A STEAMER TRIP UP AND DOWN THE GANGES
Clarke's Hotel, at Secrole, received the tourists, and everything was in
readiness for them when they arrived. Lord Tremlyn had announced the coming
of himself and his large party, and a person of his distinction and
influence could command anything he desired. The rest of the day was given
to rest, though in the evening Sir Modava talked to the tourists about the
city.
Early the next morning the party were conveyed to the river, where they
embarked in a steam-yacht which had been provided for their use. It was
more than a launch; for its standing-room would seat the whole company,
while an awning was spread over a portion of the upper deck, from which a
full view of the shore could be obtained. The city is on the north shore of
the river, which has an easterly course in this portion of India, and the
houses are packed in about as thickly as they can be.
"This is the Dasasvamedh Ghat," said Sir Modava, with a smile. "I thought
you might wish to recall it after you get home to America. I think it is
rather pleasant to know the names of places one has visited."
"We could not speak the word now without an hour's practice, and I am sure
not one of us will know it when we get to the other side of the Atlantic,"
said Mrs. Belgrave.
"You can write it down in your diaries."
"We might as well attempt to copy the top of a tea-chest," added Louis.
The ladies were assisted on board of the steamer.
The captain was a very gentlemanly Englishman; and he was all devotion to
the wants of his passengers, who seated themselves on the promenade deck.
The steamer belonged to the government; and she was fitted up in the most
comfortable manner, though it was not so gaudy as the craft of a maharajah
would have been. The ghat was at the western extremity of the crescent to
which Sir Modava had alluded, and from this point the town looked like an
amphitheatre.
The river is ordinarily about half a mile wide, but in the season of high
water it is double that width. The captain called the attention of the
party to the ghat as they receded from it, the broad flight of stairs being
a rather wonderful sight to the strangers, though they had seen something
of the kind before in Delhi and Cawnpore.
The steps are adorned with small temples with plenty of spires. Near the
top of the flight was the Man Munder, the great observatory. Though the
building is plain, as a whole, Captain Carlisle pointed out a highly
ornamental window, with a profusion of handsome brackets. The stairs on the
city side of the river were unlimited as far as the eye could see. Behind
them was a forest of spires, domes, and cupolas.
"You ought to have left the ghat before sunrise," said the captain, who was
walking up and down the deck, with an eye on the Hindu pilot. "Then you
would have been in time to see the sight of the day, for the appearance of
the sun is the holy moment for the natives to plunge into the holy river.
For miles along the shore the ghats are thronged at the first appearance of
the orb of day, and there is a continuous murmur of voices. No matter how
cold the water is, they dive in and swim like fishes. You can see a
thousand heads in the water along the shore at any moment. Then they
support themselves on the surface, and gaze motionless at the sun as it
mounts in the sky."
"Are you a sailor, Captain Carlisle?" asked Louis, who thought he was
rather poetic for an uneducated man.
"Not as the commander of your ship would understand it, though I was in
command of a Thames steamer, and fell into the same business when I came to
India," replied the captain, laughing at the question. "My father was a
good Baptist; he wanted to make a minister of me, and I was educated far
enough to enter the university; but I concluded that I did not like the
business, and took to steamboating."
"But aren't the women as religious as the men?" inquired Captain Ringgold.
"More so, if anything. But they come down to the river before sunrise and
take their swim. If you had been here this morning you would have seen them
coming out of the water just as the men are ready to go in, and you would
have observed them in their white garments, dripping like drowned rats.
That pagoda you see ahead of us with the bell tower and shining in gilt is
the only temple the Buddhists have in Benares."
"We are coming now to the Munikurnika Ghat. It is a five-syllable word, but
you can easily pronounce it," said Sir Modava, who thought he would "spell"
the captain for a time; and he was quite as familiar with the banks of the
Ganges.
"And it is quite musical," added the captain.
"Pronounce u like double o, and the rest of the letters as in English, and
you can speak it without choking," said the Hindu gentleman. "But there are
some letters in Hindu that have no equivalents in English."
"Moo-ui-koor-ni-ka Ghat," added Louis, pronouncing the word. "But what is
it all about?"
"It is the place for burning the dead, such as you saw in Bombay, but on a
much larger scale," replied Sir Modava. "You see that it extends a
considerable distance. Please keep to the leeward of the smoke, Captain
Carlisle."
