Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-05-07
BATHING ANDBURNING CHATS
DAILY SCENES IN THE CANOES
AT HOLY BENARES.
The Greatest Human Spectacle in In
dia-Ceremonies in Which 1000
People Take Part-Burning of the
Dead-A Picture Of Heathenism
Triumphant.

people Take Part-BurninQ of the
Dead-A Picture Of Heathenism
Triumphant.
The greatest spectacle in India is
the sunrise gathering of Ganges wor-
shippers along the river bank a. Be
mares.
Even when the tourist sees 1t, which
is generally in the winter, there are
from 10000 to $4,000 bathers along
the city front AT the summer festi-
walls three times that number take
part in the ceremony.
1t is the dream of every piouS Hin
du to die in Benares, to have his
body cremated OF the edge of Mother
Ganges" and the ashes committed to
her flood. If he once gets TO Benares
his dream is pretty sure to be realiz-
ed.
The city stretches for three miles
along the lett or west bank of the
Ganges, and all the city's extent is
sacred ground Who dies there on
the left bank is sure of exalted es-
tate hereafter while the right bank
is desolate and accursed, and who
ever dies on that stretch of Ganges
shore becomes donkey in the next
incarnation, without hope forever.
One bank of the muddy stream is
steep and high, crowded with palaces,
temples and hanging gardens, with
the broad, magnificent flights of steps,
called CHATS, sweeping down between
them to the rivers edge.
The opposite shore Is low and
sandy. The Maharajah of Benares
has a white marble palace on the
right bank, far up stream, but no one
dies in this Ramnagar palace, nor in
the village behind it, if mortal effort
can prevent The dying are bundled
into boats in panic haste, for it is
as good to give the death rattle on
Mother Ganges' breast as on the Be
mares shore.
To see the sunrise bathing one
starts before daybreak, when in the
winter months it is bitterly cold, even
though one may be glad of the shelter
of sun umbrella before noon.
Descrit ing her experiences Eliza
Scidmore says in the National Geo
graphic Magazine that when they had
raced down the great steps and the
houseboat was poled off from the
bank a murmur of voices rose the
length of the CHATS from the tens
of thousands on platforms built over
the water or standing waist deep in
the water, repeating in muttered
chant the ancient Vedic hymn.
They dipped themselves beneath the
swirling mud flood; they lifted the
water in jars and foured it over their
heads; they lifted 1t in their hands
and let it trickle through their fing-
ers or run down their arms, and they
dipped tufts of sacred grass in the
water and sprinkled themselves.
Each one was absorbed entirely in
the long religious recitals. They paid
no heed to US, nor to any happenings,
for the Hindu ritual is so exacting
that if they should make a slip or
omission they would have to begin all
over again.
For the priests and high caste
Brahmans the daily prayers are OF two
hours duration by the water side, and
continue all day, but The ordinary
man gets his morning ceremony done
in far less time wades back to shore
and dry garments, spots and stripes
himself with fresh caste marks for
| the day. He fills brass jar with
water and strolls along the CHATS with
| the crowd, stops for a prayer or two,
salaams to a COW or two, pours his
water offering over some greasy black
| image, and his religious work is done.
Not every believer goes to the
Ganges. each morning. Tens and tens
of thousands must shirk their rellg-
ious duties entirely, for as the city
has a fixed population of 222,4OO and
a floating population of 10000 to 3D.
600 it is only AN eighth or tenth OF
them all that hail the sun across
| Gauges.
All who do go are in evidence save
the few high caste and noble women
/ WHO dINlNS UGlOiG OnJ AA5hN N'AANA
| rowed out in curtained boats to bathe
and pray unseen in mfdstream. IL
must require physical courage as well
! as religious zeal ito breast that cold,
muddy current on frosty morning.
especially as the majority of these
people have only double cotton
sheet for promenade toilet.
At the women's CHAT every woman
| carries a brass water jar or still
larger and heavier jar of red pottery,
and the procession of gracefully drap-
ed figures going up and down the
broad CHAT is an intending dellSht.
| Swathed in their winding saris, they
wade into the river and pray, one IS
sure to every Hindu deity which the
ten fingers represent to let them come
into the world again in some human
form less ignoble than a womanS.
They go back to shore and deity
enyelop themselves in fresh saris and
dron the wet ones to the steps with
ont once uncovering the face or eX-
posing more than the feet and hands.
They scour their brass looas with
Ganges mud, they wash their hair
with sacred muck and fill the jars to
take home at the mouths of the city
sewers.
The deyotees show no fastidious
choice in dipping the water they drink.
All is Gauges water and all Is sacred.
The burning CHAT where human
bodies are cremated is neglected
hank quilted by rains. Pyres, some
new. others half consumed, are scat
TERED about. Ghouls are poking among
the ashes for coins or jewels, while
the more systematic carry pans Of
ashes to the waters edge and wash
this pay dirt like any placer miner.
Along this revolving sequel to yes
terday's burnings lie fresh bodies,
wrapped in white sheets and garlands
OF nlarigolds. The bodies are dipped
-,