through coverts and shades of trees. The present city is not more than three hundred years old. It first began to recover its ancient splendour about the year 1570, under the auspices of Rao Sorjun of Boondi, a Rajpoot chief who had been intrusted by Akbar with the government of Benares. By the prudence of his administration and the vigilance of his police, the most perfect security to person and property was established throughout the province. The city was beautified and ornamented, especially the quarter of his residence, with eighty edifices, and twenty baths.* Just as Fitch saw it in 1583, just as Tavernier saw it in 1668, so did Heber see it in 1825, and so do we see it in 1860: though not without missing many things that have ceased to exist in the interval. Immediately above the Raj-ghaut, and at the confluence of the Barana and Ganges, is the site of the old Benares fort. The spot forms a great strategical position, and recalls to mind the history of ages. In Menu's time Benares was one of the six independent kingdoms in the valley of the Ganges. The Hindoo fort, overlooking that river, guarded its capital in those days from the approach of Panchala from the west, and from the approach of Maghada from the east. Inside the fort then stood the palace of the king. Troops of men, with brilliant sabres and iron-bound clubs, protected the royal household. The gates of the citadel were guarded by pikemen bearing a long spear, scimitar, and a buckler. Those who performed duty on the * Tod's Rajasthan, vol. ii. p. 474. Ancient History of Benares. 245 turrets were armed with bows which shot an arrow six feet long. The cavalry, riding upon high-mettled horses, curvetted in all directions. Richly-caparisoned elephants- their protruding tusks armed with keen sabres'—were driven about, and made a splendid show. Gay cars and war-chariots ran hither and thither through the streets. From this fort poured forth of old the warriors who went to assist the Pandoos on the plains of Kurukhetra. The lieutenants of the Maghada kings lodged in this fort. Rajah Deva Pala Deva, the great Buddhist king of Gour, and his successors, held court here on the second ascendancy of their faith in Benares. The province then passed into the hands of the Rathore kings of Kanouge. The last Rajah, Jychand, had deposited all his valuables here. But the city of weak-nerved priests and pundits could ill resist the attack of the hardy Ghorians. The treasures, accumulated in the fort, fell an easy prey to the Moslem. There was a white elephant, which formed the most remarkable of all spoils. Such an animal is now a myth. In the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, the space enclosed by the walls of the fort swarmed with houses and temples. Various ruins of them are still existing, particularly the remains of a Buddhistic Vihara, or temple, probably of the Gupta or Pal period. An accumulation of soil has taken place, raising the ground by many feet. Buildings, which must have been once on the surface, are now eighteen feet below ground. These are probably the remains of the city existing in the remote anti-Christian centuries. In lieu of the ancient Hindoo citadel, there tower now the high mud ramparts of a fort, which was erected to command the city in the crisis of the late rebellion. * The main road from the Raj-ghaut passes through what had been a thickly-inhabited quarter of the ancient city-the site of old Benares. Here, first of all, were the dwellings of the learned Brahmins. Loud rose then the voices of their students reciting the Vedas in the halls of learning.' Here of yore did 'the twang of the bow and the clash of the swords bespeak the royal residences of the Khetryas.' Here were 'the wealthy mansions of the Vaisas, their shops and stalls extending in endless rows.' Money-changers there were, in whose shops 'the constant clink of the great heaps of gold and silver coin that were counted made. its metallic chorus heard even amidst the din and commotion caused by the numberless buyers and sellers.'† Here, for several centuries, stood many a temple and monastery of the Buddhists. The old city seems to have been more inland than the present. It may be that, partly owing to the caprices of Indian rivers, and partly to political and religious causes, the town has had to shift its site from time to time. It is to be regretted that almost no antiquities exist to preserve the memory of the spot where Buddha turned the wheel of his law-where Bhascara held his commerce with the skies and where Sancara encountered the atheistical There were 700 seminaries at Kasi when Buddha went there to propagate his religion. Arichandra,' Act v. Scene i. Architecture of Benares. 247 Buddhists at all the weapons of controversy, and routed them from off the field. The interesting arena is bare of every vestige of the early Brahminic and Buddhistic epochs. The tower in honour of Buddha, which was to have been seen in Ajata Satru's time, has long disappeared. The thirty monasteries spoken of by Hwen Thsang have all ceased to exist for several centuries. The locality is now thinly peopled, and gradually fades away into the suburban country-seats and gardens of the rich. In making a tour via the outskirts, one involuntarily performs that nugur-parikrama, or the circuit of the city, which is so meritorious in Hindoo pilgrimage. Falling into the heart of the town, we had to thread our way through a maze of alleys and lanes. These are so narrow, that' even narrow seems a term too wide for them.' The high rows of buildings on either hand exclude all sunshine and ventilation from the streets, and the man living perched on the topmost garret is as much grilled by heat during day as he on the ground-floor has to bid farewell to the sun in his mid-day career. Their case, however, is reversed at night, when the latter feels stowed close, as it were in a ship-hold-while the former, at his breezy height, is courted by Eolus from the four cardinal points of heaven. The architecture of a people depends upon the materials afforded by the country in which they inhabit. In the plains of Bengal, where not a hillock is to be seen, and where the soil is alluvial, the material for But in Benares an inex its architecture is brick. haustible supply of sandstone is found within an easy reach in the adjacent hills of Chunar. Hence this more durable material is employed by the Khottas in their buildings. The same that was said of Romewhich Augustus found all brick, but left all marble— may be said of Benares, which is all stone. But one, judging from the buildings in Benares, would not form a very high opinion of Hindoo architecture. Though possessing a lofty and attractive frontage, there is not one house which is to be admired. for its real architectural excellency. The taste, if any is at all exhibited, appears to have been frittered away upon elaborateness and minute elegance. There is no stately column-no magnificent arch, to produce the effect of solemn grandeur. Far from anything of the kind, small verandahs and galleries, oriel windows and brackets, carved pillars and sculptured walls, are in universal fashion. The pyramidal domes of the temples are particularly ungraceful. Our Bengalee temples, with their rounded cupolas, are in much better taste. The Buddhists appear to have had more architectural genius than the Brahmins. Most of the houses are six to seven stories high, each story being ten to twelve feet in elevation. This dominionizing in the air is certainly for being pinched for space below. The houses have small courts, round which the rooms are built, little larger than pigeon-holes. The lower rooms are as dark as cells. The doors are so low, that you are obliged to stoop to pass through them. The windows are few and |