and they sometimes travel three or four hundred leagues of country with this load,1
and then sell it, or make a present of it, but only to the richest
persons, from whom they expect a liberal reward. Some of these
idolaters, when they celebrate any festival—especially when their
children are married— drink this water at a cost of 400 or 500 ecus. It
is drunk only at the end of the repast, as we drink hypocras or muscat
in Europe, each guest receiving a cup, or two, according to the
liberality of the host. The principal reason why this water of the
Ganges is so highly esteemed, is, that it never becomes bad, and
engenders no vermin ; but I do not know whether we should believe what
is said about this, taking into consideration the number of bodies
which are constantly being thrown into the Ganges.2
Returning
to the pagoda at Benares.* The building, like all the other pagodas, is
in the figure of a cross, having its four arms equal. In the middle a
lofty dome rises like a kind of tower with many sides terminating in a
point, and at the end of each arm of the cross another tower rises,
which can be ascended from outside. Before reaching the top there are
many niches and several balconies, which project to intercept the fresh
air ; and all over the tower there are rudely executed figures in
relief of various kinds of animals. Under this great dome, and exactly
in the middle of the pagoda, there is an altar like a table, of 7 to 8
feet in length, and 5 to 6 wide,
1
This is what is known as a banghy in India. Men who are accustomed to
carrying weights in this way, when on occasion they have only a load
for one end, make up an equipoise of a stone or clod of earth for the
other. A similar carrying-stick is used in China. Formerly, if not
still, troops of these water-carriers were to be seen on the Grand
Trunk road, which affords a scene of much animation and interest.
Photographs of men carrying water from the Ganges and Nerbudda will be
found in Russell, Tribes and Castes, Central Provinces, i. 184, ii. 100.
2
The reader will do well not to believe this story, but rather to
conclude that much of the water when drunk is in a very unwholesome
condition, and is the cause of disease. At the same time, it is
believed that it becomes rapidly purified by oxidation.
3
The mosque at the Panchganga Ghat, the minarets of which overlook the
city, occupies the site, and is constructed out of materials of the
great temple dedicated to Siva, known as Bisheshar (Visvesvara) and
destroyed by orders of Aurangzeb in 1669 (Jadunath Sarkar, Hist, of Aurangzib, iii. 321). Tavernier's account of the original temple is valuable.
