The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-02-18

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air can enter to defile his body while
he prays: and still another is being
whipped with peacock feather to
atone for his sins. 1t is no wonder
that plague and pestilence are always
preying upon India. The bather in
the Ganges simply wades in filth. The
river reeks with sewer refuse and
every sort of offal I saw a dead dog
float between a worshiper's legs but
the jealous barbarian was too much
engrossed in meditating upon the one
| hundred and eight manifestations OF
SILVA to notice the carcass or to both
er about it if he did.
THE SWEAT OF THE GODS.
In front of the burning CHAT several
corpses floated in the water yard
from where a score of devout believers
were mechanically repeating their for
mula of alteration to the rising sun.
j AT the well supposed to be filled with
Vishnu's perspiration is the greatest
congestion of pilgrims and the most
disgusting sights. The so-called sweat
of the divinity is in reality nothing
but black, foul ooze from the river,
made more nauseous and deadly by de-
polluted slime and carry the offensive
stuff home with them to battle their
idols in.
Every crowd is fringed with beg
ging devotees-a worthless lot of
hypocrites who have made all kinds
of preposterous vows but who spend
most of their holy time in soliciting
aims. The census shows that there
are six million religious mendicants in
india. AS I went up the steps by the
burning CHAT the smoke of the funeral
piles was mounting upward and the
lamentations of mournerS were min
gled with the chant of priests. At one
place where the fire had done it's WORK
pious ghoul was sitting the ashes in
a sieve in the hope of finding bits of
jewelry from the corpse that had just
been destroyed. He was as absorbed
in his work as a Klondike miner PAN
ming for gold. 1t would require
days for the visitor to see all the
temples in Benares, for there are
thousands of them. They contain
monkeys and snakes and COWS. and
every conceivable kind of image. The
entire city is merely carnival of
idolatry. Is it at all strange that
misery is the handmaiden of a race
that lends itself to such abomina |
tons?
The sacred Bo-tree of India is re- |
garded by all devout Buddhists as the |
most hallowed object in existence. |
Their devotion is prompted by the be-
lief that the great Buddha received |
his knowledge while meditating under
it's branches. This great person was
so good that flowers sprang up in his
footprints wherever he walked. The
tree under which he sat for such great
length of time became so impressed
With his knowledge that its leaves still
tremble on account of his wisdom. An
attempt was once made to destroy this
sacred reminder Of the good mans
stay on earth, but when it was cut
Down and burned two trees at once
sprang up in its stead. 1t is such
traditions that cause the faithful to
still sprinkle milk and perfume around
he roots of the sacred Bo-tree.
At Agra, on the banks of the Jumna
liver, may be seen the architectural
masterpieces of Shah Jehan, the great
st builder of all the Moguls. It has
,een said that the genius of Shah Je
ian was such that he constructed like
Titan and finished like a jeweler.
t all hazards one needs but a glimpse
t the works of this vain monarch to
Understand why he styled himself the
King of the World" His ideas of
randeur We're certainly centuries
head of the day in which he lived.
seems incredible that a contempor-
~ of Cromwell should have set up
lese splendid structures in this des- \
7 place.
Although the old palace is empty
nd fast falling into decay, its gran
eur grows upon the visitor. The
arble halls ring empty to the tread.
ut their magnitude and richness can <
OF be dwarfed: the decorations are
AIRED by the blades of marauiing <
,ldiers who, in their search for loot, <
ried the precious stones from their 3
things; there are no grape vines in .
e court where the harem ladies used .
walk; the fountains that splashed 2
'se water have long been silent; Z
eat irrigation works have drained <
lie noble river that ran under the (
owning walls of the great pile. and Z
nd dunes are drifted thick in the Z,
urt where the tigers and elephants .
ied to fight. 20