JiM T '+ * W^~L. JWV"^ L^B 1 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 AMONG THE GODS
 
 A GOPURA OF THE GREAT PAGODA, MADURA.
 
 AMONG THE GODS 
 
 SCENES OF INDIA: WITH LEGENDS BY THE WAY 
 
 BY 
 
 AUGUSTA KLEIN 
 
 WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOQD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCXCV 
 
 All /lights reserved
 
 DS 
 
 y/s 
 
 En tttem0uam 
 
 SORORIS NOSTRAE 
 
 QUAE OLIM NOBISCUM PEUEGRINATA 
 NUNC DOMI NOS EXSPECTAT. 
 
 1360677
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. FROM LONDON TO THE ISLE OP GEMS ... 1 
 
 II. KANDY AND NUWARA ELIYA . . . . . 16 
 
 III. CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA . . . . 38 
 
 IV. TINNEVELLI ........ 62 
 
 V. THE CITY OP SWEETNESS 70 
 
 VI. TRICHINOPOLI ....... 80 
 
 VII. TANJOR . . . . . . . .93 
 
 VIII. MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS . . . .103 
 
 IX. FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA . . . . .126 
 
 X. DARJILING . 145 
 
 XI. THE CITY OF FLOWERS . . . . . .165 
 
 XII. THE TEMPLE OF THE BODHI TREE . . . 175 
 
 XIII. BENARES 191 
 
 XIV. MOTHER GANGES ...".... 210 
 
 XV. THE CITY OF AKBAR 226 
 
 XVI. GWALIAR 251
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 XVII. THE PEACOCK CITY AND THE FOREST OF VR1NDA . 267 
 
 XVIII. THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY ..... 284 
 
 XIX. PESHAWAR AND THE KHAIBER PASS . . . 300 
 
 XX. FROM SIMLA TO JAIPUR . . . . . 312 
 
 XXI. BOMBAY THE CAVES OF ELEPHANTA ; . . 329 
 
 XXII. BOMBAY THE TOWERS OF SILENCE 339
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A GOPURA OP THE GREAT PAGODA, MADURA . . Frontispiece 
 
 ON THE GALLE ROAD, COLOMBO . . . . . 10 
 
 BUDDHIST MONKS, KANDY 22 
 
 THE TEMPLE OP THE TOOTH, KANDY .... 24 
 THE NAZARETH MISSIONARY, WITH POUR NATIVE PRIESTS 
 
 AND THE CHOIR OP S. JOHN'S 48 
 
 THREE TAMIL GIRLS, NAZARETH ..... 56 
 PILLARS IN THE HALL OP A THOUSAND COLUMNS, SHR1RAN- 
 
 GAM PAGODA . 88 
 
 THE RATHS AT THE SEVEN PAGODAS ... 122 
 
 THE GREAT BANYAN TREE, BOTANICAL GARDENS, CALCUTTA 142 
 
 BHUTIA MEN AND WOMEN, DARJILING .... 152 
 
 THE GOSAIN TEMPLE, BENARES . . 208 
 
 RIVER-SIDE TEMPLES, BENARES . . . . 214 
 
 THE MEMORIAL WELL, CAWNPORE 228 
 
 THE DIWAN-I KHAS, AGRA FORT ..... 240
 
 X ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 THE TAJ MAHALL, FROM THE TOP OF THE GATEWAY . . 244 
 
 JAINA SCULPTURES IN THE URWAHI VALLEY. GWALIAR . 264 
 
 THE TEMPLE OF GOVIND DEO, BINDRABAN . . 274 
 
 THE GOLDEN TEMPLE, AMRITSAR ... . . . 294 
 
 VIEW FROM JAKO, SIMLA . . . . . 312 
 
 HALL OF THE WINDS, JAIPUR . . * . . . 316 
 
 TRIMURTI, ELEPHANTA . . ; . . . . 332 
 
 ONE OF THE TOWERS OF SILENCE, NEAR BOMBAY . . 346
 
 The Author begs to acknowledge her indebtedness to Messrs 
 Bourne & Shepherd of Calcutta, Messrs Wiele & Klein of Madras, 
 and others, for permission to reproduce the photographs illus- 
 trating this Work.
 
 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 FROM LONDON TO THE ISLE OF GEMS. 
 
 IT is a cold and melancholy November morning in the year 
 1891. London never was smokier or smuttier in all its 
 dingy life. A drizzling rain comes down unceasingly from 
 the low and colourless sky, and the gloom of a chill and 
 clinging fog is in the ends of the muddy streets. On a 
 shadowy platform in Charing Cross Station, hard by the 
 train for Dover, stand a father and his three daughters 
 and his daughters' Welsh maid, " an English family," saith 
 a critic of their former travels, "whether real or fictitious 
 we know not." This is really too bad ! Pray, Mr Critic, 
 how would you like to have it insinuated that you were 
 a figment of your own imagination? 
 
 The travellers are already known to such as have perused 
 their Palestine wanderings, 1 and their introduction need not 
 be a lengthy one. There is Irene the tender-hearted, and 
 Philippa the business-like, and Sebaste, who gathers much 
 
 1 See " Sketches from Eastern Travel," ' Blackwood's Magazine,' 1892. 
 
 A
 
 2 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 wool in the course of every day. There, too, presiding over 
 a small mountain of rugs and handbags, stands Elizabeth 
 of cheerful countenance. And now they have bestowed 
 themselves in their train and set forth on their six months' 
 journey. 
 
 Overland they travel as far as Brindisi, where lies beside 
 the quay the good ship Britannia, looking very proud indeed 
 of her 6000 tons. And late on a Sunday night she steams 
 out to sea, carrying our travellers with her. 
 
 Now, forasmuch as the business of this present scripture 
 is to describe the travellers' adventures in India and Ceylon, 
 the sea-voyages thither and thence might with great pro- 
 priety be omitted. But though sea- voyages in general may 
 be but tedious things to write about, yet these particular 
 specimens of that kind are so prosperous and so delightful 
 that to pass them over in silence would be ungrateful indeed. 
 Ungrateful, and, moreover, untrue; for the mental picture 
 of India which, when the journey is done, will hang in 
 Memory's echoing hall, must, with its brilliant hues, be 
 framed for ever in the shining blue of foam-flecked seas 
 and the radiant, cloudless glories of boundless and sunlit 
 skies. 
 
 " Very poetical, no doubt," says Philippa dryly ; but the 
 tropics are too warm, I think, for such soaring flights of 
 eloquence. How the flying - fish can go on as they do, 
 I cannot imagine. Look at that little twinkling constella- 
 tion of them. They have kept up with the ship for two 
 minutes at least, and we are making sixteen knots an hour ! " 
 
 Under the cool shade of a double awning the travellers, 
 reclining in their deck-chairs, are looking languidly forth 
 on a world of golden sunshine and bright-blue sea and sky. 
 Truly a region of peace and quiet is the Arabian Sea on a
 
 FROM LONDON TO THE ISLE OF GEMS. 3 
 
 hot December day ! All through the glowing hours of sun- 
 light the mind reposes in a delightful inactivity, revelling 
 in the dreamy sense of having left far, far behind all the 
 complicated problems and the intricate life of the land, 
 and of having floated forth into boundless freedom where 
 space and time are not. But when evening comes, it brings 
 with it awakening and reviving, and then our travellers' 
 eyes, gazing no longer on vacancy, are intent on the gorgeous 
 pageant of a tropical sunset at sea, the like of which, even 
 in Egypt or Nubia, they have hitherto never dreamed of. 
 
 It is not till after the sun has vanished below the horizon 
 that the real splendours begin. Then a haze of luminous 
 purple hangs from above, and beneath is an expanse of 
 daffodil sky, and on all sides are gauzy veils of crimson 
 and gold, now piled in folds of deepening colour, now wav- 
 ing and floating and dissolving in clear and rosy light. 
 Gradually the arc of colour contracts, growing ever more 
 intense, ever more definite in form, while from the central 
 light stream forth great pencils of coloured rays. The 
 daffodil hue is a glowing gold, and the gold is rose-colour, 
 and the rose is crimson, each mirrored in turn on the 
 burnished surface of the deep and waveless sea. The 
 purple haze has dissolved into the clear, deep blue of the 
 night-sky, wherein swims the new moon's delicate crescent, 
 the radiant rim of the disc that the bright earth-shine 
 completes with a soft, clear light unknown in northern 
 climes. And now the great stars shine forth, and all the 
 brightest of them cast each a distinct path of light across 
 the shadowy waters. 
 
 To watch on such a night the rising of Sirius is to see a 
 vision never to be forgotten. Like a flaming lamp he hangs 
 over his own shining reflection, shooting forth his bright
 
 4 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 beams of prismatic light, a marvel to behold. Well may 
 the Zarathustrian scripture call him " the bright and glorious 
 star " l whom Ahura Mazda the Holy One hath " established 
 as a lord and overseer above all stars." North of him shines 
 forth Procyon, while Castor and Pollux preside in state over 
 the hosts of the north-east heavens. Capella darts her col- 
 oured rays from far above the horizon ; away to southward 
 glows and scintillates the glorious Aldebaran ; and Canopus 
 casts his calmer beams in a gleaming path along the sea. 
 It is a scene that calls to mind that strange similitude of 
 Indian wisdom, which tells how the Supreme Being " having 
 prepared all created things, hath inserted and united Himself 
 to them, but is at the same time distinct from them all. 
 Just as the figures of the stars appear in water, but, if 
 any one seeks to extract a star from thence, it is absurd. 
 Such is his essence." 2 
 
 Strange and unnatural look the brilliant constellations ; for 
 many are new, and the familiar ones are fantastically out of 
 position. Orion reclines on his back, Cassiopeia stands on 
 her head, and the Great Bear, that generally well-conducted 
 beast, is balancing itself on the end of its tail. But there are 
 other things which make the night stranger yet. Contending 
 with the splendour of the planets Venus and Jupiter shines 
 the faint radiance of the Zodiacal Light in the west, and 
 below in the water are the balls and streaks of soft, bright 
 phosphorescence which float and dance backward from the 
 prow of the ship ; and there is that mysterious, starlit distance 
 stretching away and away like a vast gleaming pavement 
 whereon rests the mighty dome of the dark-blue, starry sky ; 
 
 1 From " The Vendidad," translated by James Darmesteter. Sacred Books 
 of the East. 
 
 2 From Halhed's ' Sheeve Pouran.'
 
 FROM LONDOX TO THE ISLE OF GEMS. 5 
 
 while the summer lightning from beyond the utmost horizon 
 runs and gleams and flickers in weird and elfin light. 
 
 Long, long ago the shores of the western lands sank down 
 beneath the horizon. They are like some far-off dreamland 
 now, and what was once the land of dreams will soon rise up 
 from the sea, and will prove itself, for many a month to come, 
 brilliantly and dazzlingly real. 
 
 But we have had enough of the frame. Let us come to the 
 picture itself. 
 
 It is early on a Sunday morning, and the sun is rising in a 
 glow of liquid gold, when our travellers awake to find them- 
 selves floating at anchor on the smooth waters of Colombo 
 harbour. All around them is an expanse of sparkling blue, 
 and beyond, against the background of the golden sunrise- 
 light, lies the coast of that Fairyland of ancient story, Simhala, 
 the Island of Gems. Thickly fringing the water's edge stand 
 deep groves of coco-nut palms, luxuriant and graceful beyond 
 the imagination of those who draw from rainless Egypt their 
 notions of southern vegetation. Not all growing perpen- 
 dicularly, as is the manner of date-palms, but bending and 
 crossing one another in curving lines, the coco-nut palms 
 are a thousand times more beautiful and fairy-like. Truly 
 it is an alluring land, an enchanted island just risen in fresh- 
 ness and beauty from the depths of the shining sea. 
 
 This is that Kingdom of the Lion round which are gath- 
 ered so many wonderful myths of immemorial Buddhist tra- 
 dition. Of old, in the long-past days, no human beings lived 
 therein, but spirits and serpent-princes ; and theirs was all 
 the countless wealth of this the Sorrowless Land. Here, in 
 their great iron* city the Eakshasi demons dwelt ; and when 
 merchants came to traffic with the friendly spirits, then
 
 6 . AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 would come forth those demon-women to the sound of the 
 sweetest music, holding flowers and scents in their hands. 
 But those whom they enticed within the walls of their city 
 they " shut up in an iron prison," and devoured them every 
 one. After those days the island was inhabited by men not 
 wholly human, the fierce descendants of the Lion King, a 
 savage and cruel race who knew nought of mercy or pity. 
 They were small of stature and of black complexion, in form 
 like human beings, and having the hearts of lions. 
 
 But already our travellers are rowing ashore in a quaint 
 and curious boat propelled by oars which are poles terminat- 
 ing in discs of wood ; and presently they find themselves in 
 good time for Service in the Fort Church, where even the 
 sweep and flap of the punkahs cannot dissipate the com- 
 fortable sense of home, latitude and longitude notwith- 
 standing. 
 
 The travellers establish themselves in the Grand Oriental 
 Hotel. Grand it is not (except so far as mere size goes), but 
 Oriental it may fairly be called by virtue of its cool and 
 comfortable absence of furniture, its multitudes of amiable 
 lizards and majestic beetles, and the outlandish human 
 figures which haunt its airy corridors. With a view to 
 coolness, the bedrooms have no ceilings, and one gazes 
 upward to the roof of the house, which roof is so constructed 
 as to let in welcome air while excluding the terrible sun- 
 shine. Instead of a window are folding-doors, always wide 
 open, and leading into a shaded balcony. Thus one sleeps 
 almost out of doors, and is awakened in the morning by 
 the soft balmy air blowing across the coco-nut palms, from 
 whose leafy crowns the rising sun is just disentangling 
 himself. 
 
 When the glorious sunrise has been sufficiently admired,
 
 FROM LONDON TO THE ISLE OF GEMS. 7 
 
 one claps one's hands for cliota hazri, which presently 
 appears. Chota hazri (which signifieth Little Breakfast) is 
 the daintiest refection of the day, consisting of Ceylon tea 
 and fresh bananas, with other local delicacies. It is brought 
 by one of the white-robed Singhalese folk, a strange figure 
 that, with its bare brown feet, makes no sound at all as it 
 softly glides along. The face is dark brown, with a silky 
 black beard and quick, shining eyes. The fine black hair is 
 glossy with coco-nut oil, and, being long like a woman's, is 
 twisted up into a neat little knob behind, while the top of 
 the head is encircled by a narrow tortoise-shell comb of 
 which the ends touch the forehead. 
 
 Now is the time for sightseeing, for later in the day the 
 sun will be too powerful to be braved out of doors; and 
 accordingly the travellers sally forth to see the town of 
 Colombo. Walking in this heat is neither pleasant nor 
 prudent, and, they therefore patronise the jinrickshas. Now 
 a jinricksha is a light chair on wheels furnished with two 
 small shafts between which runs a native, pulling the con- 
 veyance after him at a fabulous and exhilarating rate of 
 progress. There are always dozens of these men hovering 
 about the hotel door and anxiously waiting to be hired, so 
 that there will be no difficulty in getting about the town ; 
 but to find the town is very difficult indeed in fact, through- 
 out their stay in Colombo our friends cannot honestly say 
 that they ever have found it at all. With the exception of 
 a small nucleus of native shops, it is so widely scattered 
 as to be altogether intangible. Colombo extends over 6415 
 acres of ground, and consists chiefly of coco-palms, including 
 also a lake and other natural features. Here and there one 
 comes upon a house in wide grounds of its own, or a few 
 native cottages, or a large park with a public building in it ;
 
 8 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 but everything is miles away from everything else, and no 
 two points of interest lie in the same direction. 
 
 The travellers give up the town in despair, and console 
 themselves by visiting the Cinnamon Gardens instead. As 
 they approach the part of the Gardens devoted to cinnamon- 
 growing, a spicy fragrance 1 fills the air that is everywhere 
 and always strangely balmy and sweet. The cinnamon-plant 
 is cultivated as a bushy shrub, every part whereof has a 
 strong and delicious scent. 
 
 In the Gardens is an excellent Museum containing speci- 
 mens of all the animals known in the island, quaint, un- 
 canny-looking beasts, and unfamiliar birds, and brilliant 
 butterflies; gigantic buffaloes, and turtles, and sea- crea- 
 tures innumerable. One can travel all over Ceylon within 
 the Museum walls. Here are many skeletons of elephants, 
 of whom the personal history is related by the intelligent 
 Tamil Christian whose duty it is to do the honours of the 
 Museum to visitors. One of the skeletons is that of a faith- 
 ful and trusted elephant who spent thirty-seven years of his 
 life as a Carrier in the service of Government, and died 
 esteemed of all, at the age of fifty. Another is that of a 
 "rogue" elephant that is, an unfortunate beast afflicted 
 with a monomania which impels him to jnake for any 
 human creature who comes in his way, and immediately 
 trample him to death. Well-conducted elephants are ac- 
 customed to go about in herds, but the furious "rogues" 
 are excluded from all circles of jungle society, and rampage 
 through the world alone, a terror to encounter. 
 
 More interesting than outlandish beasts are the models 
 
 1 Bishop Heber was perfectly correct about the " spicy breezes," notwith- 
 standing all that has been said to the contrary by coutentiously - minded 
 travellers unblessed with poetical noses.
 
 FROM LONDON TO THE ISLE OF GEMS. 
 
 representing types of the island's various native races with 
 their proper costumes; and especially attractive are some 
 resplendent specimens of native jewellery, among which is 
 conspicuous the wedding-necklace of gold, which is fastened 
 by the bridegroom on the bride's neck, and must never be 
 removed so long as he lives. 
 
 The strangest objects in the Museum are the masks of 
 native "devil -dancers" who are called in to dance before 
 the sick, and who wear different masks (each more hideously 
 grotesque than the others) for the different demons to be 
 propitiated, and the various diseases to be cured. When 
 the disease is hatred of an enemy, the " devil-dancer " covers 
 his face with the appalling effigy of a demon whose terrific 
 teeth and claws are in the act of crushing to death little 
 human figures of wretched and helpless aspect. He then 
 dances before the vindictive patient, and sticks pins into 
 diminutive effigies of the ill-fated enemy in question. 
 
 Leaving the Museum, our friends pursue their way under 
 the towering coco-palms with their far-off crowns of foliage 
 overhanging the giant bunches of slowly maturing fruit. A 
 very brown little boy waylays them with a couple of unripe 
 coco -nuts, and the travellers, having purchased the same 
 for two coppers, refresh themselves with tile so-called milk, 
 which is in fact a sweet juice not unlike that of a melon. 
 
 At length they return to the hotel for breakfast, and 
 become initiated in the mysterious delights of prawn and 
 pumpkin curry seasoned with chutnee and grated coco-nut, 
 while overhead the great punkahs sweep to and fro, and all 
 around a multitude of white-robed Singhalese waiters scud 
 noiselessly over the polished floors, proffering in obsequious 
 silence all kinds of dainties to everybody. 
 
 Every day spent in Colombo and its neighbourhood brings
 
 10 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 to our travellers fresh impressions of the profuse and ex- 
 uberant beauty of this wonderful hothouse country. The 
 roads, made of the red loamy soil, are of a rich crimson 
 colour, which contrasts picturesquely with the lively green 
 of the luxuriant vegetation. By the roadside grow Indian 
 tulip-trees (vulgarly so called) with their delicate yellow 
 flowers blushing crimson just before they fade ; while here 
 and there is a flaming mass of the lettuce-tree's yellow-green 
 foliage, good to eat as well as to look upon. Everywhere are 
 thick groves and forests of stately coco-palms, with a rich 
 undergrowth entangled with bright flowering creepers which 
 hide the bushes with trailing veils of crimson and purple 
 blossoms. Gayest of all are the shoeflower-bushes covered 
 with large, lily -like blooms of the most luminous carmine hue 
 that heart of man can imagine. Here and there the darker 
 foliage of the bread-fruit tree relieves the dazzled eye, and 
 contrasts with the vivid groups of bananas that shade with 
 their broad drooping leaves great clusters of crowded fruit. 
 
 As they wander day after day among such surroundings 
 of enchanting and unfamiliar loveliness, the travellers find 
 themselves haunted by clouds of innumerable butterflies of 
 large size and many colours. Their assembling at this season 
 (when their life is nearly finished) is preparatory, saith 
 native tradition, to their taking flight for Adam's Peak in 
 the interior, whereon they will worship the footprint of 
 Buddha, and thereafter die content. For the Buddha came, 
 in the days of old, to visit the Isle of Gems and to war 
 against the spirits therein and the wicked serpent-princes. 
 And when he was come to the island he " planted one foot 
 to the north of the royal city," and the other many miles 
 away on the summit of Adam's Peak. To this day at the 
 top of that high mountain a footprint is seen in the rock,
 
 FKOM LONDON TO THE ISLE OF GEMS. 11 
 
 more than five feet long and about two feet and a half in 
 width. The Muhammadans deem it the trace of Adam's 
 foot, of Siva's the Hindus fancy ; but the Buddhists aver 
 and the butterflies know it to be Buddha's most sacred 
 footprint. 
 
 Perhaps the most beautiful road in the neighbourhood of 
 Colombo is the highroad to Point de Galle. Here and there 
 by the wayside are palm-thatched native cottages surrounded 
 with tall bananas; and overhead the thronging coco-palrns 
 bend far across the road, making a welcome coolness of sun- 
 flecked shadow through which pass brightly clad natives, 
 white-robed Singhalese ; Muhammadans of Arab descent with 
 caps of plaited silk; turbaned, grave -faced Tamils; and 
 stately Buddhist monks clad in their graceful robes of the 
 sacred golden colour. Through many centuries, through age- 
 long changes, those yellow robes have endured, ever since, 
 in the third century B.C., the teaching of the Buddha was 
 brought by Mahendra, the mighty Arhat, from the far-off 
 land of Magadha to Simhala the Island of Gems. A Prince 
 was he of the royal house of Pataliputra, a younger brother 
 of the great Asoka; but he banished from his heart all 
 worldly desires, that he might gain in their stead the " six 
 spiritual powers," together with the " eight means of libera- 
 tion," and the excellent fruit of Arhatship. In a moment 
 of time from distant Magadha he came to the Lion King- 
 dom ; and here he taught to all the people the Buddha's 
 sacred doctrine. Then there fell on those that dwelt in 
 this island a true and believing heart, so that they builded 
 an hundred monasteries that were filled with 20.000 monks 
 " distinguished for their power of abstraction " and for their 
 eminent wisdom. From that day to this their order has 
 continued ; and still, in their graceful robes of yellow, they
 
 12 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 walk through the sun-flecked shadows of the road to Point 
 de Galle. 
 
 All things are strangely dream-like in these enchanted 
 regions, always excepting the vigorous and interesting 
 Church -work which is carried on in Colombo with no 
 small measure of success. Tamil and Singhalese Services 
 for the many native Christians are a matter of course ; 
 and there is much pastoral and evangelistic work, where- 
 in it is necessary to use no less than four languages 
 English, Singhalese, Tamil, and Portuguese. The inmates 
 of the prisons are not neglected, nor those of the pauper 
 and leper hospitals ; and special attention is given to work 
 among the Tamil coolies. Open-air preaching, begun under 
 Bishop Claughton, is still carried on by the Clergy, and 
 is found to be a very valuable agency in gaining the 
 attention of the heathen folk who would never enter the 
 churches. Perhaps the most important branch of Mission- 
 ary enterprise in Colombo is the educational work carried 
 on by various institutions, whereof one or two are visited 
 by our inquisitive friends the travellers. 
 
 Close to Christchurch Cathedral, surrounded by great 
 tropical trees and undulating lawns of rich verdure, stands 
 S. Thomas's College. It was founded by the first Bishop 
 of Colombo in 1851, and in 1864 was affiliated to the 
 University of Calcutta. Its object is the education of 
 high -class natives; and the foundation includes, besides 
 the College proper, a Divinity School for the training 
 of candidates for Holy Orders, and a Collegiate School 
 which contains 1 300 pupils. There is also, in connection 
 with the College, a native Orphan Asylum for the plain 
 Christian education of twenty orphan boys. The boarders 
 
 1 1892.
 
 FROM LONDON TO THE ISLE OF GEMS. 13 
 
 number more than 100. Pupils are prepared every year 
 for the Cambridge Local Examinations, and for those of the 
 Calcutta University. The Divinity School is doing a most 
 important work in training candidates for the Native Min- 
 istry, which is found to be as needful and as invaluable 
 in Ceylon as in every other Missionary Diocese. It seems 
 to be from the formation in the island of a Native Minis- 
 try that there dates that steady and progressive advance 
 which has brought the number of Christians in Ceylon 
 to 150,000. The Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel alone supports in the Diocese eight Native Clergy 
 as well as 200 lay agents. S. Thomas's College owes 
 much to the liberal support of that Society, 1 and so do 
 I know not how many other beneficent and useful institu- 
 tions in Colombo and the rest of the island. Thanks to 
 the S.P.G., a distinctly missionary character has been 
 impressed on the work of the Ceylon Church, so that 
 the labours of almost every Chaplain and Catechist have 
 now their Missionary counterpart. Yet so unobtrusive are 
 the Society's doings that one hears not much about them, 
 seeing that in every place it identifies itself with the 
 Church organisation already existing, and is content to be, 
 according to its unvarying rule, "the handmaid of the 
 Church, not a substitute for it." "We owe it to the 
 S.P.G.," wrote the Bishop in 1881, "that we not only 
 have Missions, but are a Missionary diocese." 
 
 The help which the Society has given to S. Thomas's 
 College is in itself an important contribution to the Church's 
 work in Ceylon ; for it is impossible to estimate the amount 
 
 1 That other most useful and admirable institution, the Society for the 
 Promotion of Christian Knowledge, also contributed 2000 to the endowment 
 of S. Thomas's College.
 
 14 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 of the widespread Christian influence emanating from this 
 one centre of high and efficient education. All the pupils 
 at S. Thomas's receive a Christian training, and these dark- 
 faced students form a large and very reverent part of the 
 congregation at the daily Cathedral Services. Heathen pupils 
 attend the College for the sake of the secular education, but 
 all alike are instructed in Christian doctrine ; and many are 
 thus led to offer themselves for Baptism a step which often 
 involves the sacrifice of every worldly prospect, and the 
 casting off of the convert by all his heathen relatives. 
 
 Bishop's College, for high-class girls and for boys under 
 ten, is also doing very good work. The standard of teaching 
 is being raised year by year; pupils are prepared for the 
 Senior and Junior Cambridge Local Examinations, and the 
 school will soon begin presenting candidates for the Matric- 
 ulation Examination of the Madras University. The course 
 includes all the subjects of a complete High School curri- 
 culum, as well as careful religious instruction. Our travellers 
 are present at the annual prize-giving, and a very pretty 
 sight, on this festal occasion, is the schoolroom with its 
 decorations of bright-hued flowers and its further adorn- 
 ment with the dark -brown, intelligent faces of the pupils 
 and the smiling countenances of all their delighted parents. 
 
 One of the most charming sights in Colombo is S. Michael's 
 School and Orphanage, over which preside some S. Margaret's 
 Sisters sent out to Ceylon from East Grinstead. Of the fifty- 
 six native orphans some are hardly more than babies, little 
 dark-brown things with silky black hair, and wonderful 
 lustrous eyes beaming with happiness and with very un- 
 mistakable affection for their kind and devoted guardians. 
 Youngest and prettiest of all the brown faces is that of
 
 FROM LONDON TO THE ISLE OF GEMS. 15 
 
 the Tamil baby, christened Dorothea, and now 1 three years 
 old. 
 
 "Make a salaam to the visitors, Dorothea," says the 
 Sister; whereupon Dorothea clasps her tiny brown hands 
 over her face, and then removes them with a bow and 
 a baby-smile delightful to see ; after which the little round 
 arms are held out to "Sister," and Dorothea is rewarded 
 with a kiss. 
 
 Close by is S. Michael's Church, wherein the travellers 
 are present one afternoon at a Native Confirmation, and 
 are greatly struck with" the reverence of the forty or fifty 
 candidates and of the many other Native Christians present. 
 
 There are numberless other things (including the Tamil 
 boarding-schools founded by the Church Missionary Society) 
 which undoubtedly ought to be described; but it is time 
 to leave the seaboard now, and to hurry our friends away 
 into stranger and still more beautiful scenes, the interior 
 regions of jungle-forests and towering mountain-peaks. 
 
 1 Christmas 1891.
 
 16 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 KANDY AND NUWAKA ELIYA. 
 
 THE journey from Colombo to Kandy is seventy-five miles 
 long, and a wonderful journey it is. The railway is an 
 engineering achievement such as is exhilarating for human 
 creatures to contemplate, impressing upon their minds what 
 very clever creatures they are. Kandy is about 1700 feet 
 above the sea-level, and the scenes passed through in rising 
 to that altitude form a succession of the most marvellous 
 pictures, for northern eyes to look upon, that northern minds 
 could imagine or desire. 
 
 The first part of the way, following the course of the 
 Kelani-Ganga, lies through forests of tropical trees broken 
 by verdant expanses of padi (padi, be it observed, stands 
 to rice in the relation of sheep to mutton) lake-like glades 
 of soft, vivid green, bordered by exquisite groups of palms 
 that stand out from the deep forest beyond in ever-varying 
 combinations of light and shade and majesty of graceful 
 form. The coco -nut palms predominate, but here and 
 there is a group of slender areca palms, their straight 
 white stems contrasting with the background of luxuriant 
 foliage; and then there is the darker green of the bread-
 
 KANDY AND NUWARA ELIYA. 17 
 
 fruit trees, and the brilliant colours of flowering trees 
 innumerable. 
 
 The moist and low-lying plains are left behind at length ; 
 the native cottages, thatched with palm-leaves, appear no 
 more ; bananas and coco-palms become less frequent ; high 
 into the sunlit air tower the rocky peaks of mountains 
 rising from depths of pathless jungle into the shadowy 
 recesses whereof even the glowing southern sunshine can 
 never penetrate, and wherein prowl unseen cheetahs and 
 elephants, and milk-white monkeys have their home, and 
 lizards four feet long. 
 
 There is a majestic mystery about these jungle-forests, 
 a wild beauty and exuberance of teeming life, a mazy and 
 unintelligible intricacy, not to be described in words. The 
 giant forest-trees rise in stately grandeur, and spread them- 
 selves abroad, glorying in the mighty glow of the tropical 
 sunshine; but beneath their venerable branches lie un- 
 fathomable depths of undergrowth, tangled and massed 
 together in formless wealth of verdure, and covered with 
 brightly blossoming creepers. So weirdly beautiful is the 
 scene, that one is tempted to fancy it belongs not at all to 
 the present world, but to some allegoric land wherein all 
 earthly things are ideally reflected. It is almost as though 
 one were to look into some profoundly subtle mind, and to 
 see the mighty thoughts therein, rooted deep in living ground, 
 spreading themselves abroad and rejoicing in the light, and 
 beneath them wild masses of formless, exuberant feeling, and 
 wayward fancies lightly flinging here and there bright veils of 
 rainbow colours, and to see all these instinct with one strong, 
 unifying stream of life welling up with deathless energy from 
 an unseen source, whither consciousness may not penetrate, 
 and which only faith can reach. 
 
 B
 
 18 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 " My dear," says Philippa, " we are higher than we were, 
 but not quite up in the clouds yet ! You had better dismiss 
 your misty imaginings, and help me to capture this firefly, 
 that we may investigate him by daylight." 
 
 The travellers have arrived, long after sunset, at their 
 destination, and are wandering by moonlight beside the 
 lake of Kandy. Great clumps of bamboo shoot high above 
 their heads, spreading abroad their gigantic, feathery leaves ; 
 before them lies the gleaming lake, and all around them 
 float countless fireflies, filling the shadowy spaces with 
 twinkling stars of light. The air is soft and fragrant, and 
 full of a multitude of sounds, low chirpings and croakings 
 and whisperings innumerable, telling of a wealth of num- 
 berless life unknown in the temperate zones. 
 
 Night in the tropics is a marvel of loveliness ; but morn- 
 ing is lovelier still, and our travellers awake on the fol- 
 lowing day to gaze on a scene of unsuspected beauty which, 
 every morning of their stay at Kandy, will be a fresh 
 surprise of unimaginable, incredible delight. There used 
 to be a swamp at Kandy, but the last of the Kandyan 
 Eajas, in the beginning of the century, converted it into a 
 lake with a little island therein crowded with tropical trees. 
 Closely shutting in this lovely sheet of water, rise high 
 hills covered to their very summits with the most exquisite 
 foliage in bewildering variety of form and colour. Graceful 
 coco-palms stand out in delicate loveliness against the 
 cloudless sky, broad-leaved trees laden with strange fruits 
 or flowers crowd around them, luxuriant bananas hang out 
 their curving leaves, trailing creepers wrap themselves round 
 the lesser trees and bushes in deep folds of living green, 
 and on all sides bloom gorgeous flowers in wonderful pro- 
 fusion. One has but to wander forth and gather wild, way-
 
 KANDY AND NUWARA. ELIYA. 19 
 
 side flowers to obtain in a few minutes a glowing bouquet 
 of hothouse blooms, and many others such as English hot- 
 houses never dreamed of. Just overhead hang the great, 
 snow-white bells of the datura; trailing Ceylon "sun- 
 flowers" cover the undergrowth with brilliant masses of 
 gold ; the rich orange of the lantana blossoms is scattered 
 thickly over their soft green foliage; the crimson shoe- 
 flowers bloom forth from their darker leaves; flowering 
 creepers clothe the banks with purple ; and hundreds of 
 lesser blossoms show like burning gems in the luxuriant 
 wayside grass. Never again in all their journey will our 
 travellers see such flowers. 
 
 It is the combination of all this softer loveliness with 
 the grandeur of mountain scenery which gives to Kandyan 
 landscapes their magic and inexplicable charm. One after- 
 noon's drive, wherein the travellers make, by the upper 
 road, the circuit of the lake, they will always remember as 
 an expedition made through some enchanted country or 
 perhaps in Elfland itself. The heat of the day is over, 
 and the reddening sunbeams slant softly across the sum- 
 mits of the hills, flooding the rich scene with a glow of 
 golden splendour. Far into the clear air rise the stately 
 heights ; all around throngs a wealth of flowers, and sun- 
 flecked foliage stirred by the fragrant evening breeze ; and 
 far below lies the lake, shining with that ethereal and rosy 
 brightness which belongs of right to lakes when the hour 
 of sunset is near. Fair and peaceful seem those radiant 
 waters ; yet would any native tell you that beneath their 
 glancing ripples they hide a fearful mystery. Below that 
 sunlit surface, far down in the shadowy depths of the lake, 
 lies a gold-mine. No human hands may reach it, no human 
 -eyes may search therein for gold. The dim recesses of that
 
 20 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 far-off mine are ringing with the tools of demon workmen, 
 an awful company who haunt the lake and dwell therein 
 at home. And year by year at this present time they seize 
 upon some human victim some heedless one bathing in 
 the bright waters or launching a boat thereon and they 
 drag him down to the depths below and gloat upon his 
 drowning struggles. Every year have they done so, and 
 the season is come round again ; soon must one be drowned, 
 but who it shall be none yet can tell. 
 
 By way of improving their minds, the travellers seize an 
 early opportunity of visiting a neighbouring tea-estate and 
 manufactory; and here should follow an elaborate account 
 of tea-estates in general, an historical review of the circum- 
 stances which led in Ceylon to the supplanting of coffee by 
 tea, an economic dissertation setting forth the quantity of 
 tea produced and the amount of labour required, with a 
 minute investigation into the condition and prospects of the 
 coolies employed in tea-growing, and the manner in which 
 they and their families are housed and fed. Also there 
 should be given an exact account of the processes through 
 which the tea must pass, of the picking and drying and 
 rolling and fermenting and firing and sifting, and so forth, 
 with many other matters of the utmost interest. But we 
 will omit that part. 
 
 Let us consider the tea-estate as having been thoroughly 
 investigated, and join our friends in their subsequent wander- 
 ings through that more poetic region, the great Gardens of 
 Peradeniya, the "Place of Guavas." They extend over 
 nearly 150 acres, and are encircled on three sides by the 
 Mahaweli Ganga, the largest river in Ceylon. Guarding the 
 entrance stands a majestic company of india-rubber trees,
 
 KANDY AND NUWARA ELIYA. 21 
 
 planted in 1833, huge forest giants, with great snake-like 
 roots that twist and coil in mazy folds far over the surface 
 of the ground. And beyond lies a scene fairer than ideal 
 dreams of what Eden may have been. Dora's drawings of 
 the foliage of Paradise are poor and mean compared with 
 this. Wide expanses of undulating, soft green lawns alter- 
 nate with groves of palms and spice-trees, where mighty 
 creepers climb and wreathe themselves to the very tops of 
 the tall trees, clothing them with broad green leaves and 
 blooms of gorgeous colour. 
 
 Down amongst the grass grows an abundance of the 
 little "sensitive plant," whereof the tiny acacia-like leaves 
 at the lightest touch suddenly shut themselves up and 
 drop close to the stem, so that the whole plant seems 
 to have withered in a moment. The travellers, who have 
 seen in London one precious little specimen thereof nursed 
 and guarded with the utmost care, smile a little when the 
 native superintendent of the Gardens complains that this is 
 a very bad weed and most difficult to get rid of. 
 
 Having sufficiently tormented the poor little leaves, they 
 turn away to admire the grander things which on all sides 
 claim their attention. There are coco-palms and date- 
 palms and areca-nuts; jaggeries and katu-kituls; the royal 
 palm from Cuba, the sago-palm and the durian ; fan-palms 
 and palmyras ; cinnamon and allspice and cloves ; screw- 
 pines and Egyptian doum palms ; white -blossomed Indian 
 cork-trees ; fern-trees and climbing ferns ; aroids and ground- 
 orchids ; and climbing palms that grapple with the tallest 
 trees. There is the upas-tree from Java with its deadly 
 juice wherewith arrows are poisoned ; and cacao-trees from 
 the fruit whereof cocoa and chocolate are made; lignum- 
 vitse, and jak-trees, and calabashes ; the fan-shaped travel-
 
 22 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 ler's tree, hoarding its copious supply of water for thirsty 
 wanderers; red cedars, and candle -trees, and vegetable 
 ivory; mangosteens, and mangos, and alligator pears; and 
 nutmegs with their dark -brown fruit embedded in scarlet 
 mace. There is the double coco-nut, which puts forth but 
 one leaf in the year and lives for forty years before its stem 
 begins to appear, and yet will reach at length a height of 
 100 feet, and produce nuts that take ten years to ripen ; and 
 there are beautiful Alexandra palms, and the gigantic talipot 
 that grows upward for forty or fifty years, and then, from 
 the stupendous height of its far-off crown of leaves, sends 
 forth one majestic flower said to measure 40 feet in height, 
 a pyramidal, snow-white bloom like a gigantic spirea- 
 blossom of the richest luxuriance ; but as the huge clusters 
 of fruit grow ripe, the vast tree withers and dies. 
 
 The river-bank is crowded with fantastic growth sandal- 
 wood trees, and great tufts of feathery bamboos, including 
 the "giant bamboo" of Burmah, whose culms, shooting 
 upward at the rate of a foot in twenty-four hours, reach a 
 length of nearly 100 feet, spreading forth on all sides thick 
 fronds of dark-green foliage that the mighty sunbeams may 
 not penetrate. 
 
 But no enumeration of details can give the faintest idea 
 of the loveliness of these magic scenes, and a sorry failure 
 is theirs who try to copy the stately forms of Nature in 
 mean and sordid heaps of heavy, piled-up words ! More- 
 over, some there are whose restless minds cannot long remain 
 satisfied with even the refined society of trees the most dis- 
 tinguished ; and it is time that we should seek in the native 
 town interests of a more human kind. 
 
 The crowds that haunt the bazaars of Kandy are as varied 
 as those of Colombo. There are the grave-faced Tamils, and
 
 BUDDHIST MONKS, KANDY.
 
 KANDY AND NUWARA ELIYA. 23 
 
 the Singhalese with their tortoise-shell combs ; an increased 
 number of Muhammadan Moormen, the descendants of Arab 
 traders ; and many " Burgher " folk who trace their descent 
 from the Dutch and the Portuguese. And everywhere in 
 twos and threes walk the picturesque figures of dignified 
 Buddhist monks. The head is shaven, and the right arm 
 and shoulder are bare, but the rest of the figure is covered, 
 down to the feet, with the flowing folds of the sacred yellow 
 robe. Some of these robes are of silk, the fine soft texture 
 thereof enhancing the beauty of the dull, rich, golden colour. 
 In his right hand the devotee carries his begging-bowl, 
 wherein he collects fragments of food for his daily meal, and 
 in his left hand a palm-leaf fan to guard his mouth from flies, 
 lest he should headlessly cause the death of the least of living 
 things. 
 
 These monks have their abode in the famous Buddhist 
 temple near the lake. It is known as the Dalada-maligava 
 Temple, and therein is enshrined that venerable tooth which 
 of old the Buddha himself, " in order to disseminate the true 
 doctrine," l left to be preserved in this country ; that relic 
 of miraculous properties which is " firm as a diamond, inde- 
 structible through ages," ever " scattering its light like the 
 stars or the moon in the sky," shining in the night of dark- 
 ness " brilliant as the sun " himself. 
 
 To the temple our travellers repair after sunset on the 
 night of the full-moon feast ; and as they walk thither beside 
 the gleaming waters of the lake, their thoughts elude the 
 grasp of the Present, and wander away backward for nearly 
 fifteen centuries, picturing that ancient worship of the Tooth 
 which Fa-hien the Chinese pilgrim saw, and described so 
 
 1 From the travels of Hiuen Tsiang, translated from the Chinese by Samuel 
 Beal, B.A.
 
 24 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 well. " In the middle of the third month " 1 the solemn 
 feast was held ; and, ten days before, there moved through 
 the streets of the capital a great elephant with gorgeous 
 trappings bearing on his back one " dressed in royal robes," 
 who loudly proclaimed the same, beating a great drum as he 
 went. 
 
 " Bodhisattva," he cried (for such was the title of the 
 future Buddha), "Bodhisattva during three Asankhyeya- 
 Jealpas 2 manifested his activity, and did not spare his own 
 life. He gave up kingdom, city, wife, and son ; he plucked 
 out his eyes and gave them to another ; ... he cut off his 
 head and gave it as an alms; he gave his body to feed a 
 starving tigress ; he grudged not his marrow and brains. . . . 
 Behold ! ten days after this Buddha's tooth will be brought 
 out. . . ." 
 
 So all the people arose, and made the roads smooth, and 
 adorned them with gorgeous hangings, amassing merit for 
 themselves. Then, "on both sides of the road," the king 
 placed wondrous effigies of those 500 different forms wherein 
 the Bodhisattva has appeared. And when the Tooth was at 
 length brought forth and carried in high procession along the 
 middle of the way, then all the people went forth with great 
 store of flowers and incense, bringing it on its way with eager 
 devotion and the offerings of zealous worship. 
 
 Arrived at the temple, the travellers find its entrance 
 guarded by two pompous but not ungracious elephants of 
 stone, carved in relief one on each side of the gateway. 
 Above them stand two great brazen lamps presented by a 
 former governor of Ceylon, who, if he thereby enlightened 
 the Buddhists, must have somewhat bewildered his fellow- 
 
 1 See 'Fa-hien's Travels,' translated by James Legge, M.A., LL.D. 
 
 2 A fabulous number of years, hardly to be expressed in figures.
 
 KANDY AND NUWARA ELIYA. 25 
 
 Christians, of whom there are many in Kandy. Passing the 
 carven figures of two " door-keepers," the travellers cross an 
 outer court, and begin the ascent of a flight of steps leading 
 up to the verandah of the temple itself. Overhead they hear 
 a loud voice holding forth with the utmost vehemence, and 
 looking up they behold the extraordinary figure of a Buddhist 
 devotee, who, with wild gesticulations, is haranguing the 
 world in general. He has gone mad, and is addressing, in 
 flowing Singhalese, a large phantom-audience visible only to 
 himself. 
 
 The visitors now pass some white-robed Buddhist nuns, 
 and then make their way to the octagonal tower which, 
 with its pillared balcony and pointed roof, is the most 
 picturesque feature of the temple buildings. Herein is an 
 oriental library of Buddhist scriptures, a quaint treasure- 
 house of ancient lore, like some scholar's wistful dream. 
 The books are mostly written in Pali on narrow strips of 
 the talipot palm-leaf. The pen is a little iron stylus, with 
 the sharp point whereof the letters are cut into the surface 
 of the prepared palm-leaf, as demonstrated to the travellers 
 by one of the yellow-robed devotees, who, resting the pen 
 on the thumb of his left hand, slowly inscribes for their 
 benefit a sentence in Singhalese. The leaves, when the 
 manuscript is completed, are fastened together, and pro- 
 tected by narrow boards, or plates of metal. Many of 
 these coverings are of silver or silver-gilt, adorned with 
 exquisitely delicate chasings, and with rubies and emeralds 
 set therein. 
 
 While the visitors, surrounded by the stately figures of 
 the devotees, are admiring these beautiful works of art, a 
 strange thing happens. Suddenly and silently, whence they 
 know not, appears in their midst an elderly Buddhist monk
 
 26 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 whom the others regard with the utmost reverence. His 
 mysterious entrance makes him seem like some long-robed 
 apparition of gracious countenance; but he is in reality 
 the chief and holiest of all the Kandyan Buddhists. In 
 answer to the astonished questions of the visitors, they 
 are shown an unsuspected trap-door by which this illus- 
 trious devotee has arisen through the floor of the library. 
 Beneath is a narrow stair leading down to the room wherein 
 he spends the greater part of his life. He greets the Father 
 with courteous kindliness, but, being too holy to touch 
 a lady's hand, gently refuses to take any notice of his 
 daughters. 
 
 It seems that, having heard that the travellers have come 
 all the way from England to visit the temple, he desires 
 to show them some treasures of the library which visitors 
 are not generally privileged to see. One of these is a 
 dainty little volume containing some part of the Buddhist 
 scriptures. It is of the same long, narrow shape as the 
 other books, but is written, not on palm-leaves, but on 
 thin plates of gold. Another treasured possession is a leaf 
 from the sacred bodhi-tree of Anuradhapura, mounted in 
 silver and presented to the temple by a distinguished 
 Englishman, a graceful and poetic tribute to the Buddha's 
 memory. Unfortunately there are performances of exquisite 
 grace and poetic merit which do an altogether astonishing 
 amount of harm. The illustrious Poet who made this 
 beautiful offering is openly claimed by the Buddhists as a 
 convert from Christianity, and it would be hard to estimate 
 the injury to the Christian cause arising from this one act of 
 refined and delicate compliment. 
 
 Leaving the Library, the travellers descend to the interior 
 of the temple itself, and find it crowded with worshippers,
 
 KANDY AND NUWARA ELIYA. 27 
 
 and ringing with the deafening minstrelsy of conches and 
 tom-toms. Here and there stand flower-sellers, from whom 
 the worshippers buy baskets of the beautiful " temple- 
 flowers" white, yellow - centred blossoms with a strong 
 and delicious fragrance. These are reverently poured out 
 before the images of the Buddha, and especially before the 
 famous tooth- relic for the reception whereof this temple 
 was builded. Buddha would doubtless have disapproved, 
 since in his Godless scheme of philosophy is no room for 
 worship of any kind; but the instinct of sacrificial devo- 
 tion, it seems, is too fundamental a part of human nature 
 to be got rid of so easily, and apparently Buddhism is, to 
 the generality of unlearned Buddhists, neither more nor 
 less than an atheistic idolatry. There is nothing to worship 
 but relics and images, the Buddha himself having long ago 
 passed away " with that kind of passing away in which no 
 root remains." 1 
 
 " If the Buddha," said King Milinda of old, " be escaped 
 from all existence, then . . . any act done to him . . . 
 becomes empty and vain. This is a dilemma which has 
 two horns." Verily it hath, and not all the Venerable 
 Nagasenas in the world have been able, from that day 
 till now, to "tear asunder that net of heresy," to "make 
 in that jungle an open space," or to show how Buddhist 
 worshippers can consistently suppose that " Blessed One " 
 of theirs to heed their offerings or hear their cry from the 
 depths of voiceless, unconscious Nirvana, his heaven of 
 non-existence. 
 
 "When I have passed away," said the "Blessed One" 
 as death drew near, "think not that the Buddha has left 
 
 1 From ' The Questions of King Milinda,' translated from the Pdli by T. 
 W. Rhys Davids. Sacred Books of the East.
 
 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 you;" but he added, in interpretation of that saying, only 
 this, "Ye have my words!" He himself is gone whence 
 he shall not return, and has left his followers comfortless, 1 
 save only for that one stern counsel, "Be ye lamps unto 
 yourselves. Be ye a refuge to yourselves. . . . Look not 
 for refuge to any one besides yourselves." 2 
 
 All of which considerations let us commend to the notice 
 of such as feel attracted by the lordly dogmas of " Esoteric 
 Buddhism," and Theosophy falsely so called ! 
 
 Meanwhile the crowd of worshippers in the temple pre- 
 sents, in the flickering lamplight, a strange and animated 
 picture. It is impressive to see the devotion wherewith 
 those who have made their fragrant offering humbly pros- 
 trate themselves before the beautiful objects of worship. 
 The most charming of these are some sacred bodhi- trees 
 delicately carved in silver and gold, each with its little 
 Buddha sitting under it in the conventional attitude of medi- 
 tation. The visitors are also shown an image of Buddha, 
 cut out of a single crystal, which, when a light is placed 
 behind it, shines with a dazzling brightness, and they are 
 told of another, carved from a single emerald, which they 
 are not permitted to see. 
 
 Finally, they make their way toward that most holy 
 chamber where, enclosed in successive shrines of jewelled 
 
 1 It hath been written, by no casual or superficial observer, but by one of 
 the greatest authorities on the Buddhism of Ceylon : " It is, I fancy, con- 
 sidered a mark of culture in England to say that Buddhism is very like 
 Christianity, if not almost as good ; . . . Buddhism is not like Christianity 
 either in theory or practice. In theory if like Christianity at all, it is like 
 Christianity without a Creator, without an Atoner, without a Sanctifler ; in 
 practice it is a .thin veil of flower-offering and rice-giving over a very real and 
 degraded superstition of astrology and devil-worship." 
 
 2 From ' The Book of the Great Decease,' translated from the Pali by T. 
 W. Rhys Davids. Sacred Books of the East.
 
 KANDY AND NUWAEA ELIYA. 29 
 
 gold, is treasured the sacred tusk, half an inch thick and an 
 inch and a quarter long, said once to have adorned the jaw 
 of the great Lord Buddha himself. A checkered history it 
 has had since then. Concealed in the hair of the pious 
 Princess of Kalinga, it arrived in Ceylon at the beginning 
 of the third century of our era. Captured in 1315 by the 
 Malabars, and borne away to India, and thence recovered, it 
 eventually fell into the hands of a Portuguese Archbishop of 
 Goa, who in 1560 pounded the same in a mortar and burned 
 the dust thereof. From all of which vicissitudes it miracu- 
 lously recovered itself, to repose at length in the peaceful 
 splendour of its illustrious Kandyan home. 
 
 The narrow steps leading up to its abode are blocked with 
 an eager crowd of worshippers, who, having reached an ante- 
 room separated by two curtains from the inner chamber of 
 the relic, are allowed to go no further, but must surrender 
 their offerings to one of the yellow-robed community, who 
 pours them out before the shrine. The English visitors, 
 through the kindness of the Apparition of the Library, are 
 admitted by another staircase into the immediate presence 
 of the relic. Here is an altar covered with fragrant temple 
 flowers, and behind it a glass screen, and behind that the 
 splendid shrine of gilded silver which incloses six other 
 shrines of gold placed one within another, and adorned with 
 emeralds, pearls, and rubies innumerable. And within the 
 smallest and last is laid up the bit of ivory for which are 
 poured forth day by day the reverence and devotion of count- 
 less earnest worshippers. Other costly shrines there are 
 whereof one contains a hair from Buddha's head. 
 
 While the travellers are regarding the beautiful display 
 of precious metals and fine workmanship, and watching the 
 constant accession of fresh floral offerings from the crowded
 
 30 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 ante-room, some privileged worshippers of evident distinction 
 are solemnly ushered into the dim and silent chamber. The 
 party consists of a native gentleman of rank, his sister, his 
 wife, and his little son in the arms of a servant. The two 
 ladies, who are young and handsome, are dressed in rich 
 robes of white; splendid jewels surround their gentle, 
 bronze-hued faces, and their glossy black hair is adorned 
 with twisted pearls. Having presented their offerings of 
 flowers, they prostrate themselves before the shrine with the 
 utmost grace, and a rapt devotion that is touching to behold. 
 Their awestruck faces and earnest, lustrous eyes are the most 
 beautiful things to be seen to-night in all the crowded 
 temple. 
 
 Before leaving Kandy our travellers duly visit various 
 other objects of interest. There is the dagoba near the 
 temple, a solid dome of masonry said to cover treasures 
 buried of old in the ground ; and there is the thriving 
 Buddhist school ; and close beside it, planted on a mound of 
 state, grows a venerable pipal or " bodhi tree " x with massive 
 trunk and luxuriant foliage of broad, heart-shaped leaves, 
 whereof each one terminates in a long, thread-like acumen. 
 These leaves are joined to their stalks in such a manner as to 
 cause them, at the least breath of air, to quiver with restless 
 motion, reminding our travellers of that faint-hearted 
 monarch of antiquity, the great King Hari-scandra, who 
 "being terrified, suddenly trembled exceedingly like the 
 leaf of the pipal-tree." 2 This Kandyan bodhi-tree is greatly 
 revered, and for every branch of it that falls to the ground a 
 funeral ceremony is solemnly performed. The fallen bough 
 
 1 Ficus religiosa. 
 
 - From the 'Markandeya Purdna,' translated by F. E. Pargiter, C.S.
 
 KANDY AND NUWARA ELIYA. 31 
 
 is wrapped in a cloth and cremated, and the ashes thereof 
 are buried. 
 
 There is, moreover, to be seen the Audience Hall of the 
 ancient Kandyan Kings, adorned with pillars of carven teak- 
 wood. It is part of the palace builded about the year 1600 
 by "Wimala Dharma. 
 
 S. Paul's Church is at so little distance from the Buddhist 
 temple that the worshippers at the daily Services can hear 
 the din of the temple tom-toms. Its congregations are large 
 and devout, and the Church-work is carried on with vigour 
 and success. The mission-work assumes to a great extent 
 an educational form. The Industrial School for boys is a 
 very useful factor in this kind of enterprise. It contains 1 
 forty-six boys, all of whom are Christians, with the exception 
 of five who are to be baptised on Christmas Eve. One of 
 these five once wore the yellow robe of a Buddhist devotee ; 
 and the story of his escape from the temple in a servant's 
 dress, and his presenting himself for Christian instruction, is 
 a romantic episode in native life. There are also vernacular 
 and English schools wherein over 100 pupils are educated. 
 Moreover, the Church Missionary Society has in Kandy a 
 girls' boarding-school, and a College which, since 1878, has 
 been affiliated to the University of Calcutta. Nor must we 
 forget to mention another most useful Church-school for very 
 poor children, conducted with expenditure of much labour 
 and some money by a Burgher lady and her seven daughters, 
 whose noble devotion to Christian work is stimulating to 
 behold, and whose constant kindness to our travellers during 
 their stay in Kandy is an instance of Christian charity of the 
 warmest and most delightful kind. 
 
 S. Stephen's Church is served by a Tamil Clergyman 
 
 1 December 1891.
 
 32 - AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 (" Father Barnabas "j who has a congregation of 200 Tamil 
 Christians, all of whom have been baptised in S. Stephen's, 
 where all the Services are in Tamil. 
 
 It would be unnatural to dismiss the subject of Kandyan 
 Christianity without connecting therewith the well -loved 
 name of Archdeacon Matthew. His grave is in the Chris- 
 tian cemetery at Kandy ; and if any one desire to know what 
 it is like to leave a loving memory behind, he should men- 
 tion that name to any Kandyan Churchman he pleases, and 
 watch the expression of the countenance he is addressing. 
 
