chap, xi BENARES 179
round the body, and the remainder worn like a scarf. Near the pagoda the tomb of one of their prophets, named Cabir,1 to
whom they do great honour, is to be seen. It should be remarked that
all these idols are on a kind of altar surrounded by gratings, for no
one is allowed to touch them, with the exception of certain Brahmans
appointed by the High Priest for that purpose.
I
come to the pagoda of Benares, which, after that of Jagannath, is the
most famous in all India, and of equal sanctity, being built on the
margin of the Ganges,2 and in the town of which it bears the
name. The most remarkable thing about it is that from the door of the
pagoda to the river there is a descent by stone steps, where there are
at intervals platforms and small, rather dark, chambers, some of which
serve as dwellings for the Brahmans, and others as kitchens where they
prepare their food. For after the idolaters have bathed, and have gone
to pray and make their offerings in the pagoda, they prepare their food
without anyone but themselves touching it, through the fear they have
lest anyone who approached it might be unclean. But above all things,
they ardently desire to drink the water of the Ganges, because, as soon
as they have drunk it, they believe, as I have said, that they are
cleansed from all their sins. Every day large numbers of these Brahmans
are to be seen going to the clearest part of the river to fill round,
small-mouthed, earthen pots, which hold about a bucketful, with this
water. When they are full they are taken to the chief priest, who
directs the mouth to be covered with a very fine cloth of fire-colour,
in three or four folds, upon which he applies his seal. The Brahmans
carry this water at the end of a stick, flat like a lath, from which
hang six small cords, and to each of them one of these pots is
attached. They rest themselves by changing the shoulder frequently,
1 Kablr, a Saint and writer, flourished about the close of the fifteenth century. (Hastings, op. cit., vii.
632 ff.) It is a corroboration of Taver-nier's knowledge that a
monastery, called after Kablr, still exists at Purl (Hunter, op. cit., i. 103).
*
Here the mistake about Jagannath, being on the Ganges (see p. 175, ยป.)
is repeated, as it is also elsewhere in the following pages.
