hooka, the host said to his visitor have been told that you were already dead.' The other replied,—'Why so? Had I been dead how could I ever have come here?’ The other rejoined:—'Of course, I corroborate you. If you had not been dead, how could you have ever come here? Please, see that you do not haunt me.' The visitor smiled, and continued smoking. Vidyasagar again opened the conversation;—'So, you have, at last, selected Benares for your last days? Could you not find a better place to die in? Never mind, when you have already made the choice and are gone there, why do you leave it now and then? You know the fate of those who settle down in Benares, but die outside its borders?'[1] The visitor replied:—'Most certainly I am aware of it. But there's no help. Pressure of business sometimes draws me down.' The host rejoined:—'Make haste; run back soon; look sharp; otherwise, you see there is a great difference betwen within and without Benares. By the way, have you acquired the habit of smoking ganja (Indian hemp)?' The visitor said,—'Why that, what's the use of ganja?' Vidyasagar replied,—'Suppose, you die in Benares; there is no doubt, in that case, that you will
- ↑ It is said, that those, who die within the precincts of Benares, are taken to Sivaloka (the abode of the god Siva), and are transformed, each to a Siva; but he, who has once settled in Benares, and dies outside its boundaries, Is transformed into an ass.