"That is what I am doing, Sir Modava."
"These funeral pyres are burning all the time, night and day. The people
whose bodies are consumed in these fires, and their friends, believe that
the souls of the deceased will pass from this spot into paradise, where, if
they have not been very great sinners they will be transplanted into the
bodies of future Brahmins. Many deceased persons are brought even hundreds
of miles to be burned on the Munikurnika by the Ganges, as their sure
passport to the realms of bliss."
The obliging captain took the steamer near enough to the ghat to enable the
tourists to see the process of burning. An occasional puff of the horribly
offensive odor came to the nostrils of the sightseers; but the captain
sheered off, and they got very little of it.
"It smells just like assafoedita. It is awful-smelling stuff; and I wonder
if they don't make it out of this smoke, for it hits my nose in just the
same way," said Mrs. Blossom. "I took care of old Jotham Beeling when he
had the apoplexy, and gave the stuff to him. The room smelt then just the
same as it does here."
"You are quite right, madam," said Dr. Hawkes, laughing. "It gets part of
its name from its bad odor; but it is not made out of smoke. Asa is the gum
of a tree that grows here. It has a very offensive odor, which gives it the
rest of the name, from _foeditas_, meaning foul, filthy."
The workmen who were operating the burning were nearly naked, begrimed by
the sooty smoke, and looked like so many imps. They were stirring up the
fires with long iron pokers, and throwing vessels of oil upon them. The
boat passed beyond the fumes of the pyres, and came up to the ghat, at the
request of Lord Tremlyn. A multitude of hideous-looking cripples,
humpbacks, and beggars made an onslaught on the steamer; and the boys and
gentlemen pelted them with coppers, with which they had been forewarned to
supply themselves. It was fun to them, and the mendicants enjoyed it quite
as much.
"There is a procession of pilgrims just arrived," said Captain Carlisle,
pointing to the high ground beyond the ghat. "They are coming here all the
time. The Hindus under the umbrellas are Brahmins, who collect the fees for
bathing from the steps; and they sell certificates of purification,
indulgences, and amulets."
The boat continued on her course, and they did not wait to see the bathing,
though the heads of the swimmers were soon in view. A staircase is reserved
for women, who are watched over by the elders of their sex. But they could
be seen in the distance, frolicking in the water; and they were so
hilarious that their shouts could be heard on board of the Sylph, as the
boat was called.
The steamer next came to a long row of palaces on the high ground, whose
fronts were profusely ornamented with staircases that exceeded in extent
and beauty anything they had before seen. Every rajah has a residence here,
not permanent, but where he comes to celebrate the religious festivals. The
king of Nagpore has the finest one, with one hundred stairs of white
sandstone reaching down to the water.
"Now we come to a building worth looking at," said Sir Modava, as they
passed beyond the assemblage of palaces. "This is the mosque of Aurungzeb.
Those two lofty minarets are one hundred and forty-seven feet high. They
are very slender, and look like a couple of needles; but, though they are
only eight and a quarter feet in diameter on the ground, they have spiral
staircases reaching to the top. If you wish to land and go to the cupola
you can do so."
"I pray thee have me excused," interposed Uncle Moses; and Dr. Hawkes said
"Me too!" And no one cared to ascend to such a height.
"This mosque was built by the Emperor Aurungzeb, on the site of a Hindu
temple of Siva, which he caused to be pulled down, to the scandal of the
worshippers of that deity, for it marked the spot where Vishnu himself
first appeared to man. A flight of one hundred stairs leads to the mosque,
which the Hindus formerly ascended on their knees when they went to the
worship of Vishnu. But we have gone as far in this direction as we need
go."
The Sylph came about, and went back up the river, landing above the funeral
pyres. From the ghat, they walked into one of the crowded streets. They
were conducted by Sir Modava to a square, which was thronged with natives.
In the middle of it was a small round temple, the spire of which was
overlaid with plates of gold. At the present day this is the holy of holies
of the Hindus. Its principal object of adoration is a plain stone post,
which is believed to form a part of the very body of the deity, Siva in
this instance.
