Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-02
ALONG INDIA'S HOLY RIVER
Tho Mighty Ganges and It's Thous-
ands of worshipers.
WITH THE GATHERS AT eENAREs.
A Religion Which Teaches Cleanli-
ness-A Million Years OF Heaven
For Hair-The wheat Plains
of India,
A Wonderful Stream.

three weeks L nave uraNelcu SIX nuuuTeu
miles around the holy Ganges river and the
click of my typewriter now falls upon the
air in unison with the prayers and the
eplashing of the thousands of pilgrims who
are bathing in its waters. Benares is the
Mecca of the Hindoos and the Ganges is to
the Indian more than the Jordan is to the
Christian. On the top of a house boat with
six red.turbanned, black-faced, and bare
legged rowers, | slowly drifted past the
bathing CHATS this morning. The sun was
Just rising and over fields OF green extending
for miles away on the left of the river its
rays came to gild the brass jars which each
pilgrim carried 1t turned the sem-bare
brown skins of the men women and children
to a rich mahogany and brought out the
shadows in the fort-like walls Of the temples
lining the other side of the river. 1t was
a scene for painter. The wonder
full colors of oriental humanity mixed with
the glorious red of nature filled one almost
with feeling of worship, and the muttering
of the prayers of thousands with their
strange incantations and mysterious posJures
threw an indescribable wierdness over the
scene Fantastic and foolish as some of the
actions seemed, could not forget that this
spot is to one-sixth of the human race the
holiest place on the surface of the whole
world, that out of every six men, women and
children on Gods good earth one believes
that II he washes here
ns HIS SINS FLOAT AWAY
on these waters to the sea, and that if his
ashes are here burned his soul goes straight
to heaven. If the Hindoo IN accents of
prayer utters the name Of this river within
one hundred miles of its banks the act
atones for the sins of three previous lives,
and IL he has his head shaved at
point which lies two hours ride by tram
from where am now writing, and the hairs
fall into the stream, for every hair that
floats away he will have a million years in
paradise This place is at Allahabad, where
the river Jumna flowes into the Ganges, and
here at certain times of the year thousands
of Hindoos may be seen on the banks of the
river holding their heads over the water and
allowing BARRIERS to shave them, as it were,
into heaven.
And do the people really believe thsa
assure you they do, and their belief is a
practical one. too. 1t is not faith without
works by any means. This town of Benares
has population as big as that of Cleveland,
Cincinnati or Washington. Just now the
mornings are cold and the air is raw and
piercing. 1t is the duty of every one of
these people to come before their breakfasts
and bathe in tho Ganges. 1 found the banks
of the river filed with them this morning.
The city lies close to the river and for three
miles along its banks are great temples,
from the walls of which stone steps lead
down into the Ganges, going under the
water and out into the bed of the stream.
Each or these temples has perhaps one hun
dred Of these steps from its base to the
water, and these three miles Of such steps
were filed with worshipers All were Hin
docs, and none were clothed in anything but
the thinest Of cottons. There were shriveled
old men and women wrapped around in the
single breadth of dirty white cotton. stand
ing up to their waists in water and holding
their long, thin, bony arms upwards while
with chattering teeth they muttered prayers
to the gods silva and Vishnu Now and
then they ducked down into the water and
as they came up they gasped and looked
colder than ever. There were plump girls,
whose nut.brown skins glistened as the
water trckled down them and whose bright
eyes flashed half rougish
GLANCE AT ME BETWEEN THEIR PRAYERS.
AS they raised their arms 1 noted that each
had gold and silver bracelets upon them and
some of the country maidens had bracelets
one after another from the wrist to the ell
bow and from thence on to the shoulders.
Many wore great nose rings and as they
threw back their heads could see that their
ears were punctured with many holes and
that each hole contained a bit of gold or sill
yer. Most OF them, however, hid their faces
and not a few were high caste Hindoo
maidens. AS they stepped out of the water
their bare limbs shone under the sunlight
and against the dark brown back ground
flashed heavy silver anklets. They did not
battle with the men ana as a rule they hud-
dled up in little groups by themselves.
AT many Of the temples there
were ledges built out over the
river and here men gathered up water
In their hands and mutter prayers over it.
Each man and woman had brass lar and
rs they left their bathing they carried some
of the holy water to aid them in their wor-
ship in the temples. There were thousands
Of maid servants carrying great bowls Of
Ganges water on their heads and steadying
the burden with one brown, bare arm as they
walked up the steps, The costume of the
Hindoo is picturesque one. It is one long
strip OF cloth wound about the person so that
the legs and arms are bare. Sometimes
bright colored shawls are added by the
weather. and bright turban or cap covers
the head.
Mixed with this gaudy, splashing, sputter-
ing throng just above the water were square
benches covered with umbrellas as large as
the top OF summer house and under these
sat wrinkled old priests with boxes of red
paint beside them. Each worshiper came
70 these priests as he finished his bath
and the priest dipping his finger
tnto the paint box, made one, two or three
marks upon his forehead. These marks
were to remain on until the next days bath
Ing and they were the signs Of the gods
Among the bathers were peddlers of Ganges
water. These carry the holy fluid in jars to
villages far out in the country and each pill.
grim who comes takes a load home to his
But it is not alone at Benares that the
(ianges is holy. From its source in the Him.
eiayas, where 1t is supposed to flow from the
BIG TOE OF vIsHNU,
hll along the winding fifteen hundred miles
pf its course, its waters are sacred aud pnri-
Tying. found thousands bathing at Cal
cntta and many HindoOs make six years.
pilgrimage from the source of the river to
Its mouth. There are hundreds of places
upon its banks which, like Bensres, are es.
In ~ 40 .nA sa i'll.