the continued presentation of this glowing pic- | captivity, she had already risen to greatness, if ture...... Twenty-five centuries ago, at the least, it was famous. When Babylon was struggling with Nineveh for supremacy, when Tyre was planting her colonies, when Athens was growing in strength, before Rome had become known, or Greece had contended with Persia, or Cyrus had added lustre to the Persian monarchy, or Nebuchadnezzar had captured Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of Judæa had been carried into

not to glory. Nay, she may have heard of the fame of Solomon, and have sent her ivory, her apes, and her peacocks to adorn his palaces; while partly with her gold he may have overlaid the Temple of the Lord...... While many cities and nations have fallen into decay and perished her sun has never gone down; on the contrary, for long ages past it has shone with almost meridian splendor. Her illustrious name

has descended from generation to 'generation, | demeanor.
and has ever been a household word venerated
and beloved by the vast Hindu family. Not-
withstanding her destruction by fire, applied by
the brand of Krishna, which may or may not
be true, and the manifestations in her physical
aspects of repeated changes, shiftings of site, and
resuscitations, yet, as a city, no sign of feeble-
ness, no symptom of impending dissolution, so
far as I am aware, is apparent in any of the
numberless references to her in native records.
As a queen, she has ever received the willing
homage of her subjects scattered over all In-
dia; as a lover, she has secured their affection
and regard."

With the idea constantly before his inner self that he is himself a god, and deserves divine honors-which is not a mere freak of a deluded imagination on his part, but is acknowledged by all Hindus, some of whom, as he pursues his way, will stop him, and then offer to him the adoration due only to the Almighty, which he receives complacently as his right-how is it possible he should comport himself otherwise than as though the earth were hardly worthy of his tread, and the crowd abou him were, in his presence, a vile, unclean, and abominable race? Though mingling with the vulgar herd, he takes care to avoid contact with them, lest he should contract some ceremonial Hiouen Thsang, the celebrated Chinese trav-impurity. He is most particular on this point. eler, who, as a Buddhist pilgrim, visited India | Should a low-caste man by mistake, or from the in the seventh century (A.D.), gives a descrip- pressure of the throng, approach too near to tion of the district of Benares at that date. him, he cries out sharply and decisively, though "The villages," he says, "lie near together, not angrily; and in case the brazen vessel in his and contain a numerous population. Families hand, filled with water from the Ganges, which of great wealth, whose houses are filled with he is taking to drink or for sacrifice, be touched rare and precious things, are to be seen. The by such a person, he immediately throws the people are gentle and polished, and esteem high-water away, and scours the vessel thoroughly ly those who are devoted to a studious life. before using it again. When he prepares his The greater portion of them believe in the he- | food-for he cooks it himself-should a man retical doctrines (of Hinduism), and few have respect for the Law (religion) of Buddha. The climate is temperate, grain is in abundance, the fruit trees are luxuriant, and the earth is covered with tufted vegetation. There are thirty (Buddhist) monasteries, containing about 3000 monks......There are a hundred temples of the (Hindu) gods, and about 10,000 heretics...... | altogether rejected. This mysterious notion Some cut off their hair; others preserve a tuft of divinity, permeating the entire life of the upon the crown of the head, go naked, and are Brahman, originates not only in the minds of destitute of any kind of clothing. Some be- the people, but also in his own mind, a marvelsmear their bodies with ashes, and practice ous idea of his spiritual authority and power. zealously severe austerities, in order to obtain re-......In Benares there are not fewer than from lease from life and death (that is, from transmigration)."

of inferior caste, by inadvertence or from any cause, happen to touch it, the whole is considered as spoiled, and is thrown away. Indeed, so rigidly observant of the rules of their order are some of the Brahmans, that even should the shadow of such a man, or of a Christian. fall upon their food while being cooked, it is

twenty to twenty-five thousand Brahmans. They have control over the temples, the sacred wells, As Benares is the religious centre of a faith streams, and reservoirs, and other holy places which to-day sways one hundred and eighty about the city. They superintend the worship millions of the Hindu population, it is natural of the people, and give directions respecting the that priestly influence should there be predom- numberless ceremonies which are performed. inant. "Every where in India, and not mere- Every sacred spot has some peculiarity conly in this city in particular, the Brahman is a nected with it; and it is of great moment that no character, a study. No one, not even a for-punctilio should be omitted. They receive the eigner newly arrived in the country, can make offerings, the alms, the public dinners, and the a mistake in regard to him. Light in com-good things which devout Hindus are ever ready plexion in comparison with the rest of the peo- to bestow. Some of them-not a few in num ple, frequently tall in stature, with the marks of ber—are termed 'Sons of the Ganges,' and are a clear, penetrating intelligence depicted plain-chiefly found on the banks of that stream, aidly, and sometimes in a striking manner, upon ing the devotions of the numerous worshipers his countenance, erect, proud, self-conscious, daily resorting thither. he walks along with the air of a man unlike any I have ever seen, in which self-sufficiency, and the conviction of inherent purity and sanctity are combined. He needs not the upavita, or sacred Brahmanical cord, thrown over the right shoulder, or even the streaks, in honor of his favorite deity, painted upon his forehead, to point him out. In his very gait and step you trace his claim to his superiority; and did we but know the thoughts dwelling in his mind we should possess the real secret of his majestic

"Devotees and pilgrims, separated or in crowds, are seen entering or departing from the city constantly throughout the year, especially on occasions of great festivals, Ther come from all parts of India. Many carry with them the sacred water of the Ganges in small bottles hermetically sealed, placed in baskets hanging from the extremity of poles, which they bear upon their shoulders. The poor deluded sensualist, whose life has been passed in abominable courses, or the covetous Mahajan, or na

rial character, which give symbolical significance | other edifices with which the Assyrian monto its existence and authority. Her thousands archs adorned their cities."

