Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-06-19
THE HOME OF BUDDHA.
STRANGE SCENES IN THE ANCIENT
CITY OF BeNARes.
wershirers bathing Together I'm the
Sacred Waters ot the GanEes-The
Bathing Ghats-rhe Funeral Pyre-The
Priests and Deeotees.

"'@s~htt'"aN tk&&hkBk hAE&A0Fr an the
Sacred Waters OF the canEes-Tha
bathing Ghsts-rhe Funeral ryre-The
Priests and Deeotees.
About 900 miles from It's mouth on the left
bank Of the Ganges, the great sacred river Of
the Hindu people, to prppitiate which only a
Few years ago nluthers wvrc went TO offer up
their babss, Is the city of Idols and the home
OF tfolatry, Benaes~ 1t Is % the Hindu
what Mecca Is 10 tile Mohnmmeslan, and
pilgrimage to 1t sometime during his life Is the
necessary journey of every true Indian pagan.
Though there no historical records to
prove it, 1t Is generally conceded that il Is one
OF the, IL not the most ancient city In the
world, AMI that even when Rome was found
ing Benarcs was centuries old
1t is most peculiarly native IN Its streets, its
buildings and its inhabitants. and, Of all
PLACES In Indin, il Is the place to see the abo-
riginal habits, customs and people. IL num-
bers its temples in the thousands, hut its
shrines are so many that no attempt Is made
| TO number them. The sacresl monkey runs
up and down the walls and over the altars Of
the temple Of Durga Kund and the sacred
bulls aud cows wander about that OF Anna
pura and feed on the garlands that the
worshipers cast before them. just outside
the city Is the spot made sacrel by Buddha's
I presence, and the tanks la which he bathed
| himself, his garments, and his religious yes-
stls, said 10 have been protected from the con-
taminati0n OF man by fiery dragons Benares
Is the religious seat Of India, and might not
inappropsiately be called the capital of
lieatlenism
BENAREs' BATHING CHATS.
But notwithstanding its many temples and
shrines with their wonderful carvings, its
little narrow streets and lofty buildings, its
curious bazanrs, hy far the most interesting
part Of Bei'ares ARE the bathing CHATS as seen
from boat sailing up and down the sacred
Ganges Here one cam si,end hours aud not
tire, for there Is panorama a. changing as a
Kaleidoscope, aud wbose pictures are ns bril-
liant as an artists imagination can paint
them. for every day large proportion Of the
inhabitants. high caste and low. go down To
the river 10 hath. in and b. worship tho divine
stream as II goes rolling on its way 10 the
ocean, and the hanks lined and the water
filed with men, women and children are a
sight never 10 be forgotten.
Here AN old, gray haired man feebly washes
his shrunken legs and arms Ia the cleansing
and divine water. At his side stands a young
Hindu matron, Whose wet garment clings to
her body and show perfectly her we'll formed
limbs Hindu dandy, almost naked, sits
only few feet away on the bank combng his
long, oily locks and admiring himself in a
little mirror. which he holds la one hand A
powerful. athletic looking man stands not far
away swinging with all his might a pair Of
primitive Indian clubs, while poor old hag
comes out OF the cold water and exposes her
withered breast To the warm rays of the sun.
Little boys and girls run into the water,
splash about, aud then run out again and roll
their wet bodies in the dust or lie down upon
the warm store steps that lead down 10 the
water. Tn the top step sits motiouless q
chubby infant whose mother has washed him
and set him up there o. dry.
DARK HrED APHRoDITE.
A young girl walks trippingly down 10 the
edge Of the water and daintiiy puts her well
shaped foot, the toes OF which are perhaps
covered, though not adorned with rings, into
the water as though 10 feel its temperature,
and then suddenly draws il out nj II IL turned
out 10 be little cold. But mt last she plunges
boldly in, and that wonderful river that has
witnessed more sacrifices or murders than
any other body of water In the world isa-
ceives her beneath its surface, above which q
second later she emerGes like a young mer-
maid and, like tho dark hued AphrodIte,
shakes the drops OF water from her hair.
Down the bank come four men carrying on
a stretcher a dead body, with only a cloth
thrown over II, so thin that through il can DO
seen distinctly the outlines Of the corpse.
They pile MP wool, place the corpse upon it,
pile on more wood, and after a few muttered
words light the funeral pyre, while the friends
and relatives OF the dead sit around and watch
the body as IL burns in the open air. Tho
wood drops down and one secs leg half con-
sumed or an arm burned in two. But the ut
tendants pile on more wood and the burning
and the watching 90 on. When all has been
river. Down TO the water comes a high caste
Brahmin woman clad in brilliant garments
and attended by numerous servants, for all
alike must baihe In the sacred stream.
At intervals along the bank. ON raised plat
forms, sit the priests, by far the most intelli-
gent looking Of the great throng And when
they come out these priests paint the fore
heads Of the devntess with peculiar markings,
accept their offerings and encourage them In
their idolatrous practices. on they go to
some favorite temple 10 worship some idol
and make way for the new comers who wish
20 bathe IN the sanctifled stream. And the
divine river goes ON Ia its course ms II has
done for centuries, receiving the devotions Of
the faithful, who wash themselves in its
waters, and perhaps .ejoicing that higher
civilization has pu a stop to practice that
made ID the unc ns,ious cause OF many a
mothers ANGUISH and worship.-Cawnpare
Cor Chicago Tribune.