The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-05-18
AROUND THE WORLD.
ciTy or TEMPLES AND IDOLS.
The Sacred Well Of Fate-The Fsme"'
MONKEY Temple and It's Werships.

The Sacred Well OF Fate-The Fsmen
Monkey Temple and It's werships.
Mcncure ID. Conway writes to the PM
saelphis Times from Benares: .
"Why say, will go 70 Benaresr Mnl
long for the sacred wellss How shall tn'
true Benares be attained by the eyil-coer
Though we roam the wilds, sanctity IL no
in them: nor Is 70 In the sky, nor on earei
at the confluence Of holy streams. :,
"Couyert thyself into temple"
Darkness is no, dispelled by painted
fame" c.,, 80
lao will turn into q lion; going TO holy
Rensres will make no pig an elephant. Nc
n,lyrimage will make q saint OF one whose
nature Is differ
Ire thy creed or thy prayers what they
NAV. unless thou hast little truth thou
shaft not attain the path TO happiness. He
who possesses the truth Is the twice-Dorn.
"Why should you collect stones from
the hills and build fine temples why
torment yourselves so while the God as :,
living being constantly dwells within you
Better the house dog than the inanlmate
household goddess; better than all deni-
gods IA the Lord Of the Universe. That
light. like the morning star, which dweiis
in the Utmost heart OF every man, Is our
refuge"
These verses from Vemana, coming
across seven centuries, for me breathe All
along the alleys-they cannot be called
stretts-of Benares, the Hindu Jerusalem
They start out in letters OF light on tne
shrines. with their consecrated degrada-
t.ons. which created and still virtually
constitute the City Of Temples. Ii seem
a perpetual pious orgie. AT every turn
nv guide and | are pressed up close 10
the shops by outlandish pilgrims from
afar. Gu, rying their beds, tents, cook
ing utensils, and sometimes their
noisy tom-toms, all included in the
neyer.ending procession which for thou
sands OF years has steadily sought the
blthiest of 1vers as the fountain OF Liy-
ing Waters. My guide is Moslem with
an esoteric detestAtiOn for the exorteric in
stitutions, by exhibiting which he makes
his living, At sunrise to-day we sat to-
pether on barge, moving slowly up and
down i'm front of the Chats at which thou
sands OF people were performing their plou'
ablutions In the Gauges, and he inter
spersed information meant to excite my
interest or admiration with such remarks
-:
GUIDES COMMENTS.
"This Is all humbugs." "See that maj
saving his prayers and throwing water a
the sum- Poor sun! lie is Just now very
dry!v "See those womeni They are
widows. They used TO burn themselye:
on those l0g.fires over there. Now they
have taken TO water instead OF fire." See,
thew all make point to drink some OF IT,
All the fifth OF Benares pours into this
Gapges, and Of course becomes pure.
What they are drinking is cholera (SOttC
roce)." Not long ago the widow OF
a distinguished Hindu, forbidden to burn
herself on her husbands funeral pyre,
committed suicide. In speaking about
IL an intelligent Hindu gentleman told
me that he did not wonder at it, for the
position OF a Hindu widow was still very
miserable. She could have no society and
no pleasure. His view was not quite
borne out by the crowd OF widows whom
saw enjoying their morning bath in the
Ganges, some OF them with sportiveness,
not to say coquetry, that recalled Ostend.
The places where the bodies OF distin-
guished men, with their widows, have been
consumed, are becoming points OF pilgrim
age. One Of these which saw near Calcutta
has been curiously adopted by nature.
Fhe roof, made of many stones, has been
ruppled 10y tree which, fed into strength
s. the ashes Of the perished couple an0
offerings to them, has lifted the whole
structure several feet into the air. To be
burnt beside the Gauges is still the dearest
hope of the Hindu wherever he goes. The
fires beside the widows Chats never go
out. As we floated past, three forms were
stretched or floating RATS, their limbs and
features half visible beneath their thin,
white shrouds; an hour later they were
burning on the pyre, my guide holding
his nose and turning bis eyes away
in disgust. ave Mohammedans," he
said, ado no such thing as that.
Like Christians, we bury our dead" He
was somewhat astonished when told him
that /, with many others in Christendom,
desired to restore cremation. For some
time he seemed to regard this as an indica-
ton Of Pagan tendencies, and spoke with
more consideration Of the ceremonies than
we beheld. His impression was confirmed
by certain small investments OF mine In
brass and stone deities and symbols. He
was, however, to be soon undecetyed. /
could not easily repress utterances Of dis
gust at certain rites. This gave him much
relief. Thenceforth he called my Pagan
purchases curiosities.
CITY OF IDOLS.
The population Of Benares must by this
time be amounting towards 10000 apart
from the pilgrims, who keep half as many
again there during large part OF the year.
All these pilgrimages and the innumerable
shrines and temples OF the place are literal
~ the creation Of superstition. 1t is city
wholly given up to idolatry. lis merchan-
disc is idols. The people one meets there
are organisms of supernatural terrors.
Symbols painted in ashes distinguish them
as war-paint distinguishes savage tribes.
There seems from immemorlal time
TO have been here survival OF the alb
iectest, accompanied by an arrest
Of every kind Of development which
would have brought them into rela-
ton with the secular world. A learned
Hindu said to me: "Religion Is the con-
slant, never-ceasing interest and occupa-
ton Of a Hindu in a sense that Euro
peans cannot understand. Their eating
and drinking, their sleeping and waking,
their marrying and dying. all are inter-
woverf with their religion" At Benares
I reflect that only In euphemistic way
could the term religion be applied to the
coarse, obscene, degraded performances,
void OF solemnity, earnestness, or beauty,
which make this vast embodiment OF Hin
duium-the city az Renares silva IL