The most celebrated of the sacred wells in Benares is that of Manikarniká, It is the first resort of the pilgrims, and its fetid water is regarded as a healing balm. There is no sin so heinous that it can not here be instantly effaced. A series of stone steps on each of the four sides of the well leads down to the water. Upon the stairs, in a niche on the north side, is a figure of Vishnu; and, at the mouth of the well, on the west side, is a row of sixteen diminutive altars, on which the pilgrims present offerings to their ancestors. The water of the well is very shallow, being not more than two or three feet in depth. It is insufferably foul, and the effluvium from it impregnates the air for some distance around. The worshiper, descending into the water, laves his head and body in the vile liquid, and, at the same time, utters certain phrases appointed for the ceremony. Di

of temples, her myriads of idols, her swarms of pilgrims, her hosts of daily worshipers, together with the pomp and circumstance and multifarious representations of idolatry in their vast aggregrate, cause the Hindu religion to be visible to the eye, in this city, in a manner and degree unknown elsewhere. Were a stranger, visiting Benares, to wander about among its shrines and sacred places, and to take note merely of the manifold signs and manifestations of Hinduism which he would find there, and then to quit the city without inquiring further -without turning his attention to those silent and unobtrusive, yet potent, influences which are undermining it in every direction, and are in operation throughout all classes of native society, even in this capital and fortress of idolatry-he would imagine that the city was wholly devoted to the practice and ceremonies of heathenism; that no ray of light had penetra-rectly in front of Manikarnika, and between it ted its midnight darkness; and that it was an impracticable and impossible task to attempt its enlightenment and reformation."

The greater portion of Mr. Sherring's work is devoted to the architectural remains in Benares, and it is to these that the illustrations given in connection with this paper relate. Notwithstanding the great antiquity of Indian civilization there has been found no architectural specimen the date of which carries us back beyond the third century before Christ. The pillars of Asoka, which belong to this period, are the earliest sculptured remains yet found. "Of these," says Mr. Fergusson, "one is at Delhi; having been erected by Feroze Shah in his palace, as a monument of his victory over the Hindus. Three more are standing near the river Gunduck in Tirhoot; and one has been placed on a pedestal in the fort of Allahabad. A fragment of another was discovered near Delhi, a part of a seventh was used as a roller on the Benares road by a Company's engineer officer." Mr. Sherring hazards the opinion that not one of the cave-temples so interesting to antiquarians and to all lovers of the curious-was excavated earlier than the first century before Christ. But those primitive specimens of architecture are not of a rude character; they must have had their predecessors. "Is it at all likely," asks Mr. Sherring, "that the Aryan race existed in India for between one and two thousand years, that they conquered a large portion of the country, that they attained to greatness and glory, and made wonderful progress in civilization, equaling, if not surpassing, their contemporaries in other parts of Asia, and yet that during all this time they were satisfied with only transitory symbols of greatness, and never conceived the idea of leaving behind them durable monuments of their power which should hand down their name to many generations? They must have heard of the vast structures erected in Egypt, and of the splendid palaces, and stairs, and pillars, and

and the Ganges, is the temple of Tárakeswar, or “the Lord Táraka." When a Hindu dies, and this god is propitiated, he breathes into his ear, they say, a charm or mantra of such efficacy that it delivers him from the misery of the future, and secures for him happiness and joy. The idol is in a kind of cistern, which is kept filled with water offered in sacrifice; and, consequently, the deity is invisible. In the rainy season the swollen river flows beyond this temple, which, for several months, stands immersed in the stream. Its foundations are thereby undermined, and the blocks of stone of which it is composed incline to separate from one another. The upper part of the tower has been entirely removed, in order to lessen the weight resting upon the base of the building. The ghát leading to the Ganges at this point is the most sacred of all the gháts in Benares; it is also the intermediate point, so that, were the city divided into two portions at this place, they would be nearly equal in extent. In this neighborhood there is likewise an imposing temple, erected a few years since by the Raja of Ahmety. Near Manikarniká Ghát are Sindhia Ghat and the Raja of Nagpore's Ghat, the former of which is remarkable not only for the massiveness of its masonry but also for the circumstance that the entire structure has sunk several feet into the earth since its erection, and is still gradually and slowly sinking.

The older temples are objects of the greatest veneration, while those recently erected, however magnificent, are shunned by the thirty-six castes. Every one of these old temples has some legend connected with its origin. Some of them are decorated with paintings. In the porch of the Trilochan temple is a remarkable painting representing the punishment of sinners in hell. In the fore-ground is the River of Death, through which persons are seen endeavoring to make their way to the other side. Some are left alone to buffet with the waves in their own strength; while others, who when

are standing armed with prodigious clubs, with which they cruelly belabor their helpless victims. One conspicuous object in this picture is a pillar of red-hot iron, on the top of which lies a writhing and agonizing mass of humanity. This punishment is exclusively reserved for adulterers.

living in this world, supported Brahmans, are | lessly plunged. Here and there executioners helped across by the sacred cow, who swims before and drags them along by her tail, which they grasp most tenaciously. The punishments represented are various. In one place a conscience-stricken sinner, who has recently emerged from the stream, is seen strongly resisting the executioner who is dragging him away by the leg. In another is an enormous vessel full of elarified butter, into which the wicked are ruth