 At length the travellers set forth on their upward journey 
 to cold Nuwara Eliya, more than 6000 feet above the sea. 
 As far as Nanuoya, the elevation whereof is over 5000 feet, 
 they travel by railway, passing through scenery still wilder 
 and more grand than that below Kandy. The jungle-forests 
 grow darker and more northern in character, tea-plantations 
 abound on the bare hill-slopes, while the rocky mountains 
 grow ever bolder and more fantastic, until Adam's Peak 
 appears, rising in sheer and isolated grandeur to its height 
 of 7352 feet above the sea-level 
 
 Gazing at that steep and terrible mountain - crag, our 
 friends recall strange Buddhist legends which in the course 
 of many centuries have gathered thickly round it, old tales 
 of how the Eakkhasa demons brought sickness and fever on 
 this land of Lanka, and how the " divine sage " Kakusandha 
 journeyed hither through the air with 40,000 of his disciples, 
 and, perching on the top of Devakuta (the same is Adam's 
 Peak), subdued by his power the raging fever throughout 
 the Island of Gems ; stories, too, of Konagamana, of eminent 
 wisdom, and other worthies beside, whose deeds were told 
 long centuries ago by that incomparable Thera, the wise
 
 KANDY AND NUWARA ELIYA. 33 
 
 Mahinda, who in the hearing of thousands " poured out the 
 sweet draught of his discourse." l And even now the learned 
 may read them in that fifteenth chapter of the ' Mahavansa,' 
 " composed equally for the delight and affliction of righteous 
 men." 
 
 At length Nanuoya is reached, and there follows a 
 five -miles' walk to Nuwara Eliya through cool mountain- 
 breezes (such as seem unnatural so near the equator), blow- 
 ing over dark rhododendron forests that cover the mountain- 
 slopes. For rhododendrons are great forest -trees in these 
 regions, and often reach a height of no less than 70 feet. 
 So unfamiliar are the scenery and the vegetation that one 
 may well believe that pious Chinese pilgrim who journeyed 
 in Ceylon in the seventh century, and tells how in these 
 regions are " high crags and deep valleys, . . . haunted by 
 spirits that come and go ; " 2 and scarcely would our friends 
 be surprised were they to meet (as that pilgrim did in an 
 island to the south of Ceylon) those men with the beaks of 
 birds who live on the fruit of the coco-palm. 
 
 But we must hasten upward to Nuwara Eliya's grassy 
 plain, whence rise the lordly mountain summits in the dis- 
 guise of wooded hills. 
 
 Of our travellers' stay in this lofty region and all their 
 experiences there, we will record but one expedition that 
 made to the summit of Pidurutalagala (called Pedro by 
 Europeans), the highest mountain in Ceylon, boasting an 
 altitude of 8295 feet above the sea. The walk to the top 
 is about five miles long, and is achieved by our friends 
 
 1 See the ' Mahavansa, ' translated from the original Pfili by George 
 Tumour, C.C.S. 
 
 2 From the travels of Hiuen Tsiang, translated from the Chinese by Samuel 
 Beal, B.A. 
 
 C
 
 34 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 before breakfast on a fresh and sunlit morning long to be 
 remembered. Soon after sunrise they start, while the hoar- 
 frost is still glistening on the lawn and on the full-blown 
 arum-lilies that fill the air with fragrance. 
 
 Of the wonderful view which they hope to gain from the 
 summit not a glimpse is visible on the way, for the narrow 
 footpath is hemmed in by thick forests of rhododendrons, 
 a solid dark-green fence, broken only now and then by the 
 blossoms of glowing crimson. But at length the topmost 
 cairn is reached, and there lies spread out before them a 
 vast, limitless prospect of such wild grandeur, such majestic 
 beauty, as the eye of man may seldom look upon. Just be- 
 side them, 2000 feet below, lies the green plain of Nuwara 
 Eliya, a smooth-lawned valley nestled high up among the 
 giant mountain-tops, its small lake, with smooth azure sur- 
 face, gleaming softly in the radiant morning sunlight. On 
 all sides rise the mighty mountains some softly rounded 
 and muffled deep in dark-green forests, others towering far 
 off in rocky majesty, their solid masses transfigured and 
 etherealised by wondrous rainbow hues bright veils of 
 purple sheen and floating haze of gold, and soft - blue 
 slanting shadow. Twenty -three miles away to the south- 
 west, towering above the nearer One Tree Hill, stands 
 Adam's Peak, cutting the delicate sky with sharp edges 
 of shelving rock. Southward, fourteen miles away, rises 
 Kirigalpotta to its height of 7832 feet ; south - eastward 
 Namunakulakanda, at a distance of twenty -four miles, 
 rears up his kingly head. Numberless other heights there 
 are with strange, outlandish names ; a princely company 
 clad in majestic light, lifting themselves up from shadowy 
 depths of the jungle - forest that, one vast and billowy 
 sea, rolls on in darkly disordered waves away and away
 
 KANDY AND NUWARA ELIYA. 35 
 
 toward the mysterious blue of dim and infinite distance. 
 Only on the eastern horizon, seventy-five long miles away, 
 lies one radiant thread of light the Indian Ocean's bound- 
 less plain. 
 
 Such is the view. It may be right to add that a cloud 
 is resting on Pedro's summit, so that of all this extended 
 prospect our friends see absolutely nothing. 
 
 Soon they must bid farewell to Nuwara Eliya ; for Christ- 
 mas Day is close at hand, and they have set their hearts on 
 spending it at "Nazareth," one of the most interesting Mis- 
 sion stations in all the South of India. On their way down 
 to Colombo they spend a delightful Sunday in Kandy, and 
 take this opportunity to attend one of the Tamil Services in 
 S. Stephen's Church. After the Lesson (read by a member 
 of the congregation) Father Barnabas moves down from the 
 Chancel to the Font, and there follows the Baptism of a Tamil 
 convert, a lad of sixteen who has had to give up parents 
 and home and all worldly prospects for the sake of this good 
 confession. According to a Church custom among the Tamils, 
 a freshly- plucked rose is laid on the surface of the water. 
 Otherwise the Service is exactly the same as our own, and 
 the travellers find no difficulty in following with their Eng- 
 lish prayer-books. The worshippers, who, like their Priest, 
 are all barefoot for to enter a church wearing shoes would 
 be the grossest irreverence are attentive and devout; and 
 the singing is most hearty. The Service ends with a sermon 
 from Father Barnabas, delivered with so much eloquence 
 and such sweetness of gentle dignity that the travellers 
 seem to themselves to understand every word. 
 
 After the Service they are most kindly welcomed by 
 Father Barnabas, who speaks excellent English, and by
 
 36 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 his wife and sons, who, understanding no European tongue, 
 converse in the universal language of friendly smiles and 
 pressings of hands and other signs of kindness. Mrs Bar- 
 nabas, to do honour to the visitors, has donned her festal 
 Tamil robe of soft, rich, apricot - coloured silk, the colour 
 whereof well becomes her bronze complexion, and is relieved 
 by a veil of snow-white muslin wound about the head. The 
 beautiful wedding-necklace of gold is conspicuous, and she 
 weareth ear-rings and anklets, and toe -rings very many. 
 The travellers ask to be allowed to congratulate the newly 
 baptised; but he is shy and silent, and soon shrinks away 
 into the background, while Father Barnabas tells them many 
 things of Nazareth, where he himself was educated, and of 
 his interesting work here in Kandy. 
 
 This little scene is almost our travellers' last impression 
 of Ceylon. Next Friday is Christmas Day, and on the 
 Wednesday afternoon they embark at Colombo for Tuti- 
 corin on a certain small steamship, Amra by name, whose 
 vocation in life is to carry loads of Tamil coolies from 
 Southern India to Ceylon, and back again when they have 
 made their modest fortunes on the tea-estates of the island. 
 
 On the present occasion 400 coolies are returning to Tuti- 
 corin; but the English travellers see little of them, being 
 fenced in with a canvas screen on the little quarter-deck. 
 Too soon the faery mountains of Ceylon fade away in the 
 distance, and the steamer is alone in a tumbling sea. Going 
 below is out of the question, and, mattresses being brought 
 on deck, our friends go into a kind of hospital ward instead. 
 Nominally reclining, they are in fact standing on their feet 
 and heads alternately ; while overhead (or feet, as the case 
 may be) the blessed stars dance reels the long night through. 
 It is as when the gods and demons churned the ocean long
 
 KANDY AND NUWABA ELIYA. 37 
 
 ago, with Mandar the King of mountains for a churn and the 
 serpent Vasuki for a rope ; when " the roaring of the ocean, 
 whilst violently agitated with the whirling of the mountain 
 Mandar, was like the bellowing of a mighty cloud." * 
 Good night, dear friends, good night ! 
 
 1 See the episode from the ' Mahabharata,' translated by Wiikins, quoted 
 by Poley on the " Devimahatmyam. "
 
 38 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 
 
 IT is about eleven o'clock in the morning of Christmas 
 Even when, after some twenty -two hours' enjoyment of 
 that rhythmic and vibratory motion which is the outcome 
 and expression of the universal principle of polarity, our 
 friends the travellers set foot on the much -desiderated, 
 long - in - vain- looked - for, sometime - almost - despaired - of, 
 now -at -length -with -rejoicing -attained -unto shore of India, 
 whereon having landed, they find themselves too late for 
 the morning train to Tinnevelli, and Nazareth for the 
 present out of the question. Wherefore they reluctantly 
 determine to spend Christmas Day in Tuticorin. Truly it 
 is not a lovely place, nor in any respect famous except 
 with regard to its pearl-fishery. Year by year are dragged 
 from their peaceful homes, and in this place ruthlessly 
 slaughtered, thousands upon thousands of unoffending 
 oysters, of whom the greater number are altogether in- 
 nocent of pearls, but must nevertheless fall victims to the 
 grasping, undiscriminating greed of man by reason of those 
 hypothetic pearls which they might contain, but don't. 
 
 Yet though Tuticorin, qud Tuticorin, cannot honestly be 
 called attractive, our travellers have only to take a wider
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 39 
 
 view of their position in order to find themselves in one of 
 the most interesting places of the East to wit, in Southern 
 India. To Christian folk the history of its extensive and 
 prosperous Missions would alone indue it with interest 
 enough. 
 
 From very ancient times there has been in this part of 
 the world a Christian Church known by the title " Chris- 
 tians of S. Thomas," and claiming to have been founded 
 by S. Thomas the Apostle during his visit to India. Many 
 quaint Church legends there are concerning that same visit, 
 all of which may be found in those Gnostic Acta Thomae 
 adopted by Catholic Christians in the fourth century. But 
 forasmuch as the original is not unto every one accessible, 
 we may be allowed, perhaps, to translate one of them here. 
 Some there are to whom this, like all other such legends, 
 may appear absurd, and therefore irreverent ; but that is 
 from want of education: 
 
 The Apostles, 1 being assembled at Jerusalem, did cast 
 lots for the regions of the earth, that each might go to that 
 nation whither the Lord should send him ; and India fell by 
 lot to Thomas, who is also Didymus. But he would not go 
 thither, saying, "I cannot go by reason of the weakness of 
 the flesh ; and how can I, being an Hebrew, journey to the 
 country of the Indians and there preach the truth ? " 
 
 And the Saviour appeared unto him by night and said 
 unto him, " Fear not, Thomas, but go thou to India." But he 
 was disobedient and said, " Send me elsewhither, for to the 
 Indians I go not." And there chanced to be a merchant in 
 Jerusalem whose name was Abbanes, and he was come from 
 India, from King Gondophares, having received commandment 
 of him to buy for him a carpenter. And the Lord met him 
 
 1 Abridged from the Greek text.
 
 40 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 as he walked at noon in the market-place, and said unto him, 
 " Desirest thou to buy a carpenter ? " And he said, " Yea." 
 And the Lord said unto him, " I have a bond-servant that is 
 a carpenter, and I desire to sell him." And when He had so 
 said, He showed to him Thomas afar off. And He agreed 
 with him for a certain sum of silver. Then He took Thomas 
 and brought him to Abbanes the merchant. And Abbanes 
 looked upon him, and said unto him, " Is this thy master ? " 
 And the Apostle answered and said, " Yea, He is my Lord." 
 And he said, " I have bought thee at His hand." And the 
 Apostle kept silence. 
 
 And on the next day, early in the morning, he prayed, 
 and said, " I go whither Thou wilt, O Lord." And he went 
 to Abbanes the merchant, and took nothing with him but 
 only the money of his price ; for the Lord had given it unto 
 him. And they journeyed to India. 
 
 And when the Apostle came unto the cities of India with 
 Abbanes the merchant, Abbanes went to salute Gondophares 
 the King, and asked his pleasure concerning the carpenter 
 that he had brought with him ; and the King was glad, and 
 commanded that the carpenter should be brought in. So, 
 when he was come in, the King said unto him, " What craft 
 understandest thou ? " The Apostle said unto him, " The 
 carpenter's and the builder's craft." And the King said, 
 " Wilt thou build me a palace ? " And he answered, " Yea, 
 I will accomplish the building thereof, for to this end 
 am I come." 
 
 Now the King was departing on a journey. And he gave 
 the Apostle much wealth, and departed. And from time to 
 time he sent him money and provisions and whatsoever 
 was requisite for himself and his workmen. But Thomas 
 took these things and distributed them, giving alms to
 
 CHEISTMAS IX SOUTHERN INDIA. 41 
 
 the poor and the distressed; and he brought comfort unto 
 them. 
 
 And the King wrote and sent unto him, saying, " Tell me 
 what thou hast done, or what things I shall send thee, or of 
 what thou hast need." The Apostle sendeth unto him, saying, 
 "The palace is builded, but there remaineth yet the roof 
 thereof." And the King, when he heard that, sent unto him 
 again gold and silver ; and this also did Thomas distribute in 
 like manner. 
 
 But when the King was returned to the city and found 
 not the palace that should have been builded, he covered his 
 face with his hands, and did shake his head a great while. 
 And being very angry, he ordered both the merchant and 
 Thomas to be bound and cast into prison. And he sought 
 by what death he should destroy them. But when he had 
 determined to flay them and to burn them with fire, in that 
 same night the King's brother died. And the Angels took him 
 and brought him up to Heaven, and showed him the places 
 and the dwellings there, and asked him saying, " In which 
 place wilt thou dwell ? " And seeing a great and splendid 
 palace, he said to the Angels, " I pray you, my lords, suffer me 
 to dwell herein." But they said unto him, " Thou canst not 
 dwell in this house, for this is thy brother's palace that was 
 builded by Thomas the Christian." And he said, " I pray you, 
 my lords, suffer me to go to my brother, that I may buy this 
 palace of him." Then the Angels let his soul go ; and as men 
 were putting upon him the garment of burial, his soul came 
 into him. And he said to the King, " I beseech thee to sell 
 me that palace which thou hast in Heaven, that was builded 
 for thee by the Christian that is now in the prison." 
 
 And immediately the King sent and brought out of the 
 prison both the merchant and the Apostle. And he said unto
 
 42 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Thomas, " I beseech thee that thou wouldest make supplica- 
 tion for me and pray unto Him whose servant thou art, that 
 He may forgive me all that I have done unto thee." 
 
 Then did the Apostle preach the truth unto the King and 
 unto his brother, and they were converted to the truth of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 And by reason of this legend S. Thomas is to this day rep- 
 resented in paintings with a carpenter's rule in his hand. 
 
 Would there were space wherein to set forth the more 
 authentic and not less interesting doings of that later Indian 
 Missionary, S. Francis Xavier, the " Apostle of the Indies," 
 who in 1542-44 preached the Gospel at Goa, and to the fisher- 
 folk on the coast, and in Travancore and elsewhere. But 
 space we have not, and those who wish to know of him had 
 best look him up in encyclopaedias, and suchlike. Or if any 
 have no great appetite for those dry bones, let them rather 
 read, in Torsellino's Life l (published not in these matter-of- 
 fact days, but in 1596), of his sweet, merry boyhood, and of 
 his studious youth, and of that strange compassion for 
 
 heathen India which haunted him so long ; and of Nay, 
 
 it cannot be helped, we must translate a little ! 
 
 "For often in sleep it seemed unto Xavier that he was 
 carrying upon his shoulders an Indian who was so heavy that 
 he would awake from sleep exhausted by that weight. And 
 the event afterwards showed that this thing was no freak 
 of the mind in sleep, but rather a sign of what was to 
 come." 
 
 For long afterwards Ignatius Loyola, his Superior, " with a 
 cheerful countenance as his manner was, said unto him, 
 
 1 ' De Vita Francisci Xaverii . . . libri sex Horatii Tursellini, e Societate 
 Jesu,' Antuerpise, MDXCVI.
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 43 
 
 ' Doubtless, Francis, God Himself hath intended for thee the 
 province of India. . . . Go, follow thither His voice Who 
 calleth thee.' 
 
 " Whereat Xavier, blushing like a maiden, and with tears of 
 joy, replied, 'I am ready to do all things, for the sake of 
 Christ/" 
 
 And finally, would that we could relate the labours of that 
 succession of modern Missionaries whose devotion has been 
 crowned with such manifest and tangible results, and such 
 far-reaching success, as the most unsympathetic mind can 
 neither deny nor explain away. 
 
 But historic disquisitions must be left to mightier pens 
 and more ambitious pages. Our task is rather to describe 
 with faithfulness the scenes and incidents actually beheld by 
 our travelling friends of the present day. 
 
 They take up their abode in Tuticorin at the delightfully 
 primitive hotel, where the rain, finding its way through the 
 interstices of the roof, obliges them to sleep under open um- 
 brellas. The hotel is kept by some native Christians who 
 are most anxious to please, and do all they can to make their 
 stay a pleasant one. 
 
 The travellers attend their first Christmas Service after 
 sunset, on the day of their arrival, in the chapel of the S.P.G. 
 Missionary College, which bears the well-loved name of 
 Bishop Caldwell, who founded it. 1 This College is doing an 
 excellent work, and boasts 120 pupils, of whom 90 per cent 
 are Christians. The standard of education is high, and 
 students are prepared for the B.A. degree of the Madras 
 
 1 All particulars of Mission-work given in this and the following chapters 
 refer to the time of the travellers' visit (i.e., Christmas 1891), unless other- 
 wise specified.
 
 44 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 University. There are also several outlying schools in con- 
 nection therewith, bringing the total number of pupils up to 
 nearly 700, exclusive of the boarding-school for girls, founded 
 by Mrs Caldwell, which also has a good attendance. The 
 boys of Caldwell College have gone home for the Christmas 
 holidays, but there remain the members of the Tamil choir, 
 who have been so carefully trained by the Principal l of the 
 College that very few English choirs could sing more beauti- 
 fully. To see the procession of Choir and Clergy entering 
 the decorated church, while every voice joins in the most 
 familiar of our Christmas hymns, is a strange and beautiful 
 sight. The ordinary white cassocks have been replaced by 
 scarlet ones in honour of the Festival, and the glowing colour 
 brightly contrasts with the snowy surplices, and with the 
 bare, brown feet which make not a single sound as they 
 slowly move along. Very impressive are the quiet reverence 
 and earnestness of the grave Tamil faces, and the devout 
 sweetness of the singing. The procession is closed by the 
 College Principal and a barefoot Tamil Clergyman who assists 
 in the English Services. 
 
 At length the rainy night gives place to the warmth and 
 light of a tropical Christmas morning. The choral Services 
 of the English chapel begin at seven o'clock, and more 
 beautiful or devout Christmas Services our friends have 
 never attended. 
 
 Later on they are hospitably entertained at tiffin by the 
 College Principal, who is also the presiding Missionary of the 
 Tuticorin group of mission stations. The travellers have 
 come to India with a great desire to see (among other things) 
 something of Indian Missions; but forasmuch as to gain a 
 general idea of those same Missions would be the work of 
 
 1 The Rev. J. A. Sharrock, B.A., of Jesus College, Cambridge.
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 45 
 
 many winters instead of one, they will for the most part 
 confine themselves to visiting a few mission stations of the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Working as it 
 does "on Church lines always, on party lines never," this 
 venerable Society has a very special claim on all who desire 
 unity for the Anglican Church both at home and abroad. 
 The Society disclaims any spiritual authority over its Mis- 
 sionaries, and any kind of interference with the rights of 
 Bishops abroad would be utterly contrary to its principles. 
 Every S.P.G. Missionary who is sent out places himself at 
 once under the authority and direction of the Bishop in whose 
 diocese he is to work, so that nothing like friction can ever 
 be felt between the managers of the Society at home and the 
 authorities of the Church abroad. This very simple and 
 natural rule is of the utmost importance ; for the harm that 
 may be done by party feeling and disloyalty to Bishops 
 (and that in the very face of the heathen) is altogether 
 incalculable. 
 
 Our friends accordingly persecute their kind host with 
 innumerable questions, and learn much of the efficient 
 and prospering mission-work carried on by the S.P.G. in 
 Tuticorin and in twenty of the surrounding villages, and 
 very much, alas! about the want of men and of funds 
 whereby the work is sadly crippled and impeded. The 
 workers, including the. native Clergy, are but very, very 
 few; but what has been achieved by their means is very 
 notable. All the pupils of the Mission schools receive 
 careful Christian instruction, and the native Christians be- 
 longing to this one Mission already number 1356. 
 
 In the afternoon our friends attend the Evensong and 
 Baptismal Service in the Tamil church, which is gaily 
 decorated in the native fashion with long, pendent garlands
 
 46 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 of flowers. This church is the place of worship for 1000 
 Tamil Christians, and the congregations have been very 
 large to-day. The Tamils dearly love very early church-going, 
 and their Services began at three o'clock this morning. At 
 eight o'clock there was a congregation of 700, and a children's 
 Service was held at two. Now, at the last Service of the 
 day, most of the dark-brown faces look, for all their happi- 
 ness, somewhat tired out. Not so, however, that of their 
 Priest, who receives our travellers with a kindly welcome 
 which is most refreshing. 
 
 The day comes to an end with English Evensong not 
 Evensay, but a beautiful Service of choral praise long to be 
 remembered. 
 
 S. Stephen's Day is spent by our travellers in a very 
 unfestival-like manner that is, in the long journey from 
 Tuticorin to Tinnevelli and thence to Nazareth. As far as 
 Tinnevelli they travel by railway, taking eager note of their 
 first glimpses of South Indian landscapes. Beside the railroad 
 grow silver-green aloes, with here and there a great candel- 
 abra-like flower towering high into the air; and beyond 
 them stretches forth a boundless plain of soft green wide 
 stretches of padi alternating with strange trees, Palmyra 
 palms, and feathery "umbrella-trees," and many more of 
 unfamiliar names. 
 
 On arriving at Tinnevelli, they are met by a very charming 
 greeting a letter from the S.P.G. Missionary at Nazareth, 
 inviting them all to stay with him as long as they can, over 
 New Year's Day if possible. The delight of receiving this 
 kind welcome from one who is an entire stranger to them 
 (except that his name J is familiar to all who know anything 
 of Indian missions), can only be appreciated by those who 
 
 1 Rev. A. Margoschis of S. Augustine's College, Canterbury.
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 47 
 
 have wandered about, in a homeless manner, through strange 
 and distant lands. It is specially comfortable now that the 
 travellers are bidding farewell to all that savours of Euro- 
 pean civilisation, and intend to take up their abode in a 
 far-off native village. 
 
 The twenty-two miles' journey thither must be accom- 
 plished in bullock-bandies quaint and original conveyances 
 wherein our travellers presently dispose themselves. It is 
 now mid -day, and the bullocks handsome and amiable 
 creatures with humps and soft dew-laps and sweet brown 
 eyes being somewhat feeble-minded beasts, will take nine 
 hours to achieve the aforesaid journey. 
 
 At first the way is haunted by picturesque native figures 
 men with variously coloured turbans, and women clad in 
 bright -hued saris, that most graceful of garments, which 
 consists of one broad length of cotton stuff twisted about 
 so as to envelop the whole figure. First it passes round 
 the head (with one end thrown back over the shoulder), 
 then drapes itself in classical fashion, leaving one brown 
 arm free, and finally, fastened round the waist, falls to the 
 ankles in graceful folds. And the colour thereof is very 
 commonly a deep crimson that is a feast to the eyes of 
 beholders. 
 
 But soon the path grows more lonely, and strikes out away 
 into the open country. Bordering the red soil of the road 
 grow great banyan- trees, each one in itself a little forest, 
 with tasselled roots dangling in mid-air, or just reaching 
 the ground, or deeply planted therein and supporting a 
 straight, smooth, pillar-like stem whereon rests the parent 
 branch. Hither and thither over the mighty trunks dart 
 numberless palm-squirrels with light-brown fur striped with 
 bands of black ; while in and out of the dark foliage above
 
 48 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 flutter the bright, emerald-green parrots, filling the world 
 with cries which here in the open air are neither harsh nor 
 piercing, but merely sprightly and cheerful. 
 
 Beyond are broad expanses of padi, and streams, and great 
 reservoirs of shallow water, and banana - plantations, and 
 Palmyra palms innumerable. These last do not grow at 
 Palmyra, and are quite unlike the date - palms of those 
 regions. For these Palmyra palms (called by the learned 
 Borassus fldbelliformis) have fan-shaped leaves, and tapering 
 stems which widen so suddenly at the base that they seem 
 to be balanced thereon, and look like those, rootless trees of 
 our infancy which went into a box at night. 
 
 But the most interesting features of the landscape are 
 the Hindu temples and demon-shrines and pillared manta- 
 pams, 1 and, now and then, a native village of mud -huts 
 thatched with palm-leaves. Slowly the afternoon goes by, 
 and the sun sets, and the night is dark ; but still the journey 
 continues hour after hour, until it seems as if it would go 
 on for ever and ever. But at length there breaks upon the 
 still night-air the welcome sound of a Christian church-bell ; 
 and the next moment the travellers arrive at the Mission 
 bungalow, and are received with the kindest and brightest of 
 welcomes into an atmosphere of homelike rest and comfort 
 such as words are too chilly to describe. 
 
 The next day, being not only Sunday but also the Feast of 
 S. John, is the dedication festival of the Nazareth church, 
 and the occasion of much rejoicing. The principal Service 
 is at 8.30 ; and the travellers, coming out of their rooms 
 into the verandah a little before that time, see a crowd of 
 
 1 These buildings are " temple property," and serve as resting-places for the 
 gods on their journeys of ceremony. Travellers also of all castes rest therein 
 when none of their idol-majesties happens to be in possession.
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 49 
 
 dark-brown faces beaming with happiness more than 500 l 
 of them. These are the pupils and teachers of the Mission 
 schools and Orphanage. 2 The children have assembled to 
 make their morning salutation before falling into procession 
 and moving churchward. Each little brown hand touches 
 the bronze-hued forehead, and there is a simultaneous cry 
 of " Salaam ! Salaam ! " 
 
 Presently the procession is formed, and a beautiful pro- 
 cession it is. In front moves the uplifted Cross gleaming 
 brightly in the sun ; then follows the Choir, robed in white 
 and scarlet, and chanting a Tamil hymn ; and then the Tamil 
 Clergy, the one white face contrasting strangely with all 
 the dark-brown countenances around it. Finally, in order 
 due, march the 500 children clad in their graceful, bright- 
 hued garments, most of which were woven in the Industrial 
 School hereafter to be described. 
 
 The procession moves all round the church, which is 
 already half filled with the village-folk kneeling or sitting 
 with quiet reverence on the stone floor, for all the Nazareth 
 people are Christians. The church holds 1200, and, when 
 the school-children have moved noiselessly to their places, it 
 is quite full. All things are in festal array, and the church 
 is profusely decorated with native garlands of sweet-scented 
 flowers hanging down from above over the heads of the 
 worshippers. So devout and reverent a congregation the 
 travellers have seldom seen before. The Service is fully 
 choral, and not one voice is silent. It is a little sad to 
 "occupy the room of the unlearned," but the universal Giving 
 of Thanks is the same in all languages ; and it is easy to 
 follow in the English Prayer-Book when one has once grasped 
 
 1 There are 350 boarders and orphans, and 150 day-scholars. 
 
 2 This Orphanage was the outcome of the great famine of 1877. 
 
 D
 
 50 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the fact that the Tamil version is necessarily about twice 
 the length of the English, from which it is translated. The 
 sermon is given by a very eloquent Tamil Priest, and is 
 listened to with a rapt attention which to behold would do 
 some English congregations good. 
 
 After Service the travellers return to the bungalow for 
 chota hazri ; and there follow some delightful hours of 
 quiescence, during which they may revel at will among 
 the books of the Missionary's library. He is physician 
 and surgeon to his people as well as their spiritual Father ; 
 and this explains the delightful jumble of scientific and 
 devotional works to be found among his books. Lives of 
 the Saints and Diseases of the Eye here associate on an 
 equal footing and in amicable contiguity, and so do many 
 other learned volumes not elsewhere found on terms of 
 intimacy. 
 
 When the heat of the day is over, the Missionary takes 
 his guests through the village. Although the people are 
 all Christians, they are very far removed from any European- 
 ising influences, and there is nothing on the surface to 
 distinguish Nazareth from a heathen village, except the 
 orderly cleanliness of the palm-thatched cottages, the bright, 
 intelligent faces of the people, the fearless happiness of the 
 children, and the church-tower presiding over all instead 
 of a Hindu temple or some sordid demon -shrine. It is 
 delightful to watch the beaming smiles and glad salaams 
 which greet the well -loved Missionary whithersoever he 
 goes. 
 
 The little brown boys and girls follow the visitors about, 
 watching them with wondering eyes of intense and insati- 
 able curiosity. Elizabeth, being very soft of heart where 
 children are concerned, presently begins to distribute sweet-
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 51 
 
 meats, to the general satisfaction. " They are so very good," 
 she explains. "There was one tiny black boy near me in 
 church who was too little to keep his eyes shut in the 
 prayers, and so his brother, .who was just a little bigger, 
 put his fingers over them and kept them fast shut, and 
 his own too ! And just now I was going to give a sweet- 
 meat to a child who had one already; but he shook his 
 head, and showed me another who had none." 
 
 A large congregation assembles for Tamil Evensong, and 
 afterwards there is a pretty scene at the Mission bungalow. 
 The smallest of the orphan girls are admitted to be fed 
 with bananas and generally petted. They are quite at 
 home, and trip about over the matted floors, with their 
 tiny bare brown feet, in a very frolicsome manner, their 
 bright garments fluttering round them, and their lustrous 
 black eyes overflowing with fun and happiness. The Tamils 
 are a very handsome race, and the little girls are the prettiest 
 of them all. The day comes to an end with English Even- 
 song the only English Service of the week. It is under- 
 stand ed by many of the people, since all the children learn 
 English in school. 
 
 By seven o'clock next morning the church is again filled 
 with reverently kneeling figures, and dark faces lit up 
 with a quiet simplicity of earnestness that is very impres- 
 sive. The travellers are eager to see the daily working of 
 the Mission, and the Missionary devotes to his troublesome 
 visitors so much time and pains that they do not know 
 how to thank him. 
 
 He takes them first to the Dispensary, which, founded 
 by Dr Strachan (now Bishop of Rangoon), is a great feature 
 of the Nazareth work, and wherein the Missionary generally 
 spends three hours every morning prescribing for the in-
 
 52 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 numerable patients who flock to Nazareth from far and 
 near. He has studied at S. George's Hospital in London, 
 and does all the dispensary work himself with the help 
 of one native assistant. During the present 1 year he has 
 treated the almost incredible number of 15,000 different 
 cases. 
 
 "There would be plenty of occupation here," says he, 
 "for a doctor who could give up his whole time to this 
 one branch of our work. The number of heathen who 
 are brought in this way under Christian influence is very 
 great indeed. At Trichendore on the coast there is a god 
 who passes his worst patients on to me to cure. The sick 
 people go to consult his oracle, and if he is puzzled what 
 to answer, he says, ' Go to Nazareth ! ' But my most serious 
 cases are those which have been treated already by native 
 doctors. When an arm has been broken, they tie it up 
 so tightly that gangrene sets in, so that, when the patient 
 comes to me, there is nothing to be done but instant am- 
 putation. They give the most extraordinary medicines too. 
 Quicksilver (in large quantities and unprepared) is a very 
 favourite one, and so are peacock's feathers ! " 
 
 The Missionary sits at a table to receive his patients, and 
 presently there softly enters behind him one of the Tamil 
 folk with a large palm-leaf wherewith he surreptitiously fans 
 away the flies, very gently so that he may not know. 
 
 The patients do not understand English, and the Missionary 
 keeps up a running commentary upon them for the travellers' 
 benefit, who thus learn to distinguish the different castes, 
 with many other interesting matters. One of the sick folk is 
 a Brahman. His complexion is comparatively fair, and he 
 wears over his left shoulder the sacred cord which shows 
 
 1 1891.
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 53 
 
 that he belongs to one of the " twice-born " castes, and where- 
 with he was solemnly invested when he was about to com- 
 mence the study of the Vedas. The different castes, it seems, 
 were separately created by " the truth-meditating Brahma," 
 the " Lord of gods and creatures " ; and the Brahman came 
 forth from his mouth. His duty is threefold liberality, 
 study, and sacrifice. To kill a Brahman is the worst of all 
 possible crimes, more dreadful even than the terrible sin 
 of slaying a cow. The wise Queen Madalasa, when " with 
 prattling words " 1 she spoke to her infant son Alarka (" as 
 he lay on his back crying not unmelodiously "), could find no 
 better wish for him than this, " Mayest thou meet thy death, 
 my child, on behalf of cattle and Brahmans ! " 
 
 Another patient, of lower caste, wears on his swollen leg 
 a silver anklet which he has vowed to offer to one of the 
 gods if he gets well. He has grown worse instead of better, 
 and at last has come to Nazareth, where he obtains some 
 medicine and a little quiet advice as to not applying to 
 idol-gods in future. 
 
 A woman brings a tiny child suffering from a bad ear. 
 
 " Have you been careful," asks the Missionary, " to ram a 
 stick well into the ear and screw it about to see what is the 
 matter ? " 
 
 " I have done so many times ! " says the poor mother. 
 
 " Yes, and that is the reason why the child does not get 
 well." 
 
 " I have to prevaricate a little," adds the Missionary in 
 English, " or I should never be able to get at the truth ! " 
 
 The more serious cases having been dealt with, the rest 
 are left to the assistant ; and the Missionary takes his guests 
 to visit the Orphanage and schools. The threshold of one of 
 
 1 From the 'Markancleya Purfina,' translated by F. E. Pargiter, C.S.
 
 54 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the school-buildings is a large hewn stone. "That," says the 
 Missionary, " was once a god. The boys think it fine fun to 
 tread his godship under foot as they go in and out." 
 
 The teachers at Nazareth are, of course, all Tamils, and 
 have almost all been educated at Nazareth. All of them 
 women as well as men have passed the Matriculation Ex- 
 amination of the Madras University, and some have taken 
 their degree. Nazareth has taken the lead in the higher 
 education of Indian women. For seven years it has prepared 
 its pupils for Matriculation; and teachers educated and 
 trained at Nazareth may be found all over India in Gov- 
 ernment schools, carrying Christian influence whithersoever 
 they go. 
 
 One of the most interesting of the Nazareth institutions is 
 the "Art and Industrial School," wherein are most efficiently 
 taught carpentry and blacksmith's work, tailoring, Indian 
 and Muhammadan embroidery, weaving and lace-making, and 
 drawing. The eleven looms of the weaving department 
 manufacture all the clothes worn by the 350 children of the 
 Nazareth Orphanage and Industrial and Boarding Schools. 
 Orders are also executed for many outsiders. Moreover, the 
 " tailoring " department is very flourishing, and each member 
 of the church choir makes his own surplice and cassock. 
 The pupils of the Industrial School are about 160, of whom 
 about 50 are girls. Every one learns two trades at least. 
 Carpentry is a great feature thereof, and the boys engaged in 
 it can make chairs, tables, cots, desks, benches, and many 
 other suchlike things. The present school was opened on 
 November 14, 1887, when the Bishop and fifteen other 
 Clergymen, English and native, together with the Nazareth 
 Choir, entered the building in procession and held in it a 
 Service of dedication. There seems still to linger about the
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 55 
 
 place an echo of one of the prayers then used: "O Thou, 
 who in Thy home at Nazareth didst sanctify earthly labour, 
 grant that all these Thy children, who follow Thy holy 
 example therein, may work with their hands the thing which 
 is good." The motto of the school is "Work and Pray." 
 In 1888 the Government Inspector reported this to be " by 
 far the best Industrial school in the division." The modest 
 sum of 2, 10s. a-year is enough to provide for a boy or girl 
 therein. 
 
 In the afternoon one of the teachers of the Nazareth 
 Training School brings some of the elder girls to the Mis- 
 sion bungalow, and gives a model lesson in English for the 
 travellers' benefit. The lesson is excellent, but the charming 
 picture presented by the teacher and her pupils is more in- 
 teresting still. The girls have adorned their glossy black 
 hair with beautiful white flowers ; and their pretty dark 
 faces are beaming with intelligence and with a shy delight 
 at the part they have to play. Their dresses are graceful as 
 only Eastern dresses can be, and their bare brown feet peep 
 out beneath them. But the most charming figure of all is 
 that of the teacher. She wears a short jacket of purple silk, 
 and soft flowing draperies of bright-coloured cotton reaching 
 to the feet. Her intelligent face, moreover, has one of the 
 sweetest expressions imaginable. 
 
 Shortly after the conclusion of this scene, there follows 
 another still more strange. The travellers are standing 
 about the room, admiring some Nazareth embroideries, when 
 there enters a little crowd of Tamils the chief men of the 
 place, sent by the congregation to greet the English visitors. 
 
 " I think," says the Missionary, turning with a smile to his 
 guests, " that they would like you to sit down." 
 
 When the visitors are duly seated in a row, one of the
 
 56 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Tamil folk brings forward a huge cluster of bananas, and 
 lays it before them as a present. Then comes forth another 
 swarthy figure laden with native garlands thick, closely 
 woven ropes of sweet-scented oleander-blossoms, white and 
 pink and crimson, forming bright circles of delightful fresh- 
 ness, two or more whereof he suspends round the neck of 
 each of the English folk, placing at the same time in their 
 hands fragrant balls of snow-white blossoms. Then forth 
 stands the oldest member of the congregation blind and 
 feeble, but of very kindly countenance and makes a Tamil 
 speech, thanking the visitors for coming to Nazareth, and 
 offering them a very heartfelt welcome. When the Mis- 
 sionary has construed this little oration into English, and 
 the Father's English reply into Tamil, he further narrates to 
 the good Tamil folk some of his guests' former travels, and 
 more especially their visit to that original Nazareth after 
 which the Indian Nazareth was named. It is charming to 
 watch the delighted interest of the good people when they 
 hear of Jerusalem and Bethlehem and many other well-loved 
 places. 
 
 Soon after this little ceremony, the travellers, still rejoicing 
 in their fragrant adornments, are taken to see the school- 
 girls' drill, and some of their very delightful games. Those 
 which are accompanied with singing are the most attractive. 
 Among them "Eound the Mulberry-Bush" is conspicuous, 
 but with certain unavoidable modifications, such as the 
 banishment of " shoes " and " frosty mornings," and the 
 introduction of Indian in the place of European customs. 
 But far prettier than this Western importation is an exqui- 
 sitely rhythmic native dance accompanied with a Tamil 
 chant in a plaintive minor key. 
 
 After Tamil Evensong, the Choir and Native Clergy as-
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 57 
 
 semble in the veraudah of the bungalow to say farewell 
 to the visitors, who, alas ! are obliged to depart to-morrow 
 morning. The dark faces and the white and scarlet robes 
 make in the dim light an impressive picture, and the kind 
 Good-bye is very sweet indeed. 
 
 Then follows the pleasant evening meal, set out on a table 
 beautifully decorated (by the native servant) with flowers 
 and leaves, after the Tamil manner. The travellers take 
 this opportunity of showering all kinds of ignorant questions 
 on their kind host, who, with inexhaustible patience, tells 
 them all that is in their hearts with regard to the working of 
 the Nazareth Missions. He is the only white man within 
 twenty miles, and has under his care 12,500 native Chris- 
 tians, divided into seventy congregations. Six Tamil Clergy- 
 men work under him, and many Catechists ; but the English 
 Missionary visits each congregation every quarter. The lone- 
 liness of this isolated position, for a mind of high cultivation, 
 and the terrible strain of responsibility, can only be realised 
 by those who know the dependence of the native character, 
 and the constant support required by all branches of such 
 work as this. It is sad to hear of the want of men and of 
 money which prevents the taking up of new and most hope- 
 ful work. " We are afraid" says the Missionary, " of the 
 outsiders who send asking us for Christian teaching. To 
 look after our own people is already almost more than we 
 can do." 
 
 The visitors now learn of many charming native customs, 
 whereof one is that of the offerings of the congregation 
 being made in kind. The mother of a family cooks rice 
 twice a -day for meals, and on these occasions she never 
 forgets to set apart a handful "for the Church." These 
 offerings are 'brought every month to the Mission bungalow,
 
 58 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 and go to feed the Missionary's many orphan children, who, 
 like all his people, always call him " Father." 
 
 But these are not the only contributions of the people, 
 and the visitors are astonished to hear how much is done 
 by even the poorest of the native congregations toward the 
 support of their Clergy and churches. " Natives of India," 
 says the Missionary, " do not believe in a religion which 
 costs them nothing." 
 
 Another striking point in these Missions is the uncom- 
 promising manner in which are brought home to the people 
 the responsibilities of the laity. " Evangelistic work," says 
 the Missionary, " forms an integral part of the duty of every 
 one who calls himself a Christian ; and though most of our 
 Christians are not qualified to 'go and teach,' yet each in 
 his sphere can bear witness to the truth, and thus be a 
 missionary." 
 
 Gladly, too, do the travellers hear in detail of that great 
 Baptismal Service of a few years ago, when more than 300 
 converts were in one day added to the Church. Their 
 conversion was brought about on this wise: 
 
 The inhabitants of four hamlets not far from Nazareth 
 were suffering from the raids of the Maravars, or thief 
 caste, who plundered the defenceless people with the utmost 
 cruelty. The sufferers appealed to the Missionary, who went 
 to live with them for a week, and, by the prestige of his 
 white face and well-known name, protected them from their 
 foes. The impression which he then made was so great that 
 the people asked to join the Mission, and were admitted as 
 "hearers." After nearly two years' instruction and proba- 
 tion, the occasion was seized of a visit of the beloved Bishop 
 Caldwell to make arrangements for their Baptism. 
 
 Eound the foot of the rising ground whereon used to
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 59 
 
 stand the people's demon-temple runs a brook. Over this 
 brook was erected, as a necessary protection from the sun, 
 a canopy of white cloth adorned with flowers and fruit. 
 The Bishop, with eight other Clergy and the Nazareth Choir 
 in its festal robes of scarlet and white, stood beside the 
 water. A Tamil hymn was sung ; and then, while the hun- 
 dreds of worshippers knelt in silence, the Baptismal Office 
 began. The 303 converts (many of whom were children) 
 went down into the water, and were baptised. " It was 
 touching," says an eye-witness, from whose description our 
 own is borrowed, " to see the husband carefully leading his 
 wife down, parent lovingly holding his child, sons helping 
 their aged parents in. ... Their earnestness was very 
 noticeable, and many uttered exclamations of thanksgiving 
 as they came up out of the water." " The ceremony," says 
 the Missionary, " took exactly an hour, and at the close the 
 venerable Bishop exhorted the people and gave them his 
 apostolic Benediction." Ninety -eight other converts, who 
 were unable to be present on this day, were baptised 
 shortly afterwards, bringing the whole number up to 401. 
 
 Our friends' last evening at Nazareth is brought to an 
 end by an event which, if only for the sake of its delicious 
 incongruity with all serious thoughts, shall be squeezed in 
 at the chapter's end. It seems that for months past those 
 boys who are advanced English scholars, and who have to 
 study Shakespeare for the University examinations, have 
 been learning " As You Like It " with a view to acting that 
 play at Christmas-time; and this evening has been chosen 
 for the long-expected representation. It takes place out of 
 doors, and the whole village has assembled to witness it, 
 sitting under the stars on the grass of the Mission compound.
 
 60 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 The Missionary and his guests having taken their seats 
 on chairs from the bungalow under a kind of extemporised 
 canopy, and having been duly adorned with fresh and fragrant 
 garlands, the proceedings begin with an exposition of the 
 Play, given by one of the school-teachers in Tamil. This con- 
 tains a summary wherein the Forest of Arden figures as " the 
 jungle," and so forth. 
 
 Next are represented the Seven Ages of Man ; and then 
 follow scenes from the Play itself. ' All the actors have care- 
 fully whitened their faces and hands to a truly European 
 complexion, and are clad in an imitation of European gar- 
 ments, probably sent forth by the " tailoring " department of 
 the Industrial School. Most conspicuous of the performers is 
 the Prompter, who, being in native costume and theoretically 
 invisible, walks about among the actors proper, and pats the 
 shoulder of whoever is to speak next. The action consists 
 in sitting still on chairs or walking to and fro with the 
 greatest rapidity, no compromise being allowed between 
 these two extremes. All is done with the utmost solemnity, 
 and the Play is followed by an address in English (with 
 a somewhat strong Tamil accent) setting forth the Moral 
 thereof. Finally the National Anthem is sung with a great 
 deal more reverence than is generally shown in Britain. 
 
 The unwelcome morning comes too soon, and our travellers, 
 having said Good-bye to their kind entertainer, once more 
 dispose themselves in their bullock-bandies and set forth for 
 Tinnevelli, attended by the salaams of the villagers whom 
 they chance to meet by the way. 
 
 " I think," says Philippa, " that there ought to be established 
 at Nazareth a Hospital for the treatment of those who suffer 
 from the obscure disease of not appreciating Missions. Patients
 
 CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 61 
 
 should reside there for a week or a fortnight, according to 
 inveteracy of the malady. The course of treatment should 
 begin with gentle walks in the Mission compound. The 
 bright intelligence as well as the natural and healthy life of 
 the school- children and orphans should be specially brought 
 under their observation. Such as are convinced that Mission 
 schools are conducted on sentimental rather than practical 
 lines should be induced to study the sentiments of the 
 Government Inspectors as set forth in their reports. By-and- 
 by the patients would be strong enough for excursions to the 
 outlying villages, and at length would be led to the dis- 
 covery that the Nazareth Missionary is only one of many 
 devoted labourers, and that the Christians in this Tinnevelli 
 Division alone already number 150,000. When this bright 
 side of the subject had been sufficiently impressed on their 
 minds, they should gradually be allowed to perceive that 
 what has been done is only a drop in the ocean of what 
 remains, and to observe how the work is everywhere crippled 
 for want of that sympathy and help from home on which so 
 much depends. Their cure being completed, they should be 
 shipped back home, and so make room for others." 
 
 This plan is eagerly discussed as the bullock-bandies jog 
 pleasantly along through the early morning sunshine. And 
 so Good-bye, happy Nazareth !
 
 62 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TINNEVELLI. 
 
 Now doth it behove us to introduce one of the kindest of 
 our travellers' Anglo-Indian friends, the Superintendent of 
 Police for the district of Tinnevelli. Staying with the 
 Nazareth Missionary for a few days at Christmas, and thus 
 becoming acquainted with the wanderers, he invites them all 
 to his bungalow at Palamcottah, the European neighbour of 
 native Tinnevelli. 
 
 Hither having journeyed, they find that their kind host 
 has turned himself out of his own house to make room for 
 them, and himself intends to sleep in his travelling -tent 
 pitched in the garden. His guests echo with sincere grati- 
 tude that exclamation uttered long ago by the suppliant 
 Brahma, " This day is my very fortunate destiny in the 
 dwelling of assistance, and my happy fate in the abode of 
 friendliness." x 
 
 Many things do they learn from their hospitable enter- 
 tainer, hearing especially of the great work done by the 
 Nazareth Missionary, and of his widespread influence, and of 
 various other such things whereof the Missionary himself is 
 not accustomed to speak. A great deal also do they hear 
 
 1 From Halhed's ' Sheeve Pouran.'
 
 TINNEVELLI. 63 
 
 about the working of the Police Department. At breakfast- 
 time, on the morning after their arrival, come tidings of a 
 great temple robbery ; before tiffin an old lady telegraphs to 
 say that she is to be murdered to-night ; and so on. 
 
 "We have a good many burglaries," says the Superin- 
 tendent ; " but very often the robber and the robbed are the 
 same individual. If you have an enemy whom you wish to 
 get into trouble, the method is to hide some of your property 
 in his house, to dig a hole through the mud-wall of your own, 
 and then call in the police. Unfortunately the police always 
 discover that the hole is wider on the inside of the wall than 
 it is outside, and must therefore have been made from 
 within." 
 
 Soon after their arrival our friends are taken by their host 
 to visit the Hindu temple of Tinnevelli, a great Dravidian 
 pagoda, the like of which they have never seen before. 
 Notice has been given of their visit, and they are honoured 
 with a state reception. 
 
 " I hope they do not imagine we have come to pay a state 
 call on Siva ! " exclaims the anxious-minded Sebaste. 
 
 " By no means ! " is the answer. " You will not be allowed 
 to go anywhere near the central shrine where his godship 
 resides, and they will demand a sum of 10 rupees to pay for 
 the purification of the temple after its profanation by our 
 unholy Christian feet ! " 
 
 Thus reassured, the travellers submit with a good grace to 
 the ceremonious welcome prepared for them. Brahmans 
 arrayed in white come forward and load their honoured 
 necks with freshly woven garlands of fragrant oleander- 
 blossoms. Limes are solemnly placed in their hands, and 
 they are, further, sprinkled with perfume. And now ap-
 
 64 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 preaches with lordly gait and benevolent countenance the 
 temple elephant, clad in scarlet, and full of conscious dignity, 
 yet not above being fed with limes and bananas. Like " the 
 noble elephant Supratika," he wears a bell which swings from 
 side to side and loudly rings as .he walks. This personage, 
 having been solemnly introduced to the visitors, proceeds to 
 lead the way through the mazy courts of the pagoda. Next 
 advances a dignified company of temple Brahmans, and after 
 them, marching backward before the travellers, moves a band 
 of temple musicians loudly playing on conches and tom-toms. 
 Then follow the much-begarlanded visitors, and behind them 
 marches a row of native orderlies keeping at bay the tur- 
 baned crowd which follows with intense curiosity this solemn 
 oriental procession. 
 
 " Look at our host," whispered Philippa. " How submis- 
 sively he wears that great garland of flowers ! They say that 
 Greece subdued her conquerors. It looks as if India were 
 doing the same ! " 
 
 Now doth my pen falter, and fear to approach the task 
 set before it ; for how shall so feeble a thing trace out the 
 majestic lines of a South Indian pagoda? That at Tinne- 
 velli, covering a little more than ten acres of ground, is far 
 from being one of the largest of Indian temples ; yet as tlie 
 travellers, surrounded by their train of dark-faced attendants, 
 wander through its hypaethral courts and vista'd corridors of 
 sculptured pillars, its weird, shadowy halls, and forests of 
 fantastic columns, it seems to them an endless labyrinth of 
 mysterious and unintelligible intricacy, wherein on every 
 side the unfamiliar architecture is alive with grotesquely 
 hideous forms of gods and demons innumerable. 
 
 Wonderful is the effect on the mind of these archaic 
 trabeate buildings where never an arch may intrude ! But
 
 TINNEVELLI. 65 
 
 most extraordinary of all the astonishing forms are the 
 tall gopuras or entrance - towers which our travellers here 
 see for the first time, but which, at Madura and Shriran- 
 gam, will reach still grander and more imposing dimensions. 
 Now a gopura is an outlandish erection of indescribable 
 strangeness. It is as though some solemn Egyptian pylon 
 had on a sudden grown vain and frivolous, had mounted 
 on a rectangular pedestal, and, stretching itself up to a 
 giddy and disproportionate height, had finally covered its 
 attenuated figure with exuberant masses of tinted sculp- 
 ture gods and heroes and monsters piled one on the top 
 of the other in a soaring pyramidal tower. 
 
 The Tinnevelli pagoda is a double temple dedicated to 
 Siva and his wife Parvati, and contains a nuptial hall 
 wherein their wedding is yearly celebrated, as well as 
 sacred tanks on which their idol-majesties make occasional 
 excursions by boat. 
 
 Long do the travellers wander through the labyrinthine 
 temple buildings, now threading their way through the 
 dim forest of the Hall of a Thousand Columns, now emerging 
 into glowing sunlight among groves of stately palm-trees. 
 One flourishing tree is pointed out to the visitors as 
 having been planted by an eccentric American gentle- 
 man who felt disposed to pay a compliment to Siva, and 
 probably cared not much for the effect of such an action 
 on the impressionable native mind. He would have done 
 better, the travellers fancy, if, instead of planting a palm- 
 tree, he had followed the example of those ancient sages 
 who "hewed down the tree of selfishness with the axe 
 of learning, which was sharpened on the whetstone of 
 association with the good." 1 But the task was too great 
 
 1 From the ' Markandeya Purdna,' translated by F. E. Pargiter, C.S. 
 
 E
 
 66 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 for his hand, seeing that, beyond a doubt, " the black ser- 
 pent of ignorance " had bitten him. 
 
 Nor is that calamity astonishing in such a temple as this, 
 haunted as it is with wild superstitions which imbue the 
 very air with an impalpable, insidious taint of all-pervading 
 paganism. Gradually the subtle influence affects the trav- 
 ellers' minds, and, as they pass on their way through the 
 pagoda's courts and halls, they begin to recall strange legends 
 of Siva and the fair Parvati. 
 
 No venerable Aryan gods are these, for originally Siva 
 seems to have been an obscure Turanian deity; but he 
 grew great and powerful in India, and the conquering 
 Vedic faith could not ignore his claims. Wherefore the 
 Brahmans invited him to enter their complex system, and 
 to this day Siva and Vishnu are the most popular of 
 India's gods. 
 
 Siva, saith the Purana devoted to his glorification, " hath 
 five heads and ten arms. He is white as crystal, and 
 shining, dressed in clothes and chains of ornament, and 
 having a tiger's skin." "He dwelleth on the peaks of 
 Kailasa and Himalaya." 1 " Whatsoever is seen is all the 
 essence of Siva. Just as fire is in all times inclosed in 
 wood ; and just as clay may be made to assume all dif- 
 ferent shapes, yet at the bottom is the same clay. Such 
 is the nature of Siva." Nay, the very creation of the 
 universe is in great part owing to him, for Brahma's hand 
 " was not equal to the completion of that arduous opera- 
 tion," and, smitten with " heart - corroding sorrow," he 
 "rested his forehead upon his knees and began to weep." 
 But " Siva said, ' Let not grief and sorrow come upon 
 thee, but assume comfort, and turn thy thoughts to the 
 
 1 From the ' Markandeya Puritna,' translated by F. E. Pargiter, C.S.
 
 TINNEVELL1. 6*7 
 
 work of creation ; for I will produce the creatures into 
 existence, and will wipe from thy countenance the dust 
 of affliction.'" 
 
 Parvati, like all Hindu goddesses, represents the ener- 
 gising principle of her husband's power. She is the Moun- 
 tain's Child, the daughter of Himalaya, the peerless goddess, 
 beautiful as morning, and " all who worship her obtain their 
 wishes." Her wedding with Siva who shall describe ? For 
 thereat were all the gods assembled. Thither came " Brahma 
 mounted on his goose," with all the Sages at his stirrup ; 
 and " Vishnu in colour like a black cloud, with his four arms 
 and his yellow robe, and his smiling and his eyes like the 
 lotus, riding in pomp and power unrivalled with all his 
 devotees." Thither too came Yasuki, the King of Serpents, 
 with other illustrious snakes " dressed in superb chains and 
 habits of ceremony; and the seven mothers also came to 
 prepare the wedding." Then did the bridegroom " set forth 
 in all pomp and splendour from the Mountain Kilas," 
 wearing the moon for a diadem. " The old world assumed 
 fresh youth, and the sorrowing universe recalled its long- 
 forgotten happiness. . . . The rosebud of the heart was full- 
 blown, and the garden of the soul of the sorrowful inclosed 
 the shrubs of joy. The dwellers upon earth stored the 
 casket of their ideas with the jewels of satisfaction. . . . The 
 joy of those on earth ascended up to heaven, and the tree of 
 the bliss of those in heaven extended its twigs to the earth. 
 Thus Siva set forth like a garden in full blow, and Paradise 
 was eclipsed by his motion." 
 
 Before leaving the pagoda the travellers are permitted to 
 see the temple jewels, spread out for their inspection on a 
 crimson carpet. He who knows not India knows not what 
 jewels are, and of all Indian jewels these temple collections
 
 68 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 are probably the most splendid. They are in the shape of 
 ornaments for their idol-majesties to wear on festal occasions. 
 The rubies and emeralds are fair to see, but more beautiful 
 still are the long strings of pearls and the rich headpieces 
 of gold thickly set (as the Hindu scriptures have it) " with 
 excellent gems, and shining with the splendour of suns 
 innumerable." 
 
 The most uncanny of the temple treasures are the steeds 
 of silver and silver-gilt whereon ride the idols in processions 
 of ceremony, strange monsters with human faces and 
 lustrous, jewelled eyes, well in keeping with the weird in- 
 terior of an ancient Hindu temple. Ancient it is not very, 
 so far as date goes, having been builded by Visvanatha in 
 the sixteenth century; but though Hindu temples do not, 
 like those of Egypt, date from a very remote Past, it is to be 
 remembered that here in the far East is, in the Western 
 acceptation of the word, no Present at all. 
 
