
_Jan. 11th._—Some natives are at the door with the most beautiful snakes,
two of them very large, and striped like tigers; the men carry them
twisted round their bodies, and also round their necks, as a young lady
wears a boa; the effect is good. The two tiger-striped ones were greatly
admired as a well-matched pair; they are not venomous. A fine cobra, with
his great hood spread out, made me shrink away as he came towards me,
darting out his forked tongue.
There were also two snakes of a dun yellow colour, spotted with white,
which appeared in a half torpid state; the men said they were as
dangerous as the cobra. They had a biscobra; the poor reptile was quite
lame, the people having broken all its four legs, to prevent its running
away. They had a large black scorpion, but not so fine a fellow as that
in my bottle of horrors.
The melā is very full; such beautiful dresses of real sable as I have
seen to-day brought down by the Moguls for sale! Lined with shawl,
they would make magnificent dressing-gowns. I have bought a Persian
writing-case, and a book beautifully illuminated, and written in Persian
and Arabic: the Moguls beguile me of my rupees.
We are going to a ball to-night at Mr. F⸺’s, given in honour of Lady
Wm. Bentinck, who is expected to arrive this evening. The natives have
reported the failure of Messrs. Mackintosh & Co., in Calcutta; I do not
think it is known amongst the Europeans here; the natives always get the
first intelligence; I will not mention it, lest it should throw a shade
over the gaiety of the party. An officer, who got the lākh, and 60,000
rupees also in the lottery last year, passed down the river to-day,
to place it in Government security; it is all gone; a note has been
despatched to inform him of the failure, and save him a useless trip of
eight hundred miles; he lost twenty-five thousand only a few weeks ago,
by Messrs. Alexander’s failure. Lachhmī abides not in his house.
_12th._—The ball went off very well, in spite of Messrs. Mackintosh’s
failure being known; and people who had lost their all danced as merrily
as if the savings of years and years had not been swept away by “one fell
swoop!”
_20th._—It is so cold to-day, I am shivering; the cocoa-nut oil in the
lamps is frozen slightly; this weather is fit for England. I must get all
the bricklayer’s work over before the hot winds, that I may be perfectly
quiet during the fiery time of the year.
_21st._—This being a great Hindoo holiday and bathing day, induced me to
pay another visit to the fair. Amongst the tamāshā (sport) at the melā,
was a Hindoo beggar, who was _sitting upon thorns_, up to his waist in
water!—an agreeable amusement. One man played with his right hand on a
curious instrument, called a been, while in his left hand he held two
pieces of black stone, about the length and thickness of a finger, which
he jarred together in the most dexterous manner, producing an effect
something like castanets, singing at the same time. The passers by threw
cowries, pāisa (copper coins), and rice to the man.
I purchased two musical instruments, called surinda, generally used by
the fakīrs, most curious things; Hindoo ornaments, idols, china, and some
white marble images from Jeypore.
Amongst other remarkable objects of worship which I beheld at the sacred
spot, was one joint of the backbone of some enormous fish or animal; two
great staring circular eyes were painted upon it, and the ends of the
bone stood out like the stumps of amputated arms; a bit of ghuwā (red
cloth) covered the lower part; and this was an image of Juggernath[103]!
It had worshippers around it; rice and cowries were the offerings spread
before it.
On platforms raised of mud and sand, some ten or twelve missionaries
were preaching; every man had his platform to himself, and a crowd of
natives surrounded each orator. Seeing one of my own servants, an Hindoo,
apparently an attentive listener, I asked the man what he had heard. “How
can I tell?” said he; “the English padre is talking.” I explained to him
the subject of the discourse, and received for answer, “Very well; it is
their business to preach, they get pāisa for so doing; what more is to be
said?”
A large number of fine marble images having been brought down from
Jeypore, for sale at the great fair, I sent a Rajpūt to the owner, and,
after much delay and bargaining, became the possessor of the large
white marble image of Gŭnéshŭ which adorns the frontispiece. The man
had scruples with regard to allowing me to purchase the idol, but sold
it willingly to the Rajpūt. In this place, I may as well describe
the frontispiece. The history of Gŭnéshŭ is fully related in the
Introduction; and the chaunrīs above his head of the tail of the yāk, the
cow of Thibet, have been described in the Twenty-second Chapter, page 239.
Ram, the deified hero, with his bow of marvellous power, stands on the
left of the shrine; the image is carved in white marble, painted and
gilt, and is twenty-one inches in height; its history is related in the
Ram Leela festival, page 108.
On the right, Krishnŭ the beloved is playing on his pipe; the figure
is of black marble, sixteen inches high; his life and history will be
explained hereafter, in a chapter entitled Radha Krishnŭ.
On the second step of the altar, to the right of Gŭnéshŭ, the first
figure, is that of a woman supporting a five-wicked lamp in her hands,
which is used in pooja. The figure is of brass, and has a handle to it.
The receptacles for oil or ghee are small, and of a mystic shape; a lamp
of this description is called pancharty.
Next to this figure, on the same step, are two little chirāghs (lamps),
with small cotton wicks; they are lighted; the little cups are of brass.
Lamps of this sort are burned before every shrine; and at the Dewālī, the
temples and ghāts are illuminated with thousands of these chirāghs, which
are then formed of red pottery.
Next to the lamps is a small lota, for carrying Ganges water, wherewith
to bathe the idol.
Near them are two bells, which are used in pooja.
The bell (gant’ha) is essential in holy ceremonies, and is rung at
certain times to scare away evil spirits. Bells are much used in and
about Hindoo temples, but were rejected by Mahommedans, by order of
their prophet, who deemed them relics of superstition. Those used by the
Hindoos differ in make according to the deity in whose honour pooja is
performed.
