Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/496

 We passed the residence of the Raja of Benares at Ramnagar, one mile and a half above the city; it is a handsome native palace.

8th.—Passed Chhotā Kalkata, or Sultanpūr-Benares: it is a native cavalry station, seventeen miles above Benares on the left bank of the river. Steamers bring to here occasionally, for a few minutes, to land passengers. It has a kankarī or rocky point, that is very awkward for native boats,—as also for steamers, owing to a narrow channel and strong currents; the point is off the cavalry stables, which are called Little Calcutta.

On our arrival at Chunar we moored the boats at the request of the sarhang, as the dandīs wished to go on shore to buy and sell in the bazār; they carry on a regular traffic at all the stations up the river, and gain a heavy profit on their Calcutta lanterns, pankhas, bundles of cane, cheeses, pickles, and a variety of articles. Chunar is famous for its tobacco, and the men were anxious to lay in a stock for sale at other places.

At a short distance from the landing-place, and to the left of it, is a fine peepul-tree (Ficus religiosa), at the foot of which are a number of idols in stone, placed in an erect position, supported by the trunk. A native woman placed some flowers upon the idols, and poured Ganges water over them from an earthen vessel (a gharā), which she carried on her head. Another was performing a religious and superstitious ceremony, called pradakshina,—that is, she was walking a certain number of times round and round the peepul-tree, with the right hand towards it, as a token of respect, with appropriate abstraction and prayers, in the hope of beautiful offspring. For this reason, also, the Ficus indica is subject to circumambulation. The same ceremony is mentioned in the "Chronicles of the Canongate:" the old sibyl, Muhme, says to Robin Oig, "So let me walk the deasil round you, that you may go safe into the far foreign land, and come safe home." "She traced around him, with wavering steps, the propitiation, which some have thought has been derived from the Druidical mythology. It consists, as is well known, in the person who makes the deasil walking three times