Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-12
STREETS OF: BEnAR[s
Where the Native Eats and
Sleeps.
--------
WAYS OF THE BARBER
CARRIES ON BUSINESS WHERE
EVER HE FINDS IT.
-
Costly Palaces and Mansions in Prox-
unity to Filth - Sanitary
Laws Ignored.
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

u
| Special Correspondence of The Evening star an,
Chicago Record Herald
BENARES. March II, 1904 :
| Benares is the seventh city in size of In
| dia. Ten years ago it was the fifth, but be-
tween the census of 1891 and 1901 the popu-
lation was reduced 10000 inha bitants by
cholera, famine and plague. and it dropped
down two pegs in the list. 1t is a miracle
that the entire population does not perish,
because, notwithstanding the cautions and
efforts of the government. every sanitary
law is violated by thousands of people daily.
The temples and other places frequented by
pilgrims are filthy hotbeds of disease, and
the water they drink from the holy wells is
absolutely putrid. SO that the odor can be
detected considerable distance. And yet
half million devotees from every part of
India come here annually, and not only
drink the poisonous stuff, but battle in the
polluted river and carry back to their
homes bottles of 1t carefully corked and
labeled, which the doctors tell us is an alb
solutely certain method of distributing dis
ease. While almost all the large cities of
India increased in population during the
last decade, Bombay and Benares fell off,
the former from plaques and famine and
the latter from all kinds of contagious and
other diseases.
Costly Palaces and Mansions.
1t is a city of great wealth and has many
handsome and costly palaces and mansions
which have been erected here by pious
Hindu princes, rajahs, merchants, bankers
and others who spend a part of each year
within it's sacred precincts, renewing their
rela atoms with the gods just as other people
go to the springs and seashOre to restore
their physical vitality. The residential ar
chitecture is picturesque, but not artistic.
The houses are frequently of fantastic de-
signs, and are painted In gay colors and
covered with carvings that are often gro
tesque. They have galleries around them,
and broad overhanging caves to keep out
the rays of the sun, and many of them are
set In the midst of attractive groves and
gardens. Some of the modern buildings are
very fine. There is plenty of room for the
display of landscape gardening as well as
architecture, but the former has been
neglected. The one thing that strikes a
stranger and almost vbewilders him is the
vivid colors. They seem unnatural and in
appropriate for a sacred city, but are not
more incongruous than other features.
The streets in the outer part of the city
are wide, we'll paved and we'll shaded. The
business portion of the town. where the ma
tives chiefly live, is a9wilderness of narrow
streets hemmed in with shops, factories,
dwelling houses. temples, shrines, restaur-
ants, cafes and boarding. houses for pill
srims. Every shop rs open to the street,
and the shelves are bright with brass, sill
yer and copper vessels and gaily painted
images of the gods which are purchased
by the pilgrims and other visitors.
Benares is famous all over the world for
its brass work and It's silks Half the shops
in town are devoted to the sale of brass
vessels of various kinds, chiefly bowls OF
many forms and styles which are required
by the pilgrims in performing their relig-
ious duties In addition to these there are
hundred different varieties of domestic
and sacred utensils. many of them beauti-
fully chased and engraved, and they are
sold to natives al prices that seem absurd
but foreigners are expected to pay much
more. Indeed everp purchase is matter
of prolonged negotiation. The merchant
fixes his price very high and then lowers
it gradually as he thinks discreet according
to the behavior of his customer.
handmade silks from looms in the cot
tages of the peasants can still be purchased
in Benares and they wear forever. Some are
coarse and some are fine, but they are
all peculiar to this place and cannot be pur-
chased elsewhere because the product Is
idnted and merchants cannot buy them in
sufficient quantity to make profitable
trade. The heavier qualities of silk are
used chiefly for mems clothing. They wash
like linen they never wear out and are cool
and comfortable. The brocades of Benares
are equally famous, and are used chiefly
for the ceremonial dresses of the rich and
fashionable. Sometimes they are woven OF
threads of pure gold and weigh as much as
an armor. These are. of course, very ex-
pensive, and are usually sold by weight.
Very little account is taken of the labor
expended upon them, although the designs
and the workmanship are exquisite, because
the weavers and embroiderers are paid only
few cents day. Beside these heavy
fabrics are costly tissues as fine as sp-
ders' webs also woven of silver and gold,
and silk and linen. They are used by the
women as head dresses and scarfs and rich
men use them for turbans. Sometimes an
Indian noble will have seventy or eighty
yards of this delicate gossamer wound
about his head, and the ends, beautifully
embroidered, with long fringes of gold, hang
gracefully down upon the shoulders.
Street Scenes.
1t is almost impossible to go through the
narrow streets of Benares in the middle of
the day, because they are crowded with
men, women, children, priests, pilgrims
peddlers. beggars, NANCY dogs, sacred cows.
fat and lazy bulls dedicated to silva, ana
other animate and inanirnate distractions.
1t seems to be the custom for people to live
and work in the streets family dining
will occupy half the roadway as they squat
around their brass bowls and jars and cram
the rice and miliet and curry into their
mouths with their fingers. The lower classes
of Hindus never use tables, knives or forks.
The entire family eats out of the same
dish, while the dogs hang around waiting
for morsels and sacred COW is apt to poke
its nose into the circle at any time. The
street is often blocked up by carpenter
who is mending a cabinet or putting new
board into floor.
little farther along barber may be en-
gagged in shaving the face and head of
some customer. Both of them are squat
ting face to face, as often in the middle of
the road as elsewhere, and with bowls, ra-
zors. soap bottles and other appurtenances
of the trade spread out between them. Bar
bers rank next to priests in the religious
aristocracy. and, as, 1t is forbidden by the
Brahmins for a man to shave himself. they
are of much Importance In the villages.
Houses are usually set apart for them to
live in just as we furnish parsonages for
our ministers The village barber has GER
tain rights and exemptions that are not en-
5oyed by other people.s He is not required
to do military service in the native states;
he does not have to pay taxes, and his
caste have monopoly of their business,
which the courts haveE sustained. The
Brahmins also require that a man must be
shaved fasting. ara Il
Another matter of great Importance which
the BARRIERS have to do with is little tuft
of hair that is allowed to grow from the
top of the head of child when all the rest
of the scalp is shaven. This is a COM
mendable preeaution, and is almost univer-
sally taken in the interest of children, the
scalp lock being necessary to snatch the
child away from the devil and other evil
spirits when 1t is in danger from those
sources As the person grows older and
H. l. - l.x-l