The bells are of brass; the handle of one of them is composed of two
images of Hŭnoomān back to back; the handle of the other represents
Hŭnoomān and Garuda, in the same attitude; on the top of the handle of
another the holy cow is _couchant_.
The spouted vessel (jari) holds lustral water, and is of brass.
Next to the jari are three more lamps; and beyond them is a Nāga Linga
Nandī, carved in black marble; it represents Nandī the bull kneeling and
supporting a Linga on his back, in the centre of which rise Siva’s five
heads,—four heads supporting the fifth,—over which protrudes the head of
a snake. The exterior is beaded; a snake is within it, the tail of which
nearly reaches the end of the figure. The scale is too small to allow of
a distinct representation.
On the first step of the altar, at the feet of the black marble image of
Krishnŭ is the bull-mouthed shell, which is considered holy, and often
placed on a shrine. Shells as well as flowers are used for adornment.
The white conch shell (Sankh) has been described in the Introduction;
the sankh or shŭnkhŭ, a shell conferring victory on whomsoever should
sound it, was one of the fourteen articles, usually called fourteen gems,
that were obtained at the churning of the sea. Shell ornaments worn by
females on the wrist are prescribed by the Shastr. At the hour of death,
a female leaves her ornaments to whomsoever she pleases; sometimes to
her spiritual guide, or to the family priest. A person not bequeathing
something to these people is followed to the next world with anathemas.
Next to the conch is a brazen lota, highly polished and engraved; it is
used for Ganges water, oil, or ghee; water is always presented to bathe
the idol.
The figure adjoining is a brazen image of Devi, a goddess (the term is
generally applied to Doorga), but I know not of what particular goddess
this is the representation. In her right hand she bears a mirror; in
the left, a small lamp of mystic shape, similar to the boat-like argha.
She stands upon a tortoise, which is made to contain Ganges water:
the head of the tortoise unscrews, to admit the liquid. The Devi is
ornamented with necklaces and bracelets; and in her ears are enormously
thick ear-rings: to insert them, it is necessary to elongate the lobe
of the ear; and having cut in it a slit nearly an inch in length, the
end of the ear-ring is inserted. These ear-rings are worn by women of
the lower orders, made of bamboo, painted and gilt. Some wear them of
pewter, ornamented in colours; and some of the richer classes have them
of silver, set with precious stones.
Against the edge of the step next to the Devi is a small circular
copper-plate, the edges of which are scalloped. In front of it is another
little plate made of brass, of which the interior is engraved.
The lustral spoons are called Sruva and Druva, in Sanscrit: by the
Mahrattas and other Hindoos, Pulahi and Atchwan; and have different
forms according to the rites or objects of adoration. One of the spoons
represents Naga the holy serpent, overspreading Gŭnéshŭ; on the other,
the Naga overspreads the image of some deity, of whose name I am
ignorant; and on another, the spread hood of the snake appears to cover
Hŭnoomān.
Next to the spoon is the argha, a vessel shaped like a boat, used by
the Hindoos in lustrations; it is of spout-like form, so that liquids
may be poured from it. Lustral ceremonies are deemed very important by
Brahmans, and are attended to as prescribed in their books, with the most
minute particularity. Images are frequently bathed with water, oil, &c.;
indeed, there is no end to lustral ceremonies, and spoons and arghas
are therefore in extensive use. In marriage, and in funeral ceremonies,
as well as in the Sraddha, funeral obsequies in honour of deceased
ancestors, an argha is indispensable.
In the centre of the shrine is a brazen image of Gunga the deified river,
which was also procured at this great bathing festival. It represents
a woman sitting on an alligator, or the sea animal Mŭkŭrŭ. One hand is
open in charity, one forbids fear, one bears a water-lily, and the fourth
a lota. She is the daughter of Mount Himavŭt. This idol is rare and
valuable. Gunga-jee-ke-jy! “Victory to Gunga-jee!”
Other heathen nations appear to have held certain rivers sacred: hence,
Naaman the Syrian said, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus,
better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be
clean?”
The Dŭshŭhŭra festival is held in commemoration of Gunga’s descent on
earth. Crowds of people assemble from the different towns and villages
near the river, especially at the most sacred places, bringing their
offerings of fruit, rice, flowers, fresh garlands, cloth, sweetmeats, &c.
“O goddess! the owl that lodges in the hollow of a tree on thy banks is
exalted beyond measure; while the emperor, whose palace is far from thee,
though he may possess a million of stately elephants, and may have the
wives of millions of conquered enemies to serve him, is nothing.”
The next object is a pair of small cymbals, which are sounded by the
priest in time to his chanted prayer.
Beyond them is a large highly-ornamented circular brass dish, containing
a peealu or brass drinking cup, in which is either oil or holy water:
this cup has figures carved upon it. By its side is a small brass plate,
filled with rice, which the devotee takes up in the spoon, and puts upon
the head of the idol. Various sacred flowers are also carried in the
circular dish, to strew over and before the god. In the early morning
you often see the Hindoos, both men and women, going to a shrine with a
circular brass dish of this description similarly filled.
The next figure is Hŭnoomān, the monkey god, carrying Ram and Seeta
on his shoulders in commemoration of his bringing them in safety from
Ceylon.—See p. 110.
Beyond this figure is a conch shell and another bull-mouthed shell; and
thus ends the description of the shrine of Gŭnéshŭ in the frontispiece.
In front of my cabinet stands a very large Brahmanical bull, by name
Chamēlee, carved in white marble, painted and gilt. A curious Persian
writing has just been offered to the Nandī (the bull), which Chamēlee has
been graciously pleased to accept and add to the cabinet over which he
presides.
The image of the sacred bull in black or white marble is worshipped in
the temples of the Hindoos.