music and a procession of elephants, camels, and carriages, it is conducted with much state to the ghât. The idol is here lifted from the palanquin, the jewels which adorn it are removed, and a few locks of the hair reverently cut off. Then about sunset, the worship for the year being over, it is handed over to two swimmers, who take the idol and sink it in mid-stream. Many other images belonging to other households are brought to this ghât at the same time, placed upon boats, and then thrown into the river. The whole ceremony is strikingly picturesque, and if the abstract ideas personified by Kâli were clothed in a more artistic garb, it might suggest a festival of pagan Rome on the banks of the Tiber. The Dîwâlî, the beautiful festival of Lakshmi, the goddess of Fortune, takes place the same evening.

The practice of throwing away the images or symbols of a deity is not associated only with Kâli worship, but is a universal practice when they are made of clay or other base material. Brass, bronze, copper, and the precious metals are used when the idols are kept for regular daily worship, or in the temples.

Kâli, in esoteric Hinduism, represents that stage in the evolution of the universe from the Supreme Brahman, before even the gods were created, as described in the Rig-Veda: "When darkness was hidden in darkness, undistinguished, like one mass of water". The Mahânirvan Tantra says: "As all colours, white, yellow, and others, are absorbed in black, so all the elements are in the end absorbed in Kâli; and as the absence of all colours is black, so Kâli is represented black in order to teach the wor

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shipper that the goddess is without substance and without qualities (gunas)". Kâlî in this aspect, therefore, is regarded as the benignant mother of the universe, and her name "darkness", or "chaos". But, like Shiva, she has a destructive aspect, in which her name is taken to mean Kâlhârani, "she who destroys Time", implying that it is Kâli as the wife, or sakti, of Mahâkâl,"Time", who, at the end of each cycle of time, a day and night of Brahmâ, called a kalpa, and reckoned at 8,640,000,000 years, destroys the whole of Brahmâ's creation and all the gods. For this reason she is represented as trampling on her own husband, Mahâkâl, one of the aspects of Shiva.

Immediately to the south of Dasâsamedh Ghât is Sitala Ghât, so called from the temple of Sitala, the goddess of small - pox, one of the popular Hindu deities which are regarded as manifestations of the Destroyer. It is a small box-like structure, without any attempt at architectural embellishment, but it is, nevertheless, much frequented by worshippers anxious to avert the evil influence of the goddess. She is represented by an old piece of stone-carving from which almost every detail has been obliterated, placed on a repoussé shrine of modern workmanship. Stone emblems of Shiva occupy prominent positions on the floor. An ancient carving of Shiva and Parvati, his wife, stands in a corner of the shrine at the back, but is worshipped as Vishnu and Lakshmi, the Brahmin priests being very indifferent to nice archæological distinctions. In the early morning a constant stream of worshippers is passing in and out, sprinkling the shrine of Sitala, and Shiva's emblems, with Ganges

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water, and throwing the sacrificial flowers and oblations of rice. Some will wet their fingers with the water which has been poured over the goddess and apply them to their foreheads and eyes. Those who have recovered from an attack of small-pox take a bath in this water.

Continuing along the ghâts towards the south, we shall pass the Munshi Ghât, a massive pile, with a

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colossal basement to provide for the rising of the river in flood-time, built by a Munshi, or minister of a former Raja of Vizianagram. A part of this ghât is one of the few places now reserved for Muhammadan bathers in the city, which Aurangzib arrogantly renamed Muhammadâbâd, after levelling its Hindu temples to the ground. Farther on is Râna Ghât, where the Râna of Udaipur has built a palace. Many of the buildings along the ghâts here and elsewhere are occupied by Brahmin sannyâsin, supported by allowances granted them by Hindu princes and noblemen. The Brahmin only attains to the full dignity of his Brahminhood, when, in accordance with the law of Manu, he renounces the world and becomes a sannyasi. Then in orthodox Hindu society he is regarded, living or dead, with all the veneration due to a divine being. The houses in Benares where sannyâsin have died are pointed out as if the sanctity of a temple belonged to them. According to Manu, the life of a Brahmin is divided into four stages. First, the state of studentship; the second, the state of married life and of family duties; thirdly, the state of the ascetic, retiring from the world and devoting himself entirely to religious practices and meditation; and lastly, the state of the religious mendicant, or sannyâsi, when, after breaking his sacred thread, the symbol of his caste, and shaving his head, he is released from the performance of rites and ceremonies, and prepares himself for the final absorption of his soul into the Absolute.

It is hardly necessary to say that the laws of Manu are not strictly observed in the present day. British rule and modern ideas are gradually breaking down

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the old social system and modifying the religious life of the Hindu. The Brahmins who now adopt a religious life, often devote themselves to teaching in Sanskrit schools, of which there are many in Benares. Just above Chausatti Ghât, on an open terrace, the yellow-robed sannyâsin, in their salmon-coloured robes, may be seen with their young pupils, studying the intricacies of Pânini, the celebrated Sanskrit grammarian, who is reverenced as one of the Hindu Rishis, or inspired sages.

There are, however, some sannyâsin at Benares who follow the strict rule of their caste, hoping to free their souls from earthly ties by meditation on the Supreme Being, or by Yogic practices. The latter are certain spiritual exercises, enjoined by the Yoga school of philosophy, through the performance of which it is believed that the human soul can be raised during lifetime into a super-terrestrial plane, and acquire supernatural knowledge. The practices of