The Holy City (Benares)M.R. Sen, 1912 - 280 pages |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ages Akhera ancient Annapurna ascetics Aurangzeb bank Barana beautiful Benares Bengal Bhaironath Brahman Buddha Buddhist building carved Central Hindu College century Chet Singh Chunar Dasaswamedh Ghat Devi Dhamek Dharma dome Dufferin Bridge Durga elephant Emperor erected famous feet high figure front Ganesha Ganges garden GHAT Plate goddess golden hall Hanuman Hinduism Hiuen Thsang holy India Jaina Kabir Kanouj Kashi Kasi King known Krishna Kund Laksmi lane large number later living lofty look lying Magadha Maharaja Mahomedans Mandil Manikarnika mosque muth Narain Pandit pass Pathsala pillars present prince Puranas quarter Raja Rajghat Rama Ramayana Ramnagar religion river road round ruins sacred Sankaracharya Sannyasis Sanskrit Saraswati Sarnath sculptured seated sect shrines side Siva Siva emblem small temple spacious spires spot stairs standing statue stone stupa Swami tank Tirthankaras tower various Vishnu Visweswara walls white marble worship wwwww Yantra
Popular passages
Page 16 - ... metropolis. Commerce had as many pilgrims as religion. All along the shores of the venerable stream lay great fleets of vessels laden with rich merchandise. From the looms of Benares went forth the most delicate silks that adorned the balls of St. James's and of Versailles, and in the bazaars the muslins of Bengal and the sabres of Oude were mingled with the jewels of Golconda and the shawls of Cashmere.
Page 139 - Tis the Great Spirit wide diffused Through everything we see, That with our spirits communeth Of things mysterious — Life and Death, Time and Eternity ! I see Him in the blazing sun, And in the thunder-cloud : I hear Him in the mighty roar, That rusheth through the forest hoar, When winds are piping loud.
Page 48 - ... above us — it was then that I understood, for the first time, a little of that message proclaimed by my ancestors on the banks of the Ganges thirty centuries ago: "They who see but one, in all the changing manifoldness of this universe, unto them belongs Eternal Truth — unto none else, unto none else".
Page 48 - But the quality of the imagination is to flow, and not to freeze. The poet did not stop at the color or the form, but read their meaning; neither may he rest in this meaning, but he makes the same objects exponents of his new thought.
Page 190 - The interior of the temple was the most worthy of admiration. It was literally a mine of gold. On the western wall was emblazoned a representation of the deity, consisting of a human countenance looking forth from amidst innumerable rays of light which emanated from it in every direction, in the same manner as the sun is often personified with us.
Page 190 - Gold, in the figurative language of the people was "the tears wept by the sun", and every part of the interior of the temple glowed with burnished plates and studs of the precious metal. The cornices, which surrounded the walls of the sanctuary, were of the same costly material; and a broad belt or frieze of gold, let into the stone-work, encompassed the whole exterior of the edifice.
Page 71 - For, indeed, the greatest glory of a building is not in its stones, nor in its gold. Its glory is in its Age, and in that deep sense of voicefulncss, of stern watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of approval or condemnation, which we feel in walls that have long been washed by the passing waves of humanity.
Page 26 - At the mouth of the Indus dwell a seafaring people, active, ingenious, and enterprising, as when, ages subsequent to this great movement, they themselves, with the warlike denizens of the Punjab, were driven from their native land to seek the far- distant climes of Greece. The commercial people dwelling along the coast that stretches from the mouth of the Indus to the Coree, are embarking on that emigration whose magnificent result to civilization, and whose gigantic monuments of art, fill the mind...
Page 71 - ... it is in that golden stain of time, that we are to look for the real light, and colour, and preciousness of architecture...
Page 275 - ... innate kindness of disposition and natural benevolence, the whole of our untiring energy and all our upright intentions are engaged in promoting the public welfare and bettering the conditions of all classes, high and low. In accordance with our holy law, we have decided that the ancient temples shall not be destroyed, but new ones shall not be built.