Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/302

 The benefits arising to relations will be as one to eight, compared with that of the person bathing at the holy place. When he is about to return, he obtains some of the offerings which have been presented to the idol or idols, and brings them home to give to his friends and neighbours; these consist of sweetmeats, tool[)u]see leaves, the ashes of cow-dung, &c. After celebrating the shraddh[)u] he entertains Brahmāns, and presents them with oil, fish, and all those things from which he abstained: having done this he returns to his former course of living. The reward promised to the pilgrim is, that he shall ascend to the heaven of that god who presides at the holy place he has visited."

The mighty Bhadrināth towers far above Chimboraco, although—

" Andes, giant of the western star, With meteor-standard to the winds unfurl'd, Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the world."

At Gangoutrī, the source of the most sacred branch of the Ganges, Mahadēo sits enthroned in clouds and mist, amid rocks that defy the approach of living thing, and snows that make desolation more awful. But although Gangoutrī be the most sacred, it is not the most frequented shrine, access to it being far more difficult than to Bhadrināth; and, consequently, to this latter pilgrims flock in crowds, appalled at the remoteness and danger of the former place of worship. This may pretty fully account for the superior riches and splendour of Bhadrināth. The town and temple of Bhadrināth are situate on the west bank of the Alacknunda, in the centre of a valley; the town is built on the sloping bank of the river, and contains only twenty or thirty huts, for the accommodation of the Brahmāns and other attendants on the deity: the æra of its foundation is too remote to have reached us even by tradition.

A hot spring, issuing from the mountain by a subterraneous passage, supplies the Tapta-Kund; it has a sulphureous smell: Surya-Kund is another hot spring issuing from the bank. The principal idol, Bhadrināth, is placed in artificial obscurity in the temple, and is dressed in gold and silver brocade; above his