The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-05-23
Bathing in the Ganges.

Yet it was at Allahabad that I was
destined to behold the most remarkable
scene that my eyes have yet rested
upon, for happened to be there at the
time of the annual festival called Man
wayash," that is, the junction of the
waters. 1t is here that the Ganges and
the Jumna meet; and to the eyes of
faith there is third river, the Saras-
watt, which unites with them. So far as
geographers know, the Saraswati
River falls from the Himalayas and is
lost in the desert, though passage in
the Vedas recalls time when it flowed
to the sea. According to the Mahabha-
rata the Saraswati (now SarsutD was
dried up by the curse of holy Utathya
because the god Varuna abducted his
wife. The devotees of to-day know
BETTER however. and say that the Saras-
watt mingles beneath the surface with
the waters of the Ganges and the Jum-
ma, the three forming the most sacred
of tho seven sacred streams that fall
from tie right foot of Vishnu accord
ding IT, the Vishnaites); from the brow
of silva (nccording to Sivaites).
Inside the fort at Allahabad there is
subterranean temple, or the remains
of one. in which is sacred fountain
believed to be fed by the waters of Sar-
aswati. Around it is a strange collec-
ton of sacred relics and curiosities-
the Bleeding Tree. an upright log, at
whose base are two footprints of Wish
nu; a Hnga, said to have been cut
through at a blow by the Moslem
Aurunzeb, whereon from one side
flowed milk, from the other blood; foot
prints of Rama and of his wife Sta.
and many remarkable images of
Krisha, one or two of which in the
darkness appeared to me inclining to
become Buddhas. Emerging from this
subterranean hiding place of images,
sufficiently rude to seek concealment,
one eyes are greeted by the sight of
superb pillar of Asoka, with its moral
laws in good preservation, finely pedes-
tailed and surrounded by a parterre of
flowers, carefully tended by English
hands. 1t is two or three miles from
the fort to the junction of the rivers,
but it was necessary there to leave nv
carriage and move on foot through
the dense crowd that covered
the plain to the shores. 1t was
estimated that the number present
there during the two days festival was
more than half million-a small esti-
mate. The long files of pilgrims COM
ing in from every quarter, and their
professions converging as they went to
the sacred water. reminded me of the
armies SAW gathering on the plain be
fore Gravelotte on the morning of its
memorable battle. As these people
were, to my eye, all alike and dressed
alike, had to fix on little touch of
red in the head-dress ofmy guide in Or
der to follow him as he pressed on
rapidly before me. elbowing and SHOW
ing aside. in way that distressed me,
people who must have felt themselves
more in their place than / was. As we
drew near to the sandy promontory be-
tween the sacred rivers the bazars
multiplied, and many hundreds of gay
banners hoated in the air, on which
were pictured all manner of totems,
nondescripts-all the symbols l had
ever seen, with more that puzzled me
for the first time.
On one side was an acre of ground.
where large population squatted on