 Emerging at length from the temple, the travellers gaze 
 with admiring eyes at two enormous teak- wood cars whereon 
 the deities of the pagoda make a progress through the town 
 at the great annual festival. Each car is as large as a 
 house, and is covered with a profusion of strange carving. 
 Thousands of enthusiastic worshippers, when the feast comes 
 round, drag through the streets these gigantic erections. No 
 doubt they typify that celestial chariot of the god " which 
 shone like gold for Siva's mounting. Instead of the right 
 wheel was the sun, in the place of the left wheel was the 
 moon, and the stars were distributed about it by way of 
 ornaments. In lieu of the canopy on the top of the chariot 
 was heaven. The four Vedas were put as horses thereto, and 
 the setting out of the chariot one would say to be the year of 
 twelve months gracefully moving onward."
 
 TINNEVELLI. 69 
 
 The next day is spent by our travellers in visiting the 
 Tinnevelli prison, and in the more cheerful occupation of 
 examining the church and schools of the Church Missionary 
 Society's Tinuevelli Mission. And so conies the last evening 
 at hospitable Palamcottah. 
 
 After dinner the travellers and their kind host sit out in 
 the garden under the bright stars, surrounded with great 
 crotons and other hothouse plants, while all the air is full 
 of the multitudinous sounds of a tropical night ; and many 
 stories do they hear of tigers and cobras and suchlike 
 creatures which seem to play the part of ghosts in Indian 
 conversation. Presently there silently emerges into the 
 lamplight from the surrounding darkness an Eastern figure 
 clad in white and carrying a basket of primitive kind. No 
 sound is made by the bare brown feet, and their owner 
 speaks not. Taking from his basket a number of fragrant 
 and freshly woven garlands, he hangs them round the necks 
 of the whole party, places balls of flowers in their hands, 
 and pours rose-water on their unresisting heads. Finally, 
 approaching the Superintendent (who has never seen him 
 before), he makes an humble salaam. Eeceiving permission 
 to speak, he launches forth into a flowing Tamil oration, 
 which his hearer thus briefly translates for the benefit of the 
 guests : 
 
 "Thou art to me as a father. All good that is mine 
 cometh through thee. I am one who is seeking an appoint- 
 ment as a ship's chandler. If I might obtain from thee a 
 recommendation, it is to this end that I am come." 
 
 The suppliant, graciously received, is told to come again in 
 the morning, and, having once more sprinkled the company 
 with rose-water, departs rejoicing.
 
 70 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CITY OF SWEETNESS. 
 
 RISING early, and driving by starlight to the station, the 
 travellers set forth for Madura before sunrise ; but soon 
 appears " the adorable sun, in appearance ruddy as the full- 
 blown lotus-flower," 1 and the landscape is overflowed and 
 overwhelmed by the universal flood of glowing Indian sun- 
 shine no pale and colourless light as of northern countries, 
 but a living, tangible glory of rich and dazzling gold, wherein 
 all the world is steeped and shines transfigured. The hot 
 hours of the morning are beguiled by the conversation of a 
 very charming travelling companion, an English Inspectress 
 of Schools from Travancore, who gives our travellers a lively 
 description of that outlandish native state, where wild black 
 leopards range abroad, with other curious beasts. 
 
 " The Maharaja," says she, " who of course belongs to the 
 Kshatriya or warrior caste, is entirely under the influence of 
 the Brahmans, and shows them the greatest respect. They 
 invariably cast his horoscope, predicting the exact day of 
 his death ; and on that day he always does die without fail, 
 often, it is suspected, with a little assistance in the way 
 of poison. "We have many strange native customs quite 
 
 1 Markandeya Purdna. Pargiter.
 
 THE CITY OF SWEETNESS. 71 
 
 distinct from those of other states. One of them is that the 
 ladies choose their own husbands. When a young lady has 
 made up her mind on this point, her mother sends to the 
 mother of the selected youth a present of rice. If this is 
 graciously received, no objection will be made to the match ; 
 but any disparaging remark as to the quality of the rice 
 amounts to a rejection of the proposal. All inheritance 
 in Travancore goes in the female line, and a married woman 
 may at any time dismiss her husband. This last is a very 
 common practice among the heathen folk ; but it is not 
 in use among those who have been educated in our schools, 
 for, though we are not allowed to give any definite religious 
 teaching in school, the effect of Christian influence is very 
 great indeed. There are in Travancore some 500,000 Chris- 
 tians, and the Christian ideal of morality is exercising a very 
 marked influence among the educated Hindus." 
 
 At mid-day the travellers arrive, and take up their abode 
 in the station-rooms, which are the best accommodation for 
 visitors that Madura affords. The native town is large, 
 containing about 52,000 inhabitants, and, like Tinnevelli, is 
 the capital of a district. This district contains more than 
 70,000 Christians. 
 
 Historically Madura is of the utmost interest. Whether 
 it was really founded by King Kula Sekhara, "the Orna- 
 ment of the Eace," three hundred years before our era, let 
 the learned decide ; but ignorant imaginations may revel at 
 will in the shadowy scenes of the centuries that followed 
 those legendary days of the Pandyan dynasty, when Ma- 
 dura was the royal city of unpronounceable mouarchs whose 
 very names are romances. What must not life have been 
 like in the reign, for instance, of the Eace-adorning Kulab-
 
 72 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 hushana, or of Eaja Shardula, the Tiger among Kings, of 
 Valour-mailed or Renown-adorned, or Eipu Mardana the 
 Grinder of Enemies ? What delight to be governed by 
 the Moon-crested or the Chief Gem of the Eace, or by 
 Surabhi the Cow of Plenty ! 
 
 Manifold are the bygone wonders which our friends ought 
 to be pondering during their stay ; but the air is close and 
 unwholesome, and cholera is raging, nor is the town redolent 
 now of those ambrosial drops which fell from Siva's shaken 
 tresses, a fragrant shower that gladdened the dwellings of 
 Madhura the City of Sweetness. A thousand people have 
 died already of cholera, and ancient grandeur is by present 
 miseries very effectually eclipsed. 
 
 Nevertheless the travellers betake themselves forthwith 
 to sight-seeing, and first visit the great palace erected in the 
 seventeenth century by that majestic builder, the Maharaja 
 Tirumala Nayak, and of late restored by Government. An 
 imposing building it is, and interesting as showing the Mu- 
 hammadan influence which made the civil architecture of 
 these Dravidian folk such an absolute contrast to that of 
 their temples. The grandeur, however, is sadly impaired 
 by the extensive use of chunam, a fine stucco, consisting of 
 shell-lime, wherewith much of the stonework is covered. 
 The style is Moorish, with pointed arches. Passing an ar- 
 caded quadrangle, the visitors reach the Celestial Pavilion, a 
 pillared octagon wherein Tirumala sat enthroned and held his 
 State receptions. It is surmounted by a great dome whereof 
 the interior apex is 73 feet from the pavement below. Many 
 other halls and chambers there are, including that great Hall 
 of Audience, 120 feet long and 70 feet in height, which must 
 have witnessed many an animated scene when thronged in 
 days gone by with bright-robed Eastern crowds.
 
 THE CITY OF SWEETNESS. 73 
 
 From the shadowy interior of the palace it is pleasant to 
 return to the large and sunlit quadrangle round which its 
 halls are built, and which covers an area of over 4000 square 
 yards. The granite pillars of its surrounding corridors would 
 be grand and beautiful were it not for the inevitable chunam 
 wherein they have foppishly arrayed themselves; as it is, 
 the visitors turn from their glaring pretension to admire 
 the graceful and gleeful gambols of the wild but amiable 
 parrots to whom this court belongs. Revelling in the sun- 
 light, their long tails floating behind them, and all their 
 brilliant plumage gleaming in the golden light, they sweep 
 and flutter through the air, or nestle like living emeralds 
 in recesses of sculptured ornament. dragging, stumbling 
 pen of mine, would they could teach thee their hidden spring 
 of light and rhythmic motion ! 
 
 Thanks to a kind friend to whom they bear a letter from 
 the Nazareth Missionary, the travellers in a very few days 
 become familiar with the principal sights of the place. One 
 of the most attractive of these is the Teppa Kulam or Sacred 
 Tank. Such artificial lakes are throughout India greatly 
 venerated, and their waters (whatever their physical con- 
 dition) are believed to possess a power of spiritual purifica- 
 tion. That ancient king addressed to the wise Vidura the 
 greatest of compliments when he said, " Sages like thee, my 
 lord, are veritable sacred tanks ! " l The Teppa Kulam at 
 Madura is a beautiful rectangular sheet of water about 332 
 yards in length and 314 yards broad. It is surrounded by a 
 low fence of stone, which has at the corners curious groups 
 of sculpture, and is, moreover, broken by broad flights of 
 steps. In the centre of the lake is an island-temple, its 
 pyramidal and richly - sculptured vimana rising into sun- 
 
 1 From ' Le Bhagavata Purana ' . . . tracluit . . . par M. Eugene Burnouf.
 
 74 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 light from thick and verdant foliage wherewith it brightly 
 contrasts. 
 
 Near to the lake is the Judge's house, and in the grounds 
 thereof grows a banyan-tree of such enormous dimensions 
 as to look like an optical delusion. Its exact measurements 
 at present I know not, but in 1879 its circumference was 
 already no less than 565 feet, that of the main stem being 
 70 feet. To wander about under its thick foliage while 
 the fierce Indian sun is blazing on the world without is as 
 though one had reached, like those sages of old, " the cool, 
 dustless, thornless grove of perfect religious knowledge ! " 
 
 Besides exploring various other temples, the travellers 
 make a long visit to the Great Pagoda of Madura, the most 
 famous, perhaps, in all the South of India. Once more they 
 are received by temple dignitaries and adorned with freshly 
 woven garlands of flowers, and once more the temple ele- 
 phant honours their entrance with his benign and gracious 
 presence. Huge and dignified is he as those four gigantic 
 elephants who support the weight of the world, by the 
 motion of whose heads the earth doth quake. "Even as 
 the King of Elephants, slowly he moves along." 
 
 Meanwhile a sacred temple cow, wandering at will through 
 groves of sculptured columns, watches the visitors with a 
 gentle consciousness of her own superior sanctity. Be it 
 observed by the way that the Hindu veneration for cows 
 (which carries back our travellers' imagination to Isis and 
 ancient Egypt) is one of the oldest and most interesting of 
 Indian superstitions, and throughout the Puranas is very 
 prominent. "Never," exclaimed a pious king of Indian 
 legend "never may I entertain one thought of hatred 
 toward Brahmans, gods, or cows ! " " There is a cow, my 
 child," said the wise Queen Madalasa, setting forth the
 
 THE CITY OF SWEETNESS. 75 
 
 mystical side of the subject " there is a cow who is the 
 support of all things. She consists of the three Vedas, her 
 horns are pious acts, and her hair the excellent words of the 
 good. . . . Her feet are the four castes, she is the sustenance 
 of the worlds ; being imperishable she does not wane." 
 
 Preliminaries over, the travellers plunge into the depths 
 of the gigantic temple, which, covering fourteen acres of 
 ground, is an intricate world of mystery, more vast and 
 mazy than all the buildings of Dreamland. 
 
 There was, in all probability, a pagoda here as long ago 
 as Kula Sekhara himself, but the present buildings, say 
 the learned, date for the most part from Tirumala Nayak's 
 days, which is absurd, for the whole place is manifestly 
 antediluvian. To describe it would require not a neat cata- 
 logue of architectural terms, but a profound labyrinth of 
 unfamiliar words covering a space large enough to contain 
 the longest and most bewildering of those old Hindu Puranas 
 which, with their quaint similitudes and exuberant richness 
 of imagery, their archaic form and wild grotesqueness of 
 fantastic detail, are the only likeness I know of the great 
 Dravidian pagodas. 
 
 The temple jewels at Madura far outshine even those 
 of Tinnevelli. Bright gold and countless sapphires, giant 
 pearls and brilliant rubies, all wrought with strange skill 
 into rich ornaments of various shapes, are reverently brought 
 out and massed together in one gleaming heap of magic 
 treasure such as the wildest of fairy tales might hardly 
 dare to describe. Here too are the wondrous steeds, plated 
 with silver and gold, whereon the idols ride in high pro- 
 cession, curbing their spirited motions with reins of twisted 
 pearls. 
 
 These idols are Sundareshwar and Minakshi, who are in
 
 76 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 fact Siva and his consort, the attributes and resulting names 
 of those worthies being practically endless. The pagoda is 
 a double one like that at Tinnevelli, but Minakshi's part 
 therein is smaller than that of her husband. After the 
 exhibition of the wonderful jewels (which must be touched 
 and handled before one can quite believe in them) the 
 travellers wander on through courts and halls and corridors 
 of weird architecture, vainly endeavouring to understand 
 the labyrinthine plan of the strange and unintelligible 
 buildings. 
 
 The wall of the second court is adorned with five gopuras, 
 and the outer -wall has four (one in each side of the rect- 
 angle) of still more gigantic proportions. The tallest, though 
 left unfinished, reaches a height of 152 feet; but such 
 numbers do not express much, because the tapering form 
 of gopuras causes them to look much higher than can be 
 inferred from measurements. Opposite to this chief gopura 
 is that famous choultrie or pillared hall built by Tirumala 
 Kayak as a resting-place for Sundareshwar when he deigned 
 to leave the central shrine of the temple and to receive in a 
 more public place the Maharaja's devotion. A wonderful 
 building it is, 333 feet long by 105 feet wide, and crowded, 
 from the terrific monsters of its facade to the inmost recesses 
 of its vista'd interior, with what is assuredly the most un- 
 earthly sculpture that the mind of man has ever imagined. 
 
 More marvellous still, perhaps, is the Hall of a Thousand 
 Pillars, which, forming so conspicuous a part of Dravidian 
 padogas generally, appears at Madura in a specially beauti- 
 ful and elaborate form a shadowy forest of rich and fan- 
 tastic sculpture made, it would seem, by goblin builders in 
 far-off days of old.
 
 THE CITY OF SWEETNESS. 77 
 
 Curiously beautiful also is the "Tank of the Golden 
 Lilies," a broad, rectangular piece of water open to the sky, 
 but surrounded with an arcade the pillars whereof are of 
 that form so common in Indian buildings but so strange to 
 Western eyes, a bracketed capital, and a shaft consisting 
 of alternate cubes and octagonal prisms. The water wherein 
 these pillars are dimly reflected is of a green colour appal- 
 ling to see, but that does not affect its spiritual quality. 
 Such water is always cleansing, and even Krishna's lotus- 
 feet could receive no higher praise than the epithet " pure 
 as a sacred tank." l 
 
 From the south side of this graceful Teppa Kulam are 
 visible several of the huge gopuras, towering up against 
 the sky, great mountains of tinted sculpture that one 
 can liken to nothing, unless it be to those hymns where- 
 with the Puranas are adorned, and whose stately forms are 
 so strangely builded of piled-up epithets and wild, exuberant 
 imagery. Hence too are to be seen the vimanas, or towers, 
 which surmount the central shrines, one marking the abode 
 of Sundareshwar, the other that of Minakshi, and both 
 covered with plates of gilded copper that reflect the blazing 
 sunlight with gorgeous and dazzling splendour. To those 
 inmost sanctums no Christian foot may penetrate ; but the 
 central part of the temple, being the oldest, is as usual the 
 least splendid, and all that is most beautiful the travellers 
 may see. 
 
 In the course of their wanderings they find themselves in 
 the nuptial hall wherein (as at Tinnevelli) their idol-majesties 
 celebrate their annual wedding ; and in another part of the 
 temple they come upon Sundaresh war's summer - throne 
 
 1 Bhagavata Puraua.
 
 78 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 whereon, through the hottest months in the year, when his 
 inner shrine becomes oppressive, he sits in the open air, 
 shaded from the sun by a graceful canopy of stone, and cooled 
 by much cold water which his attendant Brahmans pour over 
 him continually. 
 
 It is long before the visitors can tear themselves away 
 from this fascinating place where every step brings them 
 to some new object of extraordinary and astonishing aspect. 
 Philippa and Sebaste, wandering away by themselves, come 
 suddenly on a scene so mysteriously horrible that they will 
 long be haunted thereby. Before and above them is a 
 grove of columns to which a flight of steps leads up, but 
 beside the steps and beneath the pavement of the colon- 
 nade is a low door which, standing open, reveals a deep, 
 abysmal hall whereinto no ray of daylight can ever pene- 
 trate, and which seems fit only for " night-walking goblins " 
 to dwell in. The opaque darkness whereof it is full is made 
 visible by the dim rays of ghastly lamps which, engulfed in 
 the absolute blackness, show nothing else at all, unless the 
 strange impression that the impenetrable gloom is inhabited 
 by gliding figures arises from some faint and passing glimpse 
 too dim for the mind to grasp. The two travellers are far 
 from being nervous or hysterical persons, but there hangs 
 over that abyss of darkness an unintelligible fear which there 
 is no explaining away. Perhaps the hideous and repulsive 
 demon-forms which swarm throughout the temple sculptures 
 have insensibly affected their minds with a superstitious 
 horror, or perhaps . . . But let us change the sub- 
 ject now. 
 
 On leaving the temple, the travellers go on to the little 
 Anglican Church which stands in the midst of the native
 
 THE CITY OF SWEETNESS. 79 
 
 town, and wherein are held both English and Tamil Services. 
 The beautifully-arranged interior is decorated with flowers in 
 honour of the festal season, and the mighty sunshine without 
 fills the chancel with a subdued, golden glow of soft and 
 peaceful light ; a bright picture to be hereafter remembered 
 as the last impression of Madura.
 
 80 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 TKICHINOPOLI. 
 
 SOON the wanderers are again speeding (at the moderate 
 rate of Indian railway trains) through the vast plains of 
 the quiet Indian landscape, now rich' with the vivid green 
 of the padi-fields that in a few months' time will be bare 
 and brown and dry. It is six o'clock on a Saturday night 
 when they arrive at Trichinopoli, and are welcomed at the 
 station by two of the kindest of all imaginable faces, whereof 
 one belongs to the Principal 1 of the S.P.G-. Trichinopoli 
 College, and the other to dear Mrs Principal, than whom 
 a sweeter hostess was never known on earth. 
 
 Sunday is as usual kept by the travellers as a refreshing 
 holiday from sight-seeing and heathendom. The heat is 
 intense, and they are glad to find that the principal Service 
 at the English Church is at 7 A.M., followed immediately 
 by Matins at eight, after which there is, for Europeans, 
 no more church -going till the delicious hour of sunset. 
 The church is blessed with very reverent Services, and is 
 made specially sacred by the memory of the beloved Bishop 
 Heber, who died at Trichinopoli during a visitation of the 
 
 1 Eev. T. H. Dodson, M.A. Oxon., late Fellow aiid Tutor of S. Augustine's 
 College, Canterbury.
 
 TRICHINOPOLI. 81 
 
 South Indian Churches, and was buried here in S. John's 
 Church, on the north side of the Altar. After Evensong 
 the travellers gather round the beautiful brass which marks 
 his resting-place, while their thoughts go back to that 3d 
 of April 1826 which, with its earnest devotions, its hard 
 and most honourable work, and its sudden, quiet call to 
 rest, made so happy an ending to that noble Christian life. 
 
 Soon after sunrise next morning the travellers set forth 
 to cultivate "impressions" of things in general. As they 
 drive past the native houses of the town, they may watch 
 here and there the performance of the first ceremony of 
 the day. Before any member of a Hindu household may 
 go to the temple for worship, the mother of the family 
 sprinkles with water the space of ground immediately in 
 front of the door, and marks thereon with coloured powders 
 a geometrical pattern, executed with the greatest accuracy 
 and neatness. This ceremony is the woman's part of the 
 daily worship. 
 
 Passing, by the way, the large Eoman Catholic Church, 
 the sight-seers go first to the Fort-rock of military celebrity, 
 one of those huge, isolated masses of granite which rise 
 abruptly from the green plains of this very flat district 
 like rocky islands in a waveless sea. The Bock, which is 
 236 feet high, is ascended for the greater part by a covered 
 way which leads the travellers past the entrance to a Siva 
 temple which they are not allowed to enter. Close to the 
 door thereof sits Ganesh, the father of prudence and cunning, 
 who rideth on a mouse. King is he over the goblins of 
 mischief, and before every undertaking must he be pro- 
 pitiated, that the goblins hinder it not. Though a son of 
 Siva and Parvati, he is a horrible little dwarfish creature, 
 with the head of a two-eyed, one-tusked elephant. Not 
 
 F
 
 82 AMONG THE' GODS. 
 
 always, saith the legend, did he present so portentous an 
 appearance, for originally he was possessed of an ordinary 
 head of his own, which Siva, being enraged, cut off; where- 
 upon poor Parvati, being greatly distracted in mind, began 
 to make havoc of the universe, and threatened to bring all 
 things to speedy destruction. "I will in no wise desist," 
 said she, "ti}l Ganesh my son be restored to me." Siva, 
 his wrath being appeased, agreed thereto ; but when they 
 sought for the head of Ganesh, it could not anywhere be 
 found. Then said Siva, " My counsel is that we take for 
 Ganesh the head of whatsoever beast shall come hither in 
 the morning from the land of the North." And in the 
 morning came that way an elephant having one tooth. 
 So the elephant's head was made fast to the shoulders 
 of Ganesh, and Siva, by mystic mantras of the Vedas, 
 did cause him to revive. And the grief of Parvati was 
 assuaged. 
 
 At length the travellers reach the little mandapam, or 
 pillared pavilion, which crowns the precipitous rock, and 
 find their climbing well rewarded by the view which they 
 thence obtain. A vast green plain, broken only here and 
 there by granite rocks, stretches away to the great horizon- 
 circle, whereof the radius may, by a simple calculation, be 
 found to be almost twenty miles. For let h represent the' 
 height of the observer's eye, and r the radius of the earth, 
 and x the distance from the eye to the horizon ; then it is 
 evident that x 2 = A 2 + 2rh, that is 
 
 "My dear," says Philippa, sternly approaching with the 
 inevitable guide-book, "you are not observing the features 
 of the landscape." 
 
 And truly it is not a landscape to be neglected. Dimly 
 seen in the eastward distance rise the Tale Malai hills, that
 
 TRICHINOPOLI. 83 
 
 reach, at their loftiest point, a height of 1800 feet. Other 
 low ranges show in faintly pencilled outlines against the 
 far-off northern sky, but the vast sweep of the horizon is 
 scarcely broken again. Southward the beautiful Golden 
 Eock rises from the soft, green carpet, and south-eastward of 
 that are the French Eocks, the sight whereof carries back our 
 travellers' imagination to those famous fightings of Chanda 
 Sahib's days, with their glorious display of that military 
 heroism beside which less showy virtues are all so poor and 
 mean. 
 
 Turning northward again, our friends discover the river 
 Kaveri, that sacred stream, the daughter of Brahma, to 
 whose far-off source Ganges herself doth year by year resort, 
 journeying thither through subterranean ways that she may 
 be purified of her children's iniquities which they leave in 
 her cleansing waters. And, sleeping in the embrace of 
 Kaveri's encircling arm, lies Shrirangam's far-famed island, 
 from whose dense forest-trees gleam forth the giant temple 
 buildings. 
 
 Westward lies the old town of Wariur, and almost at the 
 travellers' feet, beyond the line of the now demolished wall 
 wherewith the Eock was fortified, lies the Sacred Tank, at 
 the south-east corner whereof still stands the house of Olive. 
 
 Stretching along the southern side of the Tank stand the 
 buildings of that great Missionary College which is so 
 striking a feature of the work in Trichinopoli of the Society 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel. The College and its 
 affiliated schools contain 1 no less than 1403 pupils (the 
 majority of whom are Brahmans) ; but there are many other 
 S.P.G. schools in the surrounding villages, and the total 
 number of pupils who are being educated by the Mission is 
 
 1 1892.
 
 84 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 2020. The students of the College are prepared for the 
 degrees of the Madras University, to which it was affiliated 
 in 1883 as a First-Grade College. There is also at Trichi- 
 nopoli a large Jesuit college ; but in a city which, with its 
 suburbs, has 90,000 inhabitants, is room and to spare for 
 them both. 
 
 Now the great efficiency of the S.P.G. College, and all its 
 successes in secular education, are they not written in the 
 Government reports ? But as for its moral and religious 
 influence, it is altogether incalculable. Numbers of heathen 
 students, attracted by the high- class secular teaching, are 
 being brought by it under Christian influences, and the 
 attitude toward Christianity of the educated classes of 
 Hindus is undergoing a fundamental change full of hope 
 for the future. Higher education the Natives of India are 
 bent on having; and, thanks to institutions such as this 
 College, they are gaining it to a great extent through 
 Christian teachers, a fact the importance whereof to the 
 future welfare of the country it is impossible to over- 
 estimate. Hindus of the highest castes are often quite 
 inaccessible to ordinary evangelistic mission-work, but in 
 the colleges and high schools of the Society they are 
 familiarised with the fundamental truths of the Faith, and 
 are brought day by day into intimate contact with the 
 Christian character and modes of thought in the persons of 
 their teachers. Thus prejudice is disarmed, aspirations after 
 higher things are awakened, and the leavening process is 
 begun. It is that hard, quiet work of seed-time, wherewith 
 outsiders commonly show their sympathy by asking where 
 the sheaves are. 
 
 Descending at length from the Fort-rock, the travellers 
 drive away in the Shrirangam direction, and, crossing
 
 TRICHINOPOLI. 85 
 
 the Kaveri bridge, plunge into the cool shade of the 
 island's crowded trees. Soon they reach the outer wall of 
 the great pagoda, which, covering an area of more than 163 
 acres, is by far the largest in India. The outer courts are 
 filled with trees and native houses, and the great temple 
 buildings, though probably none of them can boast an earlier 
 date than A.D. 1700, look as if they grew there. The pagoda 
 is planned in seven rectangular enclosures, one within 
 another, with the temple proper in the centre of all; the 
 enclosing walls being each adorned with four gopuras, one 
 in the middle of each side, the size diminishing as you 
 approach the central shrine. But the building was inter- 
 rupted by the French occupation in the middle of last 
 century, and most of the largest gopuras are left unfinished. 
 A pathetic incident of the seizing of the pagoda is recorded 
 by Crawfurd. One of the temple Brahmans, he says, ad- 
 dressed the intruders from the top of the great outer gate- 
 way, entreating them not to force an entrance to the sacred 
 precinct, and when they persisted, threw himself down in 
 despair, dashing out his brains on the pavement far below. 
 
 The Shrirangam temple is dedicated to Vishnu, who, like 
 Siva, seems to have been originally a local god, 1 but, like 
 him, was adopted by Brahmanism, whereby was formed the 
 Hindu Triad, or tripl^manifestation of the Deity, under the 
 attributes of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and 
 Siva the Destroyer. For what saith that holy book of the 
 illustrious Markandeya ? " The primeval all-prevading Spirit 
 hath obtained the names of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. As 
 Brahma he createth the worlds, as Siva he destroyeth them, 
 as Vishnu he holdeth him still. Brahma is the quality of 
 
 1 See 'Encyclopaedia Britannica,' article "Brahmanism." The elder or 
 Vedic Vishnu is a very different person from the Vishnu of the Puranas.
 
 86 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 activity, Siva that of darkness ; Vishnu, the lord of the 
 world, is goodness. These are of the Self-born, the several 
 manifestations." 
 
 In Vedic times too there was a similar triad of gods ; for 
 mythological systems, it seems (like Platonic metaphysic, 
 and thought and speech generally), have a way of building 
 themselves up on a triad of underlying principles, a fact 
 which, since it seems dimly to anticipate a great Truth of 
 Revelation, has sadly puzzled some Christian folk, who con- 
 sider not that Truth is one, or that mankind has ultimately 
 not many lights to lighten it. Which subject (involving 
 only the Higher Pantheism and one or two other small 
 matters) it were scarcely fitting to treat in so profound a 
 work as this. 
 
 Entering the pagoda, the travellers are soon absorbed in 
 the study of Vishnu's praises as set forth in the sculptures 
 thereof. As Siva at Madura, so Vishnu here is supreme 
 over gods and men. He is " the most choice, the most 
 venerable, and the immortal ; than whom there is nothing 
 more minute, than whom there is nothing more immense, 
 the unborn one, the root and the beginning of the worlds." 
 " The universe exists in Vishnu : he is the cause of its con- 
 tinuance and cessation : he is the world." : " Mounted on a 
 white elephant he rideth forth to victory ; " in the universal 
 deluge he reposeth in the depth of the waters, reclining on 
 Sesha, the hooded snake that hath a thousand heads. The 
 praises of Vishnu " are even as a ship on the ocean of 
 existence; the lotus of his feet is the refuge of the soul." 2 
 His avatars are such as the hearing of Credulity herself may 
 hardly receive. 
 
 1 Vishnu Purana. . . . Translated by H. H. Wilson, M.A., F.R.S. 
 - BMgavata Purana. Burnouf.
 
 TRICHINOPOLI. 87 
 
 Arrived at the gopura in the second wall, the travellers 
 study, on the ceiling thereof, a painting wherein is set forth 
 the boar-incarnation of Vishnu, which came to pass on this 
 wise: There lived in ancient days one Hiranayakah, the 
 Giant of the Golden Eye, who, having by his austerities 
 gained favour with Brahma, made request for himself that 
 certain noxious beasts should have no power to harm him. 
 The names of these beasts he thereupon rehearsed, but the 
 hog he omitted to name. Then said Brahma, " Thy desire is 
 granted, O Hiranayakah." And when he had obtained this 
 power from Brahma, the heart of Hiranayakah waxed ex- 
 ceeding froward so that he wrought much evil ; and in 
 the end he did even seize upon the Earth with his mouth, 
 and carry it into the sea. Now when the Earth was sunk 
 down into the deep waters of the sea, Vishnu came forth 
 from the nostrils of Brahma in the form of a little pig that 
 was but an inch in length; and he grew to be a mighty 
 boar of the stature of an elephant. " Fire flashed from his 
 eyes like lightning, he was radiant as the sun, and he strode 
 along like a powerful lion." His feet were the four Vedas, 
 his eyes were day and night, his joints were the different 
 ceremonies, his snout was the ladle of sacrifice, his mane was 
 all the hymns of the Vedas, and the illustrious Sages sought 
 shelter amongst his bristles. Then this great boar, " whose 
 eyes were like the lotus," did give battle to that wicked one 
 Hiranayakah, and for a thousand years they fought together, 
 and Hiranayakah was subdued. 
 
 Then said Vishnu, " Surely the Earth lies hidden within 
 the waters," and forthwith plunged into the ocean. " Then 
 the goddess Earth, beholding him thus descending, bowed in 
 devout adoration, and thus addressed the god : ' Hail to thee 
 who art all creatures ! Lift me now from this place as thou
 
 88 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 hast upraised me in days of old.' Then the mighty boar, 
 whose roar was like the thunder," " repelled the water with 
 its snout ; and lifting out the Earth like a lotus with one of 
 his tusks," " he set it on the top of the ocean, where it floats 
 like a mighty vessel." l 
 
 On through the temple buildings wander the travellers, 
 guided and followed by a group of intelligent, bright-eyed 
 Brahman boys, each of whom bears on his forehead the mark 
 which shows him to be a follower of Vishnu. This is a 
 conventional representation of Vishnu's footprint, and con- 
 sists of three perpendicular stripes of pigment, the central 
 one red, the two others white and meeting in a white curve 
 between the eyebrows. Followers of Siva (who constitute 
 the other great Hindu sect) wear three horizontal white 
 lines on forehead and breast ; a less striking badge than this 
 of Vishnu which strangely alters the whole character of the 
 face, and gives to the brightest countenance a look which is 
 almost horrible. 
 
 Once more the visitors find themselves in a world of 
 strange sculpture, wherewith their eyes grew gradually more 
 familiar, till even those pillars of the Hall of a Thousand 
 Columns, which consist of wildly rearing horses bearing 
 riders on their backs and trampling with their hoofs upon 
 the heads of rampant tigers, seem only natural and con- 
 gruous among such weird surroundings. At length a point 
 is reached than which no Christian foot may penetrate 
 further. Here the travellers come to a stand, and gaze 
 wistfully into the depths of dim and lamplit halls, striving 
 if haply they may gain a glimpse of that central shrine where 
 reign in perpetual darkness those two most honoured idols, 
 the golden statues, adorned with splendid gems, of the 
 
 1 Vdyu Purana, quoted by H. H. Wilson.
 
 TRICHINOPOLI. 89, 
 
 Serpent with seven heads. But all they can see is a gulf 
 of dismal twilight, whence ring the wild, unholy strains of 
 joyless native music. 
 
 Ascending now to the temple roof, they gaze abroad at the 
 mighty gopuras and far-extending walls, and then turn their 
 thoughts to that famous temple of Jumbukeshwar, which, 
 being scarcely more than a mile distant, it assuredly behoves 
 them to visit before leaving the island. But " Time the de- 
 stroyer that bringeth ill to - all " has consumed three hours 
 since sunrise, and the glorious sun, in that mighty chariot of 
 his 9000 leagues in length, that is harnessed by the hours to 
 the seven steeds which are the seven metres of the Vedas, is 
 already high in the eastern heavens, and with his flaming 
 weapons striketh faintness into the hearts of all. Heat can 
 be easily borne by those who are strong, but tropical suns 
 have a mysterious power which seems to have nothing to do 
 with mere temperature, so that (as our travellers discovered 
 long ago on the Nile) one may be shivering in a cold north 
 wind, and yet not dare to stand in the sunshine for warmth. 
 Wherefore our friends creep out of the temple in a sub- 
 dued and humble manner, and betake themselves home to 
 breakfast. 
 
 Spare days are scarce, so that ere long comes the last 
 evening of our travellers' stay in Trichinopoli, and their 
 farewell visit to those kind friends who have made that 
 stay so pleasant. The dinner-table is haunted by tropical 
 insects, who fly in at the open door from the verandah 
 to disport themselves in the lamplight. Each lamp has an 
 attendant lizard attached to it, who, when the lamp is lit, 
 crawls feebly forth in a thin and starving condition, and 
 who, at the end of the evening, having feasted on a vast
 
 90 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 assemblage of insects, slowly returns to his home, so ex- 
 tremely fat that he can scarcely drag himself to bed. These 
 apparently harmless creatures were probably human beings 
 once, but in that former life of theirs they did not behave 
 well. For what saith that sacred book of the great Muni, 
 Markandeya ? The man who stealeth pulse, when he next 
 is born on earth, shall become a small house-lizard. 
 
 Meanwhile our travellers learn many things about the 
 work in Trichinopoli of the S.P.G., and more especially about 
 its educational aspects. Never before have they realised 
 how comprehensive is the Society's educational method in 
 India. Not only does it establish High Schools, Seminaries, 
 and Colleges for the higher classes, but there are also board- 
 ing-schools for native Christians, middle-class schools, and 
 village schools without number, not to speak of industrial 
 schools and orphanages. 
 
 The visitors are eager to hear more of the Trichinopoli 
 College, and their questions elicit, casually and by the way, 
 some sad facts as to the want of proper accommodation for 
 the rapidly expanding work and the lack of funds which 
 cripples and impedes it, bringing on all the workers much 
 wearing anxiety. Such things, however, are kept in the 
 background by the kindly Principal, who, being determined 
 to make his visitors happy, will not allow the introduction 
 of any disheartening subjects. 
 
 " So you saw some acting at Nazareth ? " says he. " Here, 
 too, our native students are accustomed to act in the College 
 hall the play they are preparing for examination, and on 
 these occasions we have large audiences of the English 
 residents and the native gentry. With regard to costume, 
 the students have the most original ideas ; chiefly they are 
 convinced of the necessity (for whatsoever character) of a
 
 TRICHINOPOLI. 9 1 
 
 modern English suit, a walking-stick, and a pair of well- 
 blacked English boots. Our last play was 'Julius Caesar,' 
 and I had the greatest difficulty in persuading Csesar to 
 wear anything but an English coat and trousers. The boots, 
 too, were relinquished with the utmost reluctance, and 
 nothing in the world would induce him to part with his 
 walking-stick. In the middle of the play a dreadful thing 
 happened ; for Caesar, accidentally dropping his walking- 
 stick, quite lost his presence of mind and hastily picked it 
 up (as is the native fashion) with his toes! 
 
 " Calpurnia, however, was a far stranger figure than her 
 illustrious husband. The young man who took her part 
 wore an unfortunately short dress, reaching only to his 
 knees; stockings he had none, but he insisted on wearing 
 an enormous pair of English boots. Calpurnia began by 
 sitting on her high seat in the native manner that is, with 
 her feet tucked away out of sight, and nothing visible in 
 the way of legs but in the middle of an important speech 
 she suddenly recollected that to sit cross-legged is not 
 fashionable in Europe, and on a sudden there shot forth 
 into public view two dark-brown legs terminating in black 
 boots of the largest size imaginable. 
 
 " Another year we had ' King John/ which went off very 
 well indeed, except for a somewhat disconcerting catas- 
 trophe at the beginning of the fourth act. Hubert and 
 his attendant villains had never worn boots before, and 
 did not realise that to walk in them requires practice. The 
 consequence was that when they simultaneously rushed on 
 the stage (each flourishing his inevitable walking-stick) they 
 all three suddenly tumbled down together." 
 
 It is not till long afterwards that the travellers discover 
 how much of the prosperity and efficiency of the College is
 
 92 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 owing to the indefatigable energy of the present Principal ; 
 but they gather from many accidental indications that he 
 is greatly revered by the students. 
 
 "I get the most amusing letters from old pupils," he 
 says, "written in very fluent English, but all showing the 
 ineradicable native taste for high-flown language. They 
 frequently address me as ' My Lord/ and I have lately 
 received two exceedingly grave and respectful letters, of 
 which one begins ' Honoured Enormity ! ' and the other 
 'Spanking Sir!" 
 
 The travellers would gladly listen for hours to such 
 reminiscences ; but it is growing late, and if the lizards are 
 allowed to eat any more puchis, they will certainly be ill. 
 Besides, our travellers have to make an early start for 
 Tanjor to-morrow ; and so at length Good night !
 
 93 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TANJOR. 
 
 IT is eight o'clock on a glorious Indian morning when the 
 travellers, after two hours' journey in a south-easterly direc- 
 tion, alight from their train at Tanjor, and are met with the 
 kindest of welcomes by the three Missionaries who carry on 
 the work of the Tanjor Mission of the Society for the Propa- 
 gation of the Gospel. The Travellers' Bungalow not being 
 at present available, our friends can spend only one day in 
 Tanjor ; but their kind hosts undertake that they shall have 
 seen all the sights before they depart by the evening train 
 for Madras. 
 
 First of all they must visit the famous pagoda, and thither 
 they proceed forthwith. Arrived at the outer gateway, they 
 hear within the sound of tom-toms ; and a temple Brahman 
 meets them with a request to wait till the " service " is over. 
 This same service, as the Missionaries explain, is not the 
 ordinary temple worship (which took place much earlier in 
 the morning), but a movable ceremony which begins whenso- 
 ever Christian visitors are seen approaching, and has been 
 instituted with the special object of keeping them waiting a 
 little, and thereby asserting the superior dignity of the Hindu 
 religion. By the time our travellers have grasped this some-
 
 94 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 what subtle point of oriental symbolism, the service is con- 
 cluded, and they are allowed to enter the temple. 
 
 A beautiful pagoda it is, no bewildering aggregation of 
 gradual and aimless growth, but builded (for once) on a 
 consistent and intelligible plan of the utmost simplicity. 
 Passing under the outer gopura, which reaches a height 
 of 90 feet or thereabout, the visitors follow the straight 
 passage which leads across the first enclosure, and, pass- 
 ing a second gopura, enter a cloistered, rectangular court 
 800 feet in length, and see before them the stately pile 
 of the temple proper, its gigantic mmana towering far into 
 the clear air, a mighty pyramid of sculpture, 190 feet in 
 height. 
 
 Hitherto the sculptures have been such as belong to 
 Vishnu's sect of Hinduism ; but the inner court belongs to 
 Siva, and the first object therein which the travellers come 
 upon is a great monolithic image of Nandi his sacred bull, 
 the " Sovereign of quadrupeds." Under a pillared pavilion 
 he reclines at ease, a majestic image 16 feet in length and 
 more than 12 feet high. Sleek and shining is he by reason 
 of the oil that is daily poured upon him; and proudly he 
 holds up his head, knowing himself to be no common block 
 of granite, but an image of miraculous qualities. In days 
 gone by, saith the legend, no larger was he than a man's 
 thumb; but slowly he grew and grew till he reached this 
 giant size; and thus he remaineth, waiting in dumb and 
 stony calm till the day be come when the British rule shall 
 cease in the land of India; and thereafter he will slowly 
 wane, and dwindle ever more and more, till he reach that 
 former size of his, and therein shall he continue. 
 
 But that stupendous central shrine, dating at least from 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century, and so grand in the
 
 TANJOR. 95 
 
 severity of its sculptured ornament, wherewith shall I de- 
 scribe it ? What mighty phrases, what words of ponderous 
 dignity, should be heaped and builded together in one tower- 
 ing pile of massive, imperturbable solemnity, a mountain of 
 stately eloquence ! 
 
 Other small shrines there are, notably that richly decorated 
 abode of Subrahmanya, which, later and more florid in style 
 than the central temple, is said to be unsurpassed in all the 
 South of India. A very estimable personage is Subrahmanya 
 (whose name means " Good to Brahmans "), being a son of 
 Siva, and a brother of Ganesh. Chiefly famed is he for that 
 great battle of his with the wicked and presumptuous 
 Tripurasura, by whose violent deeds the universe was dis- 
 quieted. For ten long days they fought; and Tripurasura 
 was subdued, and troubled the world no more. Many fes- 
 tivals hath Subrahmanya, for every twenty-seventh day is de- 
 dicated by his worshippers to his honour ; and year by year 
 some of his special followers take part in a very remarkable 
 ceremony which consists in seeking out a place frequented 
 by snakes, and there depositing for their delectation an 
 offering of milk and eggs, a remnant apparently of that 
 mysterious snake-worship, of very ancient times, about which 
 we know so little. 
 
 Having explored the pagoda, the travellers are hospitably 
 entertained at breakfast in the Mission bungalow ; and pre- 
 sently there enter two or three native salesmen, who, per- 
 ceiving by some occult means the presence of possible buyers, 
 have brought for their inspection some very beautiful speci- 
 mens of Tanjor art-work. The most magnifical of these are 
 certain large, round salvers of brass, richly encrusted with 
 wondrous adornments wilds legends of Hindu mythology, 
 elaborately wrought in silver and copper, the two metals
 
 96 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 mingling together in the same composition with exquisite 
 effect of contrast. 
 
 Eagerly meanwhile, and with the most unconscionable 
 pertinacity, do the travellers catechise their kind and patient 
 entertainers, demanding to know all imaginable details con- 
 cerning this important and very interesting Mission. The 
 Christians in the Tanjor district number more than 78,000. 
 Of these the greater part (as in other South Indian districts) 
 belong to the Eoman Church, which has been at work in 
 Tanjor since early in the seventeenth century, whereas the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel only began its 
 labours here in 1825. 
 
 The most interesting feature of the S.P.G-. work in Tanjor 
 is S. Peter's College, which since 1874 has been a First- 
 Grade College of the Madras University. The Priest 1 in 
 charge of the Tanjor Mission is also the Principal of the 
 College ; and he delights his troublesome visitors by giving 
 them much interesting information about mission-colleges 
 in general, and this one in particular. One striking fact 
 is the preference of even heathen Natives for institutions 
 wherein secular and religious education go hand in hand, 
 and their distrust of those purely secular Government col- 
 leges wherein the principle of religious neutrality has been 
 pushed so far that, while the education they provide under- 
 mines the belief in Hinduism, not only is no other religion 
 taught in its stead, but even the universal doctrines of jus- 
 tice and morality are sternly excluded from the curriculum. 
 Very interesting is that report of the Educational Commis- 
 sion of 1883, wherein it is written: "The evidence we have 
 taken shows that in some provinces there is a deeply-seated 
 and widely-spread desire that culture and religion should 
 
 1 The Rev. W. H. Blake, B.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge.
 
 TANJOR. 97 
 
 not be divorced, and that this desire is shared by some 
 representatives of native thought in every province. In 
 Government institutions this desire cannot be gratified." 1 
 
 The Tanjor College is open to all castes and creeds. Of 
 its students 75 per cent are Brahmans ; other Hindus form 
 10 per cent, and Christians 15 per cent. The curriculum 
 includes the subjects appointed for the examinations of the 
 Madras University, as well as religious instruction which 
 all the classes receive. The present number of students in 
 the College is over 200 ; while the High School and Middle 
 School attached to it bring the total number of pupils 2 up to 
 564 
 
 Here, as in all the Society's schools, the principle is 
 strictly adhered to that all pupils "should be instructed 
 in the doctrines of Christianity, but that the privileges of 
 the baptised should ever be kept distinctly in mind," and 
 definitely put forward. 
 
 The Society is now at work in thirteen of the neighbouring 
 villages, while the Tanjor College and thirteen branch schools 
 are doing excellent mission- work on educational lines, their 
 total number of pupils 2 being 1576. At Vediapuram, about 
 five miles from Tanjor, the Society has a branch Mission 
 which has two Clergy and thirteen lay agents working in 
 eighteen villages. 
 
 Many are the incidents that might be told of such work 
 as this, and many are the facts which might be given to 
 illustrate the untiring energy of the workers, their anxieties 
 and hopes and successes, and the wearisome crippling of 
 the Society's efforts through lack of the necessary funds. 
 Yet fear not, my readers ! Too well I know your accom- 
 
 1 Quoted in the Classified Digest of the Records of the S.P.G., 1701-1892. 
 
 2 In 1892. 
 
 G
 
 98 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 plished minds to offer them any such mean refection of 
 inartistic details. 
 
 After tiffin the travellers seek the Palace of the late Raja, 
 the ladies hoping to obtain an interview with those secluded 
 Princesses, the Tanjor Eanis. The Palace (the greater part 
 whereof, say the learned, was built after the founding in 
 1675 of the Maratha dynasty of Tanjor) is inferior to that 
 of Madura, and has nothing to boast of but a comfortless 
 and sordid magnificence such as nightmares might like to 
 inhabit. 
 
 In one of the Palace courts the travellers encounter two 
 great elephants, who live herein, eating a great deal, and 
 costing much to keep. The Eanis ride not upon them at 
 all, nor ever so much as see them, yet can they nowise dis- 
 pense with these necessary adjuncts to the dignity of their 
 position. I have heard that even in Europe such private 
 elephants are not unknown. 
 
 In another part of the Palace the visitors come upon a 
 group of Pariahs, poor and wretched past all description. 
 They are assembled round a heap of plantain-leaves, from 
 which they are gathering grains of rice the soiled remains 
 of a meal given to poor folk by the Eanis' munificence. The 
 Pariahs are of course not allowed to eat with caste-people, 
 and miserable indeed is their share of this oriental pauper 
 meal. 
 
 Arrived at the Telugu Durbar-hall, the travellers are called 
 upon to admire a white marble statue by Flaxman represent- 
 ing the Eaja Sarabojee (or, more correctly, Sharfoji), the 
 pupil and devoted friend of Schwarz the German Missionary. 
 He stands with the palms of his hands together and the 
 fingers closed, an attitude which, associated in Western
 
 TANJOR. 99 
 
 minds with the saying of prayers, is in India a common sign 
 of respectful greeting. The statue is placed on a granite 
 platform, the sides whereof are adorned with sculpture scenes 
 from those wars of Hindu gods and demons " waged in former 
 times for the full space of one hundred years," x when the 
 great-cheeked demons, their eyes red with wrath, furiously 
 fought with powerful weapons and cruel arms against the 
 immortals, and by their invincible arrows were eventually 
 pulverised. 
 
 Not far off is the large and most interesting library, con- 
 taining 18,000 Sanskrit manuscripts, and many more in 
 other Eastern languages. Thence the visitors go on to the 
 Maratha Durbar-hall, wherein they behold some rich robes 
 belonging to the late Eaja, a state haudah or elephant-saddle, 
 and other relics of bygone splendour. 
 
 But more beautiful than all these are the Eanis' jewels, set 
 forth, in another part of the Palace, before the dazzled eyes 
 of our English travellers. Such large and brilliant gems 
 they have heretofore neither seen nor imagined. The dia- 
 monds (as always in the native jewellery) are cut, not in 
 facets, but flat, so that they are almost devoid of brillancy ; 
 but the great emeralds and pearls, and above all the rubies, 
 are marvels of sheeny lustre. They are most wonderful; 
 "in the praise thereof," 2 as the Hindu scriptures say, "the 
 tongue of panegyric is struck dumb, and the foot of invention 
 becomes lame on the plain of their encomiums." 
 
 Presently the three English ladies are summoned to the 
 presence of the Ranis, and forthwith plunge into the recesses 
 of the labyrinthine Palace. Groping their way up a dark stone 
 staircase, and passing sundry sordid little idols, they finally 
 
 1 See the ' Sapta Shati,' translated by Cavali Venkat Ramasswa'ini. 
 
 2 Sheeve Pouran. Halhed.
 
 100 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 emerge on a terrace, and thence enter a dreary room where 
 three of the nine princesses are sitting in a row ready to 
 receive them. There are also present two of the Eanis' 
 nieces, young married ladies, one of whom holds a brown 
 baby, of about eighteen months, who is dressed solely and 
 entirely in very splendid jewels. After mutual salaams the 
 visitors are invited to sit in an opposing row in front of the 
 Eanis, and there follows much cheerful if not very profound 
 conversation, carried on through a lady-interpreter. 
 
 The Eanis spare no pains to make their visitors happy, 
 pursuing that object by feeding them with Indian sweet- 
 meats, and finally by playing to them on an ancient instru- 
 ment, of quaint device, constructed on the principle of the 
 guitar. After this the visitors are invited to sing, where- 
 upon Irene rises to the occasion, and makes the echoes ring 
 with the strains of " Home, sweet Home." It is a strange 
 picture, the shadowy background of the dreary palace 
 interior, the light faces and summer dresses of the English 
 visitors, and, opposite to them, the dark and aged counte- 
 nances of the sadly-robed Princesses, who listen with unre- 
 sponsive attention to the song which they cannot understand. 
 
 At length the visitors rise to take leave, and are graci- 
 ously dismissed with many speeches of oriental compliment. 
 Emerging from the Palace, they betake them to the Siva- 
 ganga Tank, a large sheet of very brown water which is 
 specially holy, being supplied from no less a source than the 
 far-off Ganges herself, who, saith the legend, flows to this 
 place through a subterranean passage. It is late in the 
 afternoon, and the softened radiance of the westering sun 
 streams over the animated scene in a glory of glowing 
 colour. This is the hour of water-drawing, and long pro- 
 cessions of dark-eyed women, with their vessels of gleam-
 
 TANJOR. 101 
 
 ing brass, glide down to the water's edge, the members of 
 each several caste descending by a separate staircase of 
 stone. Many of the water - drawers are poor, but all are 
 adorned with jewels of silver and gold, the form in which 
 all Indian women keep their savings. Their slender, brown 
 arms are loaded with bracelets ; nose-rings, ear-rings, and 
 necklaces abound ; and even the bare feet are often adorned 
 with elaborate toe-rings of silver, brightly contrasting with 
 the dark-brown skin. Their richly-coloured robes are worn 
 with a grace such as only Eastern folk can command, and 
 their glossy black hair is crowned with freshly gathered 
 flowers. Only here and there a girl-widow, muffled in coarse, 
 white garments and bereft of the jewels which are a neces- 
 sity of life to Indian maidens, creeps sadly down the steps 
 and fills her jar in silence. 
 
 The travellers, as soon as they can make up their minds 
 to turn away from the charming scene at the Tank, go to 
 visit the now disused chapel builded by Schwarz in 1779, 
 and chiefly remarkable for a monument of white marble 
 erected to that Missionary's memory by his pupil and 
 friend the Eaja of Tanjor. Its sculptured relief, the work 
 of Flaxman, represents the Eaja taking leave of Schwarz, 
 who lies on his deathbed. To Indian folk the composition 
 must be sadly spoiled by the unfortunate blunder whereby 
 the artist has represented the Eaja as greeting the Mis- 
 sionary with the left hand, a terrible insult in oriental 
 eyes. The monument bears an inscription in English 
 verse, the composition of the Eaja himself. It is an 
 affectionate and childlike tribute to Schwarz's memory, 
 ending with the touching if artless lines: 
 
 " May I, my father, be worthy of thee, 
 Wishes and prayeth thy Sarabojee."
 
 102 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 After this the travellers repair to the Mission Church, 
 a reverently appointed place, as mission churches ought to 
 be, with no stagnant " week-day " atmosphere, but air kept 
 fresh and stirring by its daily Tamil Services. 
 
 There follows a bright evening meal at the Mission 
 bungalow ; and then, through the soft starlight of an 
 Indian night, the travellers are accompanied by their 
 three hosts to the station, and finally, safely stowed on 
 cushioned shelves, are whirled away to the northward, with 
 rattling and roaring and bumping the long night through.
 
 103 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 
 
 THE travellers awake to find themselves nominally at 
 Madras, but really in an enchanted fairyland of verdure. 
 There are soft expanses of sunlit padi ; there are thronging 
 trees of many kinds with graceful palms predominating; 
 there are sweet flowers and golden sunshine ; but as for the 
 city, it is not easy to perceive, being so rare a substance that 
 it has to be taken on trust. Black Town certainly is a 
 fairly solid nucleus, but to find it is a matter of time. 
 
 It seems that at Christmastide Madras is full of visitors 
 (who seem to be mostly palm-trees), so that our friends 
 can find no better place of abode than the Kapper House 
 Hotel, a lonely and desolate mansion standing sadly on 
 the sea-shore three miles from everywhere. Herein they 
 make themselves exceedingly comfortable, though rather 
 pressed for room, the hotel being crowded with a large 
 and distinguished company of rats. These are under the 
 supervision of a little black-and-white kitten, who is very 
 nice and amiable, but is generally, in self-defence, pre- 
 tending to be asleep. Of course she could devour the 
 rats if she chose, but she refrains, from pity, believing 
 with Alarka, that wise King of ancient story, that "there
 
 104 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 is not so much pain when a cat eats an unselfish sparrow 
 or mouse" 1 as when she kills some larger creature whose 
 self - consciousness is more highly developed. The only 
 danger is that the rats may be of a different opinion. 
 
 The travellers are zealously waited on by the good native 
 Manager, whose white turban is for ever roving about in 
 search of something to please them. What pleases them 
 most is the abundance of lovely eucharis lilies wherewith 
 he decorates the table at meal -time. These are of no 
 more account hereabout than the commonest flowers with 
 us, and very refreshing it is to find them laid in fragrant 
 masses on the table-cloth at every hour of refection. 
 
 The pleasantest apartment of the house is the broad,, 
 shaded terrace on which the upper windows open. Seated 
 hereon the visitors can gaze forth over the sea, and listen 
 to the never-ending thunder of the surge as the great 
 waves of the Indian Ocean come foaming down on the 
 sandy shore. Sometimes the desolate scene is enlivened 
 by the lordly equipage of the Maharaja of Mysore, who 
 is staying in Madras on a visit, and, with syces and out- 
 riders of imposing grandeur, drives forth at evening to take 
 the air. 
 
 There are other diversions too, for our friends make 
 this spacious terrace their reception-room, and many are 
 their callers turbaned personages with dark faces and 
 flowing robes, bringing all the riches of Indian embroidery 
 for the visitors' gracious inspection. The embroideries are 
 charming. There are richly worked tassoes, and soft, snowy 
 , Indian silks embroidered with delicate needlework dear to 
 the feminine heart. Then there are wondrous squares of 
 more gorgeous colours, rich, mazy arabesques of gold-thread 
 
 1 Markandeya Pura"na. Translated by F. E. Pargiter, C. S.
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 105 
 
 mingled with delicate silks. Western minds might learn 
 much from the study of oriental art-work. How different 
 from these Indian embroideries are our prim, conventional 
 designs that one sees to the end of at the first glance and 
 tires of at the second, which lead on to nothing, which have 
 nothing to hide ! How mean and vulgar they look to eyes 
 that have but once lost themselves among the labyrinthine 
 traceries of form, the dazzling harmonies of colour, that 
 these Eastern workers delight in ! Here is intricacy without 
 confusion ; mystery without vagueness ; exuberant wealth of 
 fancy with exquisite purity of outline ; buoyant freedom and 
 absolute harmony; fanciful elaboration of ornament and 
 .vital unity of design. 
 
