The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-04-18

I 81 OF ldi i'Aiht>s
Pilgrim CT, OF India.
/ The utmost that can he said Of any
/ people" says Sister NivEpIrh. MAJ
GAEEr r.. NOBLE in TooffdilS Of Hdion
HISTORY Uongiuans. Green aud Com
/ pany). is that they have known how
! to give strong impress of their own
to those materials which the world uf
their time brought to t.Cir door" The
truth of the statement depends upon
the special definition of utmost.
Certainty the study 90 national char
actcristics. at,ona, views of life and
national ways Of living is Of absorb
ms interest. The English woman who
became "A sister" to India wrote Of II
with a piquan, blending Of her native
and her ad ptivc consc.ousncsscs.
Others may be more authoritative and
on.iEhtcn.ng reporters aud Interpreters
Of polite modern India. but Miss
Noble * unsurpass when II comes
To a matter NJ the ancient. unchanged
spirit of the grea; nation south "f
TIE Himalayas. \ certain ohscuritH
that marks some Of hor studies IN
history. attributable To her dtsrcg ,ri
of date and concrete event in favor 81
the vaguely bounded analysis into
Thought movements" - not present
in her description e the pilgrim
city" Of B"nares.
In this description. thin in respect
of Typographical architectural. poll
teal and commercial fact, the riddle
OF the Indian nature is prominent
without its tanta,lzinciy customary
battling quality. Bcnarcs is hcaut.-
fully panoramic on the high northern
hank Of the Gan=es where the river
sweeps i'm q magnificent curyinc
course. Il has a thousand and a hat
of temples. II carries on a flourish
ing trade with the surrounding couu-
try bv rail and river. Il j. AZ the
iuuction of the Oudh and Rohilkhand
and the East Indian railways. TIL"
river is placed sub iugum by a st"ci
girdcr bridge of seven spans. $50 feet
To- the span: is II the bridge whose
building kipling told II with fantastic
Nct convincing" revelation 81 tho
mysteries Of Father GunGa and
drugs Tho city as valuHI'o manu-
features in silk hrocadcs. god and sill
Yer thread. gold niigrcc work. Ger
man silver. embossed brass vessels ana
lacquer toys. though the once wor-
dcrfu product of the workers In brass
is not what 1t was when the art
rested in elder hands
There is a mint: a Prince Of Wales
Hospital: town hall Bcnarcs col
lego. opened in 1871, mas finc build
ings acquired in 1852 Tho Central
Hindu College WAS established in l>9S.
But il is no, Of these statistics and
structures, nor Yet of the Hindu
founders In 1900 or 50 r. e. of the
pathan dynasty. the Mog1l ana Doh,
empires and the empire of the East
Indian Company. Of the rebellion uf
Chait singh in 1881 aud the Mutiuy
IN 1857 that Sister Nivcdta writes.
She supplements the clopwl.a
ana tho year book.
After several visits to Bcutrcs tho
I'm wlcdce ~ the city as n living
thing came la her ON a day when
she sat. one druwsy Indian carly after
room. in tho NiShwanath bazaar Tho
shopkc"pCrS nodded and doHcd over
their small wares. and tie air WAS
flied with the signing resonance Of
tho great bell in the Temple Of N.Sh-
WcswHr rs the steady -;rcam If W,r-
shippers entered, prayed and passed
on: "Swayng. sOhhmG, there ( huns,
seeming a : if in that hour Of peace 1t
were some mystic dome, thrilled by
aud responsive Ia every thrOh OF the
City's life one could believe that
these ripples Of sound tn Il ran across
II were born of no mechanical VIhra-
,ion. hut echoed. hcrc q moan there
N.t in NJ q inl-
ness. in an the distant quarters Of
Bcnarcs; that the bell was even is a
great weaver, weaving into unity o(
music and throwing back on earth
those broken and tangled threads of
joy and pain that without ii would
have seemed meaningless and con.
fused" Miss Noble was a poet,
Rcnarcs Is city built about the
walls of cathedral. Ancient az the
city is, il has in contrast with some
other cities OF India an air of mo-
tcrnity, for it's palaces, m0nastcrics
and temp eS that border the river date,
with few exceptions, not more than
three centuries back, When James
town was founded when New AmSt"r-
dam was settled, when the Pilgrim
Fathers landed when Marquette and
Joliet ana La Sale were exploring
the wilderness where Chicago and
IittsburG were to he planted. Bcudros
was building its "mOderu" structure
of to-day: building thcm. ptlimpscst-
wise, over the remains of unnumhor"d
earlier generations of man hives And
altaough there is talk of n decay of
native Indian Intelligence ana crafts
manship, there is skill and taste
enough in India to rebuild them all
II they fell tomorrow" Yet there are
in the temples the asaar'' in inter-