ILLUSTRATIONS Page 21 27 41 43 45 47 51 53 55 69 Manikarnika Ghât Frontispiece sikra crowned by the amålika ornament preach. Discovered at Sarnath, 1905 He will sit like a living Buddha, motionless” 74 77 79 80 82 83 85 88 91 95 96 97 101 I 20 121 vase” Page Dasâsamcdh Ghât · 107 The 'Temple of Sitala 114 A Sanskrit School 116 Carved Snakes at Chauki Ghât 118 An Aghori A Suttee-Stone Another venerable hermit, seated on a leopard's skin". 123 Shivala Ghất 127 Balcony of Man Singh's Observatory 129 The Nepalese Temple 131 The Shrine of Ganga 133 “Groups of women ... are performing puja”. · 135 “ Like a painted frieze from Pompeii, or the decoration of an antique 139 Scindhia Ghât 141 An Encainpment of Sådhus 145 The Buildings at Ghôsla Ghât 147 The Head of Bhima 148 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 153 Palhvad Ghât 156 A Vaishnavite Nun reading the Ramayana 157 The Salagram Stone 161 Plan of Hindu Roofing The Temple of Durgâ, or “Monkey Temple”. 163 Durga 167 Mask of Shiva 169 In the Ahmety Temple: a Brahmin performing his sandhya The Ahmêty Temple. 171 A Sacrificial Spoon · 175 The Temple at Ramnagar · 178 Mask of Bhaironath 179 - 162 O 170 ILLUSTRATIONS xiii Page Ganesha . 181 The Well of knowledge 183 The Panch-kôsi Road 189 A Village Deity · 190 The Temple and Tank at Khandawa 191 Ancient Carving, Khan-lawa Temple 193 “Thin vaporous clouds of smoke rise from the funeral pyres. The slanting rays of the morning sun cast long shadows across the 195 Ancient l'otive Stones Tomb of Lal Khan 203 " An idyll of peace and self-satisfactica 207 Panchyanga · 215 201 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 sisted 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. 1 |
