To perform their ablutions in its waters, to die on its brink, to be thrown
after death into its waves, are the supreme happiness of {274} the
disciples of Vishnu and of Brahma. The dying carcasses are generally
abandoned to the current of the wave.
The most famous of their places of worship is that point of the peninsula,
where the Ganges, suddenly abandoning the mountains, is precipitated down
the plains of Hindostan. A temple is elevated in the middle of the waters,
and surmounted by two cupolas.
[Illustration]
Here are constantly assembled a large crowd of pilgrims, and a willing
contribution is paid to the Brahmins. The two sexes bathe together, while
the most rigid of the devotees walk to the bath escorted by two Brahmins.
"How sweetly Ganga smiles and glides
Luxuriant o'er her broad Autumnal bed!
Her waves perpetual verdure spread,
Whilst health and plenty deck her golden sides:
As when an eagle, child of light,
O'er her eyry proudly reared,
Sits brooding and her plumage vast expands,
Thus Ganga o'er her cherished lands,
To Brahma's grateful race endeared,
Throws wide her fostering arms, and on her banks divine,
Sees temples, groves, and glittering towers, that in her crystal shine.
"What name, sweet bride, will best allure,
Thy sacred ear, and give the honour due?
Vishnupedi? mild Bhishmasu?
Smooth Suranimnaga? Trisrota pure?
By that I call; its power confess:
With growing gifts thy suppliants bless,
Who with full sails in many a light-oared boat,
On thy jasper bosom float;
Nor frown, dread goddess, on a peerless race,
With liberal heart and martial grace,
Wafted from colder isles remote:
As they preserve our laws and bid our terror cease,
So be their darling laws preserved, in wealth, in joy, in peace!"