Sarnath,-Monasteries, Temples, Mosques. 299

been Sri Saddharma Rakshita, or the cherisher of the true Dharmma.

According to Hwen Thsang, there were no less than 30 monasteries at Sarnath, containing about 3000 monks. These edifices must have been of vàrious ages-having been built from time to time during the ascendancy of Buddhism from the time of Asoca to that of the Gupta dynasty. Their number must have increased under the Pal kings of Bengal. Few of the Buddhistic buildings have escaped the ruthless hand of spoliation. The Brahmins demolished the greater number of them, and raised upon their sites temples, which in their turn were again converted into mosques by the Mahomedans. Upon the sites of Buddhist temples and from the materials of Buddhist monasteries, did the Brahmins build their shrines of Ad-Biseswara, of Kirt-Biseswara, of Banee Madhoo, the Bakarya Koond, and others. Many of these fell into the hands of the Mussulmans, and were altered and modified by them to form the Mosque of Aurungzebe, the Kangura Mosque, the Alamgiri Mosque, and the Choukhamba Mosque. Of the early Vedist Benares there probably exist no remains, and supposing them to do, it is difficult to recognize them. But the débris of Buddhist Benares 'may be traced in the multitude of carved stones, portions of capitals, shafts, bases, friezes, architraves, and so forth-inserted into modern buildings in the northern and north-western quarters of the city. These fragments exhibit a great diversity of style, from the severely simple to the exceedingly ornate,

and are in themselves a sufficient proof of the former existence of buildings, of styles of architecture corresponding to themselves, yet differing in many important respects from the styles of modern Hindoo and Mahomedan structures, and coinciding with those of ancient temples and monasteries of the Gupta and preGupta periods, the ruins of which are still existing in various parts of India.' It either indicates a great ignorance or deep craftiness of the present Brahmins to state that Benares forms the city of Shiva from an unfathomable antiquity, when Buddha had been worshipped there for more than a thousand years, when the temple of Ad-Biseswara may be detected to have been raised upon the ruins of a Buddhist monastery, and when the Kasi of the early Hindoos occupied a different site from that of Benares, which, in popular tradition, is said to have been built and named by Rajah Banar, probably at some period between the fifth and eighth centuries of the Christian era-a period remarkable for the influence once possessed by the followers of Shiva, and for those desolating wars of Sambhu and Ni-sambhu (Shivites and Buddhists), which are magnified to have been the most bloody in the annals of Hindoo warfare.

CHAPTER VII.

October 26.-FAST as four wheels and a four-legged animal could carry us, we were on our way to Allahabad. The night was high when we passed by Gopigunge, missing that place of mutiny-notoriety. By eight o'clock this morning we had glibly rolled over a road seventy-two miles long, and stood upon the left bank of the Ganges. On the other side rose in view the city of Pururava, the Pratishthana of the Aryas, the Prayag of the Puranists, and the Allahabad of Akbar. The river intervened, and on its surface lay the bridge of boats floating like a leviathan. The bridge was yet incomplete for an opening in the middle,—and it told much against our patience to lose two precious hours in crossing by the ferry of a primitive age.

The first thing we did on landing was to go at once to the famous prayag or junction of the Ganges and Jumna. It was not until standing upon that tongue of land, where the two holy streams have met, that we felt ourselves really in the city of Allahabad. The Ganges at Calcutta is scarcely an interesting object to the dull eye of familiarity. The Ganges at Benares is forgotten in the more absorbing associations of the city of Shiva.

But the Ganges at Allahabad is contemplated as the eternal river, which rolls on, watering the fairest valley of the earth, and forms. the imperial highway on which pass and repass ten thousand fleets through every day of the year. From the grandeur of its aspect and its importance in the economy of nature, it has become an object of the most devout veneration alike in the eyes of the Brahmaites, Shivites, and Vishnuvites. There is the floating bridge of boats—in which a warmer imagination than ours might see the fabled elephant which vaunted to withstand the force of its mighty stream.

The Jumna, a novel sight, was for the first time beheld, with enthusiasm. Deeply sunk below high craggy banks, rolled slowly on a sluggish stream of crystal blue water. This was the Jumna-the Kalindi of our forefathers, a name associated in the Hindoo mind with the adventures of many an ancient Rajah and Rishi-the loves of Radha and Krishna. The spot where the sister Nuddees (Greek Naiades) meet, makes a magnificent prospect. The Ganges has a turbid, muddy current— the Jumna, a sparkling stream. Each at first tries to keep itself distinct, till, happy to meet after a long parting, they run into each other's embrace, and losing themselves into one, flow in a common stream. The Ganges strikes the fancy as more matronly of the two -the Jumna, a gayer youthful sister.

There is certainly more of poetry than philosophy in all the religions professed by mankind. The 'Swerga' of the Puranists, the 'Paradise' of the Mahomedans, and the 'Last Judgment Day' of the Christians, trans

Allahabad, the Prayag.

303

cend all Homeric poetry. Religion is diffident to address itself purely to the understanding, which is cold and cautious to accept its statements. It therefore seeks the aid of poetry to help its cause. This explains the reason why lovely spots and romantic heights are particularly chosen for places of worship. There is scarcely a lovelier spot than the prayag of Allahabad. The broad expanse of waters, the verdant banks, and the picturesque scenery, tell upon the mind and fascinate the pilgrim. Here, therefore, has superstition fixed a place for purification, through which it is obligatory on a Hindoo to pass on his arrival at Allahabad. The purification falls little short of an ordeal. You have first to submit yourself to the application of the razor from the top of the head to the toes of the feet-the eyebrows and eyelashes even not forming exceptions; and for every hair thus thrown off, you are promised 'a million of years' residence in heaven.' Few rites are more absurd in the history of superstition, and it is unaccountable why no other has been preferred to this shocking operationwhen hairs have their so great importance in physiology, and their value in the esteem of beauty. Milton has adorned his Adam with 'hyacinthine locks' and Eve with dishevelled tresses.' The Rape of the Lock' sets forth the inestimable value of a lady's ringlet. Long beards gave name to a nation—the Lombards. A Sikh is never so much offended as when you touch him by the beard-the great facial characteristic of manhood, never allowed by him to be profaned by the razor. Ask a doctor, and he will say he has known women in a