Julsyn _Ghāt_ and Raj Bulubh Shīwala are now before you. On the terrace
of the latter is a brahmanī bull: these animals walk about the buildings
with seeming indifference, ascending the steps, mixing with the crowd,
and constantly attending for their food. They are seldom disturbed; but
when molested they are vicious, and will use their horns. The rice and
flowers offered to the idols are swept up, and for the greater part
eaten by the brahmanī bulls. The proverb says:—“At Benares you should be
on guard against the women, the sacred bulls, the steps, and the
devotees.”
The principal Hindū temples in Benares are crowded with people of both
sexes and of all ages, who daily assemble to pay their devotions to the
deity of the place, from the hour of eight in the morning until nearly
four in the afternoon. The form of worship is very simple: the votary
enters the temple and prostrates himself, praying aloud; he then rises
and strikes a bell suspended over a form of _Mahadēo_, thrice repeating
the word _bom_, or hail, at each stroke; then putting a few grains of
boiled rice, and a small quantity of milk or oil, or Ganges water, on
the Mahadēo, he strews a few flowers over it, and, repeating the same,
sometimes adorns the head of the idol with a chaplet of flowers. This
ceremony being over, the votary lays down a few cowries, and retires to
make room for others. The women generally enter with their garments
quite wet, after having performed their ablutions in the Ganges. The
quantity of milk, oil, water, and flowers, thrown about the place,
renders it dirty and wet until the evening, when, the crowd retiring,
the Brahmans clean the temple for the next day.
The music and bells of a hundred temples strike the ear amidst the buzz
of human voices; at the same time the eye rests on the vivid colours of
different groups of male and female bathers, with their sparkling brass
vessels, or follows the holy bulls as they wander in the crowds munching
the chaplets of flowers liberally presented to them. Then, as night
steals on, the scene changes, and the twinkling of lamps along the
water’s edge, and the funeral fires and white curling smoke, and the
stone buildings lit up by the moon, present features of variety and
blended images of animation, which it is out of the artist’s power to
embody.
The large building that now appears is on Oomraogir’s _pushta_ or
_ghāt_. On the exterior of the building is a _mut’h_, an Hindu temple,
dedicated to Ganesh, the god of wisdom, and the patron of literature. In
_pūja_ this idol is invoked ere any other god is worshipped. Ere a pious
Hindū commence any sort of writing he makes the sign of Ganesh at the
top of the page. With the simplicity of the child he unites the wisdom
of the elephant: his writing is beautiful, “Behold! he writes like
Ganesh!” Who can say more? He is called two mothered, uniting the
elephant’s head to his natural body, therefore having a second mother in
the elephant. The worshippers pour oil and the holy Ganges water over
the head of this god, who is thus bathed daily; and offerings of boiled
rice and flowers are made at the time of prayer. Around the idol are
placed the vessels used in _pūja_, brass bells, the conch shell, the
holy spoons, flowers, &c. In the Museum is a solid white marble image of
Ganesh, which weighs 3¼ cwt. For a further account of this idol, see the
frontispiece, and the Introduction to the “Wanderings of a Pilgrim
during Four and Twenty Years in the East.”
The Fākir seated on the ghāt is one in the highest stage of exaltation,
in which clothing is almost dispensed with, and his only _garment_ is a
_chatr_, an umbrella made of basket work: his long hair and his beard,
matted with cow-dung and ashes, hang in stiff straight locks to his
waist, his body is smeared with ashes; he always remains on the same
spot, and when suffering from illness, a bit of tattered blanket is
thrown over him. Passers by throw cowries and grains of boiled rice at
his feet, he remains speechless, disregards all visible objects, asks
for nothing, but subsists on alms. He will not answer any question
addressed to him, which elucidates the proverb: “Talking to a man in
ecstasy (of a religious nature) is like beating curds with a pestle.”
Persons in this state affirm that their minds do not wander after
worldly things, that they live in a state of pleasure, abstraction, and
joy, and that they have attained to that state of perfection required by
the _shastrs_. His red flag is displayed from a bamboo, below which is a
small lantern made of coloured _ubruk_ or talc; sometimes the lamp is
formed of clay, pierced through with fret-work in remarkably pretty
patterns. The Hindūs suspend lamps in the air on bamboos in honour of
the gods during a particular month, and in obedience to the _shastrs_.
The offering of lamps to particular gods is an act of merit, so this
offering to all the gods, during the auspicious month, is supposed to
secure many benefits to the giver. Lamps suspended from bamboos are also
indicative of the ceremony in honour of Ananta, the great serpent.
On another bamboo is displayed the _trisūl_ or trident of Mahadēo, and a
small double-headed hand-drum, shaped like an hour-glass, called
_damaru_, used by _Fakīrs_; and in front by the side of the Devotee, is
an altar, or pillar, hollowed at the top, containing the sacred _tulsī_
plant (ocimum sanctum) purple stalked basil. This plant is worshipped in
honour of a religious female who requested Vishnu to allow her to become
his wife. Lukshmī, the goddess of beauty, and wife of Vishnu, cursed the
woman on account of the pious request she had preferred to her lord, and
changed her into a _tulsī_ plant. Vishnu, in consideration of the
religious austerities long practised by the enamoured devotee, made her
a promise that he would assume the form of the _shalgram_, and always
continue with her. If one of these sacred plants die, it is committed in
due form to _Ganga-jee_: and when a person is brought to die by the side
of the sacred river, a branch of the _tulsī_, the shrub-goddess, is
planted near the dying man’s head, and the marks upon the _shalgram_ are
shown to him. This pebble god is a small heavy black circular stone,
rather flattened on one side, with the _cornu ammonis_ strongly marked
upon it. Devotees walk round the sacred plant, pour water upon it, and
make _salām_. Of an evening a little _chirāgh_, a small lamp, is burned
before it. In the courts of justice the Hindū swears by the Ganges water
on which is placed a branch of the _tulsī_.