Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 2.djvu/130

 GUNGAPOOTRAS.

UNGAPOOTRAS, or sons of the Ganges, are Brahmins, who are specially devoted to the worship of the river Gunga (or Ganges), and are maintained by the alms they receive from bathers. They are not migratory, abstain from animal food, and subsist chiefly on grain and milk. They exercise despotic sway in their domain of the "Munkurniká," at Benares. Their numbers are considerable, and in the division of spoil, desperate conflicts occur. But they know that union is strength, and consequently always combine to hunt the common prey, the Hindoo public.

The "Munkurniká" is a reservoir lined with flags of hewn stone, on the bank of the Ganges. Dming the rise of the river, it is filled with the sacred stream; besides which, a puny springlet dribbles into this basin, from the land side, and, during the hottest season of the year, suffices to keep up a filthy puddle, rendered more and more impure by the daily immersion of hundreds. But nevertheless this filthy semi-fluid matter is looked upon by the Hindoo as the purest of the pure— the cleanser from sin and moral impurity. The holy pool is thronged every morning by votaries, each with his silver money in hand to bestow upon his Gungapootra, and eager to plunge into the basin of holy water.

These Gungapootras are (with the Ghauteeahs and Aghorees) the greatest rascals in the holy city of Benares. There is not a crime or enormity of which they are not suspected, and of which they are not believed to be capable. Violent assaults on women, with criminal intent, are common. The assailants are protected by their wealth and their position, and unless the complainants can afford to pay more largely than the Gungapootra, they are not likely to obtain redress. A common practice among the more disreputable of these Gungapootras, is to jostle a well-dressed woman, and to snatch from her nose or ears the golden jewel she wears. In dense crowds of thousands, cooped up in narrow thoroughfares, it is not easy to catch these miscreants; and if caught, they easily evade proof by giving the robbed jewel to their companions, who rapidly pass it from one to another.