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 BENARES

CITY.

windows have been made extremely

small.

265

The

fagades

are

painted in fantastic patterns, to represent the mythical episodes of theology.

During the

roofs of their houses.

fine season

often

Hindu

most of the inhabitants sleep on the

The town bristles with religious buildings, Hindu The temples of the ancient faith are set down at

and Muhammadan. 1454, most of which

diminutive shrines, while the Musalmans Besides these regular places of worship, every niche, corner, and empty space upon the ghats and in the walls of houses are

possess 272 mosques.

occupied by some religious image, mutilated statue, Ungci, or squareRaja Man Singh of Jaipur is said to have presented stone.

is

hewn sacred

100,000 temples to the

numerous

are too

city

in a single

day.

to be fully noticed, but a few

The chief buildings among them deserve

special attention.

The temple

at

Durga Kund,

southern extremity of the

in the

has a great society of sacred monkeys attached to

its

precincts.

city,

It

was erected by Rani Bhawani during the last century, and is remarkable for its simple and graceful architecture. The Dasasamedh ghat Raja Jai forms one of the five sacred places of pilgrimage in Benares. Singh’s observatory, a handsome and substantial building, erected in Its founder reformed the 1693, overlooks the Man Mandil ghat. calendar for the Emperor Muhammad Shah. Close to the same spot stands the Nepalese temple, whose quaint and picturesque architecture unexpectedly betrays the influence of Chinese models. Surrounded by pure Hindu buildings, it strikes the eye at once alike by its novelty and

A little above the observatory, the where the bodies of Hindus are reduced to ashes, leads down to the Ganges by a narrow, confined pathway, with numerous slabs of stone set up on end in honour of widows who have performed sati. The Well of Mani Karniki, filled with the sweat of Vishnu, forms one of the chief attractions for pilgrims, thousands of whom annually by

excellent workmanship.

its

burning

bathe

ghat.,

in its fetid waters.

Stone steps lead down to the edge, crowded

with worshippers, whose sins are washed away by the efficacious spring.

The graceful Tarakeswar shrine fronts the well. The huge mass of Aurangzeb’s mosque, built from the remains of a Hindu temple, towers conspicuously over the brink of a steep cliff, above the Panchganga ghdt, with strong breastworks of masonry extending far

down

It is the most conspicuous building in the city when seen and on a nearer view becomes remarkable for its slender minarets, 147 feet in height, and slightly inclined from the perpendicuBhaironath, the divine guardian and watchman of Benares, has a lar. famous temple near the public gardens while his sacred baton or stone

the bank.

from the river





club, 4 feet in height, to

it

is

is

deposited in a separate shrine hard by.

the Gopal mand'tr, containing two gold images

This temple, though not remarkable

for

Close

of Krishna.

beauty of architecture, ranks