 At first the travellers, dazzled by these magic splendours, 
 are almost afraid to make any purchases lest they should 
 prove but faery treasure, and, when brought beneath the 
 grey skies of the North, should suddenly turn to tinsel. 
 But this is a groundless fear. Eich and beautiful as the 
 embroideries look in the glowing light of India, they will 
 be far more resplendent and more to be marvelled at when 
 set in the subdued colouring of dull and cloudy England. 
 
 Perhaps the most beautiful of the Madras embroideries is 
 that which consists of richly massed and delicately wrought 
 gold arabesques wherein are skilfully set sheeny beetles' 
 wings of an intensely lustrous green, shading off into red 
 when the light changes. These jewel-wings give wonderful 
 definiteness and life to the whole, the green and the gold 
 contrast delightfully, and the design is a very charming one 
 from every point of view except perhaps the beetles'. Here 
 and there, no doubt, some exceptional and high-souled beetle 
 might be willing to shorten his life for the sake of becoming 
 part of a long-lived work of art ; but with the ordinary run
 
 106 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 of beetles the kind of beetles one meets every day I 
 believe that such an ambition would have but little weight ; 
 and the question arises, whether there is not an inalienable 
 right appertaining to beetles and others 
 
 "My dear," says Irene soothingly, "here is an amiable 
 juggler come to entertain us." 
 
 He is a Maratha, and comes from Mysore. His swarthy 
 countenance is more wily and secret than any one's face can 
 be who is not a juggler. His skill is something frightful. 
 European conjurers might perform tricks resembling his; 
 but then they stand on platforms, with tables in front of 
 them. This personage (after a humble salaam) seats himself 
 on the pavement at the very feet of the travellers, who, lean 
 over him as they will, and watch him as closely as they can, 
 may never penetrate the mystery. Can he have cast a 
 " glamour " in their eyes ? 
 
 There are many strange things in India, and the jugglers 
 are one of them. It is very easy to explain the basket-trick 
 for those who have not seen it ; but those who have are 
 fairly puzzled. A story is told of two gentlemen an Eng- 
 lishman and an American who once determined to solve the 
 mystery. One of them, being an artist, took sketches of the 
 several stages of that performance ; the other took photo- 
 graphs. On comparing notes afterwards, the artist was 
 found to have clear representations of the events seen ; 
 but of these the plates of the photographer showed nothing. 
 This is interesting. Unfortunately the extremely dogmatic 
 " theosophist " tract wherein this story is set forth does not 
 make it quite clear whether the photographs showed nothing 
 at all, or only nothing remarkable. In the former case it is 
 just conceivable that there may have been something wrong 
 with the camera.
 
 MADKAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 107 
 
 Now doth it behove us to conduct our readers to visit the 
 public buildings of Madras, and to give them by the way an 
 accurate and exhaustive account thereof. We should dis- 
 course, for instance, about the palace of the Nawab of the 
 Carnatic, Government House, and the Fort ; and about that 
 towering lighthouse 125 feet high, with its brilliant light 
 visible fifteen miles from land. But public buildings are 
 toilsome things, and there are sunstrokes and mosquitoes 
 about. 
 
 It behoves us also to give a condensed and masterly 
 sketch of the city's history. We should begin with its 
 foundation in 1639, and plod conscientiously through the 
 years down to the present time. But it is too hot for 
 history. 
 
 Something vague and legendary, perhaps, would be more 
 refreshing. Let us betake ourselves to that quarter of 
 Madras which is called St Thome", and seek out the tra- 
 ditional scene of S. Thomas's martyrdom. This is an 
 eminence known as the Mount, and crowned with a church. 
 The " Mailapur " of the martyrdom of S. Thomas has been 
 with great probability identified with Mihilapur, which is 
 St Thome. 
 
 Now the death of the Apostle came to pass, saith the 
 legend, on this wise: 
 
 The blessed Thomas preached the Gospel in the city of 
 King Misdaios, and many women believed ; and Tertia also, 
 the King's sister, was converted unto the truth. Then the 
 King was angry, and commanded that Thomas should be 
 cast into prison. " And the Apostle, 1 when he had broken 
 the Bread and given thanks, gave it to Ouazanes and to 
 Tertia and Mnesara, and to the wife and the daughter of 
 
 1 Abridged from the Greek text.
 
 108 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Siphoros, saying, 'May this Eucharist be unto you for 
 salvation and joy, and the health of your souls.' And 
 they said, 'Amen.' And there was heard a Voice saying, 
 'Amen. Fear ye not, only believe.' And the Apostle, 
 when he had so done, went away with .joy into the 
 prison. . . . 
 
 "And Misdaios sent for the Apostle Thomas and set 
 him before him ; and he asked him, saying, ' Art thou a 
 bond-servant or free ? ' 'I am a bond-servant,' said he, 
 'of one only Master over whom thou hast no authority.' 
 And Misdaios said unto him, 'Hast thou fled from thy 
 master, that thou art come hither ? ' But Thomas said, 
 'I was sold of my Lord into this land, that I might save 
 many, and by thy hands depart from this world.' And 
 when the Apostle had so said, Misdaios sought how he 
 might slay him. . . . He took him therefore and went 
 out of the city, and there went also with him armed 
 soldiers. And when they had walked one mile, he de- 
 livered him unto four soldiers and one officer, and com- 
 manded that they should bring him unto the mount, and 
 slay him with their spears, and so return back unto the 
 city. And when he had so commanded the soldiers, he 
 also departed into the city. 
 
 "And when Thomas was come up into the mount, to 
 the place wherein he should be slain, he spake and said 
 unto those that held him and to the rest, ' Brethren, hearken 
 ye unto me at this time also, even now at the end. For I 
 stand at the point of the going out from the body. Let 
 not therefore the eyes of your heart be blinded, neither 
 let your -ears be made deaf. Believe in God Whom I 
 preach, and be not guides unto yourselves in the hardness 
 of your hearts.' . . .
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 109 
 
 "Then the blessed Thomas went apart to pray; and 
 when he had kneeled down, he afterward arose and stretched 
 forth his hands toward heaven, and spake these words : 
 
 " ' My Lord and my God, my hope and my confidence, 
 and my Teacher who givest me boldness, Thou wilt be 
 with me even unto the end. . . . Thou hast made me to 
 hunger in this world, Lord, and hast filled me with the 
 true riches. . . . Let not the seed of the corn that I have 
 sown be destroyed from out Thy field. Let not the enemy, 
 with his tares, catch it away. . . . Thy vine have I planted 
 in the earth ; she hath sent down her roots to the depth, her 
 shooting forth on high is spread abroad, and her fruit is 
 upon the earth. . . . Grant unto me therefore, Lord, 
 that in quietness I may pass hence, and that in joy and 
 peace I may ascend and stand before my Judge. But the 
 evil one, the Accuser, let him not behold me. Let his- 
 eyes be blinded through Thy light which Thou hast made 
 to abide in me.' . . . 
 
 " And when he had thus prayed, he said unto the soldiers, 
 ' Come ye, fulfil the bidding of him that commanded you.' 
 And the four men came near, and pierced him with their 
 swords ; so he fell down, and died. Then all the brethren 
 wept ; and they brought goodly raiment and much fair 
 linen, and they buried him in a royal tomb wherein the 
 former kings were laid. 
 
 " Now the Apostle Thomas, when he was departing from 
 the world, had made Siphor a Presbyter, and louzanes a 
 Deacon. 
 
 " And it came to pass, after many days, that one of the 
 children of Misdaios the King was smitten by a demon, 
 and no man was able to heal him, for the demon was very 
 grievous. Then Misdaios considered the matter, and said,
 
 110 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 ' I will depart and open the tomb, and when I have taken 
 up one of the bones of the Apostle of God, I will hang it 
 upon my son, and he shall be healed.' 
 
 " So Misdaios departed to the sepulchre of the holy Apostle ; 
 but when he had opened the tomb he found not the Apostle 
 there, for one of the brethren had taken him away by stealth 
 and carried him to Mesopotamia. 
 
 " Then did Misdaios take dust from the place where the 
 body of the Apostle had lain, and he put it upon his son, 
 saying, 'I believe in Thee, Jesus Christ, through Thine 
 Apostle Thomas, and with undoubting faith I confess the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.' And when he had 
 so spoken he put the dust about the neck of his child. 
 And immediately the child was made whole. So Misdaios 
 also, the King, was joined with the other brethren, and he 
 bowed the head beneath the hands of Siphor. Then said 
 Siphor unto the brethren, ' Pray ye for Misdaios the King, 
 that he may obtain mercy, and that his sins be forgiven 
 him.' They all therefore rejoiced with one accord, and 
 offered prayers in his behalf. And the Lord Who loveth 
 mankind, the King of kings, gave unto Misdaios also hope 
 toward Himself, and joined him unto the company of those 
 that had believed on Christ, giving praise to the Father, 
 Son, and Holy Spirit, to Whom belong power and worship 
 now and always and even for ever and ever. Amen." 
 
 The Apostle is said to have suffered martyrdom in the year 
 of our Lord 68, on the 21st of December, the day which we 
 still keep holy as the Feast of S. Thomas. For the fact that 
 he visited India we have very ancient authority; it is 
 referred to by Abdias at the end of the first century, and S. 
 Jerome gives the name of the town where he died but how
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. Ill 
 
 far we may trust the legendary details of his work I will not 
 undertake to decide, preferring rather to contemplate the 
 undoubted and very tangible facts of Christian Church-work 
 in Madras at the present day. There is a very* special 
 reality about the Anglican Cathedral with its bright and 
 beautiful Services, and about other churches too. There are 
 schools and orphanages and other useful institutions. Good 
 work is being done here by the Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge ; and the Society for the Propagation 
 of the Gospel is likewise hard at work, one of the most 
 interesting features of its operations being the Theological 
 College in Sullivan's Gardens. This was opened in July 
 1848, so that it is coeval with S. Augustine's, Canterbury. 
 It is doing a most useful and very necessary work in training 
 native Catechists, and candidates for Holy Orders. A large 
 number of the Native Clergy working in the South of India 
 have received in this College their theological training. 
 Only matriculates of the Madras University are received as 
 students, and the theological course takes three years, at the 
 end of which time students are presented for the Oxford and 
 Cambridge Universities' Preliminary Examination of candi- 
 dates for Holy Orders. In this examination native students 
 of the College have for ten years past taken honourable 
 places. In 1886 its candidates were more successful therein 
 than any corresponding body of men from any other institu- 
 tion. The S.P.C.K. assists the College with an annual grant 
 of Es. 1080. The Church Missionary Society also has a 
 Divinity School in Madras. 
 
 From the standpoint of this cathedral city the travellers 
 look abroad over the Diocese ; but so wide a panorama, com- 
 prising so many centres of Eoman and Anglican Church- 
 work, is at first confusing to the mental eyes, and our friends
 
 112 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 choose out for special study only the branches supported by 
 that great Missionary Society whose methods, as aforesaid, 
 they have learned to regard with special confidence and 
 sympathy. As long ago as 1881, the Society for the Propa- 
 gation of the Gospel had in its schools (which are under 
 Government inspection) no less than 13,207 pupils, of whom 
 3598 were girls; and since those days the work, though 
 short-handed and further crippled for want of funds, has 
 gone on and prospered. The aim of the Society is here, as 
 everywhere, to establish a Native Church which in due time 
 shall be capable of standing alone. The educational method, 
 though so important an instrument, has never been inde- 
 pendent of evangelistic work, and from the beginning the 
 school and the congregation have been developed side by 
 side. In about 1000 towns and villages of the Diocese the 
 Society has established congregations of native Christians; 
 the number of baptised Christians in these missions was, in 
 1881, 37,706, and the number of catechumens 20,083. 
 
 The C.M.S. is also hard at work, and in the Madras Presi- 
 dency (including Haiderabad and the other Native States) 
 the total number of Christians, Catholic and sectarian, is 1 
 1,642,030. 
 
 But our travellers begin to grow weary of Madras, and 
 nothing will serve but a romantic expedition to the rock- 
 temples of Mavalivaram, otherwise known as the Seven 
 Pagodas. Archoeologically this is doubtless the most in- 
 teresting place in Southern India; its rock-hewn temples 
 are the earliest examples we have of Dravidian art, seeing 
 that before them wooden architecture alone was known in 
 the South ; and the delightful part of it is that the place is 
 
 1 1892.
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 113 
 
 thirty miles from Madras, and that there is no road to it. It 
 can be reached only by means of the East Coast Canal, and 
 the journey is best made by night. 
 
 The requisite preparations are intrusted by our friends to 
 one Chinasami, a darkly handsome personage, arrayed in 
 white and red. His snowy turban becomingly frames a 
 countenance of like colour with an ancient copper coin, and 
 possessed of a pair of large, lustrous black eyes full of quick 
 and wary intelligence. 
 
 It is eight o'clock in the most lovely of all imaginable 
 nights when the travellers drive forth into the moonlight 
 to begin the journey. The first six miles thereof may be 
 accomplished in a carriage, and a wonderful drive it is. The 
 cool-rayed moon (as the Hindu scriptures call her) is shin- 
 ing as she never shines outside the tropics. Brilliant and 
 lovely is she as when long since (so the Indian legends tell) 
 she first rose, from out the sea of milk, "with a pleasing 
 countenance, shining with ten thousand beams of gentle' 
 light." 1 Wonderful are the effects of light and shadow as 
 the magic glory falls on the clustering palm-trees, glancing 
 on the smooth curves of the drooping leaves till all their 
 delicate lines shine out in radiant pencillings of silver. 
 
 Yet even such moonlight as this can scarcely dim the 
 lamps of the stars shining out from the deep blue of the 
 night-sky in sparkling multitudes, even as they shone in 
 the eyes of that Indian poet long ago who sang of blessed 
 Suka, the princely sage, " greater than the greatest of men," 2 
 shining forth in the midst of the other sages, " even as the 
 
 1 Wilkins, 'Episode from the Mahabharata,' quoted by Poley on the 
 " Devimahatmyam." 
 
 2 From ' Le Bhagavata Puriina ou histoire poe"tique de Krfclina,' traduit 
 et public" par M. Eugene Burnouf. Paris, MDCCCXL. 
 
 H
 
 114 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 divine orb of the moon shines forth surrounded with her 
 train of planets, with constellations, and with stars." 
 
 The air is soft and sweet, and the deep silence is broken 
 only by the shrill, musical chant of the syces, as they cry 
 in a monotonous, ever-repeated cadence to warn all way- 
 farers that a carriage is approaching. It is a pity that such 
 a drive should ever come to an end; but end it does at 
 length by the moonlit waters of the canal, whereon floats 
 a native boat stored with the necessary provisions, and 
 attended by the dark figures of the coolies who are to 
 tow it through the night. Under an arched covering 
 thatched with palm-leaves the requisite number of mat- 
 tresses have been placed in a row. Hereon the travellers 
 recline, shaded from the dangerous moonlight, but enjoying, 
 at each end of their shelter, a wonderful view of deep-blue, 
 starry sky. The boat glides smoothly on its way, the 
 lapping water makes soothing music in the stillness, and 
 every one falls asleep. 
 
 The awakening is a merry one. The night has suddenly 
 departed, and all the world is aglow with sunshine. Why 
 did that wise Queen Madalasa say that a man " should not 
 gaze up at the orb of the sun at sunrise or at sunset"? 
 Assuredly one cannot do so at any other times, leastwise 
 in India. But there is not much leisure for gazing at 
 present, for, while the boat still glides over the smooth 
 waters, Chinasami, in that small space allotted to him and 
 the chickens in the bow of the boat, is diligently preparing 
 chota hazri, which he presently serves up with the utmost 
 solemnity; and scarcely is this ceremony concluded when 
 the travellers find themselves at the end of their journey. 
 
 It is a strange place. There are palm-trees, and there 
 is smooth, green grass, whereon are scattered great fantastic
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 115 
 
 boulders of grey granite, which are just the right material 
 for rock-temples. Leaving their provisions at the travellers' 
 bungalow, the visitors set forth to enjoy a delightful day 
 of archseologic study. They speedily find themselves in 
 the fifth or sixth century of our era, and surrounded with 
 beautiful little shrines and temples hewn out of the living 
 rock and adorned with sculpture -figures of real artistic 
 merit, contrasting strangely with the degraded Indian art 
 of the present day. Such are the oldest works ; but there 
 are others of somewhat later date already showing the 
 hideous coarseness wherewith anything connected with Hin- 
 duism inevitably becomes infected. 
 
 Our friends first make their way to the temple by the 
 sea-shore, probably the oldest structural temple of the Dra- 
 vidian style that we know. It stands on the very brink of 
 the sea, which seems to have much encroached since it was 
 builded. The surf beats on it now with increasing violence, 
 and is slowly defacing the sculptures thereof. The legends 
 tell of a whole city, once great and populous, but now lying 
 silent and forgotten beneath the relentless waves. 
 
 These lonely temples are all deserted now; there is no 
 one to defend them from the profanation of Christian feet ; 
 and the travellers may wander at will through the ancient 
 chambers, even to that dark and innermost cell once so 
 jealously guarded with fear and awful mystery. This shore- 
 temple was dedicated originally to one Maha Bali (whom 
 our friends will presently meet with again) ; but he was 
 not allowed undisputed possession of his domicile, and the 
 travellers, on entering the northern porch, find themselves 
 confronted with Siva and Parvati carved on the wall in 
 high relief. They are old acquaintances now : like the pious 
 Nared of old, the travellers have already given ear " to the
 
 116 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 history of Siva's origin and of his marriage with Parvati, 
 as delivered oftentimes by the learned Sages." l They have 
 heard tell of " the splendour of his essence which is exempt 
 from all the accidents of darkness and light, of heat and 
 cold, of beginning and ending ; " and the legend hath been 
 told them of how it was he who first brought this perishable 
 world from the "closet of invisibility," from the "veil of 
 nonentity," and made it to appear at length " on the theatre 
 of manifestation." Wherefore these " wanderers in the path 
 of novelty " pass him by, to seek in the inner chambers of 
 the temple for less familiar deities. 
 
 But they find them not. Only in the western vestibule 
 reclines the " pre-eminent Vishnu," " the universal soul, the 
 immeasurable, the eternal, the changeless." He is 10 feet 
 10 inches long. Of old he was approached, no doubt, by 
 crowds of eager worshippers, crying as they came into his 
 presence, " Om ! Eeverence to the adorable Vishnu ! " but 
 now he lies alone in the dark, while the passing centuries 
 heed him not. 
 
 Not far from the temple the lord Vishnu appears again 
 in the form of a tall, rock-hewn figure with the head of a 
 bull and an amiable expression of countenance. 
 
 Thence the travellers wander on from one old, rock-hewn 
 shrine to another, small but beautiful temples cut from 
 the hard granite in the archaic forms of trabeate architec- 
 ture, designed with an exquisite sense of proportion, and 
 showing in each laboured line a wonderful exactness and 
 finish. Especially light and graceful are the curious pillars, 
 whereof the lower part of the shaft consists, in many cases, 
 of a conventional but terrific lion seated on his haunches 
 and grinning horribly, with gigantic ears and wildly curling 
 
 1 Sheeve Pouran. Halhed.
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 117 
 
 tail. These amiable beasts (evidently, say the learned, of 
 wooden origin) are specially interesting as being character- 
 istic of the Seven Pagodas, but found nowhere else in India. 
 
 Then the visitors make their way to the modern Brahman 
 village, with its palm-thatched huts, and its palm-surrounded 
 temple dating probably from the twelfth or thirteenth cen- 
 tury. Not far off is a melancholy group of rock-cut figures 
 representing the goddess Durga with seven attendant 
 maidens. This same Durga, it seems, is but another form 
 of Parvati, the wife of Siva and the active manifestation 
 of his power, the goddess "who resides in all the world 
 as a form of effulgence," x " the remover of difficult limits," 
 " the ample, the mild, and the austere." 
 
 The next piece of sculpture which the travellers meet 
 with is a rock-cut family group of three very charming 
 monkeys. The father-monkey is searching with the utmost 
 solicitude in Mrs Monkey's fur, while she, in her turn, is 
 tenderly nursing the baby. The execution is delightfully 
 natural, and it is hard to believe that so many centuries 
 have passed since those monkey worthies sat for their life- 
 like portraits. 
 
 As soon as they can make up their minds to part from 
 this amiable family, our friends wander away to the sacred 
 tank, with its quaint little mandapam in the centre reflected 
 in the smooth water ; and thence they go in search of the 
 most extraordinary piece of sculpture that Mavalivaram can 
 boast of the great scene popularly supposed to represent the 
 Penance of the heroic and mythic Arjuna. It is carved in 
 high relief on the face of a rock 43 feet high and 96 feet 
 long ; and it is a wonder to behold. It contains a multitude 
 
 1 From the ' Sapta-Shati, or Chandi-Pat,' translated by Cavali Venkat 
 Ridnasswdmi, Pandit.
 
 118 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 of figures, most of them fully life-size, men and gods, a 
 snake-deity and his wife, harpies, elephants, lions, deer, 
 monkeys, cocks, and so forth. Three elephant -cubs are 
 specially attractive. The so-called Arjuna himself, that 
 illustrious ascetic, father of Pandu and ancestor of all the 
 Pandyan kings, is a prominent and impressive figure. He 
 is represented as employing himself in religious austerities 
 and " performing exceeding adoration." With arms extended 
 above his head he standeth continually on the great toe of 
 his left foot. So extreme is his leanness that all may see 
 how he hath "tormented his existence with a variety of 
 mortifications." 
 
 If there is one thing that Hindu gods cannot in any wise 
 resist, it is the cumulative effect of self-inflicted austerities 
 in those who worship them, witness the case of those three 
 sons of Tareke who thus conciliated Brahma : " Standing 1 for 
 an hundred years upon one foot they continued absorbed in 
 prayer ; for a thousand years they subsisted altogether upon 
 air ; . . . for yet another hundred years they stood with 
 their arms lifted up to heaven. So, when their devotion 
 had thus exceeded all limits," they obtained the goodwill 
 of Brahma, " the cloud of mercy was full distended, and the 
 sea of benevolence overflowed its banks." 
 
 Even so did Arjuna, the friend of the " Blessed Krishna," 
 conciliate Siva, so that when Muki, that wicked demon, 
 came in the form of a boar to hinder the ascetic's devotion, 
 the mighty deity went forth against him, and did shoot at 
 that boar with arrows until he miserably died. 
 
 " Very pretty, no doubt," says Philippa, dryly ; " but, as a 
 matter of fact, that good ascetic up there has only in modern 
 times acquired the name of Arjuna." 
 
 1 Sheeve Pouran. Halhed.
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 119 
 
 " Philippa, that is too bad ! It is of no use trying to tell 
 romantic legends if you knock them on the head in that 
 way ! " 
 
 "Perhaps," says Irene, cheerfully, "she has something 
 better to tell us instead. Give us a lecture on archaeology, 
 Philippa, and see if you can make us understand what this 
 extraordinary scene is about." 
 
 "It is about serpent -worship, my dears, that ancient 
 naga-religion of prehistoric times which meets us in so strange 
 and unexpected a fashion in the study of Indian art. Please 
 to observe how the strange and crowded figures in this scene 
 are engaged in worshipping that great naga-king in the 
 middle, who rejoices in a snaky tail, and whose head-dress 
 is formed of the hoods of a seven-headed cobra. The lady 
 beneath him is his wife ; and she also ends in a serpent-tail, 
 but her head is canopied by three cobra-heads instead of 
 seven. Now the important point to notice 
 
 "But, Philippa, dear, it is so hot! May we not leave 
 the sculpture now, and explore that old cave-temple near 
 it ? See how cool and inviting it looks, and what a deli- 
 cious shelter it will give from this terrible glare outside." 
 
 The temple is hewn into the rock to a depth of 40 feet. 
 Its facade is about 50 feet long, and very impressive are 
 the weird lion-pillars standing out, row behind row, against 
 a background of mysterious darkness. The travellers won- 
 deringly explore the shadowy interior, and then, emerging 
 again into the light, seek out the neighbouring Varaswami 
 Mandapam, the " Temple of my Lord the Boar." 
 
 Herein are two scenes carved in relief, of which one 
 represents the Varaha or Boar - incarnation of Vishnu, 
 wherein, as we have already set forth, he once saved the 
 Earth from the abyss of waters. Long ago was that story
 
 120 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 told by those four learned birds, even "Pingaksha and 
 Vibodha and Supatra and Sumukha, the sons of Drona, 
 the noblest of birds," who "dwell in the Vindhya range, 
 in a cave of the noble mountain, where the water is very 
 sacred, with their minds subdued." And " they all addressed 
 Jaimini the disciple of Vyasa, resting himself, with his 
 fatigue mitigated by the breeze from their wings." And 
 the birds spake, and said, " This is the third form of 
 Vishnu, which is assiduously intent on the preservation of 
 creatures ; it destroys the haughty demons, the exterminators 
 of righteousness. . . . Whensoever, O Jaimini, the wane 
 of righteousness occurs and the rise of iniquity, then it 
 creates itself." 
 
 It is represented here as a human figure with a boar's 
 head. In its company is Lakshmi, Vishnu's bride, the 
 goddess of beauty and good fortune. Indispensable is she 
 to his working and his power. For what said the sage 
 Parasara to Maitreya the best of Brahmans ? " The bride 
 of Vishnu is the mother of the world ; . . . Vishnu is mean- 
 ing, she is speech ; . . . he is righteousness, she is devotion ; 
 he is the creator, she is creation ; . . . Vishnu is the personi- 
 fied Sama veda, the goddess lotus-throned is the tone of 
 its chanting. Vishnu is the moon, she is his unfading 
 light ; ... he is the ocean, Lakshmi its shore ; . . . she 
 is the creeping vine, and Vishnu the tree round which it 
 clings." l 
 
 The other scene represents the Dwarf Avatar, that fifth 
 form of Vishnu which he assumed on this wise : 
 
 There lived of old a mighty King whose name was Maha 
 Bali ; and- he was puffed up with pride and neglected the 
 offerings of the gods. Then came Vishnu unto him as it 
 
 1 From the 'Vishnu Purana,' translated by H. H. Wilson, M.A., F.R.S.
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 121 
 
 had been a dwarf, small of stature, and very contemptible to 
 look upon. And Maha Bali said unto him, " Come, tell me 
 what gift I shall bestow on thee ! " Then Vishnu made 
 humble petition, and said unto him, " I pray thee that thou 
 wouldest give me so much land as I can pass over with 
 three steps." Then Maha Bali laughed aloud, and said, 
 " Thou shouldest have asked some greater thing." But 
 Vishnu answered and said, "Thus much sufficeth for thy 
 servant. I pray thee therefore that thou wilt swear to give 
 it unto me, and that in ratification thereof thou wilt here 
 pour water on mine hand." And lo ! as the water touched 
 his hand, the dwarf began to grow; and he became very 
 tall and mighty, so that at the first stride he covered the 
 earth, and at the second stride he covered the heavens, 
 and at the third he would have taken unto himself the 
 nether world also, but being compassionate he thrust Maha 
 Bali down thither with his foot, and hath suffered him to 
 reign therein even unto this present day. 
 
 This legend dates from ancient Vedic times, and some 
 perceive therein a mystic signification, saying that Vishnu 
 is none other than the sun, and that those three great strides 
 of his symbolise the sun's three stations at his rising, his 
 noon, and his setting. 
 
 The travellers have much more to see ; but at this point 
 of their wanderings the heat of the sun becomes overwhelm- 
 ing, and they are fain to creep back to the travellers' 
 bungalow to rest and eat tiffin. They find there a com- 
 patriot who has come, like themselves, for a day's archaeo- 
 logical sight-seeing. Fresh from an important Native State, 
 he has many strange things to tell. 
 
 " Our last Maharaja," says he, " had not an exalted idea
 
 122 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 of British dignity. The English Eesident, \vhen he called 
 at the palace, was obliged to enter barefoot, and had a 
 delightful experience of oriental politeness. The Maharaja, 
 with his attendants, would enter the room in which he 
 was waiting, and, seating himself as though no one were 
 there, would take no notice of him for several minutes. 
 Then he would ask three questions: 'How is my sister 
 the Queen of England ? How is my brother the Prince 
 of Wales ? Are you and your wife in good health ? ' These 
 questions having been answered, the mighty despot would 
 rise to his feet, whereupon the Eesident was instantly 
 hustled out of his presence. This was endured until the 
 old Maharaja died. On the accession of the new one, 
 the Eesident caused great excitement by entering his pres- 
 ence with his boots on. Happily this new prince is only 
 a child, and can be taught better manners." 
 
 At length the hottest hours are over, and our friends set 
 forth again, and betake them to that interesting group of 
 rock-temples, commonly called the " Eaths," an assemblage 
 of five small shrines guarded by a large elephant and a 
 terrific lion, both hewn, like the temples, from the living 
 granite-rock. 
 
 Of all the works at Mavalivaram these are the oldest; 
 and nothing in the place can compare with this little 
 group of temples for architectural interest. Herein, as 
 Dr Fergusson has taught us, we seem to have the germ 
 whence Dravidian architecture sprang, and a key to its 
 intricate 'problems. Hinduism is the religion set forth 
 in the sculpture of these rock-hewn shrines; but their 
 forms are undoubtedly Buddhist, wherefore we know (or 
 at least Dr Fergusson does) that their authors must
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 123 
 
 have migrated hither from the Buddhist regions of the 
 North. Two of the Eaths are rock-cut copies of Buddhist 
 viharas or monasteries, and these are the rudimentary 
 beginning of all the stately vimanas wherein South Indian 
 pagodas rejoice. To this day, it would seem, the Southern 
 Hindus are building temples of Siva and Vishnu, tower- 
 ing piles on whose terraces may still be traced the forms 
 which, long centuries ago in the distant North, were the 
 cells of Buddhist monks. Other two of the Eaths are of 
 oblong shape. These, it seems, are copies of ancient Bud- 
 dhist temples, and from them have sprung to their giddy 
 height the lofty Dravidian gopuras. One of these oblong 
 Eaths is specially interesting as showing the disastrous re- 
 sults of exactly copying in solid rock the form of a wooden 
 original. The interior is only partially excavated, the work 
 having been interrupted, apparently, by the settling of the 
 massive roof, whose enormous weight the slender support- 
 ing pillars found themselves unable to uphold. Whereupon 
 there ensued a terrific crack, cleaving the temple in two, 
 and great masses of the sculptured granite, breaking at the 
 shock from their places, fell crashing down to the ground. 
 
 This strange little rock-temple is popularly called Bhima's 
 Eath j 1 but concerning that same Bhima our travellers, not- 
 withstanding their legendary enthusiasm, can recall but very 
 little. He was the son of Pandu, it seems, of the ancient 
 Lunar Dynasty, and with his club he struck down Duryod- 
 hana, the chief of the Kuru princes ; but whosoever would 
 know of his further exploits, let him read them for himself 
 in that " stream of Vyasa's words which has descended from 
 the mountain of the Veda, and has swept away the trees of 
 bad reasoning, wherein the melodious sounds are the geese, 
 
 1 The names of the Baths are only modern inventions.
 
 124 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the noble story is the splendid lotus, and the words are the 
 expanse of water," even in " that precious and long story of 
 Mahabharata." 
 
 Long time do our friends linger about these fascinating 
 little temples; and then they walk south-westward until, 
 about three-quarters of a mile from the Eaths, they arrive at 
 a precipitous rock wherein is hewn a temple of Durga known 
 as the Yamapuri or Mahishamarddani Mandapam. As they 
 enter it their imagination is recalled (for the last time on 
 this day) to the grotesque fairy tales of Indian legend ; for 
 here (opposite a sculpture-scene wherein Vishnu reclines on 
 Sesha the monarch of serpents) is a relief representing the 
 victory of the great goddess Durga over that wicked buffalo- 
 demon " Mahishasur of ample heroism, who repulsed the 
 army of the gods," 1 ' so that "the whole multitude of the 
 deities were cast out from heaven and wandered on the 
 earth like mortals." Then came Durga the imperishable, 
 riding on her lion Kesari, the gift of Himavant. And " the 
 lion of the goddess, being enraged, swiftly shook his mane 
 and marched against the army of Mahishasur, like fire against 
 a forest." Then the mighty demon "enraged tore up the 
 earth with his hoofs and cast down the highest hills. . . . 
 He lashed the ocean with his tail, and made it to overflow 
 everywhere. The clouds were dispersed by his long horns, 
 the mountains and sky were blown into a hundred pieces by 
 his breath and sighs." " Being highly endowed with bravery, 
 he furiously hurled mountains with his horns at the goddess." 
 But Durga, the Matron World, was more mighty than he, 
 and at length she " pulverised him with her strong arrows." 
 
 Having sufficiently contemplated this exciting scene, the 
 
 1 See the ' Sapta-Shati, or Chandi-Pat,' . . . translated by Cavali Venkat 
 Ifcimasswa'mi, Pandit.
 
 MADRAS AND THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 125 
 
 travellers proceed to climb up the rock to the little structural 
 temple which crowns the summit thereof. On the top of the 
 temple is a lighthouse, and from the top of the lighthouse 
 our friends gain an extended view of the neighbourhood, 
 tropical trees and ancient shrines, fantastic rocks and gleam- 
 ing waters, all lit up with the softened evening sunshine. 
 
 Thereafter the travellers descend to their boat, and, once 
 more reclining under their palm-leaves, float softly away 
 Madrasward through the swiftly deepening night.
 
 126 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FROM MADEAS TO CALCUTTA. 
 
 THE good ship Cathay, which is to take our travellers to 
 Calcutta, after keeping them waiting for five days, appears 
 at length on the llth of January. From the end of the 
 pier our friends watch the passage of their luggage through 
 the tumbling surf. The surf-boats wherein it is conveyed 
 are picturesque native vessels sewn together with coco-nut 
 fibre and painted red. A more solidly constructed boat 
 would not last long among the Madras breakers. 
 
 The travellers themselves are taken off from the pier, and 
 presently rejoice to stand again on a genuine fragment of 
 England, to see white faces around them, and hear the sound 
 of their native tongue. The most interesting people on board 
 are a mission party of five sent out (with the help of S.P.G.) 
 by the Dublin University. They are on their way to Chota 
 Nagpur, where they will be a welcome and much-needed 
 addition to the Bishop's staff of workers. The five Clergy 
 are all graduates of Dublin University, and one of them is a 
 physician and surgeon as well. There is also a lady who has 
 had long experience as a missionary-nurse, and who looks 
 after the younger Missionaries' health with a motherly care 
 delightful to behold.
 
 FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. 127 
 
 Unfortunately the passage out has been terribly stormy 
 one boat has been lost and two damaged and all this is the 
 fault of the Missionaries, it being a law of nature well known 
 to seamen that " one Parson on board means bad weather, two 
 bring a gale, and three a hurricane." However, there is no 
 denying that they are a great acquisition to the society of the 
 Cathay. Their daily Services in the saloon give a homelike 
 atmosphere even to the Bay of Bengal, and their delicious 
 Irish humour is the brightest thing on board. Long will be 
 remembered an encounter between one of them and a certain 
 facetious personage who considers that his rank entitles him 
 to the exercise of a certain amount of insolence. " Do you 
 know you are speaking to a Baronet ?" he demands of one of 
 the Missionary Clergymen. " I don't know about your being 
 a Baronet," answers a quiet voice with a soft Irish accent ex- 
 pressive of the utmost politeness and a deep, bubbling spring 
 of suppressed fun, " but I know that ye haven't the manners 
 of a gentleman." The poor Baronet will take long to forget 
 that gentle set-down, and will ever after uphold with vehe- 
 mence all vulgar saws about the incapacity of Missionaries. 
 
 To come into contact with the energy and life of real 
 workers, though humiliating to mere holiday-makers, is very 
 refreshing too ; and it is invigorating to hear something 
 of the thorough and efficient work carried on with such 
 devotion and blessed with such wonderful success in the far- 
 away diocese whither the Missionaries are bound. Fifty 
 years ago the people of Chota Nagpur an aboriginal, non- 
 Aryan race known as Kols were sunk in the grossest vice 
 and ignorance, slaves to drunkenness and terrifying super- 
 stitions, as miserable a people as one could easily imagine. 
 In 1845 four Lutheran Missionaries were sent out to India 
 by Pastor Gossner of Berlin, and began to work in Chota
 
 128 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Nagpur. For five years they laboured, enduring much hard- 
 ship and suffering, and not a single convert did they make. 
 But in 1850 four Kols came to the Mission-house at Ranchi 
 and said that they had seen some of the Scriptures distributed 
 by the Missionaries, that they had read in them of Christ, 
 and that they wished to see Him. These four became the 
 first converts to Christianity, and their baptism was followed 
 by many more, until the native Christians were counted by 
 thousands. 
 
 In 1869 the Missionaries and 7000 of their converts 
 presented a petition to the Bishop of Calcutta, asking to 
 be admitted into the Anglican Church. Bishop Milman 
 granted their request, and in April of that year he visited 
 the district to hold a Confirmation, and to bestow Catholic 
 Ordination on the Missionaries. 1 The Mission was affiliated 
 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and has 
 greatly prospered ever since. According to the ordinary 
 method of that very wise Society, the work was placed on 
 a sound educational basis, mission schools were efficiently 
 organised, and arrangements made for the training of native 
 Clergy and Catechists. The Eev. J. C. Whitley, transferred 
 from Dehli in 1869, threw into the work all his great powers 
 with the most entire devotion, labouring with the German 
 Missionaries on terms of the deepest respect and affection; 
 and on March 23, 1890, after twenty-one years' strenuous and 
 successful work, he was consecrated as Bishop of the new 
 Diocese of Chota Nagpur. 
 
 Terribly short-handed as the workers have been, and hin- 
 dered too by want of funds, their work has grown and pros- 
 
 1 Of the three German Missionaries ordained by the Bishop, only one, 
 the Rev. F. Batsch, had been among the original four. Two had died, and 
 one had been obliged by ill health to return home.
 
 FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. 129 
 
 pered, so that there are now among the Kols 12,519 baptised 
 members of the Anglican Church, about half of whom are 
 Communicants. There are 20 Clergy, 60 Eeaders, and a large 
 number of Catechists. These are no mere surface results. 
 Eapid as the growth has been, the work is all most thorough 
 and searching. The people are required to give liberally in 
 support of their churches and schools, Church discipline is 
 strictly enforced, and the native candidates for the Ministry, 
 after many years of careful training, have to pass a severe 
 examination before being admitted to Holy Orders. 
 
 For those who can remember the wretchedness of the old 
 days, it is strange to visit the Chota Nagpur of the present, 
 where in more than 500 native villages Christians assemble 
 daily, at sunrise and sunset, for Service in their own tongue ; 
 where education is growing and ignorance retreating, and 
 where is good hope that, if Christians at home will give the 
 prayers and the help that are so urgently needed, the whole 
 nation will at length be added to the Church. 
 
 To study such histories suits well with the quiet leisure of 
 a tropical day at sea ; but when the glowing sunshine is gone, 
 and there reigns over all things the magic enchantment of an 
 Indian night, then, all that has practical reality must needs 
 be ignored and forgotten. Then doth the aged Metaphysician 
 discourse of Absolute Existence and Universal Truth, and 
 the world of troublesome particulars is as though it had never 
 been. Then doth the full moon ride aloft on her three- 
 wheeled car, and the ten horses thereof "that are sprung 
 from the bosom of the waters " x are all " of the whiteness of 
 the jasmine." Then the glassy expanse of the sea shines 
 with so strange and mysterious a glory that one must perforce 
 believe that saying of Parasara the Sage, who set forth of old 
 
 1 From the ' Vishnu Purana,' translated by H. H. Wilson, M. A., F.R.S. 
 
 I
 
 130 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 how " day or night retires into the waters according as they 
 are invaded by darkness or light; it is from this cause that 
 the waters look dark by day, because night is within them ; 
 and they look white by night, because at the setting of the 
 sun the light of day takes refuge in their bosom." 
 
 The voyage from Madras is very smooth sailing, and in all 
 respects delightful. Not the least amiable of the passengers 
 are the cockroaches, of whom, as always in hot climates, 
 there is a considerable company, and who have a particularly 
 endearing way of crawling over one's pillow at night. No 
 wonder they wish to be sociable, seeing that they too were 
 originally human beings. Unfortunately in that former ex- 
 istence they were ill-advised enough to filch oil from their 
 neighbours, thereby bringing upon themselves that dreadful 
 condemnation which Markandeya, the Immortal Sage, pro- 
 nounced in ancient days, "He that stealeth oil is born a 
 cockroach." 
 
 It is quite disappointing to arrive (on the evening of 
 January 14) at the mouth of the Hugli, and to realise that 
 but ninety miles of the pleasant journey remain. The 
 passage of the Hugli, with its shallow waters and shifting 
 sand-banks, is not one to be attempted at night, and the 
 Cathay lies at anchor until six o'clock the next morning. 
 Slowly, as she proceeds, the low banks converge, and there 
 come into view the dense jungle-forests of the swampy 
 Sunderbans where tigers and fevers range at large. This is 
 the busiest and most important of all the Ganges' mouths ; 
 but so desolate is the scene at first that our travellers can 
 think of nothing more cheerful to rehearse than the Five 
 meritorious Kinds of Suicide, whereof one, saith Hindu legend, 
 is to cut one's throat at Allahabad (where the Jainna and 
 the Ganges meet), and another is to betake oneself " to the
 
 FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. 131 
 
 extremity of Bengal, where the Ganges discharges itself 
 into the sea through a thousand mouths," l and there, wading 
 into the water, to enumerate one's sins and devoutly to say 
 one's prayers till the alligators come and eat one. 
 
 But as the day wears on and Calcutta draws nearer, many 
 ships go by, and the flag of each vessel is flying half-mast 
 high. The newly arrived Cathay knows nothing of any 
 occasion for mourning, but presently the news is signalled to 
 her by a passing steamer, " The Duke of Clarence is dead." 
 
 It is evening before the travellers can land ; and they drive 
 away from the quay through the horrible, smoky night-fog 
 for which Calcutta is famous. Nor can even daylight im- 
 pressions indue the city with great attractiveness. Calcutta 
 is terribly modern for the greater part of the seventeenth 
 century Kalighat and the neighbouring villages were still 
 mere collections of native mud-huts ; the public mourning 
 has cast a gloom over the city, and the travellers, were it not 
 for a certain Major-general that kindest of kind friends 
 would gain but a colourless impression thereof. Thanks to 
 him, they are admitted, soon after their arrival, to a large 
 meeting of Natives assembled in the Town -hall to vote 
 addresses of condolence to the Empress and the Prince of 
 Wales. More than 5000 are present, and our friends, from 
 their seats on the platform, have an excellent view of that 
 sea of native faces, and an excellent opportunity for study- 
 ing the physiognomy of Bengal. If judged only from their 
 aspect here in Calcutta, the Bengali folk would not, in the 
 matter of good looks, compare favourably with the Tamils. 
 The complexion is lighter, the features are less regular, there 
 is much more vivacity of manner, and far less dignity of 
 
 1 See the conclusion of the 'Ayeen Akbery' . . . translated from the 
 original Persian by Francis Gladwin.
 
 132 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 bearing. The whole assembly is composed of men, for native 
 ladies have, of course, nothing to do with public matters. 
 The Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal presides, and the other 
 speakers are certain dignified Maharajas, who, resplendent 
 with jewelled turbans, address the meeting in very credit- 
 able English. The speeches are full of loyal feeling, and the 
 memorials to be sent to England "the humble and loyal 
 Addresses of the inhabitants of Calcutta in meeting as- 
 sembled" set forth in the language of sincere sympathy 
 how the grief of the Eoyal Family " is shared by millions of 
 hearts throughout the Empire " ; but the proceedings of the 
 meeting look, to English eyes, somewhat formal and cold. 
 All is done in accordance with a previously settled pro- 
 gramme, the 5000 listeners take no part whatever, and but 
 very few can hear what is said, since all the dusky Princes 
 speak only to those on the platform. 
 
 During the whole of our travellers' stay in Calcutta the 
 daily papers from England are full of joyful prognosti- 
 cations and of the preparations for wedding festivities. To 
 read them with the knowledge in one's mind that the cable 
 has brought, is a taste of what life would be like if prevision 
 of the future were often possible. 
 
 On January 20 the travellers attend, in S. Paul's Cathe- 
 dral, a memorial Service held nearly simultaneously with the 
 Prince's funeral Service in England. The crowd is great, 
 and the thousands of worshippers are clad in mourning, the 
 officers appearing in full-dress uniform. The organ is sup- 
 ported by a military band, and the playing of the Dead March 
 is most solemn and impressive. The choral Service, like all 
 the worship of the Calcutta Cathedral, is very beautiful and 
 devout. 
 
 Indeed, so striking is the spiritual aspect of the Cathedral
 
 FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. 133 
 
 that the material building is not so distressingly prominent 
 as it otherwise might be. Still, considered in itself apart 
 from its sanctity, the building is so hideous as to be actually 
 terrifying. They would never dream of building such a 
 thing now ; but the fact is that, as Dr Fergusson points 
 out, there used to be no architects in India, and the church- 
 building was carried on by military engineers. The Calcutta 
 Cathedral is builded in what that same authority defines as 
 " the Strawberry Hill form of Gothic art." I would describe 
 it if I could, but the subject is too painful ; one can but turn 
 away with a shudder. 
 
 Turning away from the Cathedral, one strays naturally 
 into the Maidan, a wide, grassy plain bordered on the East 
 by the European houses of Chowringhee, and on the West by 
 Fort "William and other things of that kind. This is the 
 great breathing-space of Calcutta. Herein, during our trav- 
 ellers' stay, the Commander-in-Chief holds a grand review 
 of volunteers, and an impressive spectacle it is. The horses 
 are beautiful and spirited, the Maidan is a capital galloping- 
 space, and the horsemanship is worth looking at. 
 
 The most delightful day of sight-seeing enjoyed by our 
 friends at Calcutta is that whereon that most thoughtful of 
 major-generals places at their disposal, for an expedition up 
 the Hugli, a delectable little steam-launch which rejoices in 
 the name of Firefly. Being unable to accompany them, he 
 sends as their guide one of his zamindars, an imposing 
 personage who is undoubtedly the most handsome Native 
 in Calcutta. His dignified countenance of comparatively 
 light complexion is adorned with a luxuriant beard and 
 moustache of fine silky black, and with a wonderful pair 
 of shining dark eyes. His costume is an oriental uniform 
 of white and scarlet and gold, such as dazzles the eyes of
 
 134 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 beholders. Even from a merely aesthetic point of view, such 
 a personification of brilliant colour is a considerable addition 
 to the pleasure of the day's impressions. 
 
 With most exhilarating speed the Firefly darts forth into 
 the broad stream, parting the sunny waters with the sharp 
 edge of her prow, whence two rushing curves of spray, with 
 mirthful roaring and dashing, fleet ever sternward, and vanish 
 in her foam-flecked wake. 
 
 But the bright and animated scenes of that morning on 
 the river what words can describe ? What shall we say of 
 the stately river-side buildings, of the wonderful architec- 
 ture of the temples, of the green luxuriance of the trees ? 
 How can we set forth the sights at the burning ghats, 
 where the murky clouds of smoke from the funeral pyres 
 float far through the clear air, and where the dead man's 
 friends, clad in sordid robes, are bathing in the Eiver 
 below to wash away the pollution of having touched the 
 corpse ? Above all, what pen could move lightly or swiftly 
 enough to set forth the multitudinous energy, the thronging 
 life, of the varied and crowded shipping? Why will not 
 my words sparkle and flash with the dancing waters, or go 
 puffing and fuming along with the busy steamers, or come 
 lumbering down with the clumsy grotesqueness of those 
 quaint and formless native boats piled high with the pro- 
 duce of Upper Bengal ? Why cannot they catch the merry 
 turmoil of the spray, or rush by with the sound of the wind, 
 as the Firefly darts on her way ? What is the use of words 
 if they won't reflect one's mind ? Some folk make them do 
 it ; but those are they whose spirits are blessed with such 
 intense and exuberant life as will burst through any barrier, 
 and so can subdue unto itself even the thorny obstructions 
 of language, the hardness of stubborn words. When will
 
 FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. 135 
 
 the day come, I wonder, when language shall be superseded by 
 (or leastwise develop into) some higher mode of expression 
 that shall use, not the lifeless symbols of convention, but forms 
 which shall be vitally one with that which they perfectly 
 symbolise ? Yet even now, may be, we have the germ of 
 such future expression ; and methinks that germ is rhythm. 
 
 " My dear," says the Father, " you have had twenty miles 
 of wool-gathering ; but here we are at Barrackpur, and you 
 would not like to miss the Viceroy's country-house." 
 
 Leaving the Firefly at his Excellency's private landing- 
 place, the travellers wander away through the park, and 
 marvel at the beauty thereof. Landscape-gardening in India 
 is a wonderfully easy matter, and the sight of an English 
 park full of tropical trees and flowers is one to be long 
 remembered. The direct path from the Eiver to the house 
 has been converted into a delightfully shady alley by means 
 of bamboos planted close together on each side and bent 
 over during their growth so as to interlace with one another 
 and to form an arched covering of dense, luxuriant verdure, 
 a grateful protection from the fiercely glowing sunshine. The 
 house built by Lord Minto and enlarged by the Marquis 
 of Hastings is adorned with flowering creepers, bright 
 masses of purple and orange blossoms dazzling as the sun- 
 shine itself. 
 
 Before leaving the grounds our friends visit Lady Can- 
 ning's tomb a white-marble sarcophagus placed under a 
 spreading tamarind ; and they also see the sombre memorial- 
 hall a melancholy thing, with not a single Christian symbol 
 about it builded by Lord Minto in 1813 as a tribute " to 
 the Memory of the Brave who gloriously fell in the Service 
 of their Country during the conquest of the Islands of 
 Mauritius and Java, in the years 1810, 1811."
 
 136 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Ten miles more of rapid steaming up the Eiver bring the 
 Firefly and her passengers to Chandarnagar. Settled by the 
 French in 1673, twice captured by the English and twice 
 given back, the little town at the present day is a delightful 
 picture of wholesome whitewash and prim French neatness. 
 The most conspicuous feature is the large church built by 
 some Missionaries from Italy in 1726. But there are many 
 English residents here, and an Anglican church as well as the 
 Roman one. The travellers land for tiffin, and then, when 
 the hottest hours are over, again embark on the Firefly, 
 and float gaily down to Calcutta. 
 
 They have not yet half done their duty by the city's 
 " objects of interest." There is the Fort to see, and that 
 terrible place where the -Black Hole once was ; and there 
 are the state apartments of Government House to explore, 
 and the Mint, where one watches the transformation of 
 bullion into shining pice and rupees. 
 
 Specially interesting is the Indian Museum in the Chow- 
 ringhee Road, One thousand one hundred and seventy native 
 visitors enter it every day on the average, and well they 
 may. Herein our travellers contemplate weird sculpture 
 from ancient temples, and some fragments of the original 
 bodhi-tree at Buddha Gaya, said to be that under which 
 Gautama sat on the night wherein he attained to Buddha- 
 hood. Most interesting of all is the famous Rail from 
 Bharhut, a grand specimen of early Buddhist sculpture, 
 dating from about 200 B.C. In another part of the museum 
 are antiquities of earlier date in the shape of a megathe- 
 rium or two and other notable fossils. Here the travellers 
 learn what the megaloschelornis was like, the megalonyx and 
 the glyptodon, the amphicyon and the machairodus, and the 
 gigantic Siwalik cat.
 
 FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. 137 
 
 Returning to the India of the present day, the travellers 
 bethink them of their great desire to see something of the 
 home-life of the native gentlefolk of Calcutta. Accordingly 
 the sisters appeal to a kind friend who is working, in con- 
 nection with the Zenana Society, among the Muhammadan 
 ladies, and in her company pay a round of calls. The last 
 house they enter is by far the most magnifical, a large and 
 costly mansion of such dreary and sordid grandeur as is 
 depressing only to think of. They are received by the 
 eldest son of the house, an intelligent youth of about seven- 
 teen, who is on the eve of departure for England, where he 
 is to finish his education. His three little brothers, who 
 wear sparkling caps of Indian embroidery, entertain the 
 visitors while he goes to tell his mother of their arrival. To 
 reach the zenana the travellers have to ascend a staircase 
 and thread their way through some very dusty passages ; 
 but they finally emerge into the presence of the lady of 
 the house, a handsome woman much adorned with jewels. 
 Near her sits her sister, whose robes of fine white muslin, 
 and the fact that she wears no ornaments, show her to be 
 a widow. There are other lady relatives who have come 
 to bid the son farewell, and the room presents a richly 
 coloured picture of dusky faces and beautiful native dresses. 
 The visitors are courteously welcomed, are presented with 
 Indian scent, and are further entertained with the some- 
 what childish and personal conversation wherein Muham- 
 madan ladies delight. The missionary lady acts as inter- 
 preter, and, thanks to her, the visit is a pleasant and inter- 
 esting experience. 
 
 The travellers, who have come to India with a pardonable 
 desire to learn something of the Indians, are not a little 
 astonished and amused at the vulgar contempt for all things
 
 138 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 native which they meet with now and then in the European 
 society of Calcutta. " You have no idea," says some one in 
 the garb of a gentleman to one of our friends at a dinner- 
 party "you have no idea of the scorn and derision with 
 which we look on the natives. To treat them like human 
 beings is out of the question, they are far too detestable for 
 anything of that kind ! " 
 
 It is a change from this kind of talk to visit the Oxford 
 Mission - house, whither our travellers repair one Sunday 
 evening to hear an English lecture given in the hall thereof 
 for the benefit of educated Hindus. Here is no suspicion 
 of contempt on the one hand, or of anything like sentimental 
 weakness on the other ; but the gentle directness, the stern 
 simplicity of those who speak the truth in love. The Mis- 
 sionaries are all honours men from Oxford, and their chief 
 work is among the most highly educated of the Natives. 
 Of these, when our travellers arrive, a large audience of 
 men has already assembled, and throughout the lecture 
 they listen with the greatest attention. This is one of a 
 course of Sunday evening lectures, and its subject is " Life 
 as a School." Nothing could be more scholarly than the 
 quiet, lucid development of the argument; and the merest 
 outsider can appreciate the wisdom whereby the method of 
 exposition is adapted with wonderful tact to the subtle, 
 metaphysical mind of the educated Bengali. Beginning 
 with the burning question of political freedom, and arguing 
 that it is useless until moral freedom has been first obtained, 
 the Lecturer likens the training of life to that of a school. 
 The first lesson to be learned therein is the recognition of 
 individual responsibility to God, and the teacher is Con- 
 science. Then follows a masterly piece of psychological 
 analysis, wherein is vindicated the authority of Conscience
 
 FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. 139 
 
 as a primary and ultimate faculty which makes uncondi- 
 tional claim to rule all other powers of the soul. Strenu- 
 ously is combated the doctrine of fatalism as making moral 
 freedom impossible, and the tendency of the caste system 
 to destroy the sense of personal responsibility is gently 
 and fearlessly touched upon. Much more there is of well- 
 reasoned Christian philosophy, and the lecture ends on 
 this wise: 
 
 " Do not think that we Christian missionaries have come 
 to make you Christians. No ; but we come to arouse your 
 consciences that they may bring you to Christ. If any num- 
 ber of you were to become Christians from interested motives, 
 that would be no happiness to us or to our Master. That 
 you may be true Christians some day I pray and long ; but 
 above all I long now that you may be true men, true to 
 the light that is in you, the light of Conscience, the Light 
 that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." 
 
 The lecture is followed by a short Service, the few Native 
 Christians present coming forward to join in it, and many of 
 the others staying in their places to listen. Then the trav- 
 ellers are invited to see the rest of the Mission-house, and. 
 they forthwith seize the opportunity to ask all the trouble- 
 some questions they can think of. The Mission, it seems, 
 was founded in 1880, its chief object being to work among 
 the educated Natives. Its Superior is the Eev. H. White- 
 head, M.A. (of S.P.G.), who, like this evening's lecturer, is a 
 late scholar of Trinity College, Oxford. Five other Priests 
 (all Oxford M.A.'s) are working under him, and there are 
 three " lay brothers " as well. Every day after 3 P.M. some 
 of the Missionaries are at home to receive inquirers ; and 
 many are the educated Hindus who present themselves, 
 some of them real seekers after truth, others coming, in the
 
 140 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 first instance, rather with the purpose of showing off their 
 fine English and their subtle powers of argument, and only 
 gradually to be won from the display of captious dialectic to 
 the exercise of earnest inquiry. 
 
 Besides this, there is plenty of educational work ; for not 
 only is there in connection with the Mission a boarding- 
 school for Native Christian boys, but the Superior has now 
 undertaken, at the request of S.P.G., the direction of Bishop's 
 College, which, affiliated to the Calcutta University, and giv- 
 ing a sound general collegiate education, has for its special 
 object that indispensable part of all sound Missionary effort, 
 the training of Native Clergy, Catechists, Schoolmasters, and 
 Readers. This institution, with the schools attached to it, 
 contains 147 Native Christians, and the work it is doing is 
 most useful and important. It has twenty -one scholarships 
 for maintaining theological students who are preparing for 
 work in the Mission-field. 
 
