In front of a beautiful Muhammadan Mosque a group is assembled around an
Hindostanī juggler, with his goat, two monkeys, and several bits of
wood, made in the shape of an hour-glass. The first piece he places on
the ground, the goat ascends it, and balances herself on the top: the
man by degrees places another bit of wood on the edge of the former; the
goat ascends and retains her balance: a third piece, in like manner, is
placed on the top of the former two pieces; the goat ascends from the
two former, a monkey is placed on her back, and she still preserves her
balance. The man keeps time with a sort of musical instrument, which he
holds in his right hand, and sings a wild song to aid the goat: without
the song and the measured time, they say the goat could not perform the
balance. A grass-cutter is looking on: he has just returned from cutting
a bundle of _dūb_-grass: every horse in India has his _sāīs_, or groom,
and his grass-cutter. When a beautiful _begam_ (a native princess) is
suffering from the pangs of jealousy, she often exclaims, “I wish I were
married to a grass-cutter!” because a man of that class is too poor to
be able to keep two wives.
The man on the right is a religious mendicant, a disciple of Siva. When
this portrait was taken, his long black hair, matted with cow-dung, was
twisted like a turban round his head: he was dreadfully lean, almost a
skeleton. His left arm had been held erect so long, that the flesh had
withered, and the skin 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 skeleton 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 di capello, with its hood
displayed; and the twisted withy looked like the body of the reptile
wreathed around his horrible arm. His only garment was the skin of a
tiger, thrown over his shoulders, and a bit of rag and rope. He was of a
dirty ashen colour from mud and paint; perhaps in imitation of Siva,
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
_mundrāsī_. 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
_Byragī_ is not a penitent, but a proud ascetic.
A very small and beautifully-formed _ginī_ (a dwarf cow) was with him.
She was decorated with crimson cloth, embroidered with cowrie shells,
and a plume of peacocks’ 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. Many _Fakīrs_ lead these little dwarf cows about the
country, they are fat and sleek, and considered so holy that they will
not sell them.
A barber sitting on a ghāt, is shaving an Hindū, he makes use of water,
but not of soap, while he shaves all round the head, leaving a tuft of
hair in the middle of the back of the head, which is commonly tied in a
knot. Shaving is usually done under a small shed or a tree, very often
in the street or road.
We have now given as many views of Benares as it is possible to
introduce within the limits of our Diorama, and we take leave of the
holy city with regret. The _Vedas_ and _Shastrs_ all testify that
“Viswaswara is the first of _Devas_, _Kashī_ (Benares) the first of
cities, _Gangā_ the first of rivers, and charity the first of virtues.”
Vishveshvur, “Lord of the Universe,” is one of the most exalted titles
of Siva.