Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-10-08
AN INDIAN PILGRIM CITY.
Town of Temples and shrines to Which
Pious Hindoos Flock in Thousands.

A Town of Tom pies and Shrines to Which
Pious Hindoos Flock in Thousands.
Every twelfth year, when Jupiter en-
ters the sign of of Leo, the Ganges itself
is supposed in some mysterious way to
flow down the Godavery bed, and pill
grims come to Mask, the Benares of
western India, in thousands from all
parts of India. Each pilgrim as he en-
tiers the town has to pay a small tax, and
the receipts show that 200,0 900 people had
come and gone in the last eleven months.
The stream of life was just as unceasing
when l was there. Formerly the pill
grims came by road, spending months
on the way. But they mostly come by
rail now. The Brahmans protested
against the railway with such success
that the station is four miles from the
town. There is, however, a good road,
planted with shady tamarisks and AGA
cias on either side. The station when
/ arrived was crowded with pilgrims of
all ranks, men, women and children, and
the road was blocked with a double
stream of bullock carts and pony carts,
while under the trees were groups rest
ing from the sun or slowly plodding on
to their destination.
At certain points near the town they
are met by the Brahman priests, who
make large fortunes out Of their pious
visitors. There are about 800 special Brah-
mans, called Upadhyas, who keep large
lodging and boarding houses, and claim
to be the family priests Of all pilgrim
families. They keep huge account books
containing records of all former visitors
and they greet each pilgrim with a de-
mand for his or her name and BIRTH
place. If he or his father or grand
father, or other ancestor, however re-
mote, is entered in any Brahman's book,
he belongs to that Brahman during
his stay. Some of the books go as far
back as Emperor Aurungzebes time.
The victim is marched off to the Brah.
mans house, where he will find at least
$50 others. His bag of laboriously gath
cred rupees, boarded for this supreme
occasion, comes out, and system of fees
beginy which goes on until the pilgrim
leaves or the bag is empty After the
first fee is paid the various functions of
the pilgrimage begin. He has first to
fast for twenty-four hours, after which
he goes to one of the many temples on
the river bank with offerings of rice and
flowers and clarified butter. Then tired
and exhausted with toll and travel and
want Of food, he is led into the river,
and the fees begin again.
Masonry pools have been erected in
the bed of the stream for the bathers
when the river runs dry; one pool is
more sacred than another, and each fresh
bathing place requires special fee. He
wishes not only to purge himself from
sin, but also to free the souls of his an.
cestors This again requires a special
fee. The certainty of salvation, whether
for himself or his fathers, depends en-
tirely on the amount of his gift. At last
he is led out of the water, after hours OF
exposure, and he walks to the house il
his wet clothes, perhaps richer in holi-
ness, but certainly poorer in worldly
wealth. He then can take his first meal
Raw vegetables in vast quantities, breaC
and rice are his food. He probably over
eats himself; his digestion is weakened
by fasting and exposure, and his mex
experience is a bout of diarrhoa, or dys
r EMERY, or even cholera. Cholera had {
firm hold of Mask the whole of that pill
! grim year, and as one walked through
the town and saw the dirt and smelt tn,
smells, one only wondered why the dis
ease should ever relax that hold.
Our friend is next sent Off to Trimbuk
the sacred source of the sacred river. II,
is jolted there in bullock cart, or ha
to walk, according to the state of hi
rupee bag. AT Trimbuk he bathes again
but this time not in the stream itself
but in a tank, through which the rive
is supposed to flow. Here lac must no
only battle, but drink the water, wher
literally thousands have washed. Thu
collector of Mask once took bottle full
of this water and showed it to some o
the leading Brahman, of the town.
was full of organisms. They needed n,
microscope, they were plainly visible t,
, the naked eye. His pious friends onl,
: shrugged their shoulders and said tina
paradise was worth gaining even at tina
price. The whole place is stepped in ig
norance and superstition, out of which
- handful of astute priests make their for
tunes, and they are not likely to LEM
a hand in any reform. There is not
i pilgrim who comes but he honestly be
+ lieves himself to be purified from sin b.
!. this bathing and drinking. There is an al
. of weary content on all their faces whel
the pilgrimage is over, and they squa
on the station platform patiently waitin
for the train that will take them HON
again. Yet they have all left the earn
II
nothing to show for it save the littl
Theoretically sealed brass cup of the hol
water which each carries back to hi
friends.
There is something else, unfortunately
they too often carry away with them
These pilgrim years at the various rive
sources and other holy places of Indi
are not only the signal of cholera at tn
! place ITSELF as was the case at Mask las
year; they are also the means of distrit