The morning call., 1891-04-19
THE TROUBLE AT BENAREs.

The story that the authorities of British
India propose TO destroy Brahmin temple
at Benares in order to make room for the
new water works requires confirmation. II
there is thing which Benares needs it is a
new system Of water works, constructed on
sanitary PRINCIPLES; the city, though far in
land, only stands 800 feet above the sea
Level, and it is noted as the most unhealthy
military station in Northern India But the
HiGdcOs are the slaves of decisions; sofar
M life and health are concerned they are
fataliStS. They would rather live in BeharrS
than elsewhere, because they believe that
the souls of those who breathe their last in
the holy city go direct to Paradise. To set
at defiance so deep rooted a supersttution
involved degree of courage which amounted
to rashness. ii the English have acted as
the dispatches say they must have been i'm
PEELED by fatality-a similar fatality to the
one which tempted them to meet growing
discomfort among the sepoys in 1857 with an
order to use creased cartridges.
Benares is not a great city. 1t contains
about half as many people as San Francisco,
huddled together in streets so narrow that
no vehicle can use them, and the fOot-pas-
senger elbows the walls on either side.
From the low-lying soil malariUus effiuvia
CONSTANTLY lISt anu udlB INV ONCI mt ltIlpic
roofs a constant stream of people flows
forth and back from the city to the ghauts
on the Gauges to battle in the holy water,
and carry back with them bottle of it.
They believe it to be a specific for cholera,
fever ard broken limbs. For the city which
is here washed by the Ganges is the holy
city of all holy cities. twas great and holy
when Solomon bult his temple and the last
Of ha raxrrarpids NM oonnlatad If
wealthy and beautiful and its people were
cultured and their temples opulent when
Great Britain and France were morass, fen
and thicket For twenty-five centuries it
has been the chief seat of one belief after
another. Buddhism was born here, Islam
ism once fourished here luxuriantly, and
now it is the home of Brahminism. The idea
of tearing down temple in such a city for
such purposes Of vulgar utilitariansm as
water works will fill the mind of the ortho-
dOx Brahmin with horror.
The affair at Benares is the third overt
act in what may turn out to be a death
struggle in India. The destruction of the
commissioner and his escort at Manipur
was the first; the outbreak in the PuEjab
was the second If the uprising at Benares
proves serious, it will be graver than either
of the other two. The average Hindoo is
notmuch concerned about what happens on
the confines of Burmah, or in the foothills
of the Himalayas, but everything that oc-
ours in his holy city-the chief seat of his
religion-tonches him closely A wrong to
Benares calls him to arms. Still, it will be
prudent to assume that the good fortune
which has attended the progress of the in
vader for century will notdesert him now
If the Hindoos show their teeth the water
works will probably be abandoned, and the
project of draining Benares postponed to
more convenient season. In the meantime,
natives who may have made themselves
needlessly noisy In the matter will probably
receive lesson that will deter others from
following their example.