184 BENARES book iii
idol
may not be inconvenienced by them. All this fanning and music lasted a
good half-hour, when the two principal Brahmans began to sound two
large bells three times, and, with a kind of small mallet, they then
knocked at the door. At the same moment it was opened by six Brahmans,
who were inside the pagoda, and 7 or 8 paces from the door there was an
altar with an idol upon it, which is called Ram-Kam, who is the sister
of Morli Ram.1 She has on her right a child in the form of
Cupid, who is known as the god Lakshml, and on her left arm she carries
a small girl called the goddess Sita. As soon as the door of the pagoda
was opened, and after a large curtain had been drawn, and the people
present had seen the idol, all threw themselves on the ground, placing
their hands upon their heads and prostrating themselves three times ;
then rising they threw a quantity of bouquets and chains in form of
chaplets, which the Brahmans placed on the idol, and then returned to
the people. An old Brahman in front of the altar held in his hand a
lamp with nine lighted wicks, upon which, from time to time, he threw a
kind of incense when moving the lamp towards the idol. All these
ceremonies lasted about an hour, after which the people retired, and
the pagoda was closed. The people presented the idol with a quantity of
rice, flour, butter, oil, and milk, of which the Brahmans let nothing
be lost. As this idol has the form of a woman, all the women invoke
her, and regard her as their patron; this is the reason why the temple
is always crowded with women and children.
The
Raja desiring to have this idol in the pagoda of his house and to
remove it from the great pagoda, has expended in gifts to the Brahmans
and in alms to the poor more than 500,000 rupees, which make 750,000
livres a of our money.
On the other side of the street in which this college is
1
The image of ' Ram-Kam ' is that of Annapurna, ' she who fills with
food', a beneficent goddess, represented as a fair woman, standing on a
lotus, holding in one hand a rice bowl, and in the other the spoon with
which the rice is stirred when it is being boiled (W. J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, 265
f.). Tavernier supposed that she was the sister of Muralidhara, Krishna
represented as a flute-player. Laksbmi or Sri is the goddess of
fortune, consort of Vishnu, and mother of Kama, god of love, the Cupid
of the text. a £56,250.
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