Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1899-03-09
IND|A'S QUEER WAYS.
TX. FoRNEY WRITES OF HIS
EXPERIENCE.
Interesting Letter Written to H. N.
Engle Tells Of Heather Gods and
of Idol Worship Starting a School

leaving Bombay Jan. 2. The first
place visited was Agra, a city noted
for fine art in marble mosques. The
"Taj" was bnilt by the king in mem
ory of his favorite wife at a cost OF
eight million rupees, and is consider
ed by all travellers the finest work
manship on earth. 1t took twenty
years to build it. Twenty-Five thou.
sand men were employed and their
pay was "scant living"
Next stop was Lucknow, a.place
where the English had hard fight
during the mutiny Of 1857. Many
holes are yet visible in the old build
ings shot through with cannon balls
Another nights ride brought us to
the city of Benares, near the central
part OF India, on the Gauges River.
1t is the great center of Hindoo wor-
ship.
After looking the city over for sew
eral days we came to the conclusion
that idol worship is here carried on
to its highest point. | will only
mention few things that came I'M
der my notice, as some of them are
too immoral to be put into public
print yet they call it worship The
first place visited was the River
Ganges, which the natives term a
"sacred stream" or "holy water
Thousands Of natives come many
miles to battle in those waters and
have their sins washed away. They
drink of the water and carry some
away in vessels for hundreds Of miles
to use for sacred purposes, claiming
THAT II one drinkslthe water he will
not get sick. They also use it to bap-
tie their idols in order to make them
holy. The river front is lined with
stone steps for about a mile, and
above the steps are many ancient
temples, some being six stories high.
TO get good view Of the bathers, |
took a river boat and seated myself
on the deck while the same was being
rowed up the river by four oarsmen,
from fifty to one hundred feet from
the shore. A fair estimate is that ten
Thousand men and women battle here
daily. The Burning Chat is also on
the shores here where they burn the
dead; and in the two hours Of my
stay at the river, eight persons were
brought and burned, They take
them first into the river, dip them
under the water and wash them; they
are then creased with a mixture of
some red powder, sacred flour and
Indian lavender oil, and then wrapped
In thin white sheet and laid ON a
pile Of wood with some more wood
placed on top of the dead, Then a
son or near relative will walk around
the wood seven times, firing the same
with torch. When the body is
burned, the ashes are scraped to the
waters edge and a hunt is made for
the melted iewery, as all jewelry
that is worn by the person is burned
with them. There is u special tire
master that furnishes the fire. His
income is from thirty to one hundred
rupees per day. The lowest cost of
burning body is about nine rupees.
Those that are too poor the body is
thrown into the river. A little farth-
er up they had one of the rare spec
tacles to be seen; man that died who
was one of their holy men or priests.
They don't burn them. He was
brought about five hundred miles aud
they had him sitting on the stone
steps. propped up with sticks, They
strewed flowers on him for several
hours, then tied stones TO his body.
took him TO the middle Of the river
and sunk him. In this performance
at intervals great noise was made by
shouting and pounding on metal pans.
After leaving the boat, the first
place visited was the Golden Temple
the Raj Jai Thighs Observatory, with
very large sun dia(s, built 1923. Then
the "cow temples" where the Hindoo
bows down and worships cows and
bulls, There are some cows which
they claim to be sacred. They are
well fed and left to run on the streets,
in stores and in the temples. No one
will, or is allowed, to modest them.
The people will turn out of their way
and will not touch them. The streets
in this part of the city are only about