The narrow streets, through which the party made their way with difficulty
were very clean. They were thronged with pilgrims from all parts of India,
dressed in their best garments, loaded with gold and silver ornaments. The
men were carrying great brass trays, piled up with flowers, as offerings
for the various deities. The little stalls, which were the stores, made the
thoroughfares look like bazaars. They passed no end of temples; and all of
them were small, though they were very pretty, what there were of them.
Emerging from these narrow streets, the company came to a section where the
avenues were broad, with handsome houses built upon them. This portion was
practicable for carriages, and half a dozen _culèches_ were drummed
together after some delay; and the ladies were glad to be seated again, for
they had had a long and tiresome walk through the narrow and crowded
streets. Sir Modava directed the drivers, and when he said Dourga Khound no
one knew what he was to see next. The word means the Fountain of Dourga;
and when they came to it they agreed that it was one of the most beautiful
buildings in Benares, though it was painted all over with red, which made
it look rather fantastic.
Sir Modava said nothing about the use of the building, and led the way into
the enclosure. The moment they entered the grounds they realized that the
Hindu gentleman had worked a surprise upon them; for the yard was filled
with monkeys, and the walls were covered with them. The chattering
creatures immediately surrounded them, holding out their paws for
something. Sir Modava gave the most dignified one a rupee, and Lord Tremlyn
made a similar gift to another.
"They can't eat silver," suggested Morris.
"The money is for the Brahmin who has charge here. You see they have gone
to give it to him," replied Sir Modava, as he opened a large paper package
he had bought at a store, and proceeded to distribute its contents,
consisting of nuts and parched corn, to the members of the monkey
community.
For half an hour they fed the animals, which were very tame, and made
friends with them. The live boys were more pleased with this occupation
than in looking at temples and mosques. They all visited the sanctuary of
the temple, which was said to date back a thousand years. The party greatly
enjoyed the ride back to Secrole, which is the English town of Benares.
After dinner Sir Modava told them about the Feast of Ganesa.
"He is one of the most popular deities of India," said the Hindu gentleman.
"He is the embodiment of wisdom, prudence, and commerce; his presence wards
off all perils. You will find him over the door of places of business; and
contracts open with an invocation to Ganesa, sometimes given by a picture
of the god. He was the son of Siva and Parvati. His picture is that of a
short, fat man, with four arms and an elephant's head.
"Though he was Siva's son, the father was jealous of him, and struck off
his head. Siva was sorry for what he had done, and wanted to bring Ganesa
back to life; but his head was gone."
"Couldn't he put a head on him?" asked Scott very seriously; and the other
boys laughed.
"That was just what he did," replied Sir Modava, wondering what the boys
and some of the others were laughing at. "Siva selected a young elephant,
cut off his head, and affixed it to his son's shoulders; and that is how he
happens to have such a head. This head sometimes takes the place of the
whole figure on contracts. His festival is celebrated the last of April,
with the greatest magnificence. Effigies of the god are made of
terra-cotta, painted and gilded, and borne by processions through the
streets. Priests and musicians surround the idol; and young girls, widowed
before they are wives, dancing and waving their scarfs in solemn cadence,
lead the way.
"When the processions reach the river, they embark in fairy-like boats
propelled by sails or oars, forming a grand aquatic spectacle. At sunset
the idols are thrown into the river, and the festival terminates with a
grand frolic on shore, with fireworks, in which many Europeans take part;
and the river is thronged with boats decorated with many-colored lanterns."
The party spent two days more at Benares, and visited temples, mosques, and
many places of interest. They were visited by British civil and military
officers, who were extremely kind to them, and offered them every facility
for seeing the city. After dinner on the last day, Captain Ringgold asked
Lord Tremlyn to tell them something about Patna; and he evidently did so
with a purpose.
"Patna is the fifteenth city in India in population, one hundred and forty
miles from Benares," replied the viscount. "It extends nine miles along the
Ganges, and an average of two back from it. The streets are narrow and
crooked. The houses are mostly of mean appearance, and there are but very
few buildings there of any importance. You laid out your list of cities to
be visited yourself, Captain, and generally very judiciously; but if I had
made it out I should have omitted Patna. It has a population of about one
hundred and sixty-five thousand."
"I asked the question with a view to omit it from the list if there are no
sights of importance, and, after what you have said, I shall do so; and
tomorrow we will take the train for Calcutta," added the captain.
This decision pleased the party, and at six the next morning the special
started with them for the greatest city of India.