BENARES
CITY.
windows have been made extremely
small.
265
The
fagades
are
painted in fantastic patterns, to represent the mythical episodes of theology.
During the
roofs of their houses.
fine season
often
Hindu
most of the inhabitants sleep on the
The town bristles with religious buildings, Hindu The temples of the ancient faith are set down at
and Muhammadan. 1454, most of which
diminutive shrines, while the Musalmans Besides these regular places of worship, every niche, corner, and empty space upon the ghats and in the walls of houses are
possess 272 mosques.
occupied by some religious image, mutilated statue, Ungci, or squareRaja Man Singh of Jaipur is said to have presented stone.
is
hewn sacred
100,000 temples to the
numerous
are too
city
in a single
day.
to be fully noticed, but a few
The chief buildings among them deserve
special attention.
The temple
at
Durga Kund,
southern extremity of the
in the
has a great society of sacred monkeys attached to
its
precincts.
city,
It
was erected by Rani Bhawani during the last century, and is remarkable for its simple and graceful architecture. The Dasasamedh ghat Raja Jai forms one of the five sacred places of pilgrimage in Benares. Singh’s observatory, a handsome and substantial building, erected in Its founder reformed the 1693, overlooks the Man Mandil ghat. calendar for the Emperor Muhammad Shah. Close to the same spot stands the Nepalese temple, whose quaint and picturesque architecture unexpectedly betrays the influence of Chinese models. Surrounded by pure Hindu buildings, it strikes the eye at once alike by its novelty and
A little above the observatory, the where the bodies of Hindus are reduced to ashes, leads down to the Ganges by a narrow, confined pathway, with numerous slabs of stone set up on end in honour of widows who have performed sati. The Well of Mani Karniki, filled with the sweat of Vishnu, forms one of the chief attractions for pilgrims, thousands of whom annually by
excellent workmanship.
its
burning
bathe
ghat.,
in its fetid waters.
Stone steps lead down to the edge, crowded
with worshippers, whose sins are washed away by the efficacious spring.
The graceful Tarakeswar shrine fronts the well. The huge mass of Aurangzeb’s mosque, built from the remains of a Hindu temple, towers conspicuously over the brink of a steep cliff, above the Panchganga ghdt, with strong breastworks of masonry extending far
down
It is the most conspicuous building in the city when seen and on a nearer view becomes remarkable for its slender minarets, 147 feet in height, and slightly inclined from the perpendicuBhaironath, the divine guardian and watchman of Benares, has a lar. famous temple near the public gardens while his sacred baton or stone
the bank.
from the river
club, 4 feet in height, to
it
is
is
deposited in a separate shrine hard by.
the Gopal mand'tr, containing two gold images
This temple, though not remarkable
for
Close
of Krishna.
beauty of architecture, ranks
