The Banian hospital at Surat is a most remarkable institution; it
consists of a large plot of ground, enclosed with high walls, divided
into several courts or wards, for the accommodation of animals; in
sickness they are attended with the tenderest care, and find a peaceful
asylum for the infirmities of age. When an animal breaks a limb, or
is otherwise disabled from serving his master, he carries him to the
hospital, and, indifferent to what nation or caste the owner may belong,
the patient is never refused admittance. If he recover, he cannot be
reclaimed, but must remain in the hospital for life, subject to the duty
of drawing water for those pensioners debilitated by age or disease from
procuring it for themselves. At my visit, the hospital contained horses,
mules, oxen, sheep, goats, monkeys, poultry, pigeons, and a variety of
birds, with an aged tortoise, who was known to have been there for
seventy-five years. The most extraordinary ward was that appropriated
to rats, mice, bugs, and other noxious vermin. The overseers of the
hospital frequently hire beggars from the streets, for a stipulated
sum, to pass a night among the fleas, lice, and bugs, on the express
condition of suffering them to enjoy their feast without molestation.
_Forbes's Oriental Memoirs._
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