the one who honoured the Queen Victoria jubilee in a similar fashion, dispense with the screen, which to ordinary intelligences gives an unfortunate aspect of conjuring to the performance.

Proceeding up the river, the next ghât of interest is

Chauki Ghât, where, under a fine old pippal-tree, there is a small shrine and a great number of old carved stones, some of snakes, twined together like Mercury's caduceus, with the lingam placed between. The worship of snakes, especially as emblems of the Earth Goddess, is one of the most ancient of Indian cults,

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and these stones, together with some fine figure-sculptures let into the upright face of the platform which surrounds the tree, are probably relics of the early Buddhist period.

The pippal (ficus religiosa) has been associated with the religious ceremonies of the Hindus from the earliest Vedic times. Its wood was used in the making of the drill which produced the sacred fire of Agni, and for various sacrificial vessels. Philosophers and holy men in all ages have chosen its leafy shade as a fit place for meditation. Among Buddhists it is especially venerated as the Bodhi tree -the tree of wisdom-under which their great leader obtained enlightenment. In popular imagination it is regarded as the Brahmin among trees. In southern India it is sometimes invested with the sacred cord of the Brahmins, and with the same ceremonies as used by them.1 The banyan-tree, another kind of fig, is frequently seen growing next to the pippal, and receives almost equal veneration.

Beyond Chauki Ghât is the burning ghât of the southern part of the city. Close by it, in a stone cell raised high above the ghât, lives a sannyâsî of the Aghori sect, the name of which, meaning "horrible", sufficiently indicates their ideas. The Aghoris give an extreme interpretation to the Vedantic doctrine of the Universal Soul. As all things proceed from and are part of Brahman, nothing, they argue, is really impure, and they are prepared to prove the strength of their convictions by eating everything commonly considered abominable, even putrid corpses. It must be said, however, that the revolting practices com

1Dubois, Vol. II, Beauchamp's edition, p. 660.

monly attributed to the Aghoris do not seem to be committed by the black-robed ascetic devoutly reading at this ghât, who bestows his blessing on the prying

tourist, but contemptuously refuses to accept any of the usual bakshish.

Near his cell is a suttee stone of unusually elaborate construction, on which is carved with much quaint grace and feeling a youthful couple who shared the funeral pyre together at this ghât. The husband has one arm affectionately clasped round the neck of his unfortunate bride.

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Kedarnath Ghât, which is immediately above this burning ghât, is named after Shiva's shrine of Kedarnath, high up among the Himalayan glaciers, and one of the most sacred places of Hindu pilgrimage. Here there is nothing to suggest the grandeur of the Hima

layan snows, the noble deodars, "the tree of the gods", and the beauty of the wild flowers; only a plain temple crowns the lofty pile of steps, and a small reservoir of dirty water, alive with myriads of frogs. The latter goes by the name of Gauri-kund, the tank of Gauri-another name of Durgâ, the wife of Shiva and is supposed to possess all sorts of healing virtues.

There is, however, plenty of human interest in the crowds of bathers, mostly Bengalis, who inhabit this quarter of the city. Behind, a picturesque street runs parallel with the river down to Dasâsamedh Ghât.

Some distance farther up the river, Shivâla Ghât and Fort present an imposing front to the river. The fort was the former residence of the Maharaja of Benares, and was occupied by Chêt Singh in the days of Warren Hastings. A yellow flag is flying above the trees within the northern enclosure of the old fort, proclaiming the presence of some Hindu ascetics. This is a

math, or monastery, inhabited by some fifteen o twenty followers of Kapila, the reputed founder of the Sankhya school of philosophy, who is believed to have lived at Benares about B.C. 700. The spacious courtyard is bright with marigolds, and under the shade of some fine old fruit-trees the monks pass their time in quiet devotion. They will give visitors a friendly greeting, offering a handful of cardamoms, with excuses for their inability to show more lavish hospitality. At the time of my visit there was an old monk, spectacled, nearly blind, and stone-deaf, who was said to be 103 years old. Another venerable hermit seated on a leopard's skin had better use of his faculties, and claimed to be 150. He had known, he said, eight rajas, and remembered Chêt Singh and the days of Warren Hastings. They believed that Kapila, whose footprints were worshipped in a little shrine in the courtyard, was still living in an island at the mouth of the Ganges. They all deplored that the philosophy which once had so many followers was now considered out of date; and the worldliness of modern times had come into their quiet, recluse life, for on my leaving