 Moreover the Oxford Missionaries are carrying on much 
 hopeful work among the dwellers in the melancholy Sunder- 
 bans, those unwholesome marshes about the mouth of the 
 Hugli, where for half the year all the country is flooded, 
 so that one goes from village to village in a rudimentary 
 boat that is the hollowed trunk of a tree, while the tropical 
 sun pours down his merciless and stifling heat. Missionaries 
 have to go everywhere, but theirs are the only white faces 
 that haunt those dismal regions ; yet the Christians in the 
 " Tollygunge and Sunderbans" district are 3455, and the 
 number of catechumens is 1484. Twenty - five mission 
 schools have been established, and their scholars already 
 number more than 700. 
 
 As for the rest of the Church-work in Calcutta, it is, in 
 spite of all difficulties and anxieties, living and prospering.
 
 FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. 141 
 
 The educational part of it is specially vigorous, and the 
 schools are too many to mention. 
 
 During their stay in Calcutta the travellers endeavour 
 to gain some general idea of Anglican Church - work in 
 Bengal, studying especially the doings of the Society for 
 the Propagation of the Gospel. Whereupon they become 
 aware that in Bengal (including Chota Nagpur) the Society 
 is now l at work in 632 native villages, and has established 
 85 mission schools wherein are being educated 2468 pupils. 
 The two Bishops have working under them, in connection 
 with the Society, 32 Clergy (of whom 20 are Natives) and 
 198 lay agents. The Society has now in connection with 
 its Missions in this part of India 17,457 Christians, of whom. 
 8243 are Communicants. 
 
 But our friends have not long time to spend on such 
 cheerful objects of study; soon they are plunging back 
 again into the murky atmosphere of heathenism, and devot- 
 ing a morning to a visit to one of the burning ghats by 
 the Eiver, where the Hindus burn their dead, a place of 
 fear and mourning, where, as saith the ancient scripture, 
 " the colour of the smoke - trails from the funeral piles 
 spreadeth gloom over the regions of the sky, and where 
 the night-roaming demons are joyful through the delight 
 of tasting carrion." 2 Truly a forcible similitude is that 
 of the precept of old which saith, " A man destitute of 
 truth should be avoided even as a burning ground ! " 
 
 To this particular burning ground are brought, on an 
 average, twenty - four bodies a - day. When the visitors 
 arrive no funerals are in progress, but the wood-fires are 
 burning in readiness. Presently a man appears carrying 
 the bodies of two little children wrapped up in a bundle. 
 
 1 1892. 2 Markandeya Purdua. Pargiter.
 
 142 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 It seems that in the case of such young children no kind 
 of funeral ceremony is used. The man who brings the bodies 
 is only a servant, and he proceeds to throw them on to 
 one of the fires as though they were a couple of logs. The 
 travellers' thoughts wander away to the poor mother, not 
 allowed to come to the burning ghat, but sitting at home 
 with the consolation of believing her little ones to be safe 
 in the clutches of Yama, the Lord of Death, who sitteth 
 enthroned "surrounded by hundreds of deformed, horrible, 
 and crooked diseases, his mouth gaping with projecting 
 teeth, his countenance dreadful with frowns." 
 
 But this shall not be our last impression of Calcutta! 
 Let us rather accompany our friends the travellers to the 
 beautiful gardens which stretch along the right bank of 
 the Eiver a little below the city. To call them (as they 
 do) the Botanical Gardens is absurdly incongruous. It is 
 painful and ridiculous to be obliged to refer to such an 
 enchanted region of verdant delights by so hopelessly prosaic 
 an appellation. These gardens are like that lovely place 
 that Tareke found of old, "a pleasant and beautiful spot 
 in the wood Madhu, adorned with verdure and blossoms." l 
 They are like that sacred grove which Eama once beheld, 
 "fascinating beyond compare," wherein he "listened to the 
 copious, pleasure-inspiring, love-soft, beautiful, ear-delighting, 
 melodious songs poured forth from the mouth of the birds, 
 and saw the trees there loaded with the weight of the fruit, 
 and bright with the blossoms of every season mango-trees 
 and hog-plums and pomegranates ; jujubes and almond-trees ; 
 citrons, jak-trees, and plantains; Palmira palms and cocoa- 
 nuts, and delightsome bignonia-trees in blossom; with lakes, 
 beautiful and placid, crowded on all sides with the lotus." 
 
 1 Sheeve Pouran. Halhed.
 
 FROM MADRAS TO CALCUTTA. 143 
 
 "Wandering at random, the travellers find themselves 
 entering at length the deep forest-shade of that far-famed 
 banyan-tree, the largest they have ever seen, or ever will see. 
 Its vast corona covers an acre of ground, the central trunk 
 has a girth of 51 feet, and nearly 200 lesser stems support 
 the mighty branches with their continuous roof of luxuriant 
 foliage. The tree is only one hundred years old; but it 
 seems by a metaphoric yet vital symbolism to reflect some 
 age-long growth. As one wanders on into the green depths 
 of shadow, there comes over the mind a sense of some 
 living fund of energy, ever spreading farther from its 
 birthplace, yet finding everywhere a new birthplace for 
 itself, everywhere a home and rest ; ever drawing fresh 
 supplies from ever more distant sources ; with many roots 
 in many places, yet never losing in the multitude of off- 
 shoots the essential unity of its central life. One thinks 
 of a Vine one has heard of, stretching out her branches 
 eastward to the far-off River, and westward to the bound- 
 less sea 
 
 " Sebaste," says Philippa suddenly, " who is it ' whose 
 eyes are in the ends of the earth ' ? " 
 
 " Ah, well, it does not so much matter about the outside 
 eyes. It is the eyes of the mind, Philippa ! " 
 
 " And where, pray, were the eyes of your mind a moment 
 ago?" 
 
 " They were far beyond the ends of the earth, at all events. 
 They were in the world of symbolic truth, Philippa." 
 
 " Indeed ! And what symbolic truth does the banyan- 
 tree elucidate ? " 
 
 "For one thing, methinks it sets forth the true spirit 
 of travel ; not that dissipated cosmopolitanism which seems 
 to leave part of the mind in every place it visits until there
 
 144 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 is nothing left but a mindless gulf filled only with a col- 
 lection of multitudinous impressions, but the spirit that 
 takes all impressions into its own unity, and that has the 
 patience to stay in each place long enough to pierce through 
 the varying outer crust and get down to that substratum of 
 vital truth which underlies all the multitude of superficial 
 appearances ! " 
 
 "What a nice long sermon, Sebaste! You should have 
 preached it to the American gentleman who sat next to me 
 at dinner last night. He had arrived the day before, and 
 was leaving by last night's train. He had seen, he said, ' all 
 that was necessary.' I did not ask him what he thought of 
 the Oxford Mission ; I knew that he had never even heard 
 of it. It makes me quite restless only to think of him ! 
 Father dear, we have been half an hour under the banyan- 
 tree ! Don't you think we have seen ' all that is necessary ' 
 by this time ? " 
 
 Whereupon our friends move away to seek out a wonder- 
 ful collection of orchids, an assemblage of exquisite blooms 
 many of which seem to subsist on nothing but air, and well 
 they may, for assuredly they are far too ethereally delicate 
 for any more earthly food. 
 
 Then the travellers wander back toward the entrance 
 through vistas and groves of palm-trees ; and as they go 
 they talk with eager hope of Darjiling and the Himalaya.
 
 145 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DARJILING. 
 
 IN a hot and glowing afternoon the travellers set forth on 
 the northward journey to Darjiling perched high among 
 Himalayan snow-peaks 367 miles away. For a while, as the 
 train speeds onward, the smooth, green plains of Bengal 
 glide past, with lovely groups of trees and palm -thatched 
 native cottages lit up by the mellow radiance of the softly 
 westering sun; but too soon the swift darkness blots all 
 things from view, and the travellers have nothing but stars 
 to look at until, about 8 P.M., they arrive at Damukdiya on 
 the southern bank of the Ganges. 
 
 The Eiver here is nearly three miles broad, and the cur- 
 rent is so strong that the steamer must make a considerable 
 dttour up-stream, which takes time. Wherefore the wan- 
 derers hope that this, their first introduction to the main 
 stream of holy Ganges, will be no hurried meeting, but a 
 peaceful gliding over calm and starlit waters, with time for 
 much exalted musing, for the telling of Ganga's ancient 
 legends, and for recalling the dreams of Indian poets in days 
 of old. Is not this the Eiver in whose pure waters the seven 
 Sages " practise the exercises of austerity," l wreathing their 
 
 1 Vishnu Purana. Wilson. 
 K
 
 146 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 braided locks with her swiftly flowing streams? Nay, are 
 there not some who tell how this sacred Eiver, "heard of, 
 desired, seen, touched, bathed in or hyinned day by day, 
 sanctifies all things," so that " those who, even at a distance 
 of a hundred leagues, exclaim 'Ganga! Ganga !' atone for 
 the sins committed during three previous lives;" and how 
 from the mountain Meru she takes her divided way, flowing 
 forth to the four quarters of the earth to accomplish its 
 purification ? 
 
 With expectant minds filled with such dreamy fragments 
 of legendary lore, the travellers leave their train and hasten 
 on board the boat. To find that it is a steamer is of 
 itself a shock to the poetic mind ; but, as if this were not 
 mortifying enough, the deck has been roofed over and 
 screened round with ridiculous, impertinent, idiotic awnings 
 through which not one ray of starlight can penetrate. The 
 apartment thus formed is artificially illuminated, and in the 
 middle of it is a dinner-table. It is pitiful, but true, that 
 round this last odious object the travellers are obliged to 
 dispose themselves, and (chained to their seats by courtesy to 
 the other passengers) to remain in that humiliating position 
 during the whole of the transit, while course succeeds to 
 course in an unfeeling and despicable manner until the Sara 
 Ghat, the northern landing-place, is reached. Whereupon 
 our friends must hurry to the train that awaits them, bestow 
 themselves on shelves therein, and go rattling and bumping 
 away through the plains of Upper Bengal. 
 
 But if the night is dark and noisy, the morning brings 
 dewy freshness and a glory of golden light. Gladly awak- 
 ing from uneasy slumbers, our friends alight at Siliguri for 
 rest and chota hazri. Then, wandering forth, they find 
 themselves in the very presence of the mighty heights of
 
 DARJILING. 147 
 
 Himalaya. Around still lie the rich, green plains, the 
 smooth, low -lying level broken only by luxuriant groups 
 of tufted vegetation; but rising abruptly from that sea of 
 verdure, towering far overhead in stupendous masses and 
 peaks, yet clothed to the very summits with dense tangles 
 of jungle-forest, the great outer spurs of the range rise far 
 above and beyond the flight of puny words. Yet these lesser 
 giants do but nestle at the feet of Kinchinjanga's shining 
 heights, whose vast snow-fields lie far, far above in the heart 
 of the clear blue sky. Though our friends may now almost 
 be compared with Nared, that ancient worthy who "tra- 
 versed " of old " with the foot of curiosity the surface of all 
 the earth " ; l yet in all their wanderings they have never 
 seen the like. To stand on a flat, unbroken plain but 300 
 feet above the level of the sea, and thence to lift up one's 
 eyes to a great mountain-summit whose snow-fields are 
 shining in the morning sunlight at a height of more than 
 28,000 feet, is not a frequent incident of life, or one to be 
 lightly forgotten. 
 
 One is astonished no longer at the wildness of those ancient 
 legends that cluster round the mighty Himalaya "Hima- 
 chal," as they called him of old. Benign and amiable he 
 always was, but never seemed his countenance so kindly or so 
 venerable as on that festal day long, long ago when Parvati, 
 his lovely daughter, was wedded to Siva the three-eyed lord, 
 the "compilation of all perfections." Then did the great 
 Himachal, " exerting himself in preparations for the mar- 
 riage," "arrange himself with all the other mountains and 
 their wives and children, arrayed in chains and fine gar- 
 ments, to wait upon Siva " the bridegroom. And when Siva, 
 with all the multitude of his lordly train, was yet at a 
 
 1 From Halhed's 'Sheeve Pouran.'
 
 148 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 distance, "the mountain Gendemadher 1 was despatched to 
 meet him, and Himachal himself sat still awaiting his 
 arrival ; " but " when the procession came nigh at hand, then 
 Himachal hastened forward to meet" the bridegroom, and 
 affectionately " took him in his arms." Siva had need to be 
 a god, I fancy, to survive that giant embrace. 
 
 Eager to ascend into the piled-up heights that rise before 
 and above them, the travellers set forth on their further 
 journey by the so-called Himalayan railway, which should 
 rather be called a steam tramway, were it not that both 
 words are far too miserably commonplace to be used in con- 
 nection with so exciting and so romantic a mode of travelling. 
 The rails are laid, on a 2-foot gauge, along the side of the 
 wonderful mountain-road, said to be one of the finest in 
 the world, which was made at the cost of 6000 per mile. 
 Seated in an open car, protected from the sun, but with 
 nothing to interrupt the glorious views, the travellers hurry 
 along toward the mighty wall of the mountains, speeding 
 through the verdant plain of the Tarai, where the morning 
 sunshine lights up the strange landscape so that it is a won- 
 der to see. Here and there, springing high into the air like 
 forest-trees, spreading abroad gigantic, fern-like fronds, the 
 exquisite lines of their curving culms half hidden in the 
 depths of feathery foliage, rise the luxuriant clumps of bam- 
 boo, while often the eye is startled by I know not what 
 gorgeous trees all ablaze with crowded blossoms of vivid 
 orange and crimson. 
 
 At first the rich soil is partially cultivated ; but soon all 
 signs of human life are gone, and the travellers find them- 
 selves entering on that wild tract of marshy jungle which lies 
 at the very foot of the stupendous mountain-chain. High 
 
 1 This is Mr Halhed's spelling, for which I ain not responsible.
 
 DARJILTNG. 149 
 
 overhead wave the giant grasses, and all around is a marvellous 
 tangle of rankly luxuriant growth. It is a rude and uncouth 
 region, where tigers and elephants live, and the rhinoceros 
 roams at large, such a region as the wise Narada sought of 
 old, " an impenetrable wilderness full of reeds and bamboos 
 and canes, of tufts of grasses and plants with hollow stems, 
 a wilderness that was very great, terrible, and fearful, wherein 
 serpents dwelt and jackals, and frogs and owls." l Therein 
 did Narada the wise sit him down beneath a pipal-tree, and 
 " attaining to the summit of inaction, became drowned in the 
 flood of blessedness." But what happened to him after that, 
 if any desire to know, let him read thereof in that venerable 
 poem, the ' Bhagavata,' " which fell to earth from the lips of 
 Suka, even as it had been a fruit falling from the productive 
 tree of the Law, a fruit whereof the juice is none other than 
 Amrita " the elixir of life. As for me, I must hurry away 
 after those troublesome travellers of mine, who are now 
 plunging deep into the shadows of the primeval forest that 
 wraps in sombre stillness the steepest mountain-slopes. 
 
 Fostered by the great heat and by the heavy rains of 
 these eastern regions of the Himalaya, the jungle -growth 
 of the forests is a wild profusion of exuberant vegetation, 
 a mighty tangle of verdant life, such as overwhelms the 
 dullest mind with an ever-rising, irresistible tide of wonder 
 and exultation. Stately tree-ferns and wild bananas mingle 
 in the undergrowth's mazy pomp; high into the golden 
 sunlight rise the thronging forest-trees, their stems clothed 
 with the dense mosses, the orchids, and other parasite plants 
 that love this humid atmosphere ; the relentless scandent 
 trees grapple with the forest giants, and rear themselves 
 
 1 From ' Le BMgavata Purana,' . . . tracluit . . . par M. Eugene 
 Burnouf.
 
 150 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 up beside them, and seize them with relentless grasp, and 
 slowly strangle the very life that seemed so strong; while, 
 most wonderful of all, the mighty creepers twine themselves 
 in folds of living verdure about the larger trunks, and mount 
 upward to the topmost branches, wrapping them deep in 
 cloudlike shadow, and descending thence in bright cascades 
 of rich and lovely blossoms. 
 
 Beautiful and delightful are the fair gardens of the earth, 
 wherein each stately plant stands free with space and air 
 and sunshine enough for full and harmonious development ; 
 lovely is the order of art, wherein all things are distinct and 
 definite, with no secret mazes of intricate perplexity nor 
 ever a shadow of deepening mystery. We love those peace- 
 ful parks wherein none can lose his way, the graceful group- 
 ings of chosen trees, and the smoothness of tended lawns; 
 but oh ! who cares to think of them in the midst of primeval 
 forests ? Who would not rather choose to plunge into these 
 abysses of solemn shade, and lose himself in the dim world 
 of the boundless jungle, where from tree to tree, from thicket 
 to thicket, the giant trailing plants fling ever their tangled 
 wreaths; where all things are twined and massed together 
 into a profound, inextricable unity ; where all the multi- 
 tudinous growth seems stirring from its inmost depths with 
 the wildness of buoyant and undivided life ? We love the 
 fair poems of the world, the thought-gardens that men have 
 planted, with all their grave and ordered groupings of 
 perfected and harmonious forms ; but oh ! how different a 
 poem must be from the forest of the poet's mind ! Carefully 
 and with loving zeal doth he labour, bringing out choice 
 plants to set them each by itself where it may most per- 
 fectly develop on all sides, and where it may best be seen ; 
 but methinks, when his work is done, he will not linger long,
 
 DARJILING. 151 
 
 but flinging wide the gate for the public to enter, will gladly 
 turn him back again to wander away and away into the 
 lonely depths of that pathless forest whither we may not 
 follow. 
 
 " Yes, I like that ! " exclaims Philippa. " It reminds me 
 somehow of one of those old Indian similitudes that you are 
 so fond of quoting, Sebaste : ' Even as a path overgrown with 
 weeds, such is the speech of the ignorant, which conveys no 
 certain meaning.' " 
 
 " My dears," says Irene hurriedly, " do, pray, observe how 
 quickly we are mounting. In every seven miles we rise 
 more than 1000 feet." 
 
 "The making of this railway is one of the greatest en- 
 gineering feats ever achieved," says Philippa didactically. 
 " Sebaste, you should observe what extraordinary curves we 
 describe. They think nothing at all here of curves with a 
 radius of only 70 feet. Of course the wheels are constructed 
 on the bogie system, and turn under the carriages." 
 
 "Yes, Philippa," says Sebaste submissively, "it is very 
 interesting and improving. Here we are at a reversing 
 station. Will you expound it, please ? " 
 
 " It is a device," answers Philippa, " for rising to a higher 
 level where the slope is so steep as to make a curve im- 
 possible. The engine pulls and pushes alternately, and the 
 train describes a figure like the letter Z, the only difference 
 being " 
 
 " Philippa, look at the view ! " 
 
 Indeed no one can help looking at it. The travellers 
 have now reached a height whence they are able to look 
 abroad over the mighty billows of the heaving jungle-sea, 
 away to the dim expanse of the boundless plains lying far 
 below, and already shrouded in delicate haze through which
 
 152 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 gleams like silver the Mahanadi's winding stream. Every 
 moment the view grows broader and grander and more over- 
 whelmingly wonderful. In an ever-increasing multitude the 
 great mountains assemble, gathering themselves together in 
 lordly companies, towering to greater and yet greater height 
 as their stupendous slopes are less foreshortened ; while 
 slowly the vast plains sink down, and vanish out of sight. 
 
 Already the heat of the lowlands has given place to the 
 freshness of mountain air when the travellers arrive at 
 Karseong, a Himalayan village perched, above a deep valley, 
 in close conjunction with a tea -plantation. But still our 
 friends have ascended only a very little way the lower skirts 
 of the mountains. Here they are only 466 feet higher than 
 the summit of Ben Nevis, and very low down in the world 
 they feel themselves to be as they gaze up to the snowy 
 peaks still so far away. "Withdrawing thence their eyes to 
 fix them on nearer things, they are struck by the altered 
 looks of the Natives. The type of countenance is now un- 
 mistakably Mongolian, a wonderful change from the solemn 
 faces of the plains. So many are the hill-tribes which haunt 
 these heights of British Sikim that our friends are fairly 
 bewildered. Most numerous, perhaps, are the Bhuteas. 
 
 " One might suppose from their name," remarks Philippa, 
 " that they all came from Bhutan ; but the natives of Bhutan 
 are called Bhatanese, a distinction that must be carefully 
 borne in mind." 
 
 " Well, Philippa, where do they come from, then ? " 
 
 " Some of them come from Bhutan, but many also from 
 Tibet, and some live here in Sikim. If you were to give a 
 little more time to study, Sebaste, you would not need to 
 be a walking question-mark." 
 
 The Bhutea men wear their hair in long pigtails; and their
 
 DARJILING. 153 
 
 flat faces, cocked eyebrows, and oblique, slit -like eyes are 
 further reminders that China is not far off. Their turned-up 
 caps, moreover, have an unmistakably Chinese air, and so 
 have their thick-soled shoes conjoined with leggings, which 
 last are a delectable patchwork of green and scarlet and 
 blue. The rest of their attire is a full blouse-like garment 
 gathered in at the waist with a hidden girdle, and reaching 
 as far as the knee. 
 
 As for the women, they are wild -looking indeed, but 
 undoubtedly picturesque. Their faces would often be very 
 handsome were it not for the thick, red -brown pigment 
 wherewith they relentlessly adorn them. It may be a pro- 
 tection from the cold ; but on the whole I incline rather to 
 regard the custom as a necessary concession to fashion ; for 
 these rude people of the mountains are in some things almost 
 as barbarous as certain less distant tribes. 
 
 Some of their fashions, however, are in excellent taste, 
 notably the way in which the women dispose their plentiful, 
 silky, black hair. It is parted in the middle, and in some 
 cases flows loose over the shoulders, but more often is braided 
 in two long plaits, while round the head is sometimes worn a 
 beautiful silver coronet. They all carry their savings about 
 with them in the shape of ornaments ; and the most sordid 
 of threadbare robes is always relieved by some delicate piece 
 of Tibetan silver-work adorned with rare chasing and with 
 turquoises set therein. The large pendent earrings are 
 specially admirable, and so are the beautiful little silver 
 cases wherein charms are carried. The charms are various, 
 sometimes being the nail-parings of some one of the " Lamas," 
 as the Buddhist priests call themselves in Sikim and Tibet. 
 
 Very noticeable are the strength and activity of the Bhutea 
 womankind. It is said that one Bhutea lady once carried
 
 154 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 up on her back, from the plains to Darjiling, an English 
 visitor's grand piano. Our travellers, during their stay at 
 Darjiling, will not have an opportunity of seeing the instru- 
 ment ; but that is no argument for its non-existence ; and in 
 any case, as an American gentleman once remarked, " It is a 
 great mistake to spoil a good story merely for want of facts." 
 
 Soon the travellers are again speeding on their way, still 
 struggling upward with ever greater depths beneath them of 
 precipice-guarded valley. Only by looking downward can 
 they in any wise realise the heights to which they attain. 
 All around still flourish the teeming masses of the im- 
 memorial forest. Where in northern countries begin the 
 regions of perpetual snow, still the giant peaks and ridges 
 are overflowed and overwhelmed by that troubled ocean of 
 fathomless jungle - growth ; still the unfamiliar trees deck 
 themselves out in faery vesture of mosses and blossoming 
 creepers ; still far above and beyond are the colder tracts of 
 scanty vegetation which border the dazzling snows. 
 
 The whole ascent to Darjiling takes about seven hours ; 
 and the afternoon is wearing away when the travellers arrive 
 at Ghoom, a quaint little native village set on a ridge 7372 
 feet high. Curiously the people assemble to gaze on the 
 white-faced visitors. A wonderful group they make, those 
 shaggy mountaineers ; but most wonderful of them all is an 
 aged Bhutea lady the most striking old lady our travellers 
 have ever seen. Her wild locks are tangled and knotted so 
 as to be a marvel to see, and she weareth a multitude of 
 charms and other mysterious things of curious and magical 
 appearance. She is known as the Witch of Ghoom, and 
 is assuredly most uncanny. She is specially polite to our 
 travellers, and entertains them with much discourse which 
 it is a pity they cannot understand.
 
 DARJILING. 155 
 
 Thence the journey continues for four miles more to the 
 scarcely less exalted Darjiling, a cheerful collection of scat- 
 tered houses with an English church presiding, all brightly 
 lit up by the pleasant afternoon sunshine. No sooner have 
 our friends arrived than they are pounced upon by pig-tailed 
 coolies, assisted each into a rickshaw, and pulled up the 
 narrow footpaths that lead to their novel abode. A de- 
 lightful lodging-place they find it, in the court whereof are 
 displayed for sale a collection of leopard-skins, little stuffed 
 bears, and other hunters' spoils from the neighbourhood. 
 After sunset these curiosities vanish, and in their place comes 
 a company of live jackals, who yelp and whine and wail the 
 long night through. Our travellers feel much flattered at 
 being thus assiduously serenaded. 
 
 More strange and bright are the days spent in Darjiling 
 than days that children dream of. To live for even a little 
 while so far above the ordinary world, is a delight to be long 
 remembered. The view from Darjiling of the Kinchinjanga 
 range is perhaps the grandest on earth, and never will our 
 travellers forget the sight to which they awake on the morn- 
 ing after their arrival. All transfigured by the morning 
 light, the mighty, forest-clad mountains tower up from the 
 depths range beyond range, till the last gigantic ridge seems 
 to stand out against a background of soft and hazy sky. But 
 yet above and beyond, far, far removed from earth, shine 
 forth from the midst of the sunlit heavens the radiant snow- 
 clad heights. They are forty-five miles away, yet, though 
 viewed from a height of 7200 feet, they seem to tower over- 
 head and to dominate all the world. Floating on shadowy 
 haze, islanded in the blue depths of the cloudless northern 
 sky, and reflecting from vast fields of snow the glowing sun- 
 rise light, they belong not at all to this dim world of ours.
 
 156 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Exalted and pure and perfect as some momentary cloudland 
 glory, yet are they steadfast and strong as the very ground 
 beneath our feet, like some dream of ideal longing realised 
 beyond all hope, found true and unchangeable for ever. 
 
 But the delightful expeditions which the travellers achieve, 
 how shall we ever relate them as brightly and merrily as 
 they deserve ? On these precipitous mountain-ridges is no 
 room for roads or carriages, and the paths are narrow and 
 winding. Walking would be pleasant enough, but the air 
 is at first difficult to breathe, being so rare that one cannot 
 obtain enough oxygen without such rapid respiration as, in 
 violent exercise, becomes panting pure and simple. Where- 
 fore our friends have recourse to some amiable Tibetan 
 horses, sprightly little creatures who are always ready to 
 be off, and who, being well accustomed to mountaineering, 
 trot gaily along the edges of the precipices with never a 
 start or a stumble. 
 
 To rise before the sun, and, mounting one of these willing 
 steeds, to fare forth and away in the first flush of the day- 
 break among Himalayan heights and depths, such joys 
 what pen can describe ? The mountain-air is pure and keen, 
 the mountain -path winds onward through forests of mag- 
 nolias and rhododendrons and Himalayan oak-trees, where 
 he dews lie thick on the trailing plants and the delicate 
 ferns and mosses. Far overhead the changeless snow-peaks 
 shine, and beneath one's feet lie the dim abysses of the vast 
 and yawning valleys. From 5000 to 6000 feet deep they 
 are said to be, and the eye is scarcely able to fathom their 
 awful and mysterious depths. There are many valleys in 
 the Himalaya great dislocations of the earth's crust into 
 any one of which, as saith a great authority of scientific and 
 sober mind, the whole of the Alps might be cast " without
 
 DAKJILING. 157 
 
 producing any result that would be discernible at a distance of 
 ten or fifteen miles." Well doth that same authority lament 
 that for these great things we have only little words to use, 
 and that in writing of Himalayan mountains we must needs, 
 even as though our subject were the little giants of Europe, 
 talk only of peak and valley, of range and spur and ridge ! 
 
 But if mere dimensions even are too much for words to 
 express, far less can be told how the immensity of Darjiling 
 scenery affects our travellers' minds. Humiliating (is it 
 not ?) that so merely relative a thing as size must assuredly 
 be should so deeply stir our feelings, that what would seem 
 to be in itself nothing in the world should overwhelm our 
 very souls, so that, as the eye springs up to the radiant 
 heights or plunges down and away to the shadowy depths 
 beneath, the mind is perturbed with wondering awe and 
 a struggling, exultant joy. But then are not all our im- 
 pressions in some sense relative ? The beauty we see in 
 a landscape, is it of its stocks and stones ? Is there any 
 such phenomenon as what we call light except there be 
 an eye to see it ? The beauty of a poem, is it in the printed 
 page ? Nay, surely not, but rather in the author's thought, 
 and (by means of the material medium) in the mind of him 
 who reads it. How humiliating that paper and lines of 
 ink should affect our hearts so strongly ! Nay, rather how 
 convincing a proof that there is a mind behind them. Only 
 let us not think that the cosmic writing is made up of such 
 mean and lifeless symbols as these conventional alphabets of 
 ours, symbols that have no essential or vital connection with 
 that which they mechanically symbolise ! 
 
 " Sebaste, take care ! You will be down the precipice ! 
 Your pony will always walk with one foot over the edge." 
 
 " Philippa, I can't help my pony ! He is far more to
 
 158 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 my mind than the majority of human beings, who go jogging 
 along in the ready-made paths and keep always to the 
 middle of the way." 
 
 " My dear," says Irene gently, " try to tell us calmly what 
 you object to in human beings." 
 
 " They are ungrateful, Irene, and irreverent and stupid ! 
 They will not recognise the vitality of the world or treat 
 it like a living thing. It is bad enough to look upon books 
 as we do to use them, as ancient temples have been used, 
 as mere quarries to hew our thoughts from, nor ever to 
 realise that there are human spirits behind them ; but surely 
 it is a thousand times worse so to treat Nature itself. It is 
 strange how men will criticise and pass judgment on beau- 
 tiful scenery, nor ever dream of the eternal Spirit behind 
 it, infinitely transcending all glorious self-expressions, yet 
 through them reaching out to our spirits that we may know 
 and love and worship " 
 
 " So that is your new and untrodden path, Sebaste ! " 
 exclaims Philippa. " If you were to read your Keble a 
 little more carefully, perhaps the originality of your ideas 
 would not strike you so forcibly. But that is the way with 
 this younger generation 
 
 " Why, Philippa, are you my grandmother, then ? " 
 
 " Don't interrupt me, my dear. I was about to point out 
 the persistency with which the young people of the present 
 day are accustomed to dress up old truths in the newest 
 possible fashions, and then to trot them out as their own 
 inventions, being led thereto by such a morbid fear of ortho- 
 doxy, such a weak desire to seem original, as passes my 
 understanding." 
 
 "My dears," says the Father, "the ascent of Senchal is 
 scarcely a fitting occasion for acrimonious discussions."
 
 DARJILING. 159 
 
 Indeed it is not. The travellers have reached the summit 
 at length, and, standing at a height of 8163 feet, look north- 
 ward and eastward over the massive ranges of Sikim and 
 Nipal, and upward toward the frozen snows of Everest's far- 
 off peak. Surely through all the day no mist or haze or 
 shadow may reach his shining crown ; yet between our 
 travellers' eyes and those ever-sunlit snow-fields a curtain 
 of cloud is drawn. Wistfully and long do they wait, if per- 
 chance they may catch one glimpse of that rounded summit 
 whereon no foot of man may ever tread, but the height 
 whereof man hath notwithstanding measured, pronouncing 
 the number of feet therein to be 29,002. But if Everest be 
 the highest peak in the world, he exceeds by only 846 feet 
 the majestic Kinchinjanga, who, being so much nearer to 
 British Sikim, is a far greater and grander feature in Mount 
 Senchal's panorama. Yet even as our travellers gaze, his 
 glorious heights have receded, and swiftly the mountain-haze 
 is rising and spreading abroad, blotting out all the varying 
 hues of the vast landscape with one uniform, transparent 
 tint, till the great mountain-ranges are all one sea of watery 
 blue, rolling in liquid masses toward the rock whereon the 
 travellers stand mighty waves, tossing up their crests to 
 heaven, as though they would overwhelm the solid land 
 and sweep the world aw r ay. 
 
 Wild fancies are apt to haunt the mind while it is still in 
 the strange commotion stirred up by the first amazing glimpse 
 of Himalayan scenery ; but let it not be thought that these 
 fanciful travellers of ours spend all their time in dreaming. 
 Exhorted by the inexorable Philippa, they repair to the 
 weekly market held in Darjiling (whereto the many hill- 
 tribes flock from many miles around), and there improve 
 their minds by ethnologic studies. There are pig - tailed
 
 160 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Lepchas and hardy Nipalese, and Limboes and Bhuteas 
 beside, and I know not how many more. It is impressive 
 to see a strong Bhutea woman come trudging down the 
 mountain - paths, carrying her market produce in a great 
 funnel-shaped basket which, resting on the back of its 
 bearer, is kept in position by a band of woven grass passed 
 across her forehead. And the jewellery they wear on market 
 days is astonishing to behold, great necklaces of gold, and 
 other delights too many for me to describe. 
 
 Here, too, our friends become familiar with the sight of 
 those Buddhist prayer-wheels which hitherto they have but 
 vaguely heard of. Now a prayer-wheel commonly consists 
 of a metal cylinder revolving at the end of a wooden handle. 
 Within is a roll of manuscript, and without is engraved a 
 mystic formula. As the cylinder revolves, the words, it 
 would seem, are by some mysterious centrifugal force pro- 
 jected into space, to the great advantage of all concerned. 
 Among the busy groups of marketers moves an aged Bhutea 
 lady, who, twirling her prayer- wheel over their grateful heads, 
 earns many an honest copper. Very convenient must be 
 this method of saying prayers by proxy, with never a 
 moment's interruption of pressing worldly business. 
 
 On another day our friends climb down the mountain to a 
 little Buddhist temple where they are politely received by 
 an affable red-robed Lama. A cheerful race are the Lamas, 
 much given to trumpeting on dead men's thigh-bones and 
 performing in musical wise on drums which are human 
 skulls. This particular gentleman has under his charge at 
 the temple many prayer-wheels of wood, some of them 8 or 
 10 feet high, with large and mysterious letters piously 
 painted thereon. Near each hangs a bell, and from the 
 wheel projects a stick which maketh the bell to ring at every
 
 DARJILING. 161 
 
 revolution. And each time the bell is struck the Lama 
 chants aloud, " Om Mani padme hum," which meaneth (so 
 the learned aver) ostensibly and literally, " Ah, the jewel is 
 in the lotus ! " but intrinsically and symbolically (though 
 one might not think it), "The self-creative force is in the 
 Kosmos." In Tibet (so our travellers are assured) such 
 wheels take the form of water-mills, and windmills also 
 there are for the meritorious grinding of prayers. 
 
 Hard by this same temple the travellers contemplate some 
 sacred trees of the law. Now a tree of the law is a staff of 
 bamboo whereunto is attached as a flag a length of cotton or 
 silk, and on the flag are inscribed those same magical words, 
 " Om Mani padme hum." One of our greatest authorities on 
 Buddhist lore thus sets forth the purpose of these very 
 curious erections : " Whenever," saith he, " the flags are 
 blown open by the wind, and 'the holy six syllables' are 
 turned towards heaven, it counts as if a prayer were uttered ; 
 a prayer which brings down blessings not only upon the 
 pious devotee at whose expense it was put up, but also upon 
 the whole country-side." * 
 
 At length comes the last day at Darjiling, and the last 
 expedition must be made. " We will go," say our travellers, 
 " to the top of Tiger Hill." 
 
 A hill it calls itself advisedly, for it is but 8514 feet high, 
 and the mountains hereabout are very different things. Early 
 our friends set forth, and merrily ride away through the 
 sparkling morning dews. Beaching Senchal, they pass him 
 by, and so press gladly on to the farther and higher point. 
 As they reach it, the snow-clad peaks to the northward are 
 still glowing in the early sunlight. 
 
 1 From ' Buddhism.' By T. W. Rhys Davids, M.A., Ph.D. (S.P.C.K.) 
 
 L
 
 162 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 I had meant to tell so many mountain-legends of India 
 among these stupendous heights ! " There is a fair and 
 stately mountain," saith one, 1 " and its name is Meru ; . . . 
 and it stands, piercing the heavens with its aspiring summit, 
 a mighty hill inaccessible even by the human mind ! " I 
 should have liked to tell that story. And Mandar, too, 
 the King of Mountains, and Vindyachel who of old was 
 despised, but who by devout observance attained to an excel- 
 lent height, so that the mountain Sumeiru might never more 
 
 boast himself against him But no, it may not be. In 
 
 these exalted regions the air is too pure and bright for the 
 heavy and sickly exhalations of old Hindu mythology ! I 
 dare not tell such vanities in face of those shining heights 
 so far away in distance and in unattainable glory, yet 
 towering so high overhead that they seem to have drawn 
 near in their radiant might as though with a spiritual 
 presence. 
 
 Well hath Plato told us how, in that ideal world above us, 
 whose sea is our misty air, whose air the glorious ether, 
 there are islands that lift themselves out of our grosser 
 atmosphere into transcendental light ! But even Plato's 
 stately cadences seem not majestic enough for the unim- 
 aginable heights, the solemn abysses, of Himalayan scenery. 
 Such grandeur no words can reach, unless it be those of that 
 ancient Psalm of ours : 
 
 " In His hand are the deep places of the earth ; 
 The strength of the hills is His also." 
 
 But already the mountain - slopes are overwhelmed in 
 billowy seas of cloud. For a little while the shining peaks 
 on high seem floating hither and thither above the heaving 
 
 1 Wilkins, ' Episode from the Mahabharata,' quoted by Poley.
 
 DARJILING. 163 
 
 surface, then slowly they sink and vanish, away from mortal 
 ken. 
 
 Next morning Darjiling itself is deeply wrapped in mist, 
 and sadly our friends set forth to journey back to Calcutta. 
 Through the day they descend, gliding and rushing and 
 plunging downward with a swiftness and an impetus that 
 are delightfully exhilarating. "It makes one feel," says 
 Sebaste sentimentally, "like one of the heavenly bodies." 
 Soon the clouds are left far above, and the sunshine glows 
 warmer and still more warm. Wraps are thrown off one by 
 one, until at last the hot, heavy air of the plains has closed 
 in overhead, and our travellers arrive at evening in beauti- 
 ful Siliguri. 
 
 All the night they travel southward over the plains, 
 reaching the Ganges' northern bank in that strange " interval 
 between day and night " wherein, as the ancient legends tell, 
 " the terrific fiends called Mandehas attempt to devour the 
 sun." Still the glittering stars fill the dome of the deep-blue 
 sky ; awnings and dinners are happily absent ; and, as the 
 travellers glide from the bank over the unruffled expanse of 
 water, they may star-gaze as much as they like, recalling the 
 strange astronomic lore wherewith Hindu scriptures abound, 
 how on Dhruva, the pivot of the atmosphere, the seven 
 great planets rest, and how all the celestial luminaries are 
 bound by aerial cords to the steadfast polar star. 
 
 But soon the stars grow dim, and red in the eastern sky 
 appears the sudden dawn. Above that rosy glow the cres- 
 cent moon is gliding, and our travellers must needs repeat 
 one more quaint Indian legend, how, when Ganga flowed 
 down from heaven, she encompassed the orb of the moon, 
 who, bathed by her holy stream, hath thence derived her 
 lustre.
 
 164 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Ever more brightly the sunrise glows, its glories clearly 
 mirrowed in the Eiver's glassy surface ; and before the 
 southern bank is reached, all the world is transfigured in 
 a flood of golden sunshine, a radiance of spiritual loveli- 
 ness which to behold, raethinks, might do the Materialists 
 good.
 
 165 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE CITY OF FLOWERS. 
 
 AFTER their return from Darjiling our romantic - minded 
 travellers tarry not many days in commonplace Calcutta. 
 Bihar, with its treasured memories of the Buddha, its ancient 
 sites and its venerable traditions, attracts with an irresistible 
 spell their eager and restless minds. So forth they fare at 
 evening, and begin their rapid journey to the capital of 
 ancient Magadha, the royal city of Pataliputra, which Alex- 
 ander's conquering generals called Palibothra, and which has 
 long since descended from its former glories into unpretend- 
 ing Patna. 
 
 With the Buddha and his teaching the city is intimately 
 associated, for this is that Pataligama where he tarried long 
 ago and taught in the village rest-house. In the Book of the 
 Great Decease 1 it is written how "when the Blessed One 
 had stayed as long as was convenient at Nalanda, he ad- 
 dressed the venerable Ananda and said, ' Come, Ananda, 
 let us go to Pataligama.' " And when Ananda had an- 
 swered, " So be it, Lord," " the Blessed One proceeded with a 
 great company of brethren to Pataligfima." And " the dis- 
 
 1 See 'Buddhist Suttas,' translated from Pali by T. W. Rhys Davids. 
 Sacred Books of the East.
 
 166 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 ciples at Pataligama " heard of his coming, and they prepared 
 for him the rest-house, setting up therein a water-pot, and 
 fixing a lamp of oil. And the Blessed One, when he had 
 washed his feet, " entered the hall, and took his seat against 
 the centre pillar with his face towards the east. And the 
 brethren also, after washing their feet, entered the hall, 
 and took their seats opposite the Blessed One against 
 the eastern wall, and facing towards the west. Then the 
 Blessed One addressed the Pataligama disciples," and pro- 
 nounced the discourse which tells of the fivefold loss of the 
 evil-doer, and the fivefold gain of him who doeth well. So 
 " when the Blessed One had thus taught the disciples, and 
 incited them and roused them, and gladdened them far into 
 the night with religious discourse, he dismissed them, say- 
 ing, ' The night is far spent, householders. It is time for 
 you to do what you deem most fit.' ' Even so, Lord ! ' an- 
 swered the disciples of Pataligama, and they rose from 
 their seats, and bowing to the Blessed One, and keeping 
 him on their right hand as they passed him, they departed 
 thence." At that time "the Blessed One, with his great 
 and clear vision, surpassing that of ordinary men, saw 
 thousands of fairies haunting Pataligama. And he rose 
 up very early in the morning, and said to Ananda, '. . . 
 Among famous places of residence and haunts of busy men, 
 this will become the chief, the city of Patali-putta, a centre 
 for the interchange of all kinds of wares.' " 
 
 All night, in an unpoetical railway train, the travellers 
 speed north-westward, and at early morning they arrive in 
 Patna's civil station, which calls itself Bankipur. Herein 
 they find but one interesting thing namely, the far-famed 
 Golah, the acoustic properties of which extraordinary build-
 
 THE CITY OF FLOWERS. 167 
 
 ing are probably more astonishing than those of any other 
 in the world. It is an enormous oval dome more than 90 
 feet high, and having at the base a circumference of 426 
 feet. It was built in 1783, and was intended for a granary; 
 but, as it remained empty of grain, many ghosts have chosen 
 to make thereof a permanent place of abode. The properties 
 of the building as a whispering-gallery are something magi- 
 cal and appalling; but it is in the centre of the circular 
 space, beneath the apex of the giant dome, that the spirits 
 do mostly congregate. To stand there in the dark (for the 
 Golah has no windows to light it) is a strange and awesome 
 experience. Every word, however softly uttered, is caught 
 up by a hundred phantom voices and repeated, here and 
 there and far away, by all the ghostly crowd. Each step 
 is followed close by thronging footfalls of an invisible mul- 
 titude, and if any one dare to be merry, the vast space 
 rings with a veritable tempest of unearthly and thunderous 
 laughter. One mocking ghost there is who follows the vis- 
 itor about, repeating over his shoulder every remark he 
 makes; and that one goblin voice it is which dictates to 
 all the others. 
 
 Emerging from the Golah's haunted gloom, the travellers 
 drive away to the city of Patna. After the sordid squalor 
 of Calcutta's make-believe native quarters, it is delightful 
 to be plunging again among the animated crowds and the 
 vivid colours of a genuine native town. Along the southern 
 bank of the Ganges it lies, stretching, with its suburbs, to 
 a length of no less than fourteen miles. Through the prin- 
 cipal street our travellers drive, gazing at the bright and 
 unfamiliar scene with a half-incredulous wonder. To-day 
 is a Hindu feast, and all the dark -faced inhabitants have 
 come forth in festal array, gladly mingling together on
 
 168 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 foot or scudding hither and thither perched by twos and 
 threes in swiftly moving ekJcas, those smallest and quaint- 
 est of two-wheeled native carriages, which only to look at 
 is refreshing. The houses, moreover, and especially the 
 picturesque "shops" of the bazaars, are gaily decorated 
 with bright-hued garlands, so that well may the town be 
 called, as of old, Pataliputra, the City of Flowers. 
 
 But presently, through all the glamour of the Present, the 
 Past begins to assert itself : for this is no mere modern city, 
 and beneath the light that plays on the surface is a depth of 
 bygone years. For a moment, as the travellers gaze, the 
 bright scene swims before their eyes, and, when they again 
 see clearly, all things are wonderfully transformed. Twenty- 
 two centuries have ebbed away, and present once more are 
 the vanished days of the ancient Maurya Dynasty. Gone 
 are the modern houses, and in their stead rise palaces and 
 temples such as befit a royal city. Curiously archaic in 
 form are the buildings, and, splendid though they be, they 
 are all and only of wood, for the days of building in stone 
 have scarcely begun in Magadha, or anywhere else in India. 
 Instead of the modern bazaars with their humble lines of 
 shops, rise antique storehouses full to overflowing with all 
 the riches of the East, whose owners are yonder wealthy 
 merchants treading the streets with jewelled turbans and 
 robes of precious stuffs. Nor is there now the rattling of 
 wheels, but high on the backs of elephants move through 
 the city in solemn state great nobles and mighty princes. 
 
 Truly a splendid race are these Maurya Kings of old. At 
 their head is seen the founder of the Dynasty, the powerful 
 Chandragupta, who from B.C. 325 reigned in Pataliputra over 
 a far-extending empire, and whom, after the example of the 
 ancient Greeks, we still call Sandracottus. But greater than
 
 THE CITY OF FLOWERS. 169 
 
 he, and emerging more clearly into the light of history, arises 
 his grandson, the " Sovereign of Elephants," the mighty Asoka, 
 beginning in 272 B.C. his long and prosperous reign. He it 
 was who exalted Buddhism to a place of honour, making the 
 land to " glitter " with the sheen of the Yellow Kobe ; and 
 about the year 250 he held in the city of Pataliputra the 
 third great Buddhist Council, and from that time Buddhism 
 prevailed in India for nearly one thousand years. The 
 legendary history of that great convocation, if any desire 
 to know, let him read it in " the fifth chapter of the Maha- 
 vansa, entitled ' The Third Convocation on Eeligion,' composed 
 alike to delight and afflict religious men." 1 
 
 In that sacred book of the Mahavansa are many strange 
 things told of Asoka, the Lord of Chariots. He it was who 
 " put to death one hundred brothers minus one," and there- 
 after reigned supreme over the land of Jambudipa. No 
 need was then in Pataliputra to snare game for the 
 royal household ; for the elk and the wild hog and winged 
 game also of their own accord resorted continually to the 
 kitchens of the King, and there expired on purpose. Asoka's 
 herdmen were tigers, and wild boars were his shepherd-dogs. 
 The mystic Nagas, those mighty serpent-princes, brought 
 from the naga wilderness medicinal drugs to the great King's 
 court, and fine clothes of seamless fabric, "of the colour 
 of the sumana flower." A great company of parrots also 
 waited on the King, bringing daily from the marshes of 
 Chaddanta 900,000 loads of the hill-padi that grows in those 
 regions. And when the padi was brought to the city, an 
 army of mice received it, and they husked it daintily 
 without breaking the grains, so that there was rice enough 
 
 1 See the ' Mahjtvansa,' translated by G. Tumour, C.C.S., and L. C. Wijes- 
 Snha Mudaliyar.
 
 170 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 and to spare for all the great King's household. Willingly 
 for him laboured honey-making bees; "singing birds of 
 delightful melody, repairing to the monarch, sang sweet 
 strains;" and day by day a band of bears worked with 
 hammers in his arsenals. 
 
 He it was, saith Buddhist tradition, who caused to be 
 builded in the midst of the city that royal palace, those 
 mighty halls, which remained, long centuries after his time, 
 the wonder of all beholders. Their giant walls and massive 
 gates no human hands could have reared; and the rich 
 carving that decked them and the cunning work of inlaying 
 were such as no mind of man hath devised. For Asoka was 
 very powerful, so that many spirits obeyed him, and they, the 
 ancient legend avers, were the great King's skilful architects. 
 
 But as our friends wander in search of those magic 
 palace-towers, they suddenly are made aware that the tide 
 of Time is returning ; and already the rolling centuries have 
 engulfed the splendours of the Maurya dynasty, driving the 
 travellers back till at length the shore on which they stand 
 is very near the 400th year of our era. Still Buddhism 
 reigns supreme, and everywhere along the streets walk 
 monks in their yellow robes, for there are monasteries in 
 Pataliputra that are " very grand and beautiful," and the 
 number of monks in this one city is six or seven hundred. 
 As the travellers gaze around them astonished and know- 
 ing not whither to turn, one of the yellow-robed brothers 
 approaches, and accosts them with a sign of kindly greeting, 
 as though he would be their guide. No bronze-hued coun- 
 tenance is his, like the Indian faces abound him. His face 
 is light and broad, his eyes are narrow and inclined at an 
 angle, and when he addresses the wondering travellers he 
 uses the Chinese tongue.
 
 THE CITY OF FLOWERS. 171 
 
 " I also," says he, " am a stranger in this city of Patali- 
 putra, nor for many days beside my shadow have I seen the 
 shadow of a friend ! I am come hither as a pilgrim from 
 the land of Han to search among 'the Indian monasteries 
 for the holy Books of Discipline ; and the Faithful call me 
 Fa-hien, the Illustrious Master of the Law." 
 
 The travellers return his oriental salutation, and gladly 
 intrust themselves to their new friend's learned guidance. 
 
 " You have done well," he says, " to visit Pataliputra now 
 at this present season; for this is the eighth 1 day of the 
 second month, the yearly festival that the Believers keep 
 with pomp and great rejoicing. I will lead you to a con- 
 venient place whence you may behold, if it be your pleasure, 
 the great Procession of Images." 
 
 So they follow him far through the populous city, and 
 by the way he tells them many things which, but for his 
 visit to Hindostan, neither they nor the world would have 
 known. 
 
 " This city," says he, " has long been obedient to the holy 
 teaching of the Buddha. Herein have dwelt many holy 
 ascetics ! In this place was the home of that great professor 
 of malidydna whose name was Radha-sami. He had much 
 wisdom, and an excellent discernment, and a good under- 
 standing in all things. The King of this country reverenced 
 him greatly, and humbly did him honour, nor ever pre- 
 sumed, when he went to greet him, to seat himself beside 
 him. And if, in his love and reverence, the King took his 
 hand in his own, as soon as he let it go the holy ascetic 
 made haste and poured water upon it to cleanse it. But 
 here is the place of which I spoke, and this way the pro- 
 cession will pass." 
 
 1 See 'Fa-hien's Travels,' translated by James Legge, M.A., LL.D.
 
 172 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Holding his begging-bowl with his left hand beneath a 
 fold of his yellow robe, Fa-hien lifts his bare right arm and 
 points along the stately street, where the pageant is seen 
 approaching. Surrounded by a crowd of eager devotees, 
 towering high overhead, a vast erection looms into view. 
 On a four-wheeled car it stands, built up in five storeys 
 with bamboos tied together. It is more than twenty cubits 
 high, and has the form of a Buddhist tope. It is a moving 
 mountain of gay colours, for over the bamboos of which 
 it is constructed is wound white cloth of Kashmir painted 
 in many hues with quaint and mystic designs. In each of 
 its four sides is a niche wherein sits an image of the Buddha 
 with the figure of a " Bodhisattva " standing in humble 
 attendance. Other images there are, brilliant combinations 
 of gold and silver and lapis-lazuli, flashing and glittering in 
 the sunshine. Over them hang gorgeous canopies, while 
 round them flutter many-coloured silken streamers. 
 
 As the great car is dragged slowly past, Fa-hien explains 
 to the wondering travellers the nature of the erection. 
 
 " It is upheld," he says, " by a king-post in the midst, with 
 poles and lances slanting from it, and over all is wrapped, 
 as you see, that silk-like cloth of hair." 
 
 Before the car, and after it, and around it, presses an 
 ardent crowd, each dark face strangely lit up with an ex- 
 pression of enthusiastic devotion. They come mostly from 
 the surrounding country, and have but lately entered the city. 
 Many of the crowd are monks, and the rich golden hue of 
 their sacred robes harmonises well with the more brilliant 
 colours of the laity's festal array. All the worshippers 
 carry in their hands fresh garlands of fragrant flowers; 
 sweet clouds of incense rise and float around the moving 
 car, while full-voiced singers and skilful musicians fill all
 
 THE CITY OF FLOWERS. 1*73 
 
 the air with the plaintive strains of weird and ancient 
 melodies. 
 
 So the tall mountain rolls on its way, and is followed 
 by another as vast as itself, and then by another, and yet 
 another, till the wildly fantastic but dazzling procession 
 would seem to have no end. There are some twenty cars 
 in all, each different from the rest ; and round them all the 
 eager crowd moves on, the strange music rises in rapture 
 and falls in wistful cadence, and the incense-cloud is made 
 more fragrant by the scent of the countless blossoms. 
 
 As the pageant slowly passes, the good Fa-hien explains 
 to the travellers such things as they desire to know; but 
 when the last great car rolls by, the sound of his voice 
 seems hollow and strange, the lines of his kindly face grow 
 dim, and, as the sunshine falls on his yellow robe, it seems 
 as though its graceful folds were ready to melt in mist. 
 With a shadowy gesture of farewell, he joins the moving 
 throng. The numberless figures grow less distinct, the 
 music sounds faint and muffled, and all the rich and gor- 
 geous pageant is blurred in a coloured haze. Surging 
 back in irresistible might the flowing tide of the centuries 
 sweeps with it our helpless travellers, till it casts them 
 finally high and dry on the humdrum shore of the Present. 
 Vanished for ever is Pataliputra, and they find they have 
 relapsed at unawares into the town of modern Patna. 
 
 " It is actually time for tiffin ! " exclaims Philippa in- 
 dignantly, " and we have spent the whole morning in wool- 
 gathering. We must visit the opium - factory to-morrow, 
 and try to improve our minds ! " 
 
 Accordingly our friends spend a long morning in that 
 interesting establishment, and become acquainted with all 
 the processes through which the juice of the poppy must
 
 174 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 pass before it is ready to be sold as opium. First they 
 are introduced to the opium -poppy itself Papaver album 
 somniferum, as the botanists call it and behold the delicate 
 fork of metal wherewith the cultivator scratches the poppy- 
 heads of his plants to allow the juice to exude ; then they 
 behold the great chatties full of the dark - brown opium 
 as it is brought in from the country ; and afterwards 
 they become initiated into the mysteries of testing and 
 cleaning and drying and packing. But nearly three hun- 
 dred years ago Mr Finch, that worthy traveller and mer- 
 chant, sketched out the process whereby the opium-drug 
 is obtained; and his quaintly simple account of the matter 
 is more attractive than a long discourse. 
 
 " We passed," saith he, " through the pleasant and fertile 
 country of Malve, where there's also a vast deal of Opium. 
 They give the Heads of Poppies two or three scratches, from 
 whence distils a Tear, which at first is white, but after- 
 wards congeal'd by the Cold, turns a reddish Colour; but 
 'tis a great deal of Pains they bestow in this Business, 
 for a small Matter of Profit; for the Heads are small, 
 and drop their Tears very sparingly."
 
 175 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE BODHI TKEE. 
 
 THE city of Patna, however interesting, is regarded by our 
 friends the travellers as not much more than a stepping- 
 stone whereby to reach that most famous and most inter- 
 esting of all the sacred sites of the Buddhists which lies 
 sixty-four miles to the south of it ; and soon they are de- 
 voting a long day's work to the visiting of Buddha Gaya, 
 the place where, nearly twenty-five centuries ago, Gautama 
 attained to Buddhahood. Rising long before it is light 
 and driving by starlight to the station, the travellers set 
 forth on the three hours' railway journey which is to bring 
 them as far as Gaya, the nearest point to the Bodhi Tree at 
 which railways have hitherto arrived. 
 
