Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1878-08-08
found on the bank; said their prayers,
and the Brahmin painted their faces, red
or yellow, according to caste,

found on the bank; said their prayers
and the Brahmin painted their faces, red
or yellow, according to caste.
While out on our sail that morning,
we saw another very curious sight.
namely, the burning of bodies on piles of
wood. The burning is always done on
the banks of the river, at place called
the Burning Chat, and following is the
general order of arrangements: The
body is brought down on a bamboo
stretcher, on the shoulders of four COO.
lies, followed by the relatives. It is first
dipped in the holy Ganges, and then
placed on the bank, while the wood IS
arranged cob-house fashion. Then the
body is put in the river again, and after
ward put on the pile of wood, face down
ward Wood is then placed on the
corpse, and everything being ready, boy
pounds a big gong, and the fire is lighted
OF course, there was a s1ckening smell,
but my curiosity compelled me to rcmsin.
1t took three hours to burn the remains
to ashes, which were then thrown into
the sacred river. The people think that
the Ganges fowes directly into heaven.
All the details of the burying were done
by relatives of the deceased, but they
did not see very sad. In fact, they
laughed and chatted as if the whole pro-
ceedings was capital joke. Many die
in Benares, and there are alwas several of
these operations every day. Sometimes
among tie poorer classes. who cannot af-
ford the great expense, about $3.50, the
burning is dispensed with, and the body
IS placed on its back, with lighted
candle in its mouth, and sent floating
down the stream to heaven, ola Ganges
River.
We spent one day among the celebrated
temples of Benares, which numbers over
1000, beside nearly three hundred Mo-
hammeden mosques. had been led to
expect something grand and wonderful,
but l was greatly disappointed, espec-
tally after having seen such places as
Shiba and Uyeno, in Japan; Hainam
Temple. in Canton, etc. In one part of
the city was temple dedicated to the
sacred monkeys, which not only filed the
place, but raised Med" all around the
neighborhood. I bought quantity of
nuts and fruit. which threw at the little
rasca,s, with the idea of frightening them,
but they merely stood on their hind legs
and caug ght the fruit with great dextcrity
At another temple there was a very
deep we'll, and all that was necessary to
be done was to 10, k down, say a short
prayer and then make some request, no
matter what, and the request was sure to
be granted. But the most curious of all
was TIE Temple of the Brahmin Bull.
It was filled with people praying to lot
of COWS. The only sensible thing I could
see about the religion of the country was
the bathing in the morning, which was
very needful, as the Hindoos are most
filthy people.
Our intention was to 90 from Bcnares
to Agra and Delhi, but the weather was
80 dangerously not that we were obliged
to abandon the idea and proceeded direct
to Bombay. 1t is a ride by rail Of about
forty hours. Bombay is pretty place.
With elegant buildings, drives, etc. The
most famous sights here is the Pharsee
Cemetery, where bodies are placed on the
top of a tower and are picked to pieces by
vultures. The greatest sight, however, in
Bombay, and can almost say in India, is
the famous Elephanta Cave, which is
large chasm chiselled out of solid rock.
It contains many large statues, and is
nearly 1,400 years old. Years ago the
Portuguese sent man-of- war out here
and battered the place severely because
it was a place OF heather worship.