Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-13
SIGHTS OF BENARES
Procession Of Pilgrims to the
River Ganges.
ORIGINATING THE DEAD
PROMPT ACTION, FOLLOWS THE
DEPARTURE OF LIFE.
Size Of Funeral Pyre Conditioned Upon
the Financial Standing of the
Family of the Deceased.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,
Special Correspondence Of the Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.

| BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,
Special Correspondents Of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
BENARES March u, 1904.
You have to get up early in the morning
| to see the most interesting sights in Be-
| mares, which are the pilgrims engaged in
washing their sins away in the sacred but
filthy waters of the Ganges and the out
door cremation of the bodies of people who
have died during the night and late in the
afternoon of the preceding day Hndus
allow very little time between death and
cremation. AS soon as the heart ceases to
beat the undertakers as we would call the
| men who attend to those arrangements are
sent for and preparation for the funeral
pyre is commenced Immediately. Three or
four hours only are necessary and if death
occurs later than l or 2 o'clock in the
afternoon the ceremony must be postponed
until morning. Hence all of the burning
CHATS along the river bank are busy from
daylight until midday dsposlng of the
bodies of those who have died during the
previous eighteen or twenty hours.
The death rate in Benares is very high.
Under ordinary circumstances it is higher
tnan that of other cities of India because
of its crowded and insanitary condition.
and Lecause all forms of conta gious dis
eases are brought by pilgrims who come
here themselves to die.
The Sacred Area.
AS I told you yesterday 1t ID the highest
and hottest aspiration of a pious Hindu to
end his days within an area encrcled by
what is known as the Panch-Kos road which
is fifty miles in length and bounds the city
of Benares. 1t starts at one end of the city
at the river bank, and the other terminus
is on the river at the other end. 1t de-
scr1bes parabola. AS the city is strung
along the bank of the river several miles it
is nowhere distant from the a n
six seven miles.
All who die within this boundary, be they
Hindu or Christian. Mohammedan or Budd-
hist, pagan agnostic or infidel or of any
other faith. be they murderers thieves liars
or violaters of law and every caste. what
ever their race, nationality or previous con-
dition. no matter whether they are saints
or sinners. they cannot escape admission to
Sivas heaven. This is the greatest possible
inducement for people to hurry here as
death approaches and consequently the
nonresident death rate is abnormally high
We started out Immediately after daylight
and drove from the hotel to the rivers
bank, where, at a landing place. were
eral boats awaiting other travellers as well
as ourselves. They We're ordinary Hindu
SanpanS-roW boats with houses cabins
built upon them-and upon the decks of our
cabin comfortable chairs We're placed for
our party. AS soon as were aboard the
boatmen showed off and we foated slowly
down the stream. keeping as close to the
shore as possible without jamming into the
rickety piers of bamboo that stretched out
into the water for the use of bathing pill
grims.
The bank of the river is one of the most
picturesque and imposing panoramas you
can imagine. 1t rises from the water at a
steep grade, and is covered with a series
| of terraces upon which have been erected
towers, temples, mosques, palaces, shrines,
platforms and pavilions, bathing houses,
hospces for pilgrims, khans or lodging
houses, hospitals and other structures for
the accommodation of the millions of peo-
pie who come here from every part of India
on religious pilgrimageS and other missions.
These structures represent an infinite vari-
ETY. of architecture, from the most severe
simplicity to the fantastic and sgrotesdue,
They are surmounted by domes, pinnacles,
minarets spires, towers, cupolas and cano-
pies; they built of stone, marble brick
and wood: they are painted in every variety
of colors, sober and gay; the balconies and
windows of many of them are decorated
with banners, bunting in all shapes and
colors festoons of cotton and silk garlands
of flowers and various expressions of the
taste and enthusiasm Of the occupants or
owners.
No Such Spectacle Elsewhere.
From the Sparrow Hills at Moscow one
who has sufficient patience count BOO
gilded and painted domes; from the cupola
of st. Peters may look down upon the
roofs of palaces, cathedrals, columns ODE
in no other place; around the fire tower at
Pera are spread the marvellous glories of
Stamboul, the Golden Horn and other parts
of Constantinople; from the citadel at Cairo
You can have a bird S-eye-View of one of the
most typical cities of the east; from the
Eifel Tower all Paris and it's suburbs may
be surveyed, and there are many other
striking panoramas of artificial scenery, but
nothing on Gods fOotStool equals the pic
ture of the holy Hindu city that may be
seen from the deck of a boat on the Ganges.
1t has often been described in detail, but it
Is always new and always different, and it
fascinates its witnesses: There is a repul-
siven ess O. out it which few pc pie can over
come, but it is unique. and second only to
the Tai Mahal of all the sights in India
bathing CHAT IS a pavilion, pier plat
form of stone covered with awnings and
roofs to protect the pilgrims from the sun.
| 1t reaches into the river. where the water is
| about two feet deep, and stone steps lead
| down to the bottom of the stream. Stretch
| ing out from these CHATS, in order to accom-
modate a larger number of people, are
| wooden platforms, piers of slender bamboo
floats and all kinds of contrivances, secure
and insecure, temporary and permanent,
which every morning are thronged with pill
grimS from every part of India in every va
| ciety of costumes, crowding in and out of
| the water, carrying down the sick and dy-
| ing, all to seek the salvation for the soul,
| relief for the mind and healing for the
| body which the great Mother Gauges is
| supposed to give.
Procession of Pilgrims.
The professions of pilgrims seem endless
and are attended by MANY pitiful sights.
Aged women, crippled men, lean and hag-
| gard invalids with just strength enough to
| reach the waters edge; poor, shivering.
starving wretches who have spent their last
farthing to reach this place. exhausted with
fatigue, perishng frem hunger or disease
struggle to reach the water before their