 Trains are sadly incongruous with the dreamy scenes of 
 the East. Yet it must not be supposed that Indian railway 
 carriages are such odious objects as our own. The broad 
 eves shading the windows from the sun, the longitudinal 
 arrangement of the seats, and many other small differences 
 of construction, combine to give them an unfamiliar air 
 which might make them susceptible, in competent hands, 
 of even poetical treatment. Above all, the multitudinous 
 passengers are more than capable of putting to flight all
 
 176 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 dull and gloomy shadows of the sordid commonplace. The 
 Natives are great travellers, and the number of them which 
 can be packed into a single compartment is a never-end- 
 ing source of astonishment. So many are they that the 
 railway officials do not individualise, but treat them, so to 
 speak, in the aggregate. To open the door of a carriage for 
 Natives of low degree is too much trouble, and, if the door 
 be locked, they must enter or leave by the window. Very 
 curious is it, when the train is approaching a station, to see 
 hanging out of its windows the shoes (with brown feet within 
 them) of the passengers who intend to alight. Natives of 
 higher position receive, of course, far greater consideration ; 
 and when secluded ladies travel, there is much unavoidable 
 ceremony. 
 
 Most delightful of all are the extraordinary scenes at the 
 stations, where the platforms are crowded with strange fig- 
 ures in stranger costumes, and dark faces with lustrous eyes, 
 framed in the resplendent hues of cunningly twisted turbans. 
 One might write a whole book on the beauties of Indian 
 turbans. Little can they picture them to themselves who 
 draw their notions of oriental costume from Algeria or 
 Egypt or Syria. Here in India the textures are finer, the 
 colours much more delicate and varied, and the twisted coils 
 piled one on the other in a far more imposing fashion, while 
 the inner end of the stuff hangs down behind in a graceful 
 manner, protecting the neck from the sun. The most won- 
 derful thing about these Indian turbans is the way the glow 
 of the sunshine falls on their soft and intricate folds, the 
 brilliant hues where the sunbeams rest, the cool shadows 
 that nestle between, the magic and shifting lustre of tran- 
 sient reflected lights. Often the fine Indian muslin is so 
 slightly tinted as to seem white when unrolled; but when
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE BODHI TREE. 177 
 
 the turban is deftly twisted and coiled about the wearer's 
 head, then (like the petals of a half-blown rose) its folds ac- 
 cumulate colour creamy yellow or delicate purple, tender 
 coral or soft moss-green, and many other rich hues there 
 are, but they have no names in the West. 
 
 Numberless and splendid as are the turbans which our 
 travellers behold on this present railway journey, there 
 appears (at a station) one which outshines all the others, 
 an exceptional and astonishing turban, which must be 
 more particularly described. It is of soft, rich Indian silk, 
 and the colour thereof is a glowing purple of wonder- 
 ful depth and beauty. It is twisted around the head that 
 wears it in piled-up folds of stately and solemn splendour ; 
 but the purple silk has a narrow edging of gold, just one 
 brilliant thread of light that follows all those mazy wreath- 
 ings in and out, now hidden away, now darting forth again, 
 like a sunbeam run mad. 
 
 " Ah," sighs Sebaste, as the train moves on, " there was 
 an artistic principle involved in the folds of that turban ! " 
 
 " A poor sort of principle," says Philippa. " I have no 
 patience with those who mistake crooked ways for artistic 
 methods, who go twisting and coiling about, and can never 
 express with straightforward simplicity that which they de- 
 sire to teach." 
 
 " Nor have I," exclaims Sebaste, firing up ; " and I have no 
 patience either with the wind or the trees or the rivers, 
 that waste their time in making such useless, murmur- 
 ing noises when they might be preaching us sermons. 
 What a pity the birds don't sing in articulate language, 
 telling us what it behoves us to do and to think, and insist- 
 ing on what they have to teach until they oblige us to listen ! 
 What a pity the flowers don't turn round upon us and 
 
 M
 
 178 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 honestly tell us our faults ; and oh, what a good thing it 
 would be if the stars were arranged all over the sky so as to 
 form letters and words, and nice little verses of hymns ! " 
 
 "My dear," says the Father, "you will have leisure at 
 some other time for rearranging the stars. At present we 
 have more earthly things to look at, native villages, and 
 rice-crops, and those gleaming patches of white, which are 
 the opium-poppies in flower." 
 
 So the train speeds on its way until, some three hours 
 after leaving Bankipur, our friends arrive at Gaya, the place 
 where Gautama is said to have practised for six years the 
 most astonishing austerities, living each day on a single 
 hemp-seed and a single grain of rice. Here they alight, and, 
 disposing themselves in a gharry, set forth on the seven 
 miles' southward drive to Buddha Gaya and the Bodhi Tree. 
 
 " Philippa," exclaims Sebaste presently, " I will forgive 
 you all your views on Art if only you will amuse us now 
 with some of the Buddha's legends. What was that dusty 
 old Buddhist volume that you were studying so diligently 
 last night ? " 
 
 " It was the travels of Hiuen Tsiang," says Philippa, 
 "leastwise a translation of them." 
 
 " And who was Hiuen Tsiang ? " 
 
 " He was a Chinese Buddhist monk who visited this part 
 of the world A.D. 629 ; and he wrote his travels in a much 
 fuller and more business-like way than your stupid old friend 
 Fa-hien." 
 
 " Dear Fa-hien ! " exclaims Sebaste sentimentally, " I shall 
 always like him best. He was such a kind, soft-hearted old 
 boy. Do you remember how the tears filled his eyes when 
 he told us how long it was since he had seen the land of 
 Han?"
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE BODHI TREE. 179 
 
 " Ah, but you know nothing about Hiuen Tsiang ! " says 
 Philippa. " You should read what Chang Yueh has written 
 about him ! ' His illustrious ancestors like fishes in the lake, 
 or as birds assembled before the wind, by their choice ser- 
 vices in the world served to produce as their result an 
 illustrious descendant. ... At his opening life he was 
 rosy as the evening vapours and round as the rising moon ! ' x 
 The description of his wisdom and learning is truly aston- 
 ishing ; and yet, when the time came, he ' embarked in the 
 boat of humility and departed alone.' " 
 
 " I am sure he was a terrible prig ! But what has he to 
 say about Buddha Gaya ? Why did Buddha come to this 
 particular place, or choose this particular bo-tree to be 
 * enlightened ' under ? " 
 
 "Hiuen Tsiang says that he first thought of obtaining 
 enlightenment on the top of the mountain Pragbodhi, but 
 was dissuaded by the mountain-deity, who was afraid of the 
 consequences to himself. So the Buddha (he was only a 
 Bodhisattva as yet) descended the south-west slope ; and 
 half-way down he came to ' a great stone chamber,' and sat 
 him down therein cross-legged. And another deity 'cried 
 out in space ' that this was not the place for him ' to perfect 
 supreme wisdom,' and directed him to go south-westward 
 till he came to this pipal-tree. So Bodhisattva rose to de- 
 part; but a dear old dragon who dwelt in that cave was 
 greatly distressed, and said, ' This cave is pure and excellent. 
 Here you may accomplish the holy aim. Would that of your 
 exceeding love you would not leave me.' So Bodhisattva, to 
 appease the dragon's grief, ' left him his shadow,' and so de- 
 parted. And long centuries after the Buddha had passed 
 away from existence, his shadow still remained in the depth 
 
 1 See ' Buddhist Records of the Western World,' by Samuel Beal, B.A.
 
 180 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 of the mountain-cave. But Bodhisattva went south-westward 
 till he came to the Bodhi Tree ; and beneath it he sat on a 
 diamond throne, and there attained to Buddhahood." 
 
 But at this point in Philippa's edifying discourse the 
 gharry comes to a stand, and the ancient temple of the 
 bo-tree is seen towering against the sky. The dignified 
 and handsome face of a native gentleman looks in upon 
 the travellers with a courteous greeting, and they are told, 
 in excellent English, that they are " all invited." Alighting 
 from their gharry, they perceive that some festivity is in 
 progress, and that a far-spreading, gay-coloured canopy has 
 been erected as a protection from the sun for the benefit of 
 European visitors. At the time of our travellers' visit the 
 temple and the site of the bo-tree are still in the hands of 
 Hindu maJiants, a monastic college whose principal function 
 (if report speak true) is the fleecing of Buddhist pilgrims. 
 The chief mahant, it seems, has lately died ; and to-day his 
 successor is being solemnly installed in his stead. 
 
 Eating their tiffin in the shade of the canopy, the travel- 
 lers became acquainted with an affable Bengali barrister 
 who speaks English with more ease and fluency than 
 most Englishmen have at their command. Perceiving that 
 they are strangers to the place, he offers to show them 
 the temple, and under his kindly guidance they valiantly 
 brave the noonday sun and set forth on its exploration. It 
 is a towering pyramidal pile, massive and straight-lined, 
 reaching a height of 160 feet. It used to be considerably 
 higher ; but the crowning kalas has been worn away by the 
 weather, and presents but a deplorable vestige of its original 
 graceful proportions. The temple in its present form is, 
 among Indian temples, absolutely unique, being a copy (as 
 the learned aver) of a vihara of nine storeys ; and it was
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE BODHI TREE. 181 
 
 completed (as a Burmese inscription sets forth) A.D. 1299 by 
 Buddhists from Burmah. But this was only a restoration, 
 and the temple still retains many of the features which dis- 
 tinguished it in the beginning of the sixth century, when 
 Amara the Brahman had rebuilded that ancient vihara of 
 Asoka's, which may have replaced a still earlier building 
 dating from the times of the Enlightened himself. Since 
 1880 the building has been again restored at the cost of 
 80,000 rupees. Our travellers are not learned in architectural 
 technicalities, but, as they gaze on the results of this last 
 restoration, they find themselves instinctively and involun- 
 tarily shuddering. How different now does the building 
 look from that stately and richly decorated vihara that 
 Hiuen Tsiang beheld, a towering pile of " blue tiles covered 
 with chunam" having many " niches in the different storeys " 
 filled with " golden figures." 
 
 With a regretful sigh they enter the temple, and are con- 
 fronted, in its principal chamber, by a great gilded figure 
 of the Buddha, sitting enthroned in the somewhat painful 
 attitude of conventional meditation. He is adorned with a 
 robe of state, various offerings are placed in his neighbour- 
 hood, and over his head is suspended a votive umbrella. 
 Other chambers there are, and other figures of Buddha ; but 
 the whole interior of the building has a sadly modernised 
 air, and the visitors soon wander out again into the sunshine, 
 and begin to examine in detail the more interesting exterior 
 features. 
 
 Along the temple's northern side runs a narrow platform 
 of masonry raised to a height of 4 feet above the surface of 
 the ground. It is 50 feet long, and is called, as the affable 
 barrister remarks, Buddha's Promenade. Here it was that 
 " the Blessed One," the " Storehouse of Virtue," having ob-
 
 182 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 tained enlightenment and "realised the bliss of Nirvana," 
 spent seven whole days walking up and down in meditation, 
 eastward and westward ; and at the points where he set his 
 foot are sculptured ornaments of stone, commemorating those 
 miraculous blossoms which sprang up under his footsteps. 
 
 Passing along by the Promenade and coming round to the 
 north side of the temple, the travellers attain at length to 
 the site of the Enlightenment itself, "the steadfast spot 
 chosen by all the Buddhas, the spot for the throwing down 
 of the temple of sin," 1 the place of the Diamond Throne, 
 overshadowed by that "monarch of the forests," the vener- 
 ated Tree of Wisdom. 
 
 The present tree, alas ! is but a puny descendant of the 
 original pipal an infantile, inadequate thing that is very 
 disappointing to look upon. From its branches hangs a 
 long strip of paper with strange characters written thereon. 
 This is somebody's horoscope suspended here that the sacred- 
 ness of the place may bring good fortune to him whose life it 
 foreshadows. 
 
 " I had hoped," sighs Sebaste, " that the real bo-tree might 
 still be in existence. At least Fa-hien said that ' in Central 
 India the cold and heat are so equally tempered that trees 
 will live in it for several thousand and even for ten thou- 
 sand years ! ' ' 
 
 " Fa-hien was a credulous creature," say Philippa. " If 
 you wish to hear the true story of the Enlightenment, you 
 should go to Hiuen Tsiang ! " 
 
 " But I thought Hiuen Tsiang spoke of a Diamond Throne 
 under the bo-tree, and I don't see one here." 
 
 " No, you can't exactly see it, but it is there all right, and 
 it reaches down for I don't know how many thousands of 
 
 1 From ' Buddhist Birth Stories,' translated by T. W. Rhys Davids.
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE BODHI TREE. 183 
 
 miles, to the very limits of the Golden Wheel. Only, toward 
 the end of the Age, 'when the true law dies out and dis- 
 appears, the earth and dust begin to cover over this spot,' 
 so that the throne is no longer visible. This place is the 
 centre of the world ; all the Buddhas who preceded Gautama 
 sat on this Diamond Throne to obtain enlightenment, and 
 so will all future Buddhas also. ' When the great earth arose, 
 this throne also appeared,' and ' when the great earth is 
 shaken, this place alone is unmoved.' " 
 
 " But, Philippa, have you nothing to tell us about the Tree 
 of Wisdom itself ? It is easier to believe in than diamond 
 thrones, and we have its descendant to look at while you are 
 telling its history." 
 
 So Philippa tells many things of the ancient bodhi-tree, 
 how its leaves "remained glistening and shining all the 
 year round without change," but used, when the Nirvana- 
 day came round, to wither and fall on a sudden and then in 
 a moment to revive ; and how Asoka, in his unbelieving 
 days, raised an army against the Tree, and cut through its 
 roots and divided the trunk and chopped the branches small, 
 and ordered a fire- worshipping Brahman to burn them there 
 and then. Whereupon the Tree sprang up again in a night, 
 and was never a whit the worse. 
 
 Then there is that strange legend to tell of the branch 
 that was sent by the converted and pious Asoka to the far- 
 off land of Lanka, the same is Simhala and Ceylon. For 
 Asoka, the Euler of the World, collected much gold, and 
 caused to be made thereof a vase " nine cubits in circum- 
 ference, five cubits in depth, ... and, in the rim of the 
 mouth, of the thickness of the trunk of a full-grown ele- 
 phant " ; l and he filled it with scented soil. Then, having 
 
 1 From the ' Mahavansa.'
 
 184 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 caused the road from Pataliputra to the bo-tree " to be swept 
 and perfectly decorated," he came with more than a thousand 
 kings, and set the precious vase on a golden chair beside the 
 Tree. And " using vermilion in a golden pencil," he there- 
 with made a streak on the branch. And forthwith the 
 bo-branch " severed itself at the place where the streak was 
 made " and " rested on the top of the vase." And a hundred 
 roots shot forth from its stem "like a network," and de- 
 scended into the fragrant soil till the branch was firmly 
 planted, whereupon the great earth quaked, " and, from the 
 fruit and leaves of the bo-branch, brilliant rays of the six 
 primitive colours issuing forth, illuminated the whole uni- 
 verse." Then the Euler of the "World, the Delighter in 
 Donations, intrusted the great bo-branch to the Princess 
 Sanghamitta, his daughter, renowned and profoundly learned. 
 He bestowed also eight vases of silver and eight vases of 
 gold wherewith to water the same. And he caused it to be 
 embarked in a vessel on the river Ganges together with 
 Sanghamitta his daughter and her eleven attendant nuns. 
 And " departing out of his capital," he preceded that vessel 
 on its way, marching with all his army through the far- 
 reaching Vinjha Wilderness. 
 
 When they came to the shore of the ocean, Asoka-raja 
 disembarked the great bo-branch, and made thereto with 
 devotion an offering of all his empire. Then, having placed 
 it with its attendants in the royal ship prepared for it, he 
 " stood on the shore of the ocean with uplifted hands, and, 
 gazing on the departing bo-branch, shed tears in the bitter- 
 ness of his grief. In the agony of parting with the bo- 
 branch, . -. . weeping and lamenting in loud sobs," he 
 " departed for his own capital." But Sanghamitta, the pious 
 Princess, came with a happy and prosperous voyage to
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE BODHI TREE. 185 
 
 Simhala, the Island of Gems. So the great bo-braiich was 
 planted at Anuradhapura, and to this day it is growing 
 there, the most ancient tree that we wot of. 
 
 Such legends do the travellers recall as they linger in the 
 noonday silence around the Bodhi Tree ; and more especially 
 they remember the great scene of the far-famed Enlighten- 
 ment itself. But that story hath been told us of late years 
 in so poetic and idealised a form, that I hardly dare to 
 rehearse it as it appears in the original legends. It is one 
 thing to hear of spiritual conflict, of heroic virtue and 
 triumphant holiness, and another to read in the Buddhist 
 scriptures how Gautama "sat himself down in a cross- 
 legged position, firm and immovable, as if welded with 
 a hundred thunderbolts," and how Mara came against him 
 mounted on his elephant named " Girded with Mountains " 
 that was 250 leagues in height, and with him a mighty host, 
 and hurled at him great mountains that changed, as they 
 reached his presence, into "bouquets of heavenly flowers," 
 so that the mighty elephant " Girded with Mountains " fell 
 down on his knees in worship ; or how, when the " Great 
 Being," the " asylum of mind and memory," had at length 
 obtained enlightenment, " the ten thousand world-systems " 
 shouted for joy, and " lotus- wreaths hung from the sky," 
 while the great ocean became sweet down to its profoundest 
 depths, and the rivers were stayed in their course. 
 
 And already the business-like Philippa announces that it 
 is time to be moving on. 
 
 " As we cannot see the Diamond Throne," says she, " let 
 us try to find that other seat of dignity, the Throne of the 
 Seven Gems. It is not far from the bodhi-tree, and on it 
 the Buddha sat ' after he had arrived at complete Enlighten- 
 ment.' Hiuen Tsiang speaks of it; but he adds to his
 
 186 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 account the pathetic remark, ' From the time of the holy one 
 till the present is so long that the gems have turned to 
 stone.' " 
 
 Before leaving the bodhi-tree the travellers admire, placed 
 in a niche of the temple wall just opposite the tree, a 
 venerated image of the Buddha which gleams brightly in 
 the sunlight by reason of the gold-leaf wherewith pious- 
 minded pilgrims have adorned it. Then they wander 
 vaguely about, seeking near the temple for the Throne 
 of the Seven Gems, and reluctantly coming at length to 
 the conclusion that from the time of Hiuen Tsiang to the 
 present is so long that it has altogether disappeared. 
 
 But they find, for their consolation, many interesting 
 fragments of ancient Buddhist sculpture, including stone 
 Buddhas innumerable, whereof many, as the barrister 
 explains, have received the incongruous names of various 
 Hindu gods. Most attractive of all are the remains of that 
 sculptured rail of stone wherewith Asoka surrounded the 
 vihara which he had builded. Fascinating indeed are the 
 sculptures thereof, for they are the earliest specimens we 
 have of the art in India, and show it as yet untouched by any 
 foreign influence whatever. Very prominent therein is that 
 ancient and mysterious worship of Trees and Serpents, the 
 indigenous religion that Buddhism found and took to itself 
 and assimilated. 
 
 Having viewed the world from the temple's roof, and 
 having finally said farewell to the ancient pile and their 
 courteous guide, the travellers betake them to the neigh- 
 bouring " College " of the Mahants, where, in honour of the 
 solemn occasion, a great feast is at present in progress. As 
 they cross the outer court of the building they perceive that 
 preparations are being made therein for the State -durbar
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE BODHI TREE. 187 
 
 which will here be held to-night by the new-made Chief 
 Mahant. A great canopy has been erected, and beneath it 
 several dark figures are at work, like the attendants at Siva's 
 wedding, " spreading abroad the carpet of congratulation and 
 arranging the banquet of bliss." l 
 
 Making their way to the crowded inner court, the visitors 
 behold a wonderfully animated scene. The roofs of the 
 surrounding buildings are crowded with oriental banqueters, 
 and, as they enter, they are surrounded by a crowd of 
 swarthy Mahants, who all wear the holy salmon-coloured 
 robe of their order, but show faces which look by no means 
 holy. Farther than the entrance of this inner court the 
 travellers may not go ; and, when they ask to see the Chief 
 Mahant, they are told that he has just begun to eat, and 
 will go on eating till evening an assertion which, it is to be 
 hoped, need not be taken quite literally. 
 
 Retiring from this festive scene, the travellers drive back 
 to Gaya, and seek out that older part of the city where is 
 the famous Temple of Vishnu Pad, the honoured shrine of 
 the footprint of Vishnu, the lotus-eyed lord of the world. 
 Even in a day devoted to Buddhist studies, a little Vaish- 
 nava sight-seeing is not very incongruous; for is not the 
 Buddha recognised by Hinduism as the ninth avatar of 
 Vishnu ? 
 
 As they wander through the temple precincts, the visitors 
 meet several sacred cows, who pass them softly by with a 
 sanctimonious air ; and presently they come upon a strange 
 scene which they will long hereafter remember. An old, 
 white-haired man has come to perform, for the benefit of the 
 souls of his ancestors, the solemn rite of sraddha. Specially 
 acceptable to those venerated pitris is this offering when 
 
 1 Sheeve Pouran. Halhed.
 
 188 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 duly made in the sacred city of Gaya. Long ago it was 
 written in the book of the illustrious Markandeya, " Flesh of 
 the rhinoceros, . . . turmeric and soma juice, and a sraddha 
 performed at Gaya, without doubt yield the pitris endless 
 satisfaction." This present hour, moreover, is likewise pro- 
 pitious; for in that same book it is written, "Just as the 
 time of the waning moon is dearer to the pitris than that of 
 the waxing moon, so the afternoon pleases the pitris more 
 than the forenoon." 
 
 The old man has chosen in the temple court a place, 
 according to the ordinance, that hath neither been looked 
 at by dogs nor scorched with fire, and that hath not been 
 " made hot with the words of enemies and wicked men." 
 He has brought with him a number of little cakes of rice, 
 which he places one by one on the pavement, sprinkling 
 each as he sets it down with a few drops of water. A friend 
 sits near him on the ground, holding a paper whereon are 
 written the names of those ancestors who are to be nourished 
 by these sacred " morsels of the pitris" Over the ceremony 
 presides a handsome, bright -eyed young Brahman, who, as 
 each cake is sprinkled with the water, recites some mystic 
 formula in a monotonous rhythmic chant. Very sacred is 
 that duty which the aged worshipper is performing, and his 
 beneficent pitris will reward his devotion by bestowing upon 
 him " long life, wisdom, wealth, knowledge," and "final eman- 
 cipation from existence." Slowly, with touching earnestness 
 and reverence, he goes on with the mysterious rite, too deeply 
 absorbed to notice anything else; but the young Brahman 
 turns on the travellers his mocking, merry, black eyes, that 
 say more plainly than words could speak it, " Just look at 
 the silly old fool ! " 
 
 The Brahmans of Gaya, commonly called Gayawals, are
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE BODHI TREE. 189 
 
 notorious for their unbounded rapacity. Strictly do they 
 enforce that ancient Brahmanic maxim, " Men of under- 
 standing must give gifts to Brahmans ; whatever is most 
 desired in the world, and whatever is prized at home, . . . 
 must one who hopes for immortality give to a Brahman 
 endowed with good qualities." Many stories are told of the 
 methods in use among the Gayawals for the fleecing of their 
 hapless victims. Year by year to the sacred places of Gaya 
 and its neighbourhood come pilgrims whose number is said 
 to be between 100,000 and 200,000. The Gayawals meet 
 the trains that bring them, and take the pilgrims in charge ; 
 and even if they be rich on their arrival, they are likely to 
 depart in poverty and deeply involved in debt. Terrible is 
 the scene enacted when a wealthy sinner has come, seeking 
 in holy Gaya to rid himself of his guilt. Then do the Gaya- 
 wals gather round him, and tie fast his trembling hands 
 with a garland of sacred flowers. Nor will they loose him 
 from that inviolable bond until, after many prayers and 
 unavailing lamentations, he has vowed away his gold. 
 
 With such things as these in their minds, the travellers 
 are not disposed to give any smiling answer to the lustrous, 
 quick, dark eyes that, from this present Gayawal's face, so 
 merrily appeal for their sympathy. 
 
 Leaving the strange little group, they wander on through 
 the temple precincts till they come to the door of that inmost 
 shrine where Christians may not enter. Within is a depth 
 of baffling darkness ; but, as they strain their eyes to see, 
 they at length discern, let into the chamber's pavement, that 
 sacred plate of silver which bears the print of Vishnu's lotus- 
 foot that has power to save its devotees from " the woes 
 wrought by the fear of existence." Seated on the pavement 
 around it are the dimly seen figures of silent and motionless
 
 190 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 worshippers offering garlands of flowers, both fresh and 
 sweet, to the mystic and holy footprint. 
 
 As they return from the shrine on their way to the en- 
 trance of the temple, the visitors perceive that the aged 
 worshipper has finished his offering, and is now undergoing 
 the concluding ceremony of having his scanty locks shaved 
 from his head, while around him sit two or three of the 
 temple Brahmans reciting with imperturbable countenances 
 " sacred mantras of the Vedas."
 
 191 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BENARES. 1 
 
 VARANASI, holiest of cities, bright-robed daughter of Ganga, 
 whose "pure" stream has mirrored for ages thy lordly 
 palaces and gorgeous temples, how shall we rightly cele- 
 brate thy wonders ? Most ancient of India's cities, who- 
 soever would traverse the plain of thy history, the feet of 
 his imagination are lamed. How shall we speak of the 
 dim and far-off days when those patriarchs of our race, 
 the Vedic Aryans, made of thee their home and their 
 stronghold ? Nay, in that more distant age when " Time 
 the Destroyer " was yet unborn, wast not thou the first of 
 all the earth to arise from the universal waters; and in 
 the terrible deluge did not Bhagvan support thee on his 
 trident so that the waves devoured thee not ? Art thou 
 not the home of Siva himself, who performed in thy neigh- 
 bourhood unheard-of austerities, and ordained in thee his 
 own worship for ever ? 
 
 No, let us hope not quite for ever; but at present this 
 city is the centre and heart of Hindu idolatry, a fact in- 
 timated to our travellers as early (on the first day after 
 
 1 Baiiiiras is the correct form, but in the case of so familiar a name we may 
 be allowed, perhaps, to conform to the vulgar usage.
 
 192 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 their arrival) as the serving of chota hazri, which makes 
 its appearance' on resplendent trays of Benares brass-work, 
 exquisitely chased with mazy arabesques, from the intri- 
 cacies whereof peep forth a multitude of queer little gods, 
 who, with impish persistency though in varying forms, 
 will haunt our English friends throughout their stay at 
 Benares. 
 
 The sun, with flaming locks, drawn by those " seven ruddy 
 steeds, the daughters of his chariot," is already filling all 
 things with the dust of his rays when the travellers, with a 
 humbler equipage, set forth to see and to wonder. Strange 
 figures, to Western eyes, are their coachman and syces. They 
 are clad in the most brilliant orange that mind can imagine, 
 their dusky faces framed in dark-blue turbans. But by far 
 the most majestic figure of all is that of the Pandit Pursotum 
 who sits beside the driver. Assuredly our friends will be 
 for ever grateful for the excellent guidance of that " tiger- 
 like man." If there were any more complimentary epithet 
 than this, I would give it him with pleasure. A fine and 
 solemn face hath he, with large, lustrous eyes, and a bushy 
 beard of glossy black, which he has carefully trimmed 
 " facing eastward or northward " according to the ordinance. 
 He is dressed in white, with the exception of his very be- 
 coming turban, which is of rich, gold-coloured silk. Being 
 learned in the Hindu scriptures, he obeys with exactness that 
 precept of the wise Queen Madalasa, "One should neither 
 dress unbecomingly, nor speak unbecomingly. One should 
 be clad in pure white raiment." 
 
 "Surely," whispers Sebaste, "such a picture as that has 
 no right to expose itself to the glare and the dust out of 
 doors. I feel inclined to address to him that pathetic 
 question asked of old by the subjects of the exiled Hari-
 
 BENARES. 193 
 
 scandra, ' Alas ! King, what will thy very youthful, beauti- 
 ful-browed, fine-nosed face become when injured by the dust 
 on the road V" 1 
 
 Thus attended, the travellers drive away through the 
 shade of tamarinds and nim-trees, alternating with dazzling 
 sunshine; but they see nothing as yet of the native city, 
 which is at some distance to the south-east of the canton- 
 ment. They presently pass Queen's College, a Govern- 
 ment institution wherein Pursotum learned his Sanskrit 
 and that excellent English wherein he explains objects of 
 interest passed on the road. Queen's College is an impos- 
 ing erection, perhaps the finest Gothic building in India 
 (what the others are like it were possibly unwise to in- 
 quire); and our travellers behold it now to the best pos- 
 sible advantage, the last example of Gothic art they have 
 seen being that architectural nightmare, the poor, dear 
 Cathedral in Calcutta. Our friends will explore the college 
 another day, will be dazzled by the brilliant flowers of which 
 the garden is full, and will there admire an hypsethral 
 museum consisting of ancient carvings from Sarnath and 
 elsewhere. They will also be introduced, at the garden 
 fountain, to a stolid-looking, ungenial personage, their first 
 Indian Alligator. 
 
 But for such attractions they have no time at present, 
 preferring idol-temples and heathenish ceremonies to any 
 number of sober-minded Colleges. 
 
 They presently meet a little procession, at the head of 
 which rides, on a white horse, a youthful bridegroom gor- 
 geously arrayed. On his head is a shining crown of tinsel, 
 from which hang strings of white flowers, covering his face 
 like a veil. One of his relatives walks by his side, shading 
 
 1 Markandeya Punina. Pargiter. 
 N
 
 194 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 him from the sun with an oriental umbrella, while various 
 other friends follow, also on foot, holding up banners and 
 other curious devices constructed of tinsel and of all the 
 colours of the rainbow. But the little bride is sitting at 
 home, and has no share at all in this great pomp and 
 grandeur. 
 
 "Pursotum," exclaims Philippa presently, "what in the 
 world are those curious packages carried about slung to 
 bamboos ? We have met two or three already, and there 
 is another a neat parcel wrapped up in a crimson cloth. 
 What is it?" 
 
 " That," says Pursotum, " is a private lady." 
 
 And a secluded lady it really is. Belonging to a high 
 caste, she may not walk abroad like her humbler sisters, 
 but must make herself up into a parcel and be carried by 
 two of her servants. On a little square of basket-work 
 she sits, to the four corners whereof are attached small 
 and slender bamboos, which, meeting over her head, are 
 firmly tied to the large bamboo above, that rests on the 
 men - servants' shoulders. Fitting closely round the four 
 small bamboos is a covering of crimson cloth. The lady 
 sits of course in the native fashion, with feet tucked away 
 out of sight, so that, when the covering is drawn down, 
 not a vestige is visible of her or her dress. Our travellers, 
 on one occasion, are much distressed at seeing one of these 
 compact little parcels left to itself in the middle of the road, 
 the " private lady " inside not daring to lift the covering to 
 see what has become of her servants. 
 
 These and many other curious sights make short the way 
 to our friends' present destination, which is the temple of 
 Durga. Durga, the Inaccessible, the Terrible One, is, not- 
 withstanding such attributes, the most popular of goddesses,
 
 BENARES. 195 
 
 and her annual festival, the Durga puja, is celebrated with 
 great rejoicings and the sacrifice of goats innumerable. 
 Many forms hath she, and manifold powers. In the mansion 
 of the virtuous she dwelleth as the goddess of riches, as the 
 deity of misfortune in the abode of the wicked, and as In- 
 telligence in the heart of the wise. How can her form be 
 described, which is inconceivable ? She is great, heroic, 
 ample the destroyer of the giants. Kevered is she by all 
 the deities ; the magnificent sages faithfully prostrate them- 
 selves to her. She is the beneficent mother of the whole 
 universe, the sovereign of the world. So at least sang Indra, 
 the Suras, and Vanhi the god of Fire, as they hymned her 
 victories over the giants. 
 
 The Inaccessible she assuredly proves herself to-day, noti- 
 fying to our travellers, through her attendant Brahmans, that 
 they may in nowise enter her temple unless they honour her 
 by first removing their shoes. Unfortunately our friends 
 have a scruple on this point. "A good deal of harm has 
 been done," a Missionary in the South once told them, " by 
 European Christians who submit to having their shoes re- 
 moved when entering the Hindu temples. The Natives say, 
 ' The Sahibs go into their own churches with their boots on, 
 but they take them off when they come to Hindu temples. 
 They know that our temples are holier than theirs!" 
 
 Happily the visitors can see, as they stand on the thresh- 
 old, the whole of the interior ; and a very graceful interior 
 it is. Absolutely different are these " Indo-Aryan " temples 
 from the great Dravidian pagodas of the South. Here are 
 no more vast halls, pillared corridors, forests of fantastic 
 columns, abysmal vistas of gloomy shadow; but a single 
 cloistered court, and in the centre a single shrine approached 
 by a small and curiously wrought pavilion, and surmounted
 
 196 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 by one of those curvilinear spires, or rather elongated domes, 
 which are characteristic of all temples built in the "Indo- 
 Aryan " style. As usual, this almost conical dome is stained 
 with ochre to a deep claret colour (the sacred hue wherewith 
 no private house may presume to adorn itself), and is further 
 embellished by brilliant points of gilding. Just beneath it 
 sits the Goddess, peering out of her dark recess with greedy 
 eyes to see if there are any goats in prospect. 
 
 But Durga herself is of secondary importance to the 
 visitors, who have come to call not on her so much as on the 
 monkeys, sacred to Hanuman, whom she hospitably allows to 
 make their home in her temple and its surrounding trees. 
 Most amiable creatures they are, with thick coats of glossy, 
 brown fur, and humorous faces charming to behold. There 
 are only about a hundred of them, Pursotum says, but they 
 look far more numerous, resembling that little pig of nursery 
 celebrity who " ran about so fast that nobody could count him." 
 
 A peculiar cry is uttered by one of the temple servants, 
 who scatters on the ground grain and sweetmeats for their 
 delectation, and instantly a crowd assembles. Old monkeys 
 and young monkeys, monkeys small and monkeys large, with 
 a rush they gather together, swinging themselves down from 
 the overhanging trees, dropping from the walls of the en- 
 closure, galloping round unsuspected corners, grinning at the 
 would-be intruders, and eagerly falling to on the dainties 
 prepared for them. This is very condescending, considering 
 how holy they are ; but natural too, for was not Hanuman 
 himself that giant Monkey -god who leaped across the 
 strait betwixt India and Ceylon, and defeated an army of 
 80,000 men was not he so eagerly desirous of goodies that 
 he once mistook the sun for a sweetmeat, and accordingly 
 swallowed it ?
 
 BENARES. 197 
 
 The travellers walk round the outside of the temple, and 
 examine the giant tamarinds wherein the monkeys love to 
 disport themselves, and one of which has a hollow trunk 
 specially set apart by them to be the babies' nursery. 
 
 " Two years ago," says Pursotum, " there used to be 5000 
 monkeys living here." 
 
 Pursotum, being a devout believer in their holiness, does 
 not add that these same 5000 monkeys committed such 
 ravages in the neighbourhood that no one could live in 
 security for miles around their temple ; nor that they even 
 penetrated as far as the railway station, where they plundered 
 the newly-arrived sacks of rice, to the lamentable loss of the 
 owners thereof. The European officials, who dared not slay 
 so sacred a beast for fear of a riot in Benares, showed great 
 tact in dealing with this dilemma. They prepared, on the 
 trucks of a train, a feast of nuts and sweetmeats ; and when 
 a large company of monkeys had assembled to partake of it, 
 the train was put in motion, and the monkeys, steaming forth 
 into the jungle, were never heard of more. 
 
 "There seems to be a fine garden over there," says the 
 Father, when the monkeys have been sufficiently admired. 
 " Who lives there, Pursotum ? " 
 
 "The Swami Bhaskaranand Saraswati lives there. He is 
 more holy than any one in India." 
 
 " Is he a Brahman, then ? " 
 
 "He was so once, but now he is greater than Brahman. 
 He is Swami." 
 
 " But what makes him so holy ? " 
 
 " He does not eat any meat, nothing but vegetables and 
 milk. And he does not wear anything ; only, when Sahibs 
 and Memsahibs go to visit him, he will wear some dress." 
 
 " May we go to see him, then ? "
 
 198 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 And Pursotum shows the way forthwith. The travellers 
 enter a garden luxuriant and lovely as only an Indian garden 
 can be. The narrow, paved walks are raised a foot or two 
 above the carefully irrigated beds where flourishes a crowded 
 growth of tropical vegetation. Far-spreading trees make a 
 delicious shade beneath their thick foliage ; flowering shrubs 
 fill the air with perfume; vivid banana-leaves hang broad 
 and graceful in sun-flecked shadow ; brilliant flowers grow 
 close to the ground ; the air is full of rustlings and murmur- 
 ings innumerable, and of a cool and fragrant freshness 
 delicious beyond imagination. 
 
 " Here," says Pursotum, " is a statue of the Swami." 
 
 The statue, which represents the aged saint sitting in an 
 attitude of meditation, is of white marble. Eound its neck 
 hangs a garland of yellow flowers, fresh and fragrant. 
 
 "The people worship this statue," explains Pursotum. 
 "The Swami himself will not receive them now, because 
 they trouble him with asking him to give them many 
 things. Whatever he promises to any one, he receives 
 immediately. If he promises riches, a man will begin to 
 grow wealthy at once, and within a month he will be very 
 rich. He can also give sons, or good health, or anything. 
 There was a native regiment here that was ordered to go 
 to the war in Burmah, but they feared, and did not wish 
 to go. And they came to the Swami, and bowed down to 
 him, and wept, and said that they would never again see 
 their homes or their families. Then the Swami touched 
 each of them with his hand, and told him that he would 
 come home safely. And every one that he touched did 
 return perfectly safe. See, he is coming to meet you." 
 
 Attended by two reverent disciples, the old man ap- 
 proaches. His dress consists of a single robe of soft, white
 
 BENARES. 199 
 
 Indian silk, tied round the waist, and falling in rich folds 
 below the knee. It has a many -coloured border, which 
 Pursotum reverently touches in token of respectful greet- 
 ing. A gentle, kindly old man he is, with none of the 
 arrogance that one would expect in a personage thus idol- 
 ised, but only a mild self-complacency, so innocent and 
 childlike that it is impossible to be very angry with him 
 for his folly in allowing himself to be worshipped. 
 
 Deeply versed as he is in Sanskrit learning, the Swami 
 knows not a word of any Western tongue, and the con- 
 versation is carried on chiefly by Pursotum, who sets forth 
 the merits of the saint, appealing to him for confirmation 
 of his statements. It seems that this peaceful hermitage 
 is the present of a pious Eaja, but that all gifts in money 
 the Swami absolutely refuses. Large fortunes have been 
 offered him by wealthy Hindus, but have been invariably 
 rejected. One Maharaja once offered a large sum (five lacs 
 of rupees, Pursotum says !), begging him, if he would not 
 keep it, to distribute it among the poor. "Do thou thy- 
 self distribute," was the answer. 
 
 The Swami assents to these facts with a delighted smile 
 of the utmost simplicity. Being further asked what is his 
 age, he says that he is sixty-five, which is very old for 
 India. 
 
 " Tell him," says the Father, " that I am eight years older 
 than he." 
 
 "Thou," answers the humble Swami, "art in all things 
 greater than I ! I pray thee that on thy return to England 
 thou wilt remember me. If thou or any of these thy 
 daughters should write a book, let my name be inserted 
 therein." 
 
 Dear old Swami Bhaskaranand Saraswati! Thy name is
 
 200 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 not exactly a handy one, but assuredly we would squeeze it 
 in, were even the page too narrow to accommodate its rolling 
 syllables. 
 
 The Swami next says (Pursotum interpreting) that when 
 the visitors arrived he was about to eat, and that he now 
 desires that they will themselves eat in his garden. One of 
 the grave and pious disciples retires to fetch some of the 
 Swami's food a charming concoction of potatoes, fruit, 
 honey, and various herbs, set out on a platter made of 
 leaves neatly stitched together. A little of this refection 
 is placed by the aged saint in the hand of each of his 
 visitors, who, having happily left European notions far be- 
 hind them, are not troubled by any conventional hanker- 
 ings after plates or spoons or forks. 
 
 Before taking leave, the Father, knowing the native enjoy- 
 ment of such ceremony, presents his card, which the Swami 
 places on the top of his own head by way of expressing his 
 thanks. Then, taking the Father in his slender, bare, brown 
 arms, he gives him an affectionate hug, and, moreover, 
 bestows upon him one of his own Sanskrit works, as well 
 as his biography, likewise written in Sanskrit, and a pic- 
 ture of himself, wherein he appears, according to the pre- 
 cept, seated, in the exercise of devotion, on the sacred 
 Jchds-khds grass, calm, and free from all desires, maintain- 
 ing a difficult posture, restraining his breath, "keeping his 
 head, his neck, and his body steady, without motion, his 
 eyes fixed on the point of his nose, looking at nothing 
 else around." 1 
 
 Finally, plucking some flowers for each of the travellers, 
 the kindly Swami bids them farewell. While the English 
 visitors place their hands in his, Pursotum's yellow turban 
 
 1 Quoted in Crawf urd's ' Hindus. '
 
 BENARES. 201 
 
 bows to earth once more, as he devoutly touches, first the 
 Swami's bare feet, and then his own forehead, with an 
 earnest reverence that is impressive to see. 
 
 At length the travellers drive away, and are soon plung- 
 ing into the heart of Benares city on their way to the 
 Golden Temple. In a short time they are obliged to alight 
 from their carriage, for only on foot may one penetrate the 
 intricacies of the narrow and sinuous streets. Wonderful 
 streets they are, deep, winding clefts between the tall 
 oriental houses, bordered with the quaint recesses that call 
 themselves shops, from which gleam forth whole armies of 
 little brazen gods, with here and there a stone figure (and 
 an excellent likeness) of Swami Bhaskaranand Saraswati, 
 destined for some temple or shrine. 
 
 Here and there a shop is devoted to prayer-bags. To say 
 one's prayers in a bag seems to the Western mind a curious 
 notion ; but not so to the Hindus, who love, when praying, 
 to thrust the right hand, holding a rosary of sacred beads, 
 into one of these gnomon - shaped receptacles of brightly 
 coloured cloth quaintly embroidered to represent the head 
 and neck of a sacred cow. 
 
 Then there are shops full of oriental sweetmeats manu- 
 factured of milk and sugar, and so tempting to behold that 
 our travellers wistfully approach. Whereupon the turbaned 
 shopman, sitting cross-legged amidst his piled -up wares, 
 will beg them not to touch; for the touch of a Christian, 
 or even of a Christian's shadow, would make his dainties 
 unfit to be eaten by pious Hindus. 
 
 Most attractive of all are the flower-shops, overflowing 
 with fragrant garlands, or rather ropes, of flowers purple 
 and white and orange and yellow piled up in masses of 
 gorgeous colour, and destined to be bought by pilgrims and
 
 202 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 hung round the necks of idol-gods, or wreathed in solemn 
 devotion about Siva's idolised symbol. 
 
 But the shops by no means monopolise all the rich 
 hues of the glowing scene. The private houses, too, make 
 a brave show, being decorated with native wall-paintings 
 sky-blue elephants and other cheerful devices executed 
 on occasions of domestic rejoicing, such as a wedding or 
 the birth of a son. 
 
 And far more wonderful than all else is the ceaseless 
 stream of brightly - clad figures flowing for ever along the 
 narrow, winding ways, an ever-moving, variegated proces- 
 sion inextricably mixed up with the sacred hump-backed 
 cows, who stray about in a harmless and amiable manner 
 throughout the whole city. To buy a cow and let her go 
 loose to live in the temples and streets is a very meritorious 
 act indeed ; and the gentle creatures meet with the utmost 
 deference and respect from everybody. 
 
 "The municipal authorities," saith the author of 'Pic- 
 turesque India,' "at one time used to kidnap them darkly 
 at dead of night, and turn them loose on the opposite shore 
 of the Ganges, but they generally swam back, and turned 
 up holier than ever." 
 
 Holier, indeed; for did not even that wicked and blood- 
 thirsty cow who gored to death in ancient days her master's 
 son, and thereupon turned from white to black through the 
 guilt of her crime did not even she, when she had thrice 
 plunged in a sacred river, come out as white and fair as 
 ever she was before ? 
 
 Slowly making their way through the crowd, the travel- 
 lers arrive -at a small temple of Siva wedged into a corner 
 of the street, and richly adorned with elaborate sculptures. 
 The presiding Brahman allows our friends to enter, shoes
 
 BENARES. 203 
 
 notwithstanding; and they eagerly explore this tiny abode 
 of that "chief of the gods" who contriveth all things for 
 the good of the world, the immortal Five-faced Lord, whom 
 when the Devas hymned they pathetically exclaimed, " Verily, 
 what power have we to perform thy worship ? Verily, 
 what means hath an atom without hand or foot to open 
 its mouth in praise of the all-illuminating sun, and what 
 strength hath the grovelling ant to spread the carpet of 
 argumentation for the exalted praise of Solomon ? " x 
 
 Facing the symbol of the god reclines in stony dignity 
 Nandi, his sacred bull, " the Sovereign of all quadrupeds," 
 and Siva's constant companion. On the wall hangs an 
 appalling picture of the goddess Kali, the Dark One, a 
 terrific form of Durga (assumed, say some, with a view to 
 frightening the wicked into reformation), and the spouse of 
 Time, the Bringer of Evil, the Sovereign of all things, who 
 himself is but a form of Siva, the God of a Thousand Names. 
 Frightful is she to look upon. She wears a necklace of 
 skulls; one cobra forms her girdle, and another, coiled 
 around her throat, supports with its venomous head her 
 long, rough tongue. In one of her four hands she holds the 
 head of a demon freshly hewn from his gigantic shoulders, 
 while in another she brandishes a scimitar. Gazing at her 
 hideous portrait, one can vividly imagine that memorable 
 battle of hers when "the terrific -faced Kali furiously fell 
 upon the giants, wrathfully swallowed up her enemies, and 
 chewed the chariots with her teeth." 2 
 
 Eather hastily retreating from the presence of this heroic 
 lady, the travellers presently approach a very holy object 
 indeed, the Gyan Kiip, or Well of Knowledge. Crossing 
 
 1 From Halhed's ' Sheeve Pouran. ' 
 
 2 From the ' Sapta-Shati.' Cavali Yenkat Rdmasswdmi, Pandit.
 
 204 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 a court wherein reclines a colossal Nandi coloured a bril- 
 liant red, they enter a colonnade adorned with light and 
 beautifully ornamented Hindu pillars, and in the centre 
 thereof discover the Well. Its great sanctity arises from 
 the fact that Siva (or at the least his symbol) was once 
 thrown into it, and is to this day reposing at the bottom, 
 communicating to the water above him a marvellous power 
 for cleansing from guilt even the greatest criminals on earth. 
 The opening of the Well is almost entirely covered, but with 
 what material remains a mystery, seeing that the covering 
 is altogether hidden from view by masses of bright flowers 
 thrown upon it by pious worshippers. At the narrow 
 aperture sits a Brahman ladling out the water (in return 
 for copper coins) to a crowd of pilgrims, each of whom 
 receives the precious liquid in the palm of his hand, drinks 
 three drops (throwing them into his mouth with the fingers 
 of his other hand), and reverently deposits the rest on his 
 head. An old woman addresses our travellers, exhorting 
 them (says Pursotum) to buy some of the water for them- 
 selves, and assuring them that they will gain from it great 
 benefit. 
 
 Eesisting her persuasions, they leave the Well, and' so 
 reach at length the far-famed Golden Temple dedicated to 
 Bisheshwar, the Poison God, the blue-throated, Uma's lord, 
 who is another form of that " adorable three-eyed god of the 
 gods," Siva himself. For once on a time, when the gods and 
 the demons, in their search for Amrita the water of im- 
 mortality, had churned the ocean more than enough, a deadly 
 poison came out therefrom " burning like a raging fire, whose 
 'dreadful fumes in a moment spread throughout the world, 
 confounding the three regions of the universe with its mor- 
 tal odour, until Siva, at the word of Brahma, swallowed the
 
 BENARES. 205 
 
 fatal drug to save mankind, which remaining in the throat 
 of that sovereign god of magic form, from that time he 
 hath been called Nil-Kant, because his throat was stained 
 blue." ! 
 
 Two of the temple's domes are covered with thin plates of 
 gold, the gift of Maharaja Eanjit Singh of Lahore ; and daz- 
 zlingly do they shine and glow in the sunlight, with astonish- 
 ing if somewhat barbarous splendour. The travellers, having 
 contemplated them from the upper storey of a neighbouring 
 house, descend to the threshold of the temple, which they are 
 not permitted to cross, but whence they have a good view of 
 the crowded interior. Sacred cattle, grave and dignified, 
 with dew-lapped throats and gigantic humps, slowly munch- 
 ing garlands of sacred flowers, look out on the visitors with 
 supercilious solemnity, knowing that they may not dare to 
 enter. Standing opposite the entrance, the travellers watch 
 with wondering minds the ceaseless streams of devout pil- 
 grims entering and leaving the temple. 
 
 All the worshippers carry large garlands of bright flowers, 
 which, when they have been placed around the symbol of 
 the god within, they receive back, and piously wear in his 
 honour. The earnestness and devotion of the pilgrims are 
 touching to see. On leaving the temple many of them press 
 their foreheads against the stone doorpost, looking backward, 
 as they do so, toward the central symbol. Most of them 
 carry brazen trays whereon stand tiny cups (also of brass), 
 one filled with rice, another with milk, another with Ganges 
 water; and every little god whom the worshipper passes 
 must be treated to a taste of these delicacies. 
 
 Over the doorway sits Ganesh, hideous to behold with his 
 elephant's head and fat little figure, taking toll from all who 
 
 1 From Wilkins, quoted by Poley on the " Devimahatmyam. "
 
 206 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 enter, a grain of rice, or a flower, or a drop of Ganges water. 
 Being the Father of Calculation, he is not to be trifled with, 
 since he keeps strict account, no doubt, of the offerings that 
 are his due. 
 
 " Philippa," says Sebaste presently, " why is your dress so 
 much besprinkled with Ganges water and grains of rice ? 
 Are they pelting you on purpose ? " 
 
 " Oh, how dreadful ! " exclaims Philippa, in dismay. " Here 
 is a poor little god whom I have been eclipsing ! " 
 
 And there indeed, let into the wall, is an ugly little idol, 
 who scowls at Philippa with a very malignant countenance, 
 and no wonder ! 
 
 Retreating along the narrow street, our travellers pass an 
 uncanny-looking representation of Sanichar, the Eegent of 
 the Planet Saturn, who is worshipped on Saturdays, and who 
 consists, apparently, of a round face of silver from which 
 depend garlands of flowers. The next moment they arrive 
 at the Temple of Annapurna, the Goddess of Plenty, whose 
 special duty is to supply Benares with food. The temple is 
 about 170 years old, and contains some fine and delicately 
 tinted adornment of sculpture. Sacred cows innumerable 
 appear in all directions ; and a splendid peacock is parading 
 about the paved court, while the peahen sits aloft on the 
 roof of the shrine attended by flocks of pigeons. 
 
 Philippa and Sebaste, lingering with Pursotum just within 
 the entrance, have a good view of a train of pilgrims who 
 presently arrive laden with great garlands of yellow flowers. 
 Eound the central shrine they move in procession, and finally 
 enter it. Having seen the goddess decorated with their 
 offerings, -they emerge and approach an old priest, who 
 marks each one on the forehead with a bright crimson pig- 
 ment applied with the thumb. When the pilgrims have
 
 BENARES. 207 
 
 departed, the garlands which they left with the goddess are 
 brought out, and the aged priest, wishing to pay a compli- 
 ment to his English visitors, takes some of the wreaths, and 
 approaches to hang them round their necks. 
 
 Our friends have often submitted to being thus decorated 
 where there was no idol in the case, and have learned that 
 to refuse a garland is a very great insult. The dilemma 
 carries back their imagination to the days of the early 
 Church, and if they were disposed to accept Annapurna's 
 gifts, those words of S. Cyprian would be sufficient to 
 deter them, who, speaking of those Christians who refused 
 to participate in idolatrous ceremonies, exclaims, "Frons 
 cum signo Dei pura diaboli coronam ferre non potuit, coronse 
 se Domini reservavit ! " 1 
 
 The visitors accordingly give the old priest to understand 
 that, being Christians, they must decline the honour. 
 Accepting this reasonable excuse, he gives the garlands 
 to the sacred cows instead, who, independent of scruples, 
 placidly browse thereon. He moreover tells our travellers 
 (through Pursotum) that he is an hundred and six years 
 old, with other matters of interest. 
 
 Thence our friends go on (past a hideous figure of Ganesh, 
 coloured with vermilion, and having silver hands and face 
 and feet) to the temple of Sakshi Vinayak, the Witness, 
 built in 1770. Herein certificates are given to pilgrims 
 who have duly performed the circumambulation of the 
 holy city of Benares. 
 
 Next they visit the temple dedicated to Usanas, the 
 Regent of the planet Venus, wherein are many women 
 praying for goodly sons. Of this same Usanas our travel- 
 lers can recall but little, save what is written of him in 
 
 1 S. Cypriani Liber de Lapsis, c. ii.
 
 208 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the book of Markandeya the Sage, how, when the army 
 of the Daityas were fleeing before the face of the gods, 
 he called unto them with valiant words, and said, "Ye 
 must not go, turn ye back; why run ye away, ye feeble 
 ones ? " 
 
 Many other temples and shrines are visited, including 
 that mysterious Well of Fate, into which whosoever looketh 
 at mid-day and seeth not his face therein reflected shall 
 assuredly die within six months. The number of temples 
 in Benares (irrespective of smaller shrines) has been com- 
 puted at 2000 at least, so that the visitors have plenty 
 of sights to choose from. Nowhere better than here can 
 Hindu idolatry be seen in its most attractive aspect. But, 
 in all conscience, even the brightest, most picturesque, most 
 superficial view of it is saddening enough. There is no 
 rest or comfort among such scenes, unless it be in the 
 words of that daily prayer of the Anglican Church in 
 India, " Grant that all the people of this land may feel 
 after Thee and find Thee." 
 
 Our travellers end their first day by driving out to 
 Sarnath to visit the ancient stupa which marks the place, 
 in the far-famed "Deer-park Garden," where the Buddha 
 preached that first great sermon of his, which was the 
 beginning, they say, of his "turning the Wheel of the 
 Law." The mango - trees are just bursting into bloom, 
 and they, together with nims, acacias, and tamarinds, 
 pleasantly shade the road. As for the venerated erection 
 itself, the description thereof we will not attempt. Its 
 rugged and cumbrous mass would find but scant accom- 
 modation in the final recess of a chapter already long 
 drawn out ; and even that sorry refuge it would be obliged 
 to dispute with many another homeless subject.
 
 THE GOSAIN TEMPLE, BENARES.
 
 BENARES. 209 
 
 Not till after many days do the travellers begin to grow 
 familiar with Benares, and to regard its animated scenes 
 as realities rather than dreams. Most dream-like of all is 
 the wonderful river-side life which they contemplate in many 
 delightful boat - excursions on the broad, smooth waters of 
 venerable Mother Ganges. But that ancient and majestic 
 personage may not unreasonably, methinks, demand a chap- 
 ter to herself.
 
 210 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MOTHER GANGES. 
 
 FEOM the Eoof of the World she comes, from the Dwelling- 
 place of Snow, from Himachal's icy cave 10,000 feet above 
 the sea. Thus much I know ; but that former course of hers, 
 that origin yet more remote, who shall tell of it with cer- 
 tainty ? Yet hath it been told in ancient days, and what 
 was told is this : From Vishnu's lotus-foot she sprang, from 
 the very nail of his great toe, and she fell in her rushing 
 course on Siva's tangled locks, and thence to the roof of the 
 world flowed down ; and so to men at length descended her 
 excellent stream, " the home of sages, the abode of geese and 
 cranes," the ^world-purifier, the wife of the sea. And lower 
 still she went, to the infernal world itself ; and, flowing thus 
 through the three regions of the universe, she is called the 
 Three-wayed Eiver. 
 
 On earth, saith the legend, she first appeared in answer to 
 the prayers and to reward the austerities of Bhagirath the 
 pious, who desired by a libation from her sacred stream to 
 liberate the spirits of his ancestors, and make sure their 
 wellbeing for ever. But, as she first flowed over the earth, 
 her stream engulfed the place of Dschani's sacrifice, and he 
 in his wrath swallowed up the waters ; nor, until the gods
 
 MOTHER GANGES. 211 
 
 had humbly prayed him, did he allow the river to flow forth 
 again from his ears. 
 
