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fact of its dome and spires being covered with gilt repoussé copper work, a gift of Ranjit Singh of Lahore. There is nothing particularly noticeable in this modern Sikh decoration, nor is there anything else in the temple artistically or architecturally attractive.

THE TEMPLE AT RAMNAGAR

(By permission of H. H. the Maharaja of Benares.)

The same may be said of nearly all the rest of the hundreds of small modern temples with which the city is crowded. Many of them are described by Sherring, in his Sacred City of the Hindus, with great minuteness, but without much sense of artistic proportion. design and sculptured decoration the temple of Durga, at Ramnagar, on the side of the river opposite to Benares, is a very good example of modern Indian

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temple architecture. It was commenced by Raja Chêt Singh in the last half of the eighteenth century, and finished about 1850. Chêt Singh also constructed a fine bathing tank at Ramnagar, which is frequented by large crowds in the month of Magh (JanuaryFebruary). Vedavyâs, the reputed compiler of the Vedas, is said to have appointed Ramnagar to be a place of pilgrimage in that month, so that those who performed it might be relieved of the penalty of being re-incarnated as asses, which they would otherwise incur if they happened to die on this side of the river.

The palace of the Maharaja of Benares, an imposing pile of buildings on the river bank, is also at Ramnagar. It contains a fine library, including a splendidly illustrated copy of the Râmâyana, and a very interesting collection of old Indian paintings.

Some of the Benares temples, though architecturally unimportant, are interesting as illustrating the ideas of Hindu mythology and popular superstitions. One at Manikarnika, next to the women's bathing ghât, named Tarâkeshwar, is so called from the belief that to worshippers at this shrine Shiva will whisper in their ear while dying a mantram, called Tarâk, which will secure admission into his paradise. Another called Barahan Devi, near Man-Mandil ghât, is resorted to by those who have swellings in the hands or feet. The temple of Briddhkâl is supposed to have been granted by Shiva the virtue of curing all kinds of diseases, and of prolonging life. Sukreswar, near the Golden Temple, is believed to bestow beautiful sons on those who worship at the shrine.

Bhaironath, whose chief temple is not far from the town-hall, is the kotwal, or spiritual magistrate of

Benares. He exercises jurisdiction over the whole of the district within the limits of the Panch-kôsi road, and is supposed to act as defender of the Hindu faith and to keep away evil spirits. His vahan, or vehicle, is a dog; for this reason dogs, which are excluded from other temples, are admitted into his.

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MASK OF BHAIRONATH

His weapon is a huge club, which receives worship as well as his own image. The officiating priest is armed with a rod of peacock's feathers, with which he punishes the worshippers for the offences they have committed, and at the same time absolves them. There are very interesting copper or silver masks of Bhaironath sometimes to be found in Benares. An unfinished, but very expressive one, suggestive of an Egyptian mummy, is here illustrated.

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Ganêsha, the son of Shiva, has many temples in the city. Being the god of wisdom, he is the especial patron of school-boys and authors. He is invoked by merchants before all business transactions. He is also the keeper of roads and the protector of households. In the latter capacity his vehicle is a rat— an association of ideas which would not commend itself to modern plague specialists. There are several popular legends to account for this deity and his extravagant appearance. One is that, while Shiva was away from home, Parvati, his wife, took a bath, and to guard her apartments from intruders, fashioned Ganêsha from the scurf of her body and placed him at the door, Shiva, returning, was angry at being opposed by the unknown doorkeeper, and cut off Ganesha's head. Parvati was indignant at her husband's violence, and refused to be pacified. Shiva then gave orders to his attendants to search for a living creature that slept with its head towards the north, to cut off its head, and to fit it upon Ganêsha's body. The first creature they found was an elephant. So Ganesha goes to this day with an elephant's head. The same story is given as an explanation why Hindus should not sleep with the head towards the north.

This sad misadventure apparently did not teach caution to the god of wisdom, for on a subsequent occasion he lost a tusk in trying to oppose the entrance of another visitor, Parashu-Râma, one of the incarnations of Vishnu, into Shiva's abode. He is known on this account as Eka-danta, "the one-tusked ".

The Hindu pilgrim holds in high veneration the sacred wells of Benares, but until recently their in

SACRED WELLS

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GANESHA

conceivable foulness, caused by the decay of floral offerings constantly thrown into them, rendered them anything but attractive to Europeans. In the last few years a great deal has been done for the sanitation of Benares, both by the municipality and by the exertions of a private society founded in honour of Queen Victoria's jubilee, so that most of the wells are now