BENARES
262
CITY.
the Rev. Mr. Sherring’s Sacred City of the Hindus (London Triibner) the North-Western Provinces Census Report for 1881; and the Pro:
vmcial Admmistration Reports from i88o to 1883.] Benares (or more correctly, Varanasi or Bandras).
cantonment
in
Benares
District,
strative head-quarters of the District
The
long. 83° 3' 4" E.
city,
— City
and
North-Western Provinces, and admini-
and
Division.
Lat. 25° 18' 31" n.,
exclusive of the cantonments, covers an
area of 3448 acres, and contained in 1881 a population of 193,025,
147,230; Muhammadans, 45,529; and Christians, The cantonment population of 6675 consists of 4104 Hindus, 1705 Muhammadans, 864 Christians, and 2 ‘others.’ Benares, the religious metropolis of the Hindu faith, and first city of the Northnamely, Hindus, 266.
Western Provinces (exclusive of Oudh) in population and importance, on the left or northern bank of the river Ganges, about 120 miles below its junction with the Jumna, at an elevation of 253 feet above sea level; distant from Calcutta 421 miles north-west, from Allahabad 74 miles east, and from Delhi 466 miles south-east. The Ganges forms a bay or crescent-shaped reach in front of the city, thus permitting the eye to take in at a single sweep the long line of its picturesque ghats and splendid temples. The town is built of Chanar freestone, and consists of winding labyrinths and narrow alleys, lined by temples, mosques, or palaces, and crowded with pilgrims and busy citizens, camels, asses, horses, and sacred bulls. But though the view is ever}-where obstructed within the city itself, along the bank of the Ganges is unrolled a magnificent panorama of palaces, capped by domes, minarets, and sacred buildings, in every variety of oriental architecture. The people spend a large part of their time praying, bathing, or lounging by the water-side. The ghats are crowded with fakirs and other ashbesprinkled and almost naked ascetics, practising their devotions and life-long austerities. The city can be approached either by land or water. The Ganges aftbrds a navigable highway for large steamships ; lies
the East Indian Railway has a station opposite Rajghat.
A
bridge of
maintained here during the hot and dry seasons by the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway Company, who have a temporary line of railway from Benares cantonment to Rajghat. A ferr)' is kept up during boats
is
Benares
the rains.
khand
is
at present the
terminus of the
Railwa)', but a bridge across the
Ganges
Oudh and
Rohil-
at Rajghat, close to the
is now (1883) in course of construction, and the line then run across the river to Mughal Sarai, and there join the East
bridge of boats, will
Indian Railway. The Grand Trunk Road and other good metalled ways lead over bridges on the Ganges or the Barna from every quarter. No walls or fortifications enclose the holy city. During the Mutiny, a fort erected
populace
but
at
Rajghat overawed the disaffected section of the has now been abandoned, owing to alleged
this
