MANIKARNIKA GHAT 137 Groups of women sitting in circles on the level ground above the ghât steps are performing puja, perhaps that of Prithivi, the earth goddess, or of the holy Ganges, some old grandmother making symbolic figures of clay and directing the ceremonies. Devout widows, their saris stamped with sacred texts, will pause on their way home to watch them and sprinkle flowers and Ganges water upon the charmed circle. Others are making purchases of toys and sweetmeat vessels, which are piled in glittering heaps close by. A lordly bull comes pacing slowly through the crowds, snatching as he passes at garlands of marigolds worn by men and girls, and mumbling the rose-petals strewn on the wayside shrines and sutteestones. Pigeons are fluttering overhead, goats clambering on the cornices of the buildings. Thin vaporous clouds of smoke rise from the funeral pyres. The slanting rays of the morning sun cast long shadows across the ghât, and diffuse a rosy light over the whole picture. (See page 195.) To the Hindu pilgrim the great attraction of Manikarnika is the well, the origin of which is given in the Kâsi - Khanda, the legendary history of Benares. Vishnu, it is said, dug the well with his discus, and filled it with the perspiration from his own body. He then went to the north side of it and began to practise austerities. While he was thus engaged, the god Mahâdeva came and looked into the well. Seeing in it the radiance of a hundred million of suns, he was so enchanted that he began praising Vishnu loudly, and declared that he would give him anything. he might ask. Vishnu, much gratified, replied that he only desired that Mahâdeva should always live there with him. Mahâdeva was so pleased with the compliment that his whole body shook with delight, and an ornament called Manikarnika fell from his ear into the well. He then declared that the well should henceforth be known by that name, and that it should be the first and most efficacious of all the places of pilgrimage-Benares. There are several other popular legends accounting. for the name of the well, one of which is that. Mahâdeva and his wife, Parvati, were seated by the well, when a jewel fell from Parvati's ear into the water, and Mahadeva gave the well the name of the ornament, Manikarnika. Another object of devotion at this ghât is the charan-pâdukâ, a marble slab set into the ground, and carved with the figures of two footprints on which mystic signs are engraved. Almost every saint or divinity in Hinduism is supposed to have left visible footprints on earth, and these indicate the place where Vishnu is believed to have alighted before he began to practise ascetic rites and to worship Shiva as Mahâdeva, or Ishwara, at this ghât. The charanpâdukâ is often made in silver or gold, and worn as a charm by Hindus. Scindhia Ghât is named after a Hindu nobleman of Gwalior, whose widow, Baija Bai, in the early part of last century, commenced to build here a palace and bathing ghât. Before the basement had been raised many feet, the tremendous weight of the massive masonry caused a landslip, which made the whole fabric topple over, so that the work had to be abandoned. The unfinished façade and the ghât steps still remain-huge blocks of solid stone-work, thrown about SCINDHIA GHÂT 141 in picturesque confusion, as if an earthquake had torn them from their foundations. The warm tints of the Chunar stone, lighted by the morning sun, make a delightful colour-contrast for the bright saris of the women, as they pass in procession along the narrow path in front of the great corner piers, like a painted frieze from Pompeii, or the decoration of an antique vase. This ghât is a favourite camping-ground for the wandering Sadhus, or mendicant religious devotees, who travel throughout India from one place of pilgrimage to another, subsisting on the alms of the people. They are the modern representatives of the Bhiksus of ancient times, and like them are recruited from all classes of Hindus. There is this difference, |
