ILLUSTRATIONS

Manikarnika Ghât ·

· · · .: Frontispiece
A Vyas, or Public Reader, at Benares · · · · · ·
The Coronation of Râma and Sitá - . . . . . .
Site of Deer-Park, excavated 1905 · · · ·
Miniature Votive Shrine, excavated at Sarath, 1905, showing the

sikra crowned by the amålika ornament - - - - Model of a Nepalese Buddhist Temple · · · · · · The Asoka Column, marking the place where Buddha began to

preach. Discovered at Sarnath, 1905 · · ·
Buddha Preaching. Discovered at Sarnath, 1904 · ·
Carving on the Dhamek Stupa · · · · ·
Excavations below Humayun's Tower, Sarnath, 1905 · · ·
Shiva, as Natesa. From a bronze in the Madras Museum
The Goddess Durgâ--a fresco painting · .
A Benares Street · · · · ·
A Village Temple in Bengal • ..
Gái GhấtỮA Classic Group •
An old Sacrificial Vessel
An old Benares Brocade
An old Benares Lota - -
Temple at Dasâsamedh Ghât · · ·
“ Lighting up the recesses of the cave-like shriness
A Sannyâsi's Water-Vessel · · · · · · ·
A Shivaite Rosary · · · ·
“He will sit like a living Buddha, motionless
The Burning Ghát

I 20

121

BENARES, THE SACRED CITY

Page Dasâsamcdh Ghât · · ·

• 107 The Temple of Sitala . A Sanskrit School • .

116 Carved Snakes at Chauki Ghat

118 An Aghori A Suttee-Stone . . . . . “Another venerable hermit, seated on a leopard's skin". . Shivala Chất • • • • • • • • •

. . . 127 Balcony of Man Singh's Observatory

• 129 The Nepalese Temple - - - - .

• · 131 The Shrine of Ganga . . . . “Groups of women ... are performing puja”. · · · · 135 “Like a painted frieze from Pompeii, or the decoration of an antique vase”

• • • • • • • •
Scindhia Ghât . . . . . . . . . .
An Encampment of Sâdhus.
The Buildings at Ghôsla Ghât
The Head of Bhima . .
Bhima completed - - ..

• 149 Lamps for the Pitris . . . . . . . . . 151 Lamp-stand at Panchganga · · · · · · · · 152 “Three old women, who pause to barter with a seller of pots and

pans, unconsciously posing themselves in their classic drapery

like the Fates, or the Weird Sisters” - - - - - 153
Palhvad Ghất - - - - - - • . - - 156
A Vaishnavite Nun reading the Ramayana ·
The Salagram Stone · · · · ·
Plan of Hindu Roofing · .....
The Temple of Durgå, or “Monkey Temple”.
Durgå .

• • • • • •
Mask of Shiva · · · · · ·
In the Ahmety Temple: a Brahmin performing his sandhya
The Ahmēty Temple. .

• • • • 171 A Sacrificial Spoon . . .

•. · · · 175 The Temple at Ramnagar ..

• • 178 Mask of Bhaironath . .

· · 179

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page Ganesha · · · · · ... · · · · · 181 The Well of knowledge · · The Panch-kösi Road - .. A Village Deity . . . The Temple and Tank at Khandawa . .

· · 191 Ancient Carving, Khandawa Temple . . . . . . 193 “Thin vaporous clouds of smoke rise from the funeral pyres. The

slanting rays of the morning sun cast long shadows across the
ghât” • • • •

195 Ancient l'otive Stones - -

. .

. 201 Tomb of Lal Khan · · “ An idyll of peace and self-satisfaction Panchyanga • · · · · ·

· - - 215

203

CHAPTER I

IN THE VEDIC TIMES

History, in the conventional European sense, has never possessed much interest for the Hindu mind. Thoroughly permeated with the idea of the unreality of material things, the Brahmin priesthood, while taking extraordinary precautions to preserve their inheritance of spiritual culture, have never troubled themselves to mark the footprints which kings and dynasties leave upon the sands of time. It is chiefly through the exertions of European scholars, with the help of the old Buddhist records, that the main outlines of Indian history, previous to the Muhammadan invasions, have been made intelligible.

The detailed history of the petty kingdoms into which northern India was divided would probably possess little interest, even if it were sifted out of the wild legends which Eastern imagination has woven into it. Benares will always possess supreme interest as the chief centre of the evolution of two of the great world-religions — Brahminism and Buddhism; but while the development of Buddhism can be, to some extent, traced and mapped out with exact dates and events, the history of Brahminism must always be regarded from a different stand-point.