A brahmanī bull is going up to the idol Ganesh, expecting a share of the
flowers that are offered to the image. In the distance a band of
pilgrims are coming down to fill their baskets with holy water; and in
the foreground is a picturesque figure, also a carrier of holy water,
which is put into small sealed bottles placed in baskets suspended from
a bamboo poised on his shoulder, over which is a covering of red cloth.
A tank of peculiar sanctity is now before you, on the steps of which men
are ascending and descending: it is called the _Chakra kunda_, and its
history is as follows:—“After one of the periodical destructions and
renovations of the world, Siva and his bride were alone in the
_ananda-vana_, or happy forest, occupying the present site of
Munikarniká, they found, as man and wife may sometimes do, that their
tête á tête was growing dull, and to vary the party, Siva created
Vishnu. After a while, the married pair wished again for privacy and
withdrew into the forest, desiring Vishnu to amuse himself by doing what
was fit and proper; which, after some consideration, he judged to be a
supply of water for the irrigation of the trees, and with his _chakra_,
or discus, he dug a hole, which he filled with the ambrosial
perspiration from his body, induced by his hard work; and the pool so
dug and filled, has remained a spot of peculiar sanctity, termed, from
the _chakra_, or discus, _chakra kunda_, or _chakra puskkarnī_,
discus-pond. When Siva returned and saw what Vishnu had done, he nodded
his head in approbation so energetically, that the jewel (_mani_) of one
of his ear-rings (_karniká_) fell off, and the place was thenceforth
called _Manikarnika_.” (See _Kasi Khand_, Part I. chap. 26).
A Brahman sitting beneath a porch is reading aloud, with his book on his
knees, and bending his body backwards and forwards as he reads.
Beneath the shade of a fine _pīpal_ tree (ficus religiosa) is a
four-headed and holy piece of sculpture, with the bull (_nandī_)
reposing before it; also another singularly sculptured stone
representing two heads, their bodies formed of snakes entwined. The
_pīpal_ is universally sacred: the Hindūs are seen in the early morning
putting flowers in _pūja_ at the foot of the tree, and pouring water on
its roots. They worship the idols placed beneath it in a similar manner,
and they believe that a god resides in every leaf, who delights in the
music of their rustling, and their tremulous motion.
Near this place is the spot on which the dead are burned; it is
dedicated to Vishnu, as _Jalsāī_, or “sleeper on the waters;” and there,
many a Hindu widow has devoted herself to the flames with the corpse of
her husband. In the Museum is a brazen image of _Jalsāī_ floating on
Anantā, the great serpent.