The Sacred City of the Hindus: An Account of Benares in Ancient and Modern TimesTrübner & Company, 1868 - 388 pages |
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ANCIENT REMAINS antiquity architraves Asiatic Aśoka Bakaríyá Kund banks Bará Barna bass-relief bathe Bengal Bodhi Brahmá Brahmans bricks Buddha Buddhist building built called capitals carved centre chaityas Cheit Singh Christian Chunar city of Benares cloister deities divine Durg Durgá edifice enclosure entire erected excavations existence feet in height festival figure five formerly four Gaṇeś Ganges goddess gods ground held Hindu Hinduism Hiouen Thsang honour hundred idolatry idols images inches India inscription James Prinsep Káśí king large number Mahadeva Mahalla medan Melá miles Mohammedan monastery mosque native neighbourhood niche northern original ornamented persons pilgrimage pilgrims pillars portion present priests quadrangle Ráj Ghát Raja Rám Rámnagar regarded religion religious remarkable residence river road ruins sacred Sangam Sanskrit Sárnáth sculptured side Siva small shrine spot square stairs stands statue stone Stupa tank temple terrace tower Vihára Vishnu wall Warren Hastings worship
Popular passages
Page 197 - I resolved," — these are the words of Hastings himself, — "to draw from his guilt the means of relief to the Company's distresses, to make him pay largely for his pardon, or to exact a severe vengeance for past delinquency.
Page 8 - Hundreds of devotees came thither every month to die ; for it was believed that a peculiarly happy fate awaited the man who should pass from the sacred city into the sacred river. Nor was superstition the only motive which allured strangers to that great metropolis. Commerce had as many pilgrims as religion. All along the shores of the venerable stream lay great fleets of vessels laden with rich merchandise. From the looms of Benares went forth the most delicate silks that adorned the balls of St....
Page 7 - His first design was on Benares, a city which in wealth, population, dignity, and sanctity was among the foremost of Asia. It was commonly believed that half a million of human beings was crowded into that labyrinth of lofty alleys, rich with shrines and minarets and balconies and carved oriels, to which the sacred apes clung by hundreds. The traveller could scarcely make his way through the press of holy mendicants and not less holy bulls.
Page 8 - ... and minarets, and balconies, and carved oriels, to which the sacred apes clung by hundreds. The traveller could scarcely make his way through the press of holy mendicants and not less holy bulls. The broad and stately flights of steps which descended from these swarming haunts to the bathing-places along the Ganges were worn every day by the footsteps of an innumerable multitude of worshippers. The schools and temples drew crowds of pious Hindoos from every province where the Brahminical faith...
Page 236 - Brahmani geese, while the two farther ones carry only single birds. Over the - nearest pair of geese, on the right hand of the figure, there is a frog. The attitudes of the birds are all good, and even that of the human figure is easy, although formal. The lotus scroll, with its flowing lines of graceful stalk, mingled with tender buds, and full blown flowers, and delicate leaves, is very rich and very beautiful.
Page xxxii - History of Bengal, p. 36. Elsewhere we read, that, " having broken the idols in above a thousand temples, he purified and consecrated the latter to the worship of the true God.
Page 43 - ... a letter on business, or on any other matter, the first word he invariably writes is the name of a god. Should he propose an engagement of importance, he first inquires the pleasure of the idol, and a lucky day for observing it. At his birth, his horoscope is cast; when he is ill, the gods must bo propitiated; when he is bereaved, the idol must be remembered ; at his death, his funeral rites are performed in the name of one or more deities.
Page 188 - ... and an expression of sympathy with these holy mourners, would sufficiently comfort them, and give them an ostensible reason for returning to their usual employment. Accordingly, all the British functionaries went to the principal ghat, expressed their sorrow for the distress in which they saw them, but reasoned with them on the absurdity of punishing themselves for an act in which they had no share, and which they had done their utmost to prevent or to avenge.
Page 132 - But finding that brass instruments did not come up to the ideas which he had formed of accuracy, because of the smallness of their size, the want of divisions into minutes, the shaking and wearing of their axes, the displacement of the centres of the circles, and the shifting of the planes of the instruments, he concluded that the reason why the determinations of the ancients such as Hipparchus and Ptolemy proved inaccurate...
Page 5 - Eome had become known, or Greece had contended with Persia, or Cyrus had added lustre to the Persian monarchy, or Nebuchadnezzar had captured Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of Juda3a had been carried into captivity, she had already risen to greatness, if not to glory.