The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-06-28
In the Gauges.
b. Frank @. Carpenter.

a Million PifSf1HlS anu lIfOuSdnuS Oh
Rrahmins-The Monkey Temple
and It's Terrible Goddess-Shiva and
Tho Sacred BuIIs-Scenes Among
The Rathers-CrematiOn OR a Hot
Road to Heaven-Queer Sights and
Scenes i'm the Mecca of Hindustan.
downright, 1910. by Frank G.. Car
penter.)
BENARES, 1910.
This is the hottest city on the face
Of the globe. All who die within fifty
miles of Benares, whether they be
Rindoos or Mohammedans, Buddhists
christians, liars or thieves, go straight
10 heaven. Even to visit Benares
wipes away sin, and to battle in the
n0lv Gauges which flows by it will
make you e~ternally happy. 1t is the
greatest pilgrimage city on earth. The
somb Of Confucius in China, the birth
place of Mohammed at Mecca and the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher at
Jerusalem all put together have not
half the worshipers. More than a
million pilgrims annually kneel at
these shrines. In coming to them
thousands have Frustrated themselves
again and again measuring their
Journey by their W lengths, and
every pilgrim thus goes AROUND the
holy spots near the city, making a
circuit of forty-five miles. This pill
grimage takes six full days, and the
route is marked with temples and
Shrines.
Everywhere ] go I see Brahmin
priests consoling and fleeing the pill
grims. They can be told by the caste
marks on their faces and half naked
bodies, and by the white strings
around their necks. There are more
1han 80, 900 of them in Benares. They
are found near the temples ana unde
great umbrellas down on the Gan
ges. They will cure your sins for a
the number of a half million or more.
They Worship Monkeys.
Benares is a city of sacred beasts as
we'll as sacred men. 1t swarms with
sacred cows and great white bulls with
humps on their backs. 1t has carded
apes and a great temple in which the
monkeys live with a goddess. | visit
e that temple this morning and
watched the priests sacrifice a live
scat to DUrga, the goddess of suffer-
ing and death. The temple is sur
rounded by a wall. In front of it is
q stone upon which is a forked post
with two ong The goats neck
was tied to the fork and cut off by
a ~half-naked Hindoo with the blow
OF d cleaver. AS the ak struck the
blood spurted, and the horrid goddess.
1t seemed to me. burst into a grin.
Durga is supposed to love blood
She has a necklace of skulls under her
blOOd-dripping mouth. She is crown
ed with snakes like the Medusa, and
her face was covered with gore. She
as fond of sacrifices and thousands Of
human beings ave been killed on her
affairs The British have forbidden
this now, but it is only a little more
than a generation ago, during a
famine, that a boy was found with
his neck cut in a temple to Durga not
far from here, and within twenty-five
miles Of Calcutta a human head
decked with flowers was placed on
the altar of this goddess.
Among the queer features of the
temple are the monkeys which throng
its courts and which live in the trees
which hang over it. The monkeys are
sacred to Vishnu, another great deity.
They are kept and revered as repre-
sensations of the monkey god Ram,
who must not be touched. They are
fed by the priests and pilgrims and
are so tame that they will come to
your feet At the entrance to the
temple were peddlers selling popcorn,
and I bought some for these beasts. AS
/ carried it into the temple they jump
ed at me and grabbed the corn from
the plate. AS it fell upon the floor
monkeys came down in droves from
the trees and chatted and gTfnned
while they chewed up the grain. I
vas warned not to touch or strike
them, as they are vicious and some
times bite strangers. There were also
many baby monkeys. which trotted
about singly and with their parents,
and a dozen haif-starved dogs, which
rushed in and fought with the mon
KEYS for the popcorn.
Memorial Twenty-Seven Centuries.
from the monkey temple I went to
the Golden Temple. This is in the
heart of Benares. 1t is one Of the
most beautiful buildings of the city,
and 1t has spires and domes plated
with gold. 1t is dedicated to SILVA,
the husband of Durga, another ter
floIe god SILVA is supposed to sit en-
'hroned on one Of the HimaJaya