 Again she threatened to overflow the earth; but Siva, 
 besought of gods and sages, rolled back her torrent from 
 mouth to source, and imprisoned it in a tuft of his own long 
 hair. Yet once again she appeared ; for when Gotama the 
 Sage had been entrapped into the frightful crime of slaying 
 a cow, Siva loosed Ganga from his head that he might bathe 
 therein and be purified, and Ganga " at the prayers of Gotama 
 flowed down like a torrent from the Gula-Tree which grew 
 firm on the mountain Brahmagiri, whither all men went to 
 bathe. But when Gotama's accusers arrived there, Ganga 
 vanished at their approach, saying, ' If the good and bad 
 were favoured alike there would be no use or advantage in 
 goodness.' " x 
 
 Honoured is she through all her course of 1500 miles, but 
 nowhere more than at holy Benares, where day by day she 
 is worshipped with offerings of rice and milk and flowers, 
 and honoured by thousands of bright -robed bathers, until 
 she seems to have donned such festal array as that wherein 
 she appeared at Siva's wedding long ago, when the Eivers 
 and the seven Seas, and all the sacred Places of Pilgrimage 
 assembled together, as well as the sun and moon, and many 
 other notabilities. 
 
 All the religious energy of Benares has for its heart 
 and its centre the bank of the Ganges. If the life of the 
 streets is vivid and intense, it is concentrated and a thou- 
 sandfold intensified in the scenes by the river. Thither 
 move for ever processions innumerable. Sometimes it is a 
 wedding-train, with music and rejoicing around the central 
 palanquin wherein the bride and bridegroom sit, going to 
 
 1 From Halhed's 'Sheeve Pouran.'
 
 212 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 pour milk and flowers into the sacred stream ; sometimes a 
 moaning chant fills the air, as the funeral of some pious 
 Hindu creeps onward to the burning ghat, whence the ashes 
 of the departed will be carried away by the holy waters, and 
 his soul fly straight to a fabled heaven. And scarcely less 
 solemn are the funerals of the sacred cows, each of whom, 
 when she dies, is tied by the hoofs to a stout bamboo, and, 
 borne on the shoulders of pious-minded men, is brought to 
 the Eiver and cast therein. 
 
 Not long after their arrival in Benares the travellers find 
 themselves standing one morning at about seven o'clock 
 on the Dasashwamedh Ghat (a ghat, be it observed, is a 
 landing-place, generally consisting of a great flight of stone 
 steps leading down to the water's edge). All around is a 
 thronging multitude, lively and picturesque beyond the 
 wildest imaginings. Below lies the broad expanse of the 
 Eiver, "embrowned with the unguents of the celestial 
 nymphs," but sparkling in the sunshine, and fringed with 
 a silent and devout assemblage of solemn pilgrim-bathers. 
 The men throw off their outer garments before entering 
 the water ; but the women wear their usual dress, the all- 
 enveloping saris., and very impressive is the sight of their 
 long-robed figures wading slowly into the water and solemnly 
 dipping below the surface. 
 
 Having thrice offered to the ascending sun a shower of 
 drops from the holy stream, the worshippers emerge from 
 the Eiver, nourishing with the water that drips from their 
 clothes the souls of their respective ancestors. Then, wrap- 
 ping themselves in dry garments, they gather round the Sons 
 of the Ganges. These personages are Brahmans who, shielded 
 from the sun by huge, round umbrellas of bamboo resembling 
 gigantic mushrooms, sit on the steps of the ghat, ready to be-
 
 MOTHER GANGES. 213 
 
 stow on bathers a mark on the forehead signifying that they 
 have left all their sins behind them in the purifying waters 
 of the River. 
 
 A little higher up sit "Veda- skilled Pandits," reading 
 aloud the Sanskrit scriptures, and expounding in the vulgar 
 tongue. Around these dignified professors the people next 
 assemble, sitting on the sunlit steps in compact masses of 
 many harmonious colours. Our friends approach one of the 
 Pandits, who, to judge by the size of his attentive congre- 
 gation, is a very great favourite. Cross-legged he sits on a 
 seat of dignity. Eound his neck hang many fresh and 
 bright-hued garlands, and before him is a heap of offerings 
 flowers and fruit piled up for his acceptance by his devout 
 and reverent hearers. Like the illustrious Muni Markandeya, 
 with a loud, clear voice he speaks, devoid of the eighteen 
 defects. 1 Pursotum's serious countenance, framed in its 
 twisted folds of yellow silk, turns in silent attention toward 
 the aged speaker. 
 
 "Tell us what he is saying, Pursotum." And Pursotum 
 interprets : 
 
 " One God there is, and one alone. Many are the deities 
 ye worship. All these are but His servants ; for God Him- 
 self is One." 
 
 Strangely sound such words here in idolatrous Benares ; 
 but no one can hope to understand anything of Hindu re- 
 ligion who does not recognise that the system is, theoretically, 
 a pantheistic one. Not to speak of the Vedas, which set 
 forth the ancient and purely Aryan religion, the doctrine 
 of Pantheism is continually implied even in the popular 
 and comparatively modern Puranas. Unfortunately, both in 
 
 1 I.e., in reciting he shaketh not his head, he pronounceth not indistinctly, 
 he speaketh not through the nose ; and so forth.
 
 214 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 India and elsewhere (with the exception of some learned 
 Philosophers and other exalted beings of that kind), men 
 don't seem able to get on without worshipping something, 
 and something other than the impersonal abstraction of a 
 merely pantheistic creed ; nor is it within the power of every 
 ordinary mortal to rise to the sublime heights to which that 
 King of ancient times attained, who, " reducing the five ele- 
 ments to the three qualities, and these to the unity of their 
 principle, merged that principle, with all that it constitutes, 
 in the Soul, and the Soul in Brahma the immutable and 
 absolute existence." x Accordingly the religion of the ordi- 
 nary Hindu is Polytheism in its most degraded form, for all 
 that the learned Pandits may solemnly preach to the contrary. 
 
 As the travellers turn away from the much-decorated sage, 
 Pursotum points out two small suttee monuments marking 
 the spots where widows have been burned on the pyres of 
 their dead husbands. 
 
 " It is sixty years ago," say Pursotum, " that there was the 
 last suttee in Benares." 
 
 Absurd stories are not very congruous with so horrible a 
 subject ; nevertheless, if any one desire to read of the myth- 
 ical origin thereof, let him look in the Siva Purana, and he 
 will find that the word is derived from the name of Sati, who 
 was none other than Parvati the wife of Siva. When Sati's 
 father affronted Siva, she burned herself by reason of vexa- 
 tion ; and the place of her death became so holy that " all 
 who come there with pure faith and sincere devotion obtain 
 all their desires, and many have cut off their tongues and 
 heads and bestowed them in devotion, and in a moment have 
 received fresh heads and new life " through the virtue of that 
 sacred place. 
 
 1 See ' Le Bhagavata Purana,' . . . traduit . . . par M. Eugene Buniouf.
 
 MOTHER GANGES. 215 
 
 And whosoever desires a description of the suttees which 
 took place constantly at the beginning of the century, let him 
 read it in Crawfurd's graphic Sketches, and not demand it 
 of me. 
 
 The travellers leave the monuments, and, having regarded, 
 from a respectful distance, the Smallpox Temple where those 
 who have recovered from smallpox go to give thanks to Sitla 
 the goddess thereof, they return to the water's edge and em- 
 bark on one of the quaint and shapeless things which call 
 themselves boats hereabout. On the roof of the cabin they 
 sit, and, as their turbaned oarsmen make way slowly up-stream 
 through many floating garlands on their way to the sea, there 
 unfolds itself before them one of the strangest scenes in all 
 the world. 
 
 The city is built in a great bend of the Eiver, where the 
 bank reaches a height of about 100 feet. Up this steep 
 bank is piled a fantastically beautiful mass of palaces and 
 temples and shrines. Every Maharaja has a palace in 
 Benares, whither the aged members of his family come to 
 die. Strange and imposing piles they are. The lower half 
 of those nearest the water consists of a solid mass of 
 masonry, except for one narrow stair leading down to a 
 doorway, which, in the wet season, is altogether submerged. 
 Some of the palaces are stained a rich crimson, streaked 
 and effaced by the Eiver in flood-time until nothing is left 
 but a suspicion of delicate colour. 
 
 But surpassing even these in architectural interest are 
 the temples with their sculptured pillars, and their conical 
 domes, each consisting of a compact cluster of " curvilinear 
 spires." Each spire of the cluster is stained a deep red 
 and tipped with gold, the central spire rising above the 
 lesser ones, an elongated, egg-shaped dome of wonderfully
 
 216 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 graceful proportions. A delightful contrast to these richly 
 tinted buildings are the masses of green foliage which here 
 and there appear where a pipal-tree or a tamarind finds 
 room to grow and to flourish. 
 
 And everywhere from the summit of the bank to the 
 water's edge descend the giant ghats. Cataracts of steep 
 masonry are they, their broad steps bordered everywhere by 
 shrines and temples blossoming forth beside them like gor- 
 geous flowers; and wonderful theatres they make for the 
 ceaseless movement and effective grouping of the animated 
 crowds that haunt them. Down at the water's brink are the 
 solemn bathers, while up and down the great steps move 
 in procession the figures of water-drawing women in crimson 
 saris, each bearing on her head a large, round vessel of 
 shining brass, poised in equilibrium or steadied by a slender 
 brown arm adorned with glittering bracelets. But the most 
 wonderful part of the scene is the crowd of richer folk, who 
 are clad in all the colours of the rainbow, and are for ever 
 forming themselves into new and exquisite combinations 
 of delicate and glowing hues. Most beautiful of all are the 
 women's veils, thrown over the head so as to shade without 
 hiding the face, and descending in soft folds of Indian muslin 
 so fine as to look like silk. They are of a rich golden colour, 
 and coral-pink, and crimson, and delicate moss-green, and 
 the tenderest shades of cream-colour and purple and orange, 
 often edged with a narrow border of silver or gold that 
 gleams and glitters in the sunlight. The men are also 
 brightly clad. And the turbans ! But on turbans we have 
 discoursed already, and they must not again entangle us in 
 their cunningly twisted folds. 
 
 The travellers in their boat ascend the Eiver as far as the 
 Ashi Ghat, where the city begins, and then drop slowly
 
 MOTHER GANGES. 217 
 
 down-stream, past the " Empty Palace " where Chait Singh 
 had his abode, and whence, when put under arrest by Warren 
 Hastings, he escaped to Eamnagar across the Eiver ; past the 
 upper Burning Ghat, past palaces and temples innumerable, 
 and past the Dasashwamedh Ghat, at which they embarked. 
 Close by it is the great Observatory builded by Eaja Jai 
 Singh at the end of the seventeenth century, and containing 
 huge mural instruments for astrological observations, Bhithi- 
 yantras and Digansayantras, Chakrayantras and Yantrasasa- 
 ments, with other uncanny erections. 
 
 A little farther down the Eiver comes into view the Mpal- 
 ese Temple, the most picturesque object, perhaps, in the whole 
 of Benares, and an absolute contrast, with its successive 
 storeys and slanting roofs, to all the other temples, although, 
 like them, it is stained with the sacred dark-red colour. 
 
 Our friends at length arrive at the Manikaranika Ghat, 
 near which they intend to visit Vishnu's Well. As they 
 approach the shore, they are grinned at in a highly unman- 
 nerly fashion by a hideous clay figure of the hero Bhima. 
 He faces the Eiver, with head propped forward so that his 
 staring eyes may watch the passing boats. Every year at 
 flood-time the Eiver washes him away, and he has to be 
 modelled and painted afresh. He rejoices in huge black 
 moustaches, which give him a very sinister expression of 
 countenance. 
 
 On landing the travellers follow Pursotum round various 
 corners and up a flight of steps, whereupon they find them- 
 selves in one of the prettiest of the smaller temples in 
 Benares. Beneath the pillared pavilion in the centre sits a 
 solitary figure in the sacred orange-coloured robe which marks 
 him as a yogi or Hindu ascetic. With a rapt countenance, 
 and evidently unconscious of all around him, delivered from
 
 218 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the chain of outward things, " he is even as a lamp standing 
 in a place without wind, which wavereth not." l He seems 
 as if, like Parikchit the King of the Earth, he had utterly 
 detached himself from the two worlds, and had undertaken 
 his last fast on the shore of the Ganges, that Kiver of the 
 Immortals that is purified by the dust of Vishnu's lotus-feet. 
 It is of such as he that the ancient scripture saith : " Now 
 if a yogi is fed first, he can save . . . those who feast, just as 
 a boat saves in water, better than thousands of Brahmans." 2 
 Pursotum regards him reverently, and presently says : 
 
 " That is a holy man. When he dies he will not be 
 burned, but will be put in a stone coffin and thrown into 
 the Ganges." 
 
 " But I thought, Pursotum, that that custom was not 
 allowed any longer." 
 
 " It is not allowed to every one, but always to yogis. And 
 so it is to children who die under one year old: if their 
 parents are rich enough, they are put in stone coffins, but if 
 not, they are only made fast to stones and then thrown into 
 the Eiver." 
 
 The conversation is interrupted by a polite flower-seller, 
 who suddenly throws some garlands of white flowers round 
 the travellers' hats, and has to be rewarded therefor. Then 
 they leave the temple, and find themselves before a wretched 
 hovel, at the door whereof sits a little group of men some 
 of the most degraded and horrible of Hindu devotees. Their 
 heads are uncovered, their hair is matted together, they are 
 smeared with ashes, their faces are less than human, dread- 
 ful faces such as are not to be seen in Christian lands no, 
 not even in London. 
 
 Our travellers next pass an array of brass vessels covered 
 
 1 Quoted by Crawfurd. 2 Markandeya Pura"na. Pargiter.
 
 MOTHER GANGES. 219 
 
 with basket - work and decorated with sacred peacocks' 
 feathers. They are slung to bamboos, and are destined to 
 carry Ganges water to some far-off town. Little bells are 
 attached to them, which will jangle as the procession of 
 bearers moves away on its long journey. 
 
 The next moment they meet a procession of shivering 
 figures, with water dripping from their drenched and cling- 
 ing garments. They are coming away from Vishnu's Well ; 
 and there at last is the well itself a picturesquely dirty 
 tank with flights of steps on its four sides leading down into 
 the water. Three feet is the utmost depth of the sacred 
 liquid, wherein are standing devout pilgrims who pour milk 
 and rice into the water, together with white flowers, which 
 float thereupon, disguising its evil colour. A Brahman is 
 presiding over the devotions, and makes each worshipper 
 hold the sacred grass in his hand while he himself recites 
 some mystic words in a low voice. Then, having received 
 his fee, he dismisses them to dip in the Ganges, and thus 
 complete the ceremony. 
 
 As our friends return to their boat, Pursotum points out 
 the lower Burning Ghat, where two muffled corpses lie by 
 the water's edge, awaiting the construction of their funeral 
 pyres. 
 
 Ee-embarking, they continue to drop down -stream, past 
 the print of Vishnu's feet, and past Sindhia's Ghat a vast 
 mass of masonry slowly sinking down into the River and 
 carrying a temple with it. They now arrive at the Ghat of 
 the Five Rivers, where meet, they say, the Dhantapapa, the 
 Jaranada, the Kirnanada, the Saraswati, and the Ganges. 
 Of these five streams only the last is visible; but this is 
 easy of explanation, since the other four, it seems, flow 
 underground.
 
 220 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 On the bank above stands the mosque of Aurangzib, with 
 its two slender minarets that rise to a height of more than 
 250 feet above the Eiver. Thither some of our travellers 
 will ascend on another day, and, islanded there on high, 
 floating in a sea of sunshine, with no companions save the 
 emerald-green parrots who build their nests up there, they 
 will look abroad over the River, away to the green belt of 
 the open country, and the shadowy, far-away heights of the 
 Chunar Hills ; while from the deep and tangled maze of the 
 crowded town at their feet will rise up to them the sound 
 of many voices, no rumbling din as of a Western town, 
 but a shrill, restless, confused clamour, " the cry of the city," 
 that goes up day by day unceasingly to the heaven of cloud- 
 less blue. 
 
 At present the sun is already too high for further sight- 
 seeing, and the travellers are glad to return to the Dasash- 
 wamedh Ghat, and thus end their morning's business. 
 
 In the afternoon of the same day Pursotum suggests a 
 visit to Eamnagar, the palace-fort of the Maharaja of Benares. 
 It stands a little higher up the stream than the city, on the 
 other side of the Eiver. There, says Pursotum, a festival is 
 held to-day. 
 
 As their boat slowly makes way up the Eiver, our travel- 
 lers see on the Benares bank, a little above the city, two 
 great elephants surrounded by a group of native figures. 
 The elephants belong, it seems, to the Maharaja, and are 
 presently to be conveyed across the Eiver. Our friends have 
 been introduced to many an elephant in the courts of the 
 southern temples, but never before have they seen them as a 
 natural feature of the landscape under the open sky. In 
 these circumstances their clumsiness vanishes, and only 
 dignity remains, so that it is quite an impressive sight to
 
 MOTHER GANGES. 221 
 
 see them marching along, continually flapping their enor- 
 mous ears ; and no longer does that seem a doubtful compli- 
 ment of Eita-dhvaja, who spoke of the lovely Queen Madalasa 
 as "the fawn -eyed daughter of Gandharva, who observed 
 true religion, whose gait was like the elephant's" : and one 
 begins to understand something of the pathos of King 
 Surath's complaint, who, having been driven out of his 
 kingdom, and wandering in the dreary forest, exclaimed, 
 " I know not the fate of my counsellors, or of my trained 
 elephant Surahasti." x 
 
 Very grand looks the fort of Kainnagar as our travellers 
 approach it, raised high above the Eiver, which clearly 
 reflects its walls. 
 
 Other boats are also approaching, densely crowded with 
 brightly clad Natives, and on landing our friends find them- 
 selves surrounded by an animated throng of holiday-makers. 
 One of these is a snake-charmer, round whose figure great 
 hill-snakes glide and coil, thick and strong as that serpent 
 wherewith, as with a cable, in the universal deluge Vishnu 
 fastened the Eishis' ship to his own stupendous horn. On 
 the ground is a cobra with head erect and hood extended, 
 darting his tongue in fury at the unfamiliar visitors. They 
 are assured, however, that his poison-tooth has been ex- 
 tracted, and that he can bite no more. 
 
 Making their way through the outer courts of the castle, 
 the travellers enter at a doorway where stands on each side 
 an ivory elephant, while beneath them crouch terrific plaster 
 tigers, one of whom is having his whiskers painted. 
 
 The visitors wander through the state apartments, and 
 finally emerge on a balcony overhanging the principal en- 
 
 1 From the ' Sapta-Shati.' Translated by Cavali Venkat Rtimasswdmi, 
 Pandit.
 
 222 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 trance, whence a fine ghat leads down to the water's edge. 
 Standing by the small, white-marble pavilion wherein the 
 Maharaja prays, they obtain a bird's-eye view of this great 
 staircase of stone. On the steps sit many flower -sellers, 
 their large* baskets overflowing with garlands ; and from the 
 water's brink ascend in constant streams whole boat-loads of 
 Natives newly disembarked. Wonderful is the sight of this 
 crowd of Hindus in festal array, many of them clad in 
 satins and velvets finely embroidered with gold. 
 
 Each new-comer buys some flowers, and solemnly carries 
 them in a flat, round basket to the tiny temples perched 
 high up on the ramparts of the castle. Here the worshippers 
 move eight times round the shrine, and finally offer their 
 floral gifts. Many of them pause as they do so to trace with 
 their fingers on the walls or the pavement the letters of an 
 invisible name. 
 
 As our friends once more embark, the light is soft with 
 the glow of sunset, and each boatful of brilliant figures is 
 clearly mirrored on the surface of the shining water. 
 Before they have reached mid-stream the night is upon them, 
 and from many a palace in the city rings forth a hubbub of 
 native music, tom 7 toms and other delectable instruments 
 filling the air with sound, as when the warrior-maidens of 
 old "sounded the trumpet, likewise the conches, kettle- 
 drums, and other instruments in the festival of war." At 
 sunrise and at sunset, at mid-day and at midnight, this wild 
 music is made in all the river-side palaces as an act of 
 religious devotion. Musical modes are gods in India, and a 
 Hindu will never allow that his unintelligible strains are 
 not far superior to any music of the sober and conven- 
 tional West. 
 
 Now through the gathering darkness are seen the red
 
 MOTHER GANGES. 223 
 
 lights from the two Burning Ghats, and from each trails 
 far through the air a dark line of shadowy smoke. The 
 travellers cause their boat to pass close to one of them so 
 that they can see the blazing pile, and above it the little 
 company of mourners, distinctly visible, in the light of the 
 fire, against a background of darkness. 
 
 As the boat approaches its destination, a tiny flickering 
 light glides near it, floating slowly seaward. It is a little 
 lamp fed with ghee, 1 and launched as a pious offering to well- 
 loved Mother Ganges. Meanwhile the countless stars shine 
 forth, and the travellers are reminded of that ancient King 
 to whom it was said, "As drops of water in the sea, or as 
 stars in the sky, or as showers of rain, as the sands in the 
 Ganges . . . are innumerable, Maha-raja, even so thy 
 merit is in truth beyond reckoning." 
 
 As they drive away from the Eiver the travellers meet a 
 funeral. The muffled body of the dead man is slung to a 
 bamboo resting on the shoulders of two of his relations, who 
 speed along at a quick trot toward the Burning Ghat, 
 chanting as they go in the vernacular, "Earn is great! Earn 
 is great ! " 
 
 " Pursotum," says Philippa, " when can we go to the Burn- 
 ing Ghat, and watch the funeral ceremonies ? " 
 
 "You can go to-morrow," says Pursotum; and the next 
 afternoon the travellers accordingly watch for more than two 
 hours in that melancholy place "where stands in Benares 
 the burning - ground, very dire with the close contagion of 
 fear, and painful by reason of the sounds of lamentation." 
 And these are the rites which they see: 
 
 On a rough bamboo stretcher the shrouded corpse is 
 brought to the river-side. It is first dipped in the water, 
 
 1 Liquid butter.
 
 224 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 and then laid on the bank, while the dead man's nearest 
 relative begins to build the pyre with logs of wood laid 
 crosswise. On this pile the body is placed, and the chief 
 mourner, putting his hand under the wrappings, rubs it 
 with the dust of sandal-wood, and lays pieces of sandal- 
 wood beside it. Then he completes the pyre, piling up the 
 wood over the body, but leaving still visible the muffled 
 head and feet. Then follows a long pause while the chief 
 mourner goes away to bathe in the Eiver, and to put on 
 a clean garment, and to have his head shaved. He next 
 goes to a bamboo-hut (perched on a ledge of ground above 
 the Burning Ghat) where lives the Domra, a low-caste 
 personage whose duty is to supply the fire for the burning. 
 There is no fixed price, and a long bargaining takes place 
 before the weary mourner returns with the fire smouldering 
 in a whisp of straw. He now walks five times round the 
 pyre, touching each time he passes it the head of the dead 
 man with the burning straw. At the fifth circumambulation 
 he sets fire to the wood near the feet of the corpse, and in 
 a few minutes the red flames are blazing high in air. When 
 the fire has burned for more than an hour, the chief mourner 
 takes a long, pointed bamboo wherewith he beats and stirs 
 it, a process said to give intense pain to the soul of the 
 dead. Finally he takes up on the point of the bamboo what 
 looks like a charred piece of wood, and pitches it into the 
 Eiver. Then Ganges-water is brought and poured on the 
 hissing flames until they die out in a white cloud of steam, 
 whereupon the ashes are raked and washed down into the 
 Eiver, and the ceremony is over. 
 
 The relatives of the dead must now bathe before returning 
 home, and the chief mourner will for thirteen days be con- 
 sidered unclean, and must cook his own food and eat by
 
 MOTHER GANGES. 225 
 
 himself. On the thirteenth day he will make a feast for his 
 relatives and friends, for on that day the soul of the dead 
 will enter Yama's city that is " awful, made of iron, terrible 
 in appearance." There Yama, the god of the dead, " with 
 fiery red eyes, reigneth for ever with Death and Time the 
 Destroyer." Terrible is the journey thither; for when a 
 man dies, Yama's servitors, " terrific, carrying hammers and 
 maces, hard-hearted," immediately bind him in cruel fetters 
 and drag him forth to the southern region " which abounds 
 in hundreds of holes, and which is heated by the blazing 
 sun." And "being dragged about by those fearful ones, 
 being eaten by hundreds of she-jackals, the evil-doer pro- 
 ceeds by an awful road. But men who give umbrellas and 
 shoes, and who bestow garments, those men pass along that 
 road with ease." Throughout this journey (which is a short 
 and easy matter for those who die here in holy Benares) the 
 dead man's soul is sustained by a daily offering of rice-cake 
 and water, which gradually enables him to grow a new body 
 instead of that which has been burned, slowly taking to 
 itself arms and legs, until on the tenth day it obtains at last 
 a head. Thenceforth the dead is worshipped as a pitri in 
 the periodical rites of sraddJia. 
 
 Such things doth Pursotum tell to the travellers as they 
 stand on a high ledge by a sculptured temple, looking down 
 on the funeral ceremonies of the gloomy burning-ground. 
 But at length the fierce light of the day sinks down, and 
 the Eiver is a bright plain of rosy glass with rippling 
 streaks of blue. And so farewell for a while, venerable 
 Mother Ganga !
 
 226 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 
 
 BEFORE leaving Benares our travellers have an opportunity, 
 such as they have hitherto never enjoyed, of seeing that 
 most terrific of natural dramas, a protracted tropical thunder- 
 storm. All day the still air has glowed with an almost 
 unbearable heat. So long is it since rain has fallen that the 
 grassy level of the compound is scorched and yellow, while 
 the thirsty ground is cleft by long, gaping cracks, and the 
 pipals and nims and tamarinds, covered with parching dust, 
 hang down with a drooping hopelessness their dry and 
 weary leaves. Even the sunshine has lost its life, and on 
 the dusty earth it is poured, from the dead and colourless 
 sky, in a cruel, blinding, glaring blaze that has no sense 
 of pity. 
 
 But when the sun is near his setting, rolls up from the 
 northern horizon a bank of inky clouds, no freely floating 
 masses such as we know in England, but a dense and solid 
 wall of angry, blue-black hue. Swiftly, irresistibly it comes, 
 swallowing up the sky ; and forth leaps the lightning-flame 
 not yellow or steely blue, but of a lurid, rose-red colour 
 unknown, so far as our friends are aware, in our feebler 
 northern storms.
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 227 
 
 A thunderstorm at night so near the tropics is not a 
 sight to be missed. Stay not within in lamplit rooms, but 
 go out into the verandah and watch. It will give you a 
 headache may be, but it is well worth that. Black and 
 thick the night has fallen, hiding the world from view ; 
 but more awful than the deepest gloom are the moments of 
 leaping light when the weird spell of the lightning calls all 
 things forth in a moment into strange, unnatural distinct- 
 ness. Then every colour is clear and vivid, every leaf on 
 the frightened trees is plain for all to see. One would well- 
 nigh think it day, were it not that all things, in their dazzled 
 stillness, seem staring and stiff with terror, were it not that 
 the sky in its dreadful brightness is of so livid and ghastly 
 a hue. A moment more, and again the whole world is 
 engulfed in the murky darkness, overwhelmed by the roar of 
 devouring thunder and the floods of the rushing rain. Ever 
 more fiercely rages the tumult, until the lightning-flashes are 
 joined together, until the clamours of the storm-wind and 
 the sound of the waters are all one with the din of the 
 bellowing thunder that hurtles round the great vault of 
 heaven with one unceasing roar of never-resting, unappeas- 
 able despair. So the turmoil rolls and crashes till the 
 strength of the storm is spent, until the lightnings fade back 
 into darkness and the thunder dies in silence, until Nature, 
 as though she were wearied by her passionate burst of grief, 
 at length sinks down exhausted and cries herself to sleep. 
 
 But next morning all is dewy freshness, and the earth has 
 renewed her youth. Clear and blue is the radiant sky, and 
 the sunshine's smiling brightness is gentle and sweet as the 
 tenderest light of eyes that beam and glisten. Green blades 
 are springing from the breathing ground, and the trees are 
 stirring and quivering with the joy of their verdant life.
 
 228 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 The brilliant parrots flutter among them, filling the air with 
 their cries that blithely answer the Indian woodpecker's soft 
 and bell-like note. 
 
 As the calm and peace that come with the dawn after long, 
 dark hours of weeping ; as the hope and the rest that the sick 
 man feels when a wasting fever has left him, when renewed 
 and cleansed from its inmost springs the tide of life flows 
 back, so are the gladness, the sweetness, and mirth that 
 have come with the new-born day. For the dewy flowers, 
 the broad green leaves, and all living things beside, are trans- 
 figured and full to overflowing of some bright, mysterious 
 secret. They know it, they have heard it, but we may not 
 hear just yet ; and the trees, as the soft air stirs them, make 
 smiling signals one to another, as though they whispered of 
 us, " What will they say when they know it ? What will 
 they do ? How will they bear such joy as they dream not 
 now is in store ? And soon they shall know, but we may not 
 tell them yet. Hush hush ! " 
 
 Even as when we were children, in the bright and distant 
 days, sometimes, when a birthday drew near, the elder faces 
 around us were full of delightful mystery, and all the air was 
 astir with a half -suspected secret that we would not know 
 too soon, so now through the world that lives and smiles is- 
 bursting the glory of some great good above all that we ask 
 or think. 
 
 On such a morning as this the travellers leave Benares, 
 and set forth on a 200 miles' north-westward journey into 
 Awadh (or Oudh, as the vulgar usage hath it), that they may 
 spend some days at Lucknow and Cawnpore in visiting the 
 ever -memorable sites connected with the Sipahi Mutiny. 
 But of the impressions of these days, of their meditations in
 
 THE MEMORIAL WELL, CAVVNPORE.
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 229 
 
 these places, our friends may be forgiven if they keep no 
 written record. 
 
 And now again the rich Indian landscape, with its strangely 
 beautiful vegetation and its boundless level of verdant plain, 
 is swiftly fleeting past, as our travellers pursue their way 
 north-westward to Agra, the City of Akbar. Starting from 
 Cawnpore at 1 1 A.M., they arrive about tiffin-time at Etawah, 
 which used to be the headquarters of the Thags, and doubt- 
 less would be still were it not for the British raj. 
 
 The historically minded Philippa is called upon for an 
 account of that amiable community, and a gruesome story 
 she tells : how they were bound together by devotion to the 
 terrible Kali, in whose honour it was their vocation in life 
 to strangle as many people as possible; how they had a 
 secret language, and signs whereby to recognise each other, 
 and an elaborate organisation ; and how their method was 
 to make friends with well-to-do travellers, and remain in 
 their company on terms of intimacy and kindness, until at 
 an opportune moment they could strangle and plunder and 
 bury them. 
 
 When they attacked a company of travellers, every one of 
 them had to be strangled, that none might be left to give 
 information. 1 Only, if very young boys were of the party, the 
 Thags would adopt them and bring them up to the craft. In 
 the whole system of Thagi there was nothing, perhaps, so 
 horrible as the cautious and gradual education of these young 
 recruits. It was so gently done ; all danger of shocking their 
 minds was so carefully avoided, as step by step they were 
 insensibly promoted, until that proud day was reached when 
 the neophyte, solemnly presented with the noose, acquired 
 
 1 See 'Asiatic Researches ' for 1820 (vol. xiii.).
 
 230 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the privileges of the fully initiate, and began his sacred 
 career. The sacredness thereof must on no account be lost 
 sight of. Each expedition began and ended with an im- 
 pressive religious ceremony, and a number of omens were 
 strictly observed, including the chirping of lizards. At the 
 preliminary sacrifice a sheep was slain before Kali's silver 
 image, prayers for success were devoutly offered, and there 
 was a solemn dedication of the instruments of the art. 
 
 These instruments were three. The first was the noose 
 of cord, for which might be substituted, in ordinary practice, 
 a turban or any other length of cloth, provided that its 
 colour was none other than yellow or white, which hues 
 are sacred to the goddess Kali. The second instrument 
 was the knife wherewith they used horribly to lacerate 
 their victims' dead bodies, that the process of dissolution 
 might go on speedily. The third was a pickaxe for the 
 digging of graves. Not always had they all been needed, for 
 in the good old days, long, long ago, the victims were left 
 unburied, and Kali herself (following on the track of her 
 pious devotees) devoured them every one. But once on a 
 time it came to pass that a company of Thags had slain 
 a man; and, as they were departing from the place, a 
 young neophyte dared to look back, and he beheld the 
 dark goddess in the midst of her banquet, and the dead 
 body of the victim hung dangling out of her mouth. Then 
 the goddess, filled with rage, did make declaration that 
 never more would she deign to feast on those that the 
 Thags should slay. Only so far she relented that she gave 
 for a pickaxe one of her teeth, for a knife a rib of her own, 
 and the hem of her robe for a noose. 
 
 After that, it seems, the Thags went on and prospered ; 
 and a great deal of business they did, especially in the hot
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 231 
 
 weather when men travelled by night. In this one district 
 of Etawah were found in wells, during the years 1808 and 
 1809, sixty-seven bodies of the victims of Thagi. The num- 
 bers of the Thags were astonishingly large ; but those outside 
 the Society had no means of recognising them, and the terror 
 of their unseen presence must have been awful. But then 
 their devotion, though doubtless mistaken, was certainly 
 most sincere ; and it is a comfort to think that it matters not 
 what we believe so long as we act up to our convictions. 
 
 Through the hot afternoon the journey continues ; the 
 sun goes down, and our friends arrive at Agra in the sweet 
 and dreamy stillness known only to those who have felt the 
 magic of an Indian night. The Zodiacal Light is faintly 
 gleaming, and, as they cross the Jamna, the starlight shimmers 
 on the broad stream, while Jupiter, wonderfully large and 
 brilliant, throws a shining path across the waters. 
 
 But with the morning comes eager haste, and astonish- 
 ment of wondering admiration. Hindu architecture has 
 grown familiar enough to our travellers; but of Muham- 
 madan buildings in India they have hitherto seen but little, 
 and their minds are ill prepared for the splendours of this 
 stately city of the Mughals. Faring forth in the cool, fresh 
 air of early morning, they betake them first to the palace- 
 fort which Akbar (in the sixteenth century) began to build, 
 and his magnificent successors finished. 
 
 Built of deep-red sandstone, its towering walls and its 
 mighty gates glow with rich, crimson colour. More than a 
 mile and a half is the circuit of those royal walls ; their 
 height is nearly 70 feet ; and they are crowned with strange 
 " beehive " crenelations which add much to the extraordin- 
 ary impressiveness of the unfamiliar architecture. Surely
 
 232 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 this is no common fortress builded by the hand of man ! 
 It belongs not to this ordinary world, but rather, one would 
 think, to some Eastern fairy tale. Doubtless it was reared by 
 demon-builders long ago for some mighty magician to dwell in. 
 Nay, so mysterious is its oriental grandeur that one scarcely 
 believes it to exist at all, unless it be in some vague, meta- 
 phoric manner like that other fortress, of Indian allegory, 
 whereof spake of old those pious sons of the soul-subdued 
 Sukrisha. "Great," 1 said they, "is the fortress which has 
 "Wisdom for its rampart, and the bones for its pillars. . . . 
 It is enclosed on all sides with sinews ; and there the 
 Sentient Soul sits firm as king. Two rival ministers hath 
 he, the Intelligence and the Understanding ; " and four 
 enemies who desire his destruction, even Desire and Anger 
 and Covetousness and Folly. These four besiege the fortress, 
 and the Understanding betrays his king. Then doth the 
 Intelligence perish, and the Sentient Soul is subdued. 
 
 With minds still haunted by such old-world similitudes, 
 our travellers enter the Fort by way of the Elephant 
 Gate, and speedily find themselves opposite the entrance 
 of the Moti Masjid, the famous Pearl Mosque built by 
 Shah Jahan in 1648-1655. Ascending a high flight of 
 steps, they pass through a gateway of red sandstone lined 
 within with polished white marble ; and so they find them- 
 selves in the shining marble court. A beautiful cloister sur- 
 rounds it ; in the centre is the marble tank for ablutions ; 
 and opposite the gateway, raised by steps above the white 
 pavement of the court, is the lovely praying - place, its 
 cusped Saracenic arches retreating in stately perspective 
 to the cool shadows that reign within. From the roof 
 rise many light and graceful cupolas, and three great bulb- 
 
 1 Markandeya Purdna. Pargiter.
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 233 
 
 ous domes that curve upward against the cloudless sky 
 in lines of perfect loveliness. Domes and cupolas, arches 
 and pillars and court, all the building is of radiant white 
 marble such as we know not at all in our cold and watery 
 atmosphere. 
 
 One dreams that the Emperor who builded so beautiful 
 a place of worship must needs have been pious and devout, 
 and it is pleasing to recall that picture of him which his 
 admiring chronicler has left us, who tells in florid Persian 
 how, " at the close of night," l " the sun which illumines the 
 firmament in the universe of royalty and dominion, the 
 moon that irradiates the sky of monarchy and felicity" 
 that is to say, the King "with an attentive heart . . . 
 offers up his devotions to the true Deity ; " and " when the 
 true dawn is about to appear, he, with readiness of heart 
 and purity of mind, employs himself in reading the glorious 
 and renowned Koran with perfect fluency and eloquence." 
 
 Long do the visitors wander in this enchanted precinct, 
 penetrating to the mihrab, and admiring most of all the 
 exquisite screens of marble fretwork behind which the ladies 
 used to worship. Words are too clumsy and commonplace 
 for these faery webs of such delicately intricate design that 
 one almost dreads to touch for fear of tearing them. The 
 fairest lace is not more dainty, yet are they as fresh and 
 stainless now as when first their makers wrought them 
 three centuries and a half ago. Finally our travellers as- 
 cend to the roof, and look away over a great curving bend of 
 the Jamna, to the white domes and minarets of that most 
 lovely of marble tombs, the far-famed Taj Mahall. But 
 that is the crown and the flower of Agra's splendours, and 
 we must not describe it yet. 
 
 1 From Mr Glad win's translation. See the "Persian Moonshee."
 
 234 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Leaving the mosque at length, our friends betake them 
 to the great cloistered square which was the Carrousel or 
 Tilt-yard. Herein is the tomb of Mr Colvin, the Lieutenant- 
 Govern or of the North-West Provinces, who died in 1857 
 during the Mutiny, when Agra Fort was crowded with 
 refugees and besieged by the rebels. A brass gun, taken 
 from the mutineers, is here to this day. 
 
 On one side of the grand court, and opening on to it, is 
 the Diwan i Am, the Hall of Public Audience, which seems 
 not to have been completed (in its present form) until the 
 twenty - seventh year of the reign of Aurangzib. It is a 
 triple colonnade of red sandstone, with slender pillars and 
 cusped Saracenic arches ; but all has now been so mercilessly 
 whitewashed (or leastwise painted white) that it is pitiful to 
 see. Within, at the back of the hall, is a beautiful estrade 
 of marble, whereon, in solemn, cross-legged dignity, the 
 Mughal sat enthroned. The Audience Hall is raised by 
 steps above the great court ; and the Emperor's throne 
 commanded a view not only of those in his immediate 
 presence, but also of all the crowd without. 
 
 What saith our florid chronicler concerning the great 
 Assembly held every morning by the Emperor in the stately 
 Diwan i Am ? The prayers have long been finished ; and 
 that distribution of presents is over wherein it was manifest 
 that " the hand of the Emperor is boundless as the ocean in 
 bestowing bounties, being the key of the gates of kindness 
 and liberality ; " the Gracious Monarch has repaired to the 
 plain of the Jerokahdursun, where " the eyes of those who 
 entertain hopes and expectations " have been " brightened by 
 the light -diffusing countenance;" and now "the sun of the 
 heaven of prosperity and empire, the shadow of God, the 
 asylum of the universe, the splendour of whose instructive
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 235 
 
 front causes light and gladness to the world and to man- 
 kind," " increases by his presence " the splendour of the Hall 
 of Audience, " where the servants of the court stand ready to 
 enjoy the blessing of making obeisance." 
 
 Now the Emperor has taken his place, and there follows a 
 review of " fleet steeds, with inlaid and enamelled furniture," 
 and " renowned elephants, resembling mountains, and decked 
 in complete trappings ornamented with gold and precious 
 stones. Then the princes of high descent, agreeably to their 
 respective ranks, have permission to be seated near the im- 
 perial throne. After which the following persons : Khans, 
 Omrahs, and Mirzas, . . . Ministers of State, viziers of high 
 degree, . . . gentlemen of the sword and of the pen, valiant 
 and cautious, . . . armour-bearers of great exertions, archers, 
 . . . dilapidators of mountains, and other respectable persons." 
 Meanwhile the behaviour of the servants is exemplary beyond 
 belief. " Struck with veneration and attachment on behold- 
 ing the august countenance," they are " lost and immersed in 
 wonder and amazement. Notwithstanding they are so much 
 pressed together, they do not presume to converse one with 
 another, but, having closed their lips with the seal of 
 silence, and girded up the loins of obedience, completely 
 armed and accoutred, listen to commands inevitable as the 
 decrees of fate, and, in the road of obedience and compliance, 
 outstrip the lightning and the wind." 
 
 Then follows the reception of foreign ambassadors, and of 
 those "merchants and traders" who "from remote regions 
 resort to this court, the asylum of mankind, permanent as 
 the sky ; and, opening their own packages, display bright 
 jewels, and the choicest piece goods, with other wares, arti- 
 cles, and things ; and having derived immense profit, erect a 
 monument of fame, by spreading through all the quarters of
 
 236 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the earth reports of the virtue and renown of this immortal 
 emperor." 
 
 There are also officers of State to be interviewed, and col- 
 lectors of revenues, and so forth, who " on being introduced 
 or on taking leave, . . . the Ministers of State having caused 
 them to approach," " are directed to kiss the august feet ; and 
 some, through excess of favour, have the sacred hand laid 
 upon their back ; " while " other Omrahs and officers at a 
 distance are honoured with especial notice by the bend of the 
 eyebrow, or by a side glance from the august eye, the seat of 
 favour and kindness." 
 
 When our friends have sufficiently feasted their imagina- 
 tion on the gorgeous spectacles that, in the days of their 
 Sublime Majesties the Lords of the Age, the Diwan i Am 
 must have witnessed, they wander on into the Palace, and 
 presently find themselves in the Anguri Bagh, an oriental 
 garden-square round which, in stately loveliness, stand some 
 of the more private halls and chambers. Opposite to the 
 visitors, on the other side of the garden, are the arches 
 of the Khas Mahall. Within is a hall, but on the garden 
 side is an open colonnade. The whole is of snow-white 
 marble, wherewith richly contrast the gilded cupolas that 
 crown the roof, resting on slender pillars. Beneath the flat 
 roof, and supported by brackets, runs a broad, slanting drip- 
 stone, whereof the soft, luminous shadow reaches the top- 
 most cusps of the Saracenic arches of the supporting colon- 
 nade. Along the bright pavement within lie the shadows of 
 the pillars, and beyond are dim recesses of cool and shadowy 
 gloom. 
 
 To the left of the Khas Mahall extends a faery pavilion, 
 between whose columns our travellers catch a glimpse of 
 the Eiver flowing far below. This pavilion, like the Khas
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAK. 237 
 
 Mahall, is built of richly sculptured and snow-white marble, 
 and is roofed with gilded plates of copper, which flash and 
 burn in the sunlight. Other buildings there are, each more 
 lovely than the rest. The brilliance of the sunlit surfaces, 
 the soft coolness of the shadows, the mystery of the reflected 
 lights, the contrasting splendour of the golden roofs, methinks 
 the palaces of Fairyland could scarcely equal. 
 
 Turning to the left, the visitors make their way to the 
 north side of the garden, and thence enter the Shish Mahall, 
 the Palace of Glass, which is the most fantastic bathing-place 
 they have ever seen. Ceilings and walls are all lined with 
 numberless tiny mirrors, divided only by the mazy lines of 
 intricate and graceful arabesques delicately wrought in 
 stucco. No daylight can enter, and there is nothing to mar 
 the extraordinary effect of the torch which our travellers 
 carry, and the light whereof is thrown back from every- 
 where in multitudinous twinkling reflections. There is a 
 wonderful device, moreover, whereby the water, as it flowed 
 in its marble channel toward the bath, was made to descend 
 in little cascades, behind which lamps were set to light up 
 the falling drops. 
 
 Crossing southward the Anguri Bagh, our friends seek 
 next the Jahangir Mahall, where they find themselves again 
 surrounded by the quaintly beautiful but weird and un- 
 intelligible forms of Hindu architecture. Herein doth 
 Philippa discourse on Jahangir in general, and in particular 
 upon his rebellious behaviour to Akbar his princely father. 
 He was fonder of drinking than of business, it seems, and 
 during his reign the government was conducted by Nurjahan, 
 his famous and strong-minded consort. Nur Mahall, they 
 called her, the Light of the Palace, and a very wonderful 
 personage she assuredly must have been. Those were
 
 238 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 strange times ; and we know something about them too, for 
 was not Mr Finch, Merchant, our own fellow-countryman, 
 staying at Jahangir's court, and has he not told us many 
 things of the wonders and splendours thereof ? Best of all 
 his descriptions, I think, is his account of " the vast Army of 
 the Mogul," and the lordly manner of its marching. " It is 
 reckoned," saith he, "that the whole Body of the Camp 
 amounted to 500,000 if not six. They eat and drank up the 
 Country as they passed along, the largest stores were ex- 
 hausted, and the rivers not able to supply them with drink." 
 
 The Jahangir Mahall (built, they say, by Jahangir l about 
 1605 A.D., at the very beginning of his reign) is a magnifical 
 palace of a red sandstone ; and the deep crimson colour 
 thereof greatly augments the wild effect of the strange and 
 fanciful sculpture. 
 
 From the Jahangir Mahall our friends find their way to 
 the high sandstone wall overlooking the Eiver, and wander 
 along at the top of it through a succession of lovely white- 
 marble chambers and pavilions, so marvellously light and 
 graceful that English seems to have no phrases to fit them ; 
 and besides (as aforesaid) we do not know in England 
 what white marble is. Everywhere is sculpture of flowers, 
 not in the crowded wreaths and bunches that Western taste 
 delights in, but each plant separated and spread out on the 
 marble surface as botanists arrange their specimens for 
 pressing, and generally accompanied by a curious, cloud-like 
 device which symbolises, may be, the scent thereof. Every- 
 where too is rich embroidery of more conventional sculp- 
 ture, and (most admirable of all) beautiful inlayer's work 
 of delicate floral designs wrought in agate, cornelian, jasper, 
 
 1 This seems to be at least a common opinion ; but some of the more learned 
 sort aver that it was built by Akbar for the use of his son Jahangir.
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 239 
 
 lapis-lazuli, and other precious stones, all set in the white 
 marble so perfectly as to preserve the polished surface abso- 
 lutely unbroken. 
 
 There are fountains too, and channels cut in the marble 
 pavements for sparkling waters to flow in, and clustered 
 arches, and fluted columns, and screens of faery lace-work 
 shining and light and various like films of melting cloud, 
 yet firm and solid and cool as though carved in frozen snow. 
 Of such is the low balustrade which, supported on sandstone 
 brackets, hangs round the edge of the walls; and over it 
 our friends look down on the courses of deep-red masonry, 1 
 where brilliant parrots perch on every ledge and nestle in 
 every recess. Smooth and delicate is their plumage of soft, 
 rich emerald-green, and some have crimson beaks and nar- 
 row crimson collars. In their long tails are golden feathers 
 which gleam in the glowing sunlight when they spread them 
 out in flight. A charming contrast do the parrots make 
 with the deep-red sandstone walls, but still more radiant are 
 they when they sweep across the marble courts and perch 
 on the shining rail. 
 
 The travellers fail not to visit the room wherein died, 
 in December 1666, the Emperor Shah Jahan. It is a 
 marble chamber, perched near the edge of the wall, whence 
 he could look away across the waters of the Jamna to the 
 Taj Mahall that he himself had builded. There, beneath 
 that stainless dome, lay his well-loved Empress, the beauti- 
 ful Arjmand Banu, " Mumtaz Mahall," the Chosen of the 
 Palace, while their son Aurangzib, keeping his father a 
 prisoner at Agra, exultingly governed in his stead from his 
 lordly court in Dehli. Poor old Shah Jahan ! It was a sad 
 
 1 A story is told that there is rubble inside, and that the red-sandstone slabs 
 are only facing-stones. People have no right to say such things as these.
 
 240 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 ending for him whose head (so our Persian authority avers) 
 had been " exalted to the Greater and the Lesser Bear," who 
 had been "the sun of the firmament of pomp and glory, 
 the Monarch, bestower of treasures, who is bounteous as the 
 sea," whose "sacred and sublime cavalcade" had been of 
 such marvellous " state and splendour " that the " concussion 
 of the people, together with the sound of the kettle-drums 
 and blasts of trumpets, occasioned an earthquake" when- 
 soever he travelled ; who rode " on an elephant swift as the 
 spheres, and firm as a mountain, whilst abundance of money 
 was flung on all sides among the populace ; " before whom 
 was carried "an umbrella touching the sky," while behind 
 him marched " the principal officers with chowries and fans 
 inlaid with precious stones, like the shadow after the sun 
 in the firmament of greatness." 
 
 Wandering northward along the walls, the visitors reach 
 at length the Khas Mahall, and, passing through it, make 
 their way to the Diwan-i Khas, or Hall of Private Audi- 
 ence, which, if possible, is more beautiful still. Its lovely 
 colonnade looks upon a terrace whereon are two thrones 
 opposite one another, and made, the one of slate, the 
 other of white marble. Each is a large, flat slab, raised 
 above the pavement on a low marble platform. On the 
 black throne sat the Emperor ; and some say that his jester 
 sat on the white one, confronting the mighty despot with 
 a parody of his princely state. This place is that "Sem- 
 blance of Paradise" whither his Majesty the Asylum of 
 the World used to repair at evening, when (saith his 
 chronicler), reclining on "the throne of state, the sem- 
 blance of the empyrean one," he " exerts his great abilities 
 in arranging the affairs of government ; and the pearl of 
 ordinary designs which lies hidden and concealed from
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 241 
 
 others the most intelligent, his Majesty, by diving to the 
 depths of reflection, with the aid of his discerning mind 
 grasps the gem, and makes it an ornament for the ear of 
 the wise." 
 
 On the Black Throne Akbar himself may have sat, for 
 it bears a chronogram which, the learned say, gives the 
 date 1011 of the Hegira, which is A.D. 1603. The slab is 
 traversed by a great crack. It was not always so, for of 
 old the surface was smooth and even ; but there came an 
 usurping sovereign, a violent Jat who had no right to the 
 Mughal's seat, and when he sat thereon the Black Throne 
 quaked, and it cracked with a thundering noise, and drops 
 of blood oozed forth. To this day the red-brown stain is 
 there, and some have wisely talked of I know not what 
 compound of iron ; but in that mechanical explanation I 
 have no faith at all. 
 
 Near the Diwan-i Khas is a pachisi-board inlaid in the 
 marble pavement. Packisi has been learnedly defined as 
 "a kind of Eastern backgammon." This board is on a 
 large scale, as the pieces which the Mughals employed in 
 the game were slaves. 
 
 Thence our friends go on to the Saman Burj, or Jasmine 
 Tower, a pavilion wherein the chief sultana used to live ; 
 and thence find their way to a tiny mosque built of white 
 marble and intended for the ladies of the palace to worship 
 in. Its three snowy domes recall the Moti Masjid ; and the 
 whole has a delightful air of infancy, as though it would 
 grow up some day. 
 
 But one cannot go on for ever enumerating buildings ; 
 and besides, it seems to our travellers to be more than 
 time for breakfast. Before finally leaving the Fort, how- 
 ever, they are introduced to the venerable Gates of Som-
 
 242 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 nath ; and the Father, who alone can remember Lord Ellen- 
 borough's days, presently recounts their history. Made of 
 sandal-wood and originally the portals of the famous Hindu 
 temple at Somnath, they were seized, so long ago as the 
 year 1024, by the Sultan Mahmoud, and carried away, 
 together with the temple treasure, to Ghuzni, his capital. 
 After his death they were set up at his tomb, and there 
 they remained until Lord Ellenborough, with a great nourish 
 of trumpets, brought them to Agra on a triumphal car; 
 and a magniloquent proclamation he boastingly issued about 
 them. The romance of this return is somewhat clouded by 
 the fact that their long residence among the Mussalmans 
 has strangely affected them. In fact they (with all their 
 ornamentation) have turned Muhammadan. Moreover, they 
 are of sandal- wood no longer, but only of deodar pine. 
 Indeed they are sadly changed; but it is very hard work 
 to hold out against one's environment, especially if one is 
 made of wood. 
 
 Often do the travellers visit the Fort, and they fail not to 
 pay their respects to other noteworthy buildings, especially the 
 Jam 'i Masjid, the Great Mosque built by Shah Jahan, A.D. 
 1639-1644, to do honour to his daughter Jahanara, that very 
 lovable Princess who afterwards shared her father's imprison- 
 ment with such affectionate devotion. It is a grand erection, 
 builded of red sandstone and white marble in very pleasing 
 contrast. But oftenest our friends are attracted by the Taj ; 
 and now doth it behove us to celebrate the beauties of that 
 stately garden-tomb. 
 
 The effect of the first impression thereof is greatly height- 
 ened by the very imposing approach. One is not allowed 
 to rush into its presence with unprepared and unexpectant 
 mind. Our travellers enter first a grand outer court, and
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 243 
 
 thence pass beneath the arches of the most majestic gate- 
 way they have ever seen. Its height is 140 feet, and it is 
 builded of red sandstone richly inlaid with white marble, 
 and crowned with twenty- two small, white-marble cupolas 
 and four larger ones, all resting on slender sandstone columns. 
 The spandrels of all its arches are of white marble inlaid 
 with floral arabesques ; and round the two greater arch- 
 ways run, in a broad band of black marble inlaid in 
 white, long texts from the Koran. Within, beneath the 
 gateway's arches and semi -domes, are lofty spaces filled 
 with shadow. 
 
 Through the gloom and the stillness the travellers hasten, 
 and emerge therefrom into dazzling sunshine and a world 
 of verdant loveliness. Before them stretches a long, long 
 vista bordered by cypresses and other trees, and luxuriant 
 clumps of bamboo. Down the centre stretches a broad, 
 marble channel filled with running water, whence many 
 fountains rise. At the far end is a low red - sandstone 
 platform whereon rests that radiant group of marble forms 
 like nothing else in the world, a great white platform, 
 smooth and shining, its four corners guarded by four 
 strong, snow-white minars, each crowned with a gleaming 
 cupola ; and in the centre thereof a majestic octagonal 
 building with slender pinnacles, and four large marble 
 cupolas placed round the vast central dome which rises 
 upward and upward yet, swelling in bulbous curves till 
 the topmost point is crowned by a gilded crescent 243 1 
 feet above the garden-level. Each of the four chief arches 
 rises 63 feet from the pavement, and the spandrels thereof, 
 as well as those of the smaller arches to right and left, 
 are inlaid with arabesques drawn in great, sweeping lines, 
 distinctly visible even at so great a distance.
 
 244 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Long do the travellers gaze, and then, to obtain a wider 
 view, ascend to the top of the great gateway, whence they 
 qan look abroad over the garden and past the Tomb 
 itself to the wide, green plains beyond the River. Now 
 are more clearly visible the twin mosques (of red sandstone 
 with snow-white marble domes) which, standing to right 
 and left, so nobly support the Taj. Symmetry demanded 
 that they should both face inward to the central group, 
 wherefore only the mihrdb of one of them can look, as 
 it ought, toward Mecca; whence it follows that only the 
 left-hand building is really a mosque, while the other is 
 nothing particular. This is a pity; but so charming is 
 the general effect that one has not the heart to complain. 
 
 As for the Taj itself, from this high standpoint, whence 
 the view is uninterrupted by the trees, it looks fairer and 
 more wonderful than ever. No photograph ever could catch 
 its mystery of enchanting loveliness, for such unearthly and 
 ethereal beauty can hardly be reproduced. They talk of 
 the cost of the Taj being nearly 2,000,000 ; and they say 
 that for seventeen years there laboured upon it day by 
 day some 20,000 workmen. But I know better ! It was 
 built in a night from the moonlit snows that lay on the 
 peaks of Himalaya. Frozen and hard were the gleaming 
 crystals, but the snow -sprites deftly quarried them, and 
 on waggons of cloud they brought them in haste and 
 builded the Tomb therefrom ; but the delicate mouldings 
 around the dome are the petals of jasmine - blossoms. 
 Through the hours of night the sprites did labour, and 
 finished their work at dawn, when the spirits of morning 
 came riding on sunbeams around the topmost crescent, 
 and touched it lightly with glittering wings till it turned 
 to radiant gold.
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 245 
 
 Some there are who have dared to blame this bright 
 handiwork of the fairies, and many things have they 
 foolishly alleged against it. Yet still (as one has sug- 
 gested) it is even as a lovely face that smiles away reproof. 
 " It is wanting in structural form," a learned critic avers, 
 a somewhat vague accusation, it seems to unlearned me. 
 Does he mean that one cannot discern how the weight 
 of the dome is supported, the thrust of the arches met ? 
 Nay, but is it not this which gives so magic a charm, 
 and such unsubstantial lightness, that the building seems 
 not to rest at all, but rather to float without need of 
 support in an unapproachable glory ? So pure and fair is 
 the marble, that it seems immeasurably far removed from 
 the dark -red sandstone beneath it, the dark -green trees 
 around. It is like the bright castles in the air that child- 
 ren love to build not all untrue as the elders think them, 
 and not all unattainable either, but true with a truth that 
 is ideal and cannot be mechanically approached, so that 
 no mere journeying through the years can ever bring them 
 nearer. Just so (as all travellers wonderingly notice, though 
 none can in any wise explain it) the Taj seems to recede as 
 one tries to approach, and its distance can only be judged 
 from the wonderful smallness of the native figures that move 
 like brilliant flies beside its lofty walls. 
 
 Happily the Taj does not go on receding for ever, and our 
 friends have at length traversed the garden and mounted 
 first the sandstone platform, and then the higher marble one 
 whereon no Native ever treads except with shoeless feet. 
 Passing beneath the great southern archway, they enter at 
 length the central hall of the Tomb. 
 
 Herein is welcome shadow and the hush of perfect still- 
 ness. Each ray of light that enters must pass through two
 
 246 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 several screens of marble lattice -work, and the result is a 
 wondrous twilight wherein is no gloom at all. Exactly 
 under the centre of the dome is the marble tomb of Mumtaz 
 Mahall, the lady for whom the Taj was builded and from 
 whom it takes its name. That of her husband, Shah Jahan, 
 is a little to the left. Both are richly carved and inlaid. 
 They are only cenotaphs, for the bodies rest in a vault far 
 below. Around them is a screen of marble fretwork such 
 as, even in India, is almost too wonderful to be believed in. 
 The mazes of its snowy traceries are intricate and light as 
 the melting foam-wreaths that float and change on deep- 
 blue waves at sea ; and round each compartment of marble 
 lace runs a band of inlayer's work, marvellously harmonious 
 designs of semi-conventional flowers. 
 
 The dome above the tombs possesses a strangely beautiful 
 echo, and Irene is presently called upon to sing the notes of 
 chords, which are caught up in a wonderful manner and 
 given back in a softened harmony that sounds like the 
 voices of spirits. 
 
 Then our friends leave the hall, and descend a sloping 
 marble passage to the real tombs below, each exactly under 
 its ornate representative above. 
 
 Thence ascending, and emerging on to the marble plat- 
 form, they spend a long time in admiring the rich sculpture 
 of flowers and the endless inlaid ornament that adorn the 
 outside of the building. At length, oppressed by overmuch 
 sunshine, they retreat to the western mosque, and, seated on 
 the step beneath its arches, gaze still at the shining Taj from 
 a luxury of cool repose. Overhead, in the curve of the cen- 
 tral arch of the mosque, a swarm of bees have built their 
 nest a dark-brown shapeless mass whose buzzing crowd of 
 inhabitants reminds the travellers beneath of those other
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 247 
 
 metaphoric bees who live in the boughs of the Tree of 
 Selfishness ; whereupon our friends must needs repeat that 
 quaintest of Indian similitudes, with its edifying moral of 
 apathetic inaction which seems peculiarly fitting in this 
 cool and sheltered retreat. 
 
 It was Dattatreya, the wise and illustrious Sage, who told 
 that story long ago to King Alarka, the tiger -hero. The 
 Tree of Selfishness is great and high, filling the path of final 
 emancipation. " Home and lands are its topmost boughs ; 
 children and wife and other relatives are its young shoots; 
 wealth and corn are its great leaves. ... It is rich with 
 festoons of bees, which are the desire to be doing." 
 
 Our travellers are much given to haunting the Taj and its 
 garden, but there is one picture thereof which, more than all 
 others, will remain vividly impressed on their memories. 
 
 It is the afternoon of February 27, the birthday of Shah 
 Jahan, and a native festival kept in his honour. The gallery 
 of the great gateway is filled with musicians, and the thun- 
 derous native music, somewhat terrible when near at hand, 
 is heard throughout the far -stretching garden in sweetly 
 softened rumblings, recalling to mind those splendid days of 
 Shah Jahan's pre-eminence when his " auspicious approach " 
 (so the Persian chronicle states) was wont to be proclaimed 
 aloud by the voice of " the kettle-drum of joy." 
 
 On their first visit our friends were too eager for the 
 splendours of the Taj itself to do justice to its lovely garden ; 
 but to-day they wander far among its lawns and thronging 
 trees, gaze with wonder at the flowers, and gladly linger 
 beside the waters, which reflect with glittering clearness 
 the sunlit domes of the Tomb. Everywhere the trees are 
 haunted by birds of brilliant plumage. Most beautiful of 
 all, perhaps, are those which have straight, sharp beaks,
 
 248 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 and plumage of the softest emerald green that ever was 
 seen on earth. But even the birds are outshone to-day by 
 the gorgeous native dresses. The festal crowd, dispersed 
 among the trees and lawns of the garden, or moving with 
 unslippered feet over the snow-white pavement of the Tomb, 
 is a continual feast to the eyes, and will ever be remembered 
 by the travellers like some strange and dazzling dream. 
 
 Our friends climb up to the marble platform, and descend 
 to the vaulted chamber, where they find the Emperor's tomb 
 decked out with freshly gathered flowers and all the air per- 
 fumed with the breath of fragrant incense. Then, standing 
 again in the sunshine on the platform's eastern edge, they 
 watch the shifting rainbow throng gradually concentrating 
 itself on the sandstone level beneath them, where carpets 
 have been spread with a view to a natch-dance which will 
 presently begin. The heat of the day is over, and the golden 
 light, already tinged with the rosy evening glow, blends into 
 a wonderful harmony of colour the luxuriant verdure of the 
 southern vegetation, the countless hues of the native crowd, 
 the white pavements and walls of marble, and the clear, 
 blue sky above ; while still the faint and far-off sounds 
 of Indian music swell through the radiant air in dreamy, 
 monotonous cadence. 
 
 To say farewell to the Taj is sad indeed ; but it must be 
 done at last, and late in a moonlit evening the travellers take 
 their leave of it. The moon is not nearly full, but her light is 
 wonderfully soft and bright, reminding them of the legendary 
 childhood of Parikchita the Son of Kings, who, " loaded with 
 the cares of his parents, grew swiftly from day to day as grows 
 the moon throughout the time that fills her radiant orb." * , 
 
 1 From ' Le BMgavata Purana,' . . . traduit , . . par M. Eugene 
 Burnouf.
 
 THE CITY OF AKBAR. 249 
 
 If the garden of the Taj is a faery precinct by day, it is 
 pervaded at night by an elfin mystery enchanting beyond 
 description. The waters glimmer beneath the moonbeams, 
 and between the dark masses of foliage rises in ghostly 
 loveliness the faintly shining dome. The deep stillness is 
 broken only by the deep, grating sound of the bull-frog's 
 mournful croak. So awe-inspiring is all the shadowy scene 
 that one scarcely dares to speak except in whispers ; and it 
 is under her breath that Sebaste exclaims 
 
 "Why, Philippa! it is true after all, what Aristophanes 
 says." 
 
 " What does Aristophanes say ? " 
 
 " That there are frogs who say ftpe/ceice/cel; ! And I have 
 been unhappy about it for years. Every one knows that all 
 common frogs say Koa%, /coat;; but fipeKerceiceJ; I knew they 
 never did, which was terribly distressing to a truthful mind. 
 And after all, he must have meant the bull- frog ! What are 
 the commentators thinking about, that they never told us ? 
 Of course Aristophanes is true to human nature; but to 
 find him so accurate about froggish nature as well, it is 
 delightful!" 
 
 " My dear," answers Philippa in a crushing whisper, " if I 
 had known that you were coming to India to talk about Greek 
 frogs, I should have suggested your remaining at home ! 
 Nothing, it seems to me, can be in worse taste than to trot 
 out scraps of European classics here in the East where they 
 are altogether incongruous with the oriental atmosphere 
 around us, with which we should be trying to bring our 
 minds into harmony." 
 
 " But, Philippa dear, it was the bull-frog who began it. 
 There again ! Do you not hear him ? /3pe/ce/ce/ce'." 
 
 " I believe he does it on purpose ! " says Philippa wrath-
 
 250 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 fully. " Let us go away to the mosque, where we can't hear 
 him." 
 
 The moonlight falls full on the western face of the Taj, 
 and very lovely is the view of the Tomb from our travellers' 
 favourite seat on the step of the western mosque. The still- 
 ness is wonderful ; even the bees, those restless desires to be 
 doing, are fast asleep, and nothing moves at all, except once, 
 when a dark shadow crosses the step of the mosque, and a 
 soft- footed jackal glides swiftly past, away into the darkness 
 within. 
 
 Long do the visitors linger ; but at length it is time to go, 
 and slowly they move away beside the shimmering waters, 
 where still, at intervals, the bull-frog thoughtfully remarks, 
 ftpefcercercef;.
 
 251 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 GWALIAE. 
 
 THE travellers fail not to visit Sikandarah, nor to devote 
 a long day to the architectural wonders of beautiful Fathpur 
 Sikri. Short expeditions from Agra are many and interest- 
 ing ; but our friends soon meditate a somewhat longer flight, 
 and, beginning to despise the comparative civilisation of 
 British India, determine to plunge into downright heathen- 
 dom and visit a Native State. Their choice falls on the 
 ancient and famous city of Gwaliar ; and so, with a merry 
 farewell to white faces and English tongues, thither they 
 take their journey. 
 
 Whether the city was really founded (as they say the poet 
 Kharg Eai has recorded) in the year 3101 B.C., I cannot 
 undertake to say ; but in any case the place is old, and has 
 a long and tangled history. Therein have reigned I know 
 not how many dynasties of Kings, succeeding one another 
 in a bewildering fashion until even Philippa looks disheart- 
 ened, and proposes to leave them alone. 
 
 Then there is the Muhammadan conquest that ought to 
 be described, and many other things, including the terrible 
 14th of June in the Mutiny year, and the loyalty of Sindhia, 
 the young Maharaja, and the wonderful capture of 1858.
 
 252 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 But Sindhia is dead now, and his son reigns in his stead ; 
 nor can any of our friends remember those days except the 
 Father alone ; and I must run after the travellers, and cannot 
 stay dreaming here. 
 
 Gwaliar lies almost due south of Agra, and the journey 
 (performed, I am sorry to admit, in what cannot honestly 
 be described otherwise than as a railway-train) takes some 
 three hours. About half-way the travellers pass through 
 Dholpiir, and soon after cross, by a long bridge of red sand- 
 stone, the river Charnbal, which bounds the Gwaliar terri- 
 tory, flowing away north-eastward to pour itself into the 
 Jamna. 
 
 Arriving late in the afternoon, the travellers betake them 
 to the Muzafir Khana, which is the Maharaja's guest-house. 
 It is built of white stone, and is a charming specimen of 
 modern native architecture. Most delightful of it all are 
 the elephants who, with their carven trunks turned grace- 
 fully upward, support the stone balconies whereon open the 
 upper windows. Within is luxurious furniture, and all else 
 that heart can desire. 
 
 Next morning our friends are early astir, and setting forth 
 to visit the Fort. It is perched on the top of a great mass 
 of sandstone rock which rises 300 feet above the plain at its 
 foot. Mr Finch, when he visited "Gualere" nearly three 
 centuries ago, was much impressed by this bold rock, which 
 he calls " the ruggy Cliff on which the Castle is seated." It 
 is indeed a ruggy cliff, steep by nature and scarped as well, 
 so that the position of the fort is perhaps the strongest in 
 India. 
 
 Arrived at the foot of the rock, our travellers find, waiting 
 to conduct them to the top, one of the most estimable, and 
 quite the most good-natured, of all their Indian acquaint-
 
 GWALIAR. 253 
 
 ances. His name is Ham, and he is said to be the largest 
 and slowest elephant that the Maharaja of Gwaliar possesses. 
 Strong and stately is he as the mighty elephant Airavata, 
 who rose of old from the ocean when the gods and demons 
 were churning it, and who hath ever since belonged to Indra, 
 the god of thunder. But Ham is much more amiable than 
 he. Dear Ham will ever be remembered by our friends 
 with the deepest gratitude and affection. His patience is 
 something abnormal, and the sweetness of his temper an 
 unfailing source of astonishment. Even thrusting one's 
 fingers into his eyes, as he kneels on the ground, elicits 
 no more emphatic remonstrance than a mildly deprecating 
 blink. 
 
 As soon as the travellers have mounted on his broad and 
 commodious back, Ham rises to his feet, and proceeds along 
 the ascending road with a cheerful, swaying motion sugges- 
 tive of a small boat in a big sea, but in very slow time. 
 Thus he carries our travellers to the top of the great rock's 
 eastern face, where rises, on the edge of the precipitous cliff, 
 the grand facade, 100 feet in height and 300 feet long, of 
 that most interesting of Hindu palaces, the Man Mandhv 
 built by Man Sing, who reigned at Gwaliar from A.D. 1486 
 to 1516. Its yellow-sandstone walls seem to be a part of 
 the rock on which they stand, rising from it in lines of 
 massive strength relieved by ornament of sculpture and 
 blue -green tiles, while at intervals stand beautiful towers 
 crowned with cupolas which were originally covered with 
 plates of gilded copper. 
 
 Entering by the Elephant Gate, and leaving for awhile 
 their gigantic steed, the visitors eagerly explore the interior, 
 and finally make their way to one of the pillared cupolas of 
 the eastern wall, whence they look abroad far over the green
 
 254 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 plains, and watch a company of the Maharaja's elephants 
 straying about near the foot of the rock, and making, with 
 their few native attendants, a pleasing feature in the land- 
 scape. Descending from the wall, the travellers go on to 
 other palaces builded by Vicramaditya and Jahangir and 
 Shah Jahan. Wonderfully grotesque are some of the 
 sculptures therein. Terrific monsters grin and glare from 
 unsuspected corners ; and our friends grow so thoroughly 
 accustomed to all marvellous sights that, when they come 
 suddenly on a company of peacocks supporting on their 
 stony tails the weight of massive architraves, they feel no 
 more astonishment thereat than would be the case if they 
 happened to be exploring one of the palaces of Dreamland. 
 But there are temples as well as palaces within the walls 
 of the fortress ; and, sometimes on foot, sometimes with kind 
 Ham's assistance, the travellers wander on from one ruined 
 shrine to another in an ecstasy of archaeologic enthusiasm. 
 First they visit the pillared pavilion known as the Gwali 
 shrine, and then seek out the more interesting Chaturbhuj 
 Mandir, the temple of the Four-armed God. It is carved 
 out of the living rock, and dates from A.D. 876. The Four- 
 armed God is none other than the " immortal, unconquerable 
 Vishnu," who uses his four hands to carry about with him 
 a wheel, a lotus-flower, a conch-trumpet, and a mace, sym- 
 bols which (as saith that learned Pandit, Cavali Venkat 
 Eamaswami) signify respectively Universal Supremacy, Crea- 
 tive Power, Preservation, and Destruction. Within the 
 temple is a Sanskrit inscription, which, happily for our 
 unlearned travellers, has been translated at length by that 
 accomplished Sanskrit scholar Babu Ptajendralala Mitra. 1 
 It begins with the solemn dedication : " Om ! Salutation to 
 
 1 See the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. xxxi. (1862).
 
 GWALIAR. 255 
 
 Vishnu ! " and sets forth how, on the second day of the wax- 
 ing moon in the month Magha of the Sam vat year 933 
 (which is 876 of our era), a piece of ground lying on the 
 opposite bank of the Vrischikala river, and measuring "in 
 length 270 cubits and in breadth 187, is presented on a 
 fortunate day for the purpose of a flower-garden for the 
 temple of Eudra, Eudrani, Pushnasa, and others, as also of 
 the nine Durgas." 
 
 Above the entrance to the temple is a great rock-sculpture 
 of the Boar Avatar, and, in amicable nearness to this Vaish- 
 nava scene, a Saiva group of Mahadeo and his wife, who are 
 such usual forms of Siva and Parvati that we ought long 
 ago to have recorded their attributes. Mahadeo, it seems, 
 is lord " of the spirits of ill, of kine, of portents and planets, 
 of infirmities and diseases," 1 and of "ghosts." He is fond 
 of wearing a necklace of skulls, and of twisting snakes in his 
 hair. His consort (like all Hindu goddesses) is the active 
 manifestation of her husband's qualities. 
 
 Not far off is a small building, formerly (as an inscription 
 announces) " the idol-temple of the vile Gwali, " but trans- 
 formed, in the reign of the great Prince Aurangzib, the 
 Eulightener of the World, into " a mosque like a mansion of 
 Paradise." 
 
 One of the most impressive of the fort temples is the Tali 
 Mandir, a stately pile 60 feet square at the base (exclusive of 
 a projecting portico), and rising thence at first perpendicu- 
 larly, but afterwards tapering with graceful curvilinear out- 
 lines to the ridge that, 30 feet in length, crowns the whole at 
 a height of 80 feet from the ground. The lines of the build- 
 ing are wonderfully grand and beautiful, and there is much 
 adornment of richly elaborated sculpture. Over the majestic 
 
 1 Wilson, quoted by Poley in his " Devimahatmyam. "
 
 256 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 doorway, which is 35 feet high, appears Garuda, the brown 
 kite whereon Vishnu rides abroad ; and there seems to be no 
 doubt that the building is of Vaishnava origin, although in 
 the fifteenth century it was turned into a Saiva temple. Its 
 date is uncertain, the learned say, but it may well be as early 
 as the tenth or eleventh century. 
 
 Thence the visitors go on to the two temples named Sas- 
 bahu (or " Mother-in-law and Daughter-in-law "), because of 
 some vague tradition about the family of an ancient king of 
 Gwaliar, which our travellers do not succeed in unravelling. 
 The larger of the two dates from 1092 A.D., and is dedicated 
 to Vishnu the Lord of the Lotus. Originally it was a tower- 
 ing pile 100 feet long, and probably not less than 100 feet 
 high, with a greatest breadth of 63 feet. All that remains of 
 it now is the stately, cruciform porch builded in three massive 
 storeys, with numberless small pillars whose bracket -capitals 
 seem flattened and bulging beneath the weight of the heavy 
 courses of masonry. Everywhere are horizontal bands of 
 richly varied sculpture. The plinth of the building is from 
 10 to 12 feet high, and, though its surface is terribly shat- 
 tered, the elaborate sculpture-ornament thereof may still be 
 partly traced, round the top a band of small human figures ; 
 then one of elephants ; and below, line upon line of more con- 
 ventional patterns. Of the interior, the most astonishing 
 feature is a group of four gigantic pillars no part, say the 
 learned, of the original design, but introduced of necessity 
 to support the weight of the towering pyramidal roof. 
 
 Now doth it behove me to discourse of the smaller Sas- 
 bahu temple, and of that Jaina temple discovered by General 
 Cunningham, and dating from about 1108 A.D. But I am 
 tired of describing buildings ! 
 
 Near the Jaina temple our travellers sit them down to rest
 
 GWALIAR. 257 
 
 awhile ; whereupon all eyes turn upon Philippa, and she finds 
 herself expected (by her unreasonable relatives) to hold forth 
 on the Jains and their history, and to give an accurate account 
 of their beliefs and their sacred books. 
 
 Thanks to Professor Jacobi, the Jaina philosophy is no 
 longer shrouded in the hopeless mystery which used to 
 envelop it. At all events, he has established its great an- 
 tiquity, and dismissed the popular notion of its being a 
 modified form of Buddhism. Of its independent origin there 
 can now be no doubt at all, for the Professor has shown it to 
 be fully as ancient as Buddhism itself. What common ele- 
 ments the two systems possess either have been borrowed by 
 both from ancient Brahmanism, or are such as would natur- 
 ally be produced simultaneously by the same age and the 
 same conditions of thought. I wish I were old enough to 
 remember what the valley of the Ganges was like in the fifth 
 and sixth centuries B.C. What a great upheaval of thought 
 there must have been, long-continued, maybe, rather than 
 sudden, but all the more irresistible for that, ever increasing 
 in strength until at last it had burst its way through the 
 Brahmans' tyrant system and the intolerable restrictions 
 of caste ; a far-reaching, manifold movement whereof the 
 Buddhism and the Jainism of the present day are the long- 
 enduring results. 
 
 The historic founder of Jainism is one Vardhamana ; but 
 we are not obliged to call him so, any more than one need 
 call Buddha " Sakyamuni " unless one likes, and Vardhanmna 
 is generally known by his title Mahavira. He was a contem- 
 porary of the Buddha, but it is quite possible that the Jaina 
 system (or at least the movement that Mahavira systematised) 
 had existed long before his days. Mythically he is the twenty- 
 fourth and last of the Jaina Tirthakaras or Prophets, who 
 
 R
 
 258 ' AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 appeared at enormous intervals of time, and preached, each 
 to his own age, the sacred doctrines of Jainism. He alone 
 emerges into actual history, but the tradition of the others 
 may well have a nucleus of truth. The life of Mahavira, as 
 told in the ancient Jaina scriptures, is as good as a fairy tale ; 
 and, thanks again to our kind Professor, we can read it with- 
 out being, like him, able to decipher Prakrit. In the Pillow 
 of Eighteousness it is written, and in the Kalpa Sutra as 
 well. 
 
 A wonderful night was that wherein the Venerable Ascetic 
 was born ! " In the conflux of gods the bustle of gods 
 amounted to confusion." " In that night . . . the gods and 
 goddesses rained down one great shower of nectar, sandal- 
 powder, gold, and pearls." So long as his parents were alive, 
 he seems, like other young princes, to have lived delicately ; 
 but the time came when he determined to retire from the 
 world and become a holy ascetic. "When the gods and 
 goddesses had become aware of his intention, they assumed 
 their proper form, dress, and ensigns," and in " their proper 
 pomp and splendour " set forth " with that excellent, quick, 
 swift, rapid, divine motion of the gods," and "crossing 
 numberless continents and oceans," arrived at the home of 
 Mahavira. Then " Sakra the leader and king of the gods " 
 (the same is Indra) " produced by magic the great palankin 
 called Kandraprabha," which meaneth "shining like the 
 moon." A thousand men were required to carry it. "It 
 shone with heaps and masses of pearls. ... In the middle 
 of the palankin was a costly throne covered with a divine 
 cloth, precious stones, and silver, with a footstool, for the 
 best of Ginas," who is the Venerable Mahavira. ..." After 
 a fast of three days, with a glorious resolution he ascended 
 the supreme palankin, purifying all by his light." Thus,
 
 GWALIAR. 259 
 
 escorted by all the gods and goddesses, he left his home " by 
 the highway for the park Gnatra Shanda. There, just at 
 the beginning of night, he caused the palankin Kandraprabha 
 to stop quietly on a slightly raised untouched ground, quietly 
 descended from it, sat quietly down on a throne with the face 
 towards the East, and took off all his ornaments and finery. 
 . . . Mahavira then plucked out with his right and left 
 hands, on the right and left sides of his head, his hair in five 
 handfuls. . . . After the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira had 
 plucked out hair in five handfuls, ... he adopted the holy 
 conduct. At that, moment the whole assembly of men and 
 gods stood motionless, like figures in a picture." 
 
 Then "for more than twelve years" did the Venerable 
 One perform unheard-of austerities. He would sometimes 
 go six months without drinking. " As water does not adhere 
 to a copper vessel, ... so sins found no place in him. . . . 
 Like the firmament, he wanted no support ; like the wind, 
 he knew no obstacles ; . . . his senses were well protected 
 like those of a tortoise ; he was single and alone like the 
 horn of a rhinoceros ; he was free like a bird, . . . valorous 
 like an elephant, strong like a bull, difficult to attack like a 
 lion, steady and firm like Mount Mandara, deep like the 
 ocean, mild like the moon, refulgent like the sun, pure like 
 excellent gold ; like the earth, he patiently bore everything ; 
 like a well-kindled fire, he shone in his splendour. . . . He 
 was indifferent alike to ... straw and jewels, dust and gold, 
 pleasure and pain. . . . With supreme intuition, with su- 
 preme conduct, in blameless lodgings, in blameless wander- 
 ing, . . . the Venerable One meditated on himself for twelve 
 years." Terrible were the persecutions he underwent. When 
 he was sitting immovable, immersed in meditation, "the 
 people, . . . striking the monk, . . . cried 'Khukkhu,' and
 
 260 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 made the dogs bite Trim ; . . . they tore his hair, ... or 
 covered him with dust. Throwing him up, they let him fall, 
 or disturbed him in his religious postures." 
 
 But all this could not in anywise trouble him, and at 
 length, " during the thirteenth year, in the second month of 
 summer, in the fourth fortnight, . . . not far from a sal-tree, 
 in a squatting position with joined heels, exposing himself 
 to the heat of the sun, with the knees high and the head low, 
 in deep meditation, in the midst of abstract meditation, he 
 reached Nirvana, the complete and full, the unobstructed, 
 unimpeded, infinite, and supreme. . . . Then when the 
 Venerable Ascetic Mahavira had reached the highest know- 
 ledge and intuition, he reflected on himself and on the world. 
 First he taught the law to the gods, and afterwards to men." 
 
 So he passed his life in teaching his great philosophy, 
 until "in the town of Papa, in King .Hastipala's office of 
 the writers, the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira died, went off, 
 quitted the world, cut asunder the ties of birth, old age, and 
 death ; became a Sidha, a Buddha, a Mukta, a maker of the 
 end to all misery, finally liberated, freed from all pains. 
 This occurred in the year called Kandra, ... in the month 
 called Pritivardhana. ... In that night the eighteen con- 
 federate kings of Kasi and Kasala . . . instituted an illu- 
 mination, ... for they said, ' Since the light of intelligence 
 is gone, let us make an illumination of material matter.' " 
 
 So much for Mahavira. But what of the system which he 
 taught ? Like Buddhism, it is a development from Brahmanic 
 philosophy ; but it cannot, like Buddhism, be called a system 
 of ethics, a principal feature being its mass of metaphysical 
 doctrines. Very prominent is the hylozoist notion that all 
 things are full of multitudinous life that earth, air, fire, and 
 water are inhabited by invisible beings who must not on any
 
 GWALIAR. 261 
 
 account be neglected. For what saith Mahavira in that 
 ancient Jaina book, the Akaranga Sutra? 
 
 " There are beings living in water, many lives ; of a truth, 
 to the monks water has been declared to be living matter." 
 
 " Considering the injuries done to water-bodies," saith the 
 ordinance, water must be strained before using it. ... " There 
 are beings living in the earth, living in grass, living on leaves, 
 living on wood, . . . living in dust-heaps." 
 
 As for Jaina psychology, it differs not much from Brah- 
 manic notions, and is far less depressing to contemplate than 
 the psychology of Buddhism. Atma, it seems, is an absolute 
 and immortal soul, and it is this (and no mere karma, or sum 
 of merits and demerits) that transmigrates from one body 
 into another. Whence it follows that the Jaina Nirvana 
 is something more tangible and satisfactory than the mere 
 neutralising of existence to which Buddhists longingly aspire. 
 
 Jaina Asceticism also owes much to Brahmanism. Its 
 fundamental maxim is this, " Quality is the seat of the root, 
 and the seat of the root is quality ; " which meaneth (saith 
 our learned Professor), " In the qualities of external things 
 lies" sin, the primary cause of all misery; "the qualities 
 produce sin, and sinfulness makes us apt to enjoy the 
 qualities." The perfect state of mind attained by the wise 
 man is thus summarised in the Akaranga Sutra : " Subduing 
 desire by desirelessness, he does not enjoy the pleasures 
 that offer themselves. Desireless, giving up the world and 
 ceasing to act, he knows and sees, and has no wishes because 
 of his discernment." All who would attain to such perfec- 
 tion must " wisely reject hope and, desire " and extract the 
 thorn of pleasure. " A wise man," saith the same discourse, 
 " should not rejoice in the receipt of a gift, nor be sorry when 
 he gets nothing."
 
 262 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 The way to this laudable apathy lies through terrible 
 austerities. " Subdue the body," saith the scripture, " chas- 
 tise thyself, weaken thyself, 'just as fire consumes old 
 wood.'" There are meritorious methods of suicide, too, 
 whereof one consists in sitting absolutely still in the same 
 place, " checking all motions," until one dies. 
 
 The most curious feature of Jaina Asceticism is the great 
 merit obtained by refusing to wear clothes. Great is the 
 praise of the "naked monk" whom grass pricks, cold attacks, 
 flies and mosquitoes sting. It is recorded of Mah&vira that, 
 though Indra, the " wielder of the thunderbolt," the " thou- 
 sand-eyed one," the "bestrider of the elephant Airavata," 
 had given him a "divine robe," yet, having adopted the 
 holy conduct, he wore it only for one winter, and thence- 
 forward became a "naked, world-relinquishing, houseless 
 sage," a " great Hero " who did no acts at all. 
 
 This custom of discarding clothes was at first practised 
 by all the Jaina ascetics, and the Digambaras, or " Sky- 
 clad Ones," are by far the older section of the Jains, seeing 
 that the other party, called Swetambaras, or " White-robed 
 Ones," cannot be traced back beyond the sixth century of 
 our era. The custom is falling now into disuse, and is 
 observed by few besides the statues of the Tirthakaras, 
 whereof there is a multitude at Gwaliar, hewn in the 
 sandstone rock on which the Fort is built. Those in the 
 Happy Valley our travellers hope to see this very morning. 
 
 There are many other things that ought to be said about 
 the Jains; and very delightfully they have been said by 
 erudite Professor Jacobi. Specially satisfactory is the con- 
 clusiveness wherewith he establishes the great antiquity of 
 the sacred Jaina scriptures. It is true that they were 
 never reduced to writing until the fifth century of our
 
 GWALIAE. 263 
 
 era ; but that they should have been correctly handed down 
 for many centuries by word of mouth will astonish no one 
 who knows anything about the ancient books of the East. 
 The Purvas, indeed, those very earliest of the Jaina books, 
 are lost ; but we still have those which may well date from 
 300 B.C. They abound in quaint similitudes, such as that 
 in the Akaranga Sutra : " A lake is full of water, it is in an 
 even plain, it is free from dust, it harbours many fish. Like 
 unto it is a teacher who is full of wisdom." 
 
 So doth Philippa discourse in the shade of the Jaina 
 temple, while Ham, with deep solemnity, deferentially listens 
 in the background, until, cooled and refreshed by this sooth- 
 ing stream of instruction, the travellers again bestir them- 
 selves, and, mounting the back of their kneeling steed, go 
 swaying and rolling and flopping away to visit the Urwahi 
 Valley, a deep, rocky defile in the western side of the fort- 
 rock. Grave and intent their thoughts should be as they 
 approach the strange old Jaina statues carved in the rock 
 of the valley's southern side by hands that crumbled into 
 dust some four centuries ago. But, as they slowly move 
 along the descending road, Ham's great black shadow is 
 thrown full on the wayside rock, with so quaint a carica- 
 ture of his solemn expression of countenance that gravity 
 is out of the question ; and, before they can in anywise 
 compose their minds, the travellers find themselves in the 
 very presence of the weird and stony giants, all carved 
 between 1440 A.D. and 1474. 
 
 The principal figures in the group are twenty-two, all 
 " sky-clad," and all standing or sitting cross-legged in atti- 
 tudes of an astonishing stiffness which, if not graceful, is 
 all the more delightfully archaic, as no doubt are also the
 
 264 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 self-satisfied and extremely supercilious expressions of the 
 gigantic and immovable countenances. Each of the larger 
 figures represents one of the Jaina Tirthakaras, among whom 
 there seems to have been a curious family likeness. Most 
 imposing of all is a huge personage 57 feet in height, who seems 
 to have grown 17 feet since the days of the Mughal Emperor 
 Babar; for he came to Grwaliar A.D. 1527, and recorded the 
 fact that this same statue was at that time 40 feet high. 
 
 Very interesting too is the colossal portrait of Adinath, 
 first of all the Tirthakaras, and distinguished by the symbol 
 of a bull. On his rocky pedestal is an inscription beginning 
 with : " Salutation to Adinatha ! " and giving the date as 
 "the seventh day of the waxing moon when she was in 
 the mansion of Punarvashu in the month Vaisakha in 
 the Samvat year 1497" that is to say, A.D. 1440. 
 
 There are innumerable smaller figures, and many symbolic 
 devices, which take long to examine, so that, by the time 
 our travellers are rolling and flopping back up the valley, 
 the terrible sun, that "illustrious leader of the troop of 
 planets " (as the Jaina scripture calls him), the " thousand- 
 eyed maker of the day," the " destroyer of night," the " lamp 
 of the firmament, throttling, as it were, the mass of cold," 
 is already driving his fiery steeds high up in the blinding 
 sky. 
 
 Again entering the Fort, and passing out by the Elephant 
 Gate, our friends descend, by the way they came, to the 
 eastern base of the rock. Here they bid a reluctant fare- 
 well to their dear friend Ham, and then drive away to the 
 guest-house for coolness and rest and tiffin. 
 
 When the heat of the day is over, they fare forth again, 
 and take their way through the heart of the town, watch- 
 ing the native life, more wonderful here than even in the
 
 GWALIAE. 265 
 
 crowded scenes of the cities of British India. The young 
 Maharaja gives a state banquet to-day, and our friends 
 meet many of the guests on their way to the royal Palace, 
 dignified gentlemen of dusky countenances, clad in splen- 
 did apparel. Preparations, too, for the coming festival of 
 Vishnu are not wanting, and in one of the streets appear 
 two gigantic idols of that worthy. They are made of mud, 
 and at present look somewhat deplorable ; but before the 
 feast-day they will have been duly painted and adorned, 
 and made ready to receive with fitting dignity the devotion 
 of their pious worshippers. Proud as their career will be, 
 however, it will not last long; for, as soon as the festival 
 is over, the venerated images will be summarily and ruth- 
 lessly destroyed. 
 
 Stranger than all else are the carriages wherein the native 
 ladies drive abroad. The picturesque ekkas have long been 
 familiar to our travellers' eyes; but they have never yet 
 seen the like of these extraordinary equipages. Each of 
 them is a square platform on wheels, richly hung with 
 bright-hued and embroidered stuffs, and furnished with a 
 towering tent of crimson, within whose sheltering curtains 
 the ladies lurk unseen. 
 
 But, fascinating as are the streets of the town, our travel- 
 lers must not linger long therein, for they have to visit before 
 sunset the tomb of Muhammad Ghaus, a learned and holy 
 personage who flourished in the reign of Akbar. The tomb 
 is an impressive sandstone building, and dates from the early 
 part of Akbar's reign. It is crowned with a heavy Pathan 
 dome, which used to reflect the sunshine from a covering of 
 blue encaustic tiles. The most beautiful part of the building 
 is the succession of exquisite fretwork screens wherewith the 
 surrounding corridor is shaded from the dare without.
 
 266 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Hard by is the tomb of Tansen, who, it seems, was a 
 famous musician, well known in Akbar's court. His tomb, 
 which is small, is overshadowed by a tamarind of very 
 remarkable properties; for whoso eateth a leaf therefrom 
 straightway is able to sing as sweetly as Tansen of old. 
 The present tree is only a descendant of the original one, 
 for so many were the singers who came to benefit by the 
 first tree's marvellous virtue, that, having no leaves left, 
 it not unreasonably died, a fate which probably awaits 
 also its no less magical successor. 
 
 Next morning the travellers explore the somewhat bar- 
 baric splendours of the Maharaja's modern palace, and, 
 bringing thus to an end their hurried experiences of 
 Gwaliar, set forth therefrom with sorrow, and journey 
 back to Agra.
 
 267 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE PEACOCK CITY AND THE FOREST OF VRIXDA. 
 
 SOON our travellers are planning another expedition this 
 time to holy Mathura, the capital of Braj and the birth- 
 place of "blessed Krishna," who is the Teacher and Soul 
 of the Universe, "destroyer of the race of earth's tyrant- 
 kings," 1 the "First of Spirits." 
 
 Mathura (one is not allowed to talk of Muttra now) lies 
 north-westward from Agra on the right bank of the Jamna. 
 So holy is the place that some have said, " If a man spend 
 in Benares all his lifetime, he hath earned less merit than 
 if he pass but a single day in the sacred city of Mathura." 5 
 
 Our friends begin the three hours' railway journey at 
 seven o'clock in the freshest and most radiant morning 
 that mind can imagine. Strange and brilliantly beautiful 
 are the birds that sweep through the sunlit air or perch 
 on the telegraph-wires. There are little birds with plum- 
 age of emerald green, and long-tailed kingcrows, and large 
 dove-like birds arrayed in two shades of blue, and the 
 great, brown, white-headed kite which Crawfurd identifies 
 with Garuda, Vishnu's favourite steed ; and, resplendent 
 
 1 ' Le Bhagavata Purana.' M. Eugene Burnouf. 
 
 2 From ' Mathura" : A District Memoir.' By F. S. Growse, B.C.S.
 
 268 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 in green and gold, the lively parrots, on one of which 
 Kamadeva, the little god of love, rides often by moonlight 
 over the plain of Mathura, holding his terrible sugar-cane 
 bow with its string that is made of bees. 
 
 There is a legend about that wicked little god, telling how 
 once, with Spring for his companion, he journeyed to Hima- 
 chal's snowy heights, and when the two came thither the 
 spring flowers bloomed around them, though it was not the 
 season of spring. There did they meet with Siva ; and the 
 mischievous love-god drew forth his arrow that was made 
 of the mango-tree, and presumed to aim at the mighty deity 
 just as a lovely maiden, Parvati, the Daughter of the Moun- 
 tain, had come forth to gather flowers to offer at Siva's shrine. 
 But, in a moment, from Siva's third and central eye beamed 
 forth a terrible stream of fire, and Kamadeva was caught 
 thereby, and in a moment burned to ashes. How it was that 
 he recovered from that disaster I know not, but certain it is 
 that soon he was seen again, merrily riding his parrot through 
 the moonlit plains of Mathura. 
 
 All life is sacred in the Mathura district, and not even 
 bloodthirsty Britons may in any wise molest the birds. 
 Every sheet of water near the railway is crowded with 
 multitudes of wild -fowl wild geese and ducks, pelicans 
 and cranes, and other kinds innumerable. Everywhere, too, 
 are wild peacocks perambulating in twos and threes, their 
 brilliant plumage beautifully contrasting with the soft, rich 
 verdure of the background. Well do they know in their 
 regal pride that they are Krishna's sacred birds, who gave 
 their name long centuries ago to Mathura, the Peacock 
 City. 
 
 The trees are mostly tamarinds, wherein hang, each by its 
 slender band of fibre, the light-brown nests of the weaver-
 
 PEACOCK CITY AND FOREST OF VRINDA. 269 
 
 birds. Often too the dark-green foliage is illuminated by 
 the soft, golden masses of a lovely parasite plant called 
 Absalom's Hair or, if it is not called so, it ought to be. 
 Another beautiful plant is a crimson water - weed which 
 grows over the surface of pools in the most delectable man- 
 ner ; and there are so many other strange things to be seen 
 that our travellers are in danger of forgetting to tell each 
 other the marvellous history of Krishna, though it assuredly 
 behoves them to do so before the journey is ended. 
 
 Krishna, the all-comprising, the pure, the ancient, the 
 immutable, who by his frown alone can annihilate the 
 universe, is the eighth incarnation of Vishnu ; but he has a 
 cult that is all his own, and he seems to be considered by his 
 worshippers as supreme over all other gods, including Vishnu 
 himself, who sometimes appears in the scriptures as Krishna's 
 son. This is somewhat bewildering, but one gets used to it 
 in time. 
 
 The story of Krishna is worth listening to ; for what said 
 Narada long ago ? " It is a history that delivereth man from 
 all diseases of body and soul, and maketh him wise and 
 blessed." * Some have thought to trace therein vestiges of 
 Christian influence ; yet there seems but little reason there- 
 for (the etymologic fancy about Krishna's name was long ago 
 disposed of) ; and in any case, for practical purposes, Krishna's 
 legends are, in all conscience, quite heathenish enough. 
 
 A mighty deity was Krishna, and he lived in an excellent 
 abode upheld by the wind ten thousand millions of leagues 
 above the egg of the world. But further and higher yet, in 
 the exalted paradise of the celestial shepherdesses, dwelt 
 Eadha his lovely bride, reigning among green and sacred 
 
 1 See ' Traduction et Commentaire des'principaux passages du Brahinavrc- 
 varta Parana.' Par L. Leupol.
 
 270 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 lawns over numberless choirs of nymphs. Joyful was Radha 
 of old among her maiden companions. But there arose a 
 contention betwixt her and Dharman the demon - spirit, 
 whose eyes were red like the lotus. And Dharman cursed 
 her, saying in his cruel wrath, " Take thou an human form ! 
 Thou shalt become a woman, and shalt wander on the face 
 of the earth." Then Eadha wept in sorrow, and thus ad- 
 dressed her lord : " Dharman hath cursed me ! Tell me, 
 thou destroyer of fear, . . . how can I endure life without 
 thee ? Thou art my sight, my strength, mine eye, and my 
 highest riches." But Krishna, when he heard it, comforted 
 the fair goddess, saying, " I, too, thou of the lovely coun- 
 tenance, will go down to the earth. Since thou must there 
 be born, descend with me. I will walk in the woodland of 
 Braj when thou comest thither. What canst thou fear when 
 I am with thee ? " 
 
 So Eadha rode on a boar until she came to the face of the 
 earth, and with her went Krishna her lord, the ruler of all 
 the world. Then Eadha was born as the daughter of Nanda 
 and Yasoda his wife; but Krishna came to the city of 
 Mathura that is in the region of Braj, near to the Jamna 
 Eiver, and became the eighth son of Prince Vasudeva and 
 his lady, Princess Devaki ; and his elder brother was Bala- 
 rama, the hero of many achievements. 
 
 Now there reigned at that time in Mathura the wicked 
 tyrant Kansa, the brother of Princess Devaki. And he had 
 thrust from the throne his father Ugrasen, and boastfully 
 reigned in his stead. But there came to him a Voice out of 
 the air, saying, " By the eighth son of Vasudeva thou shalt 
 be slain." Then would Kansa have slain the infant Krishna ; 
 but Vasudeva l took him in his arms and fled away through 
 
 1 See Growse, ' District Memoir. '
 
 PEACOCK CITY AND FOREST OF VRINDA. 271 
 
 the stormy night till he came to the river Jamna. The great 
 river was in flood (for it was the rainy season), and the cur- 
 rent was deep and strong ; but Vasudeva boldly entered the 
 stream, and there was no cause of fear, for when the waters 
 had risen up to the foot of the sleeping Krishna, they could 
 go no further, and Vasudeva with his little son passed over 
 the river in safety. 
 
 So Krishna grew up to manhood, and did many a mighty 
 deed ; and at length he slew Kansa the tyrant, and restored 
 to his throne in peace the aged king Ugrasen. And Eadha 
 also grew up a lovely milkmaid, and Krishna made her his 
 bride. 
 
 Much more there is to tell of Krishna's heroic achieve- 
 ments; but legendary rhapsodies are suddenly interrupted 
 by the arrival at Mathura. Whereupon the travellers drive 
 in a gharry away to the travellers' bungalow, and are there 
 received by a white-turbaned, black-bearded personage whose 
 name is Wazir. Would that I could in anywise do justice, 
 O marvellous Wazir, to the altogether extraordinary qualities 
 of thine intellect and conversation ! Never before have the 
 travellers heard such fluent discourse. It is a never-ending, 
 voluble stream of infinitely varied sound. The language (in 
 Wazi'r's fond imagination) is English, but must be a strange 
 and unfamiliar form thereof, that philologists ought to inves- 
 tigate. Most Indians are nervous, and poor Wazir is per- 
 haps slightly hysterical. His earnestness and insistence are 
 something appalling, and his intense excitement is oppressive 
 as a nightmare. Finding it impossible to silence him, the 
 travellers wrathfully drive him away ; but he is always turn- 
 ing up again with more to say than ever. 
 
 At last, the door having been finally shut in his face and 
 secured on the inside, our friends are free to breakfast in
 
 272 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 peace, and discuss their plans of action. Bindraban, with its 
 venerable temples and its mythical associations, has long 
 been haunting their minds, and thither they propose to go 
 forthwith, leaving till to-morrow the nearer sights of the city 
 of Mathura itself. 
 
 Suddenly through a second and unsuspected door, in sidles 
 Wazir, pouring forth such a volume of multitudinous words 
 that his hearers are for the moment subdued and over- 
 whelmed. But, when it becomes evident that he too pro- 
 poses to go to Bindraban, their indignation knows no bounds. 
 
 " No ! " says Philippa firmly, " we will not allow it ! You 
 talk too much." 
 
 Whereupon Wazir, the picture of injured innocence, 
 plunges into so violent a stream of protestations, such a 
 whirling storm of denials, that Philippa sorrowfully deter- 
 mines never to repeat the accusation. Eealising at length 
 that he really may not go, poor Wazir is for some seconds 
 silent and dejected; but just as the travellers are entering 
 their gharry he noiselessly sidles up, climbs in a moment to 
 the roof thereof, and sits him down there (like a great white 
 bird), the master of the situation. Commands and threats 
 and remonstrances are thenceforth all in vain, and it is the 
 travellers' turn to look dejected as at length they drive away. 
 
 " Well," says Irene, trying to cheer the others, " he cannot 
 do much harm while he is safe overhead. I think, Philippa, 
 that you had better make the best of the respite, and tell us 
 some of the legends that belong to Bindraban." 
 
 " There would be more legends to tell," says Philippa in- 
 dignantly, "if those meddlesome scholars would only leave 
 them alone. Bindraban is the Forest of Vrinda, and Vrinda 
 used to be a mighty goddess about whom any number of 
 delightful stories might have been told ; but the learned
 
 PEACOCK CITY AND FOREST OF VRINDA. 273 
 
 have turned her into a botanical species, and say that Bind- 
 raban means ' a forest of tulsi-tTees.' " 
 
 " But, Philippa, what about Krishna and Balarama ? 
 Didn't they live there as boys, and run wild in the woods 
 thereabout, playing on shepherds' pipes ? And what is the 
 legend about the little Krishna stealing butter and curds ? " 
 
 " Ah, that is a wonderful story ! " exclaims Philippa, 
 brightening up. "Krishna, it seems, as a child, was ex- 
 tremely fond of butter; and once on a time he went by 
 stealth to a neighbour's house, and mounted by a ladder to a 
 shelf whereon a great butter-jar stood, and he ate the butter 
 as far as he could reach, and then got into the jar. So, when 
 the master of the house came home, he covered the jar with 
 a plate that Krishna might not escape, and went to his home 
 to complain ; but when he arrived, the wonderful child was 
 already there before him. On another day he had stolen 
 curds, and eaten them when no one was looking. ' O thou 
 wicked one ! ' said his foster-mother, ' come let me see thy 
 mouth, that I may know what thou hast eaten.' Then 
 Krishna opened his mouth, and she looked therein, and lo ! 
 there was the Universe the earth and the sea, and the 
 heavens with the sun and moon, the planets, and all the 
 stars." 
 
 " Philippa, what nonsense you are telling us ! Are there 
 no Krishna legends that have any beauty or sense in them ? " 
 
 " Oh yes ! " answers Philippa, " there is that solemn and 
 impressive story about the flood that Krishna averted. 
 Indra, the King of the Firmament, the God of a Thousand 
 Eyes, was angry with Krishna, and he sent so terrible a 
 storm of rain that the shepherds of these regions must needs 
 have been drowned. But Krishna laid hold on the mountain 
 Govarddhana, and tore it up by the roots, and, supporting 
 
 s
 
 274 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the point on his little finger, held up that mighty mountain 
 as an umbrella to shelter the world. But the legend which 
 is far more interesting than all the others 
 
 Suddenly, in at the window, craning round the corner so 
 that it is frightful to see, comes the turbaned head of Wazir ; 
 and with it comes, bursting with terrible force upon the 
 defenceless travellers within, the pent-up torrent of words. 
 Thenceforward conversation is impossible, and great is the 
 relief of mind when the six miles' drive is over. 
 
 Bindraban lies due north of Mathura on the same bank 
 of the Janma. It stands on a tongue of land surrounded 
 on three sides by the River, which has curved about in a 
 strange fashion that would be hard indeed to account for had 
 not kind Tradition fully explained the matter. Balarama, it 
 seems, the hero of giant strength, once led a dance on the 
 Jamna's bank ; but so clumsily moved his giant limbs that 
 the Eiver laughed aloud, and taunted him scornfully on this 
 wise : " Forbear, clumsy one ! How wilt thou strive to 
 move as Krishna, the youth divine ? " Then Balarama was 
 very angry with the River; and he laid hold on his own 
 great plough, and traced a furrow therewith from the very 
 brink of the stream; and so deep was that furrow, that 
 Jamna fell thereinto, and Balarama led him far astray so 
 that he could not return. 
 
 From time immemorial Bindraban has been a sacred 
 place ;" but it was not (saith Mr Growse) till the middle of 
 the sixteenth century that certain holy men came thither, 
 who made it their home, and builded there a shrine to the 
 goddess Vrinda. Whereupon other temples were builded 
 too, and there arose a stately city. 
 
 There is much to see ; but the visitors, who love not 
 hurried sight -seeing, prefer to visit in peace a few of the
 
 PEACOCK CITY AND FOREST OF VRINDA. 275 
 
 principal temples, and to regard all for which they have not 
 time as virtually non-existent. They betake them first to 
 the famous temple of Govind Deo, built by Man Sing of 
 Amber, A.D. 1590, in honour of Krishna, of whose titles 
 Goviuda is one. It is a massive cruciform pile of red sand- 
 stone, and at the first glance looks like a reproduction (on a 
 far grander scale) of the larger of the two Sas-bahu temples 
 in the Fort at Gwaliar. Parts of it have been injured ; for 
 the folk used it at one time for a quarry, even as I am 
 using (and shall use to the end of the chapter) that majestic 
 and ponderous tome published in India and called ' Mathura, 
 a District Memoir,' wherein most things that anybody could 
 possibly write about the Mathura district have been written 
 before (and better) by Mr Growse. 
 
 The chief loss which the temple has suffered is the de- 
 struction of the central dome. The sikra, or curvilinear 
 tower, which should have surmounted the cella, was perhaps 
 never built, the learned say. But the temple is still wonder- 
 fully grand and impressive, a lordly pile of massive walls, 
 and clustered pillars with beautiful bracket capitals, and 
 numberless pointed arches opening into the deep shadow 
 that reigns within, and breaking, with a delicious relief, the 
 crimson glare of the sunlit surfaces. Everywhere the walls 
 are covered with bold, horizontal lines of moulding, which 
 produce a delightfully natural effect hardly to be conveyed 
 in words. 
 
 " They are like the strata of the cosmic masonry ! " ex- 
 claims Sebaste. "This temple never can have been built. 
 It grew." 
 
 Scarcely less majestic is the sombre interior a Greek 
 cross 100 feet in length and breadth, the Gothic lines of its 
 massive vaulted roof presenting so curiously Christian an
 
 276 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 appearance that one thinks wistfully what a beautiful church 
 the temple would make, if only the Hindus who worship 
 therein would make haste and get converted. The interior 
 of the temple, and especially the doors, are haunted by the 
 wretched figures of long-haired devotees, their dark skins 
 besmeared with ashes, and changed thereby into a ghastly 
 grey. They recall the figure that Siva presented long since 
 on his wedding-day, when he came " mounted on a cow, 
 having five heads and three eyes, his body rubbed with 
 ashes, and the hair of his head all in a knot after the fashion 
 of the ascetics." l So holy are these devotees that they take 
 no food except milk and sweetmeats brought them by pious 
 worshippers; and as the result, perhaps, of this diet, they 
 look scarcely human, and seem to be slowly but surely 
 dwindling down into monkeys. 
 
 The walls of the temple are, on an average, 10 feet thick, 
 and the most delightful part of the building is the labyrinth 
 of stairs and passages which they are found to contain. 
 Nothing in the world could be more alluring, more sugges- 
 tive of mysterious adventure, than these narrow flights of 
 red sandstone steps within the thickness of the walls, lead- 
 ing up and away to giddy heights of triforium and hang- 
 ing balcony, whence one sometimes looks down into the 
 shadowy depths of the interior, sometimes, clinging to a 
 pillar on the brink of empty space, gazes out into, the 
 glowing world of sunshine with a wild desire to bound 
 over the edge and come crashing down on the red pave- 
 ment lying far below. 
 
 Near the Govind Deo temple the travellers visit a great 
 modern pagoda, built, after the pattern of those in the South, 
 by two brothers, Seth Eadha Kri'shn and Seth Govind Das. 
 
 1 Sheeve Pouran. Halhed.
 
 PEACOCK CITY AND FOREST OF VEINDA. 277 
 
 Its giant courts and gopuras look strangely out of place up 
 here in the North. 
 
 After this our friends drive away to the older and more 
 interesting temple of Madan Mohan. This, too, is a temple 
 of Krishna, who seems to have had an enormous number of 
 names, as indeed he had need to have, if all be true that 
 the legends tell of his supernatural power of multiplying 
 himself at pleasure. At one time, it seems, there were six- 
 teen thousand of him. 
 
 The legend of this temple is less fanciful than usual. It 
 happened long ago that one Kapuri, a merchant of Multan, 
 was floating down the Eiver in a boat which he had laden 
 with merchandise to be sold at Agra. And when he had 
 reached the place below the height on which now stands 
 the temple, his boat stuck fast on a sandbank. For three 
 days he strove to escape ; but the sandbank held him fast. 
 Then he went out of the boat, and climbed up the hill. And 
 he came where the holy Sanatan dwelt, and told him all his 
 trouble. Then said Sanatan, the holy ascetic, " My counsel 
 is that thou pray to Madan Mohan." And when Kapuri 
 had so done, his boat forthwith was floating free. So he 
 went on his way gladly, and coming to Agra, he sold all 
 his merchandise ; and he returned with the price thereof to 
 the place where his prayer had been answered, and builded 
 there a temple of red sandstone, which remaineth unto this 
 day. 
 
 I ought to describe that venerable ruin, and especially its 
 beautiful curvilinear sikras which rise with such fantastic 
 grace, stately forms of glowing crimson, against the blue of 
 the sky. But I would much rather not ! I am tired, like 
 the travellers, and gladly turn away to follow them back to 
 Mathura, the travellers' bungalow, and tea. The heat is so
 
 278 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 great that even Wazfr is subdued, and, sitting enthroned on 
 the top of the gharry, passes in strange, unnatural silence 
 the time of the homeward drive. 
 
 Next morning our friends set forth to explore the city of 
 Mathura. It is holy and picturesque beyond imagination. 
 Everywhere rollicking monkeys haunt the streets, galloping 
 in and out of the temples, trotting along on the tops of walls, 
 grinning at the white-faced intruders, and very conscious the 
 while of their own inviolable sanctity. 
 
 The temples are numberless, and at the door of one of 
 them the travellers linger long, watching the worship within. 
 An important part of the ritual is the striking, by each 
 worshipper, of a bell which hangs from above. The 'mystic 
 significance thereof I know not, nor do the Hindu scriptures 
 seem to expound it ; but they often speak of the bell as a 
 sacred and venerable thing. For what said Indra, and Vanhi, 
 the god of fire, long ago when " with joyful countenances " 
 they hymned the great goddess Durga because she had 
 gloriously conquered the army of the great-cheeked demons ? 
 " May the bell of the goddess," they cried, " the sound of 
 which has appalled the energy of the giants, and penetrated 
 through all the worlds, preserve us as its children ! " l 
 
 But more beautiful than the temples are some of the 
 private houses, for they are richly adorned with the lovely 
 native sculpture for which Mathura city is famous, beauti- 
 ful embroideries of stone, mazy and delicate exceedingly. 
 
 Then there is the Jam 'i Masjid to visit, a relic of Muham- 
 madan times that must feel sadly out of place in Krishna's 
 sacred town. It was builded A.D. 1661, in the reign, as an 
 inscription puts it, of "the king of the world, Aurangzib, 
 
 1 From the ' Sapta-Shati,' . , . translated by Cavali Venkat Rdmasswdmi, 
 Pandit.
 
 PEACOCK CITY AND FOREST OF VRINDA. 279 
 
 who is adorned with justice." It seems to have replaced an 
 older Hindu temple, for the inscription goes on to relate that 
 " this second ' Holy Temple ' caused the idols to