Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-11
.IND|A'S SACRED CITY
More Holy to More Millions
Than Any Place.
GATE TO PARADISE
DEATH AT BENAREs A BLESSING
TO BEEAREs.
Was Famous When Rome Was Found
ed-Worship Of the Ganges-Pass-
ing of Buddhism.
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS

upon the banks of the Ganges, the most
sacred river. more holy to more millions of
human souls than Mecca to the Moslem
Rome to the Catholic or Jerusalem to the
Jew. This marvellous city is SO holy that
death upon its soil is equivalent to life
eternal. 1t is the gate to Paradise, the
abundant entrance to everlasting happiness.
and its blessings are comprehensive enough
to include all races, all religions and all
castles. II is not necessary to be Brahmin
or to worship silva or Krishna or any other
of the Hindu gods, nor even to believe in
them. Their grace is sufficient to carry UNI
believers to the Hindu heavens. provided
they die within the area inclosed by
boulevard encircling this city.
There are in Benares 1000 temples and
innumerable shrines. 5000 Brahmin priests.
monks, fakirs and ascetics. and 1t Is visited
annually by more than half a million pill
grims-a larger number than may be count
ed at Mecca Or Jerusalem, or at any other
OF the sacred cities of the world There are
more than 100000 idols established in per-
manent places of worship in Benares, req
resenting every variety of god in the Hindu
pantheon. SO all the pilgrims who come here
may find consolatio and some object of
worship. There are twenty-eight sacred
cows at the central temples, and perhaps
500 more at other places OF worship
throughout the city; the trees around the
keys and apes; there are twenty-five places
where the dead are burned, and the air OF
the city il always darkened during the day.
time by columns of smoke that rise from
the funeral pyres.
No other city not even London. has so
many beggars, religious and otherwise: no
where can SO many pitfful spectaeles OF de
formity and distress be seen; nowhere Is
such gross and repu1sive obseenity and SEN
suality practiced-and all in the name OF
religion; nowhere are such sordid deeep-
lions imposed upon superstitious believers.
and nowhere such gloomy, absurd and pre-
posterous methods used for consoling SIN
ners and escaping the results OF sin.
Although Benares in several respects Is
the most interesting city in India, and one
of the most interesting in the world, II Is
also the most filthy, repuisive ana forpio-
ding Few people care to remain here more
than a day or two. although to the ethnol-
ogist and other students to artists and
others in search of the picturesque, 1t mas
more to offer than can be found elsewhere
in the Indian empire.
Antiquity of Benares.
Benares is as old as Egypt 1t is one of
the Oldest cities in existence. 1t was al
ready famous when Rome was founded;
even when Joshua and his trumpeters were
surrounding the walls of Jericho 1t is the
hope of every believer in Brahminism to
visit Benares and wash away his sins In
the water of the sacred Ganges: the great
est blessing he can enjoy Is to die here;
hence the palaces, temples and lodging
houses which line the river banks are
filed with the aged relatives and friends
of their owners and with pilgrims who have
come from all parts of India to wait with
ecstatic patience the summons OF the angel
of death in order to go straight to heaven
Nothing in all their religion is so dear to
devout Hindus as the Ganges. The mys-
terlous cavern in the Himalyas which IS
supposed to be the source Of the river Is the
most sacred place on earth. 1t is the fifth
head of silva; and for 1,600 miles to Its delta
every inch of the banks is haunted with
gods and demons and has been the scene
of events bearing upon the faith of two
thirds of the people of India. The most
pious act and one that counts more than
any other to the credit of a human soul On
the great books above, is to make a pill
grimage from the source to the mouth OF
the Ganges.
If YOU have read Kip.;ng's story of kim"
YOU will remember the anxiety of the old
lama to find this holy stream. and to fol-
low it's banks. Pilgrims to Benares and
other cities upon the Ganges secure bottles
of the precious water for themselves and
send them to their friends and kindred in
foreign lands. No river in all the world IS
so worshi3ed. and to die upon its sacred
banks and to have ones body burned and
lis ashes borne away into oblivion upon its
tawny current is the highest aspiration OF
hundreds of millions of people.
The Ganges is equally sacred to the Bud
dhist, and Benares Is associated more close
Iy with the career of BGddha than any other
city Twenty-Five hundred years ago Bud
cha preached his first sermon here, ana Tor
ten centuries or more 1T was the headquaf-
tiers of Buddhism. Buddha selected 1t as the
center of his missionary work, he secured
the support of its scholars, teachers and
philosophers, and from here sent forth mis-
sionaries to China. Japan, Burma Ceyion;
the Malay peninsula, siam, 1hDet ana
other countries until half the human race
accepted him as divine. his teachings as the
law of God, and Benares as the fountain OF
ti.at faith
1t is a tradition that one of the wise men
who followed the star of Bethlehem to the
Child that was Graded in a manager was "a
learned pundit from Benares, and it is GER
tainly true that the doctors of theology who
have lived and taught in the temples and
c,onasterieS here have exercised greater
influence upon larger number of men than
those of any other city that ever existed
Brahminism Succeeds Buddhism.
But in these modern days Benares is
wholly given over to ignorance, supersti-
ton. vice. filth and idoiatry. The pure and
lofty doctrines of Buddha are no longer
taught. The well OF knowledge is a
filthy, putrid hole filled with slime and rot
ting vegetation. Buddhism has been swept
out of India altogether, and Brahminism is
taught and practiced here in its most re-
puisive and depraved forms.
Occasionally some reformer appears who
endeavors to rebuke the depravity and APP
peals to the thinking members of the Brah-
min sect to restore the ancient philosophy
and morality of their fathers. 1 saw such
one today. He lives in bare and COM
fortress temple surrounded by a garden; is
entirely dependent upon charity; every
mouthfui of food that he eats is brought to
him by his disciples. He spends his entire
time, day and night, in contemplation; he
sleeps when he is exhausted: he eats when
food is handed him. and IL he is neglected
he staryes until some thoughtful person
brings him a bowl of rice or curry. He
wears nothing but a single shirt of cotton;
he owns nothing in all the world except a
brass bowl, which Is used for both food and
drink. and few relics of his predecessor
and teacher whom he lived with and served
and whose mantel fell upon him. To those
who come to his temple with serious minds
and anxious to know the truth, he talks
freely, and his pride is gratified by having
his visitors inscribe their names In large
book which is kept for that purpose. And
contributions OF money are very acceptable
because they enable his disciples to circu-
late his thoughts and discourses In printed
form I noticed that most of the nameslin
the visitors book were those of Americans,
and 1t occurred to me that his contempia-
lions must be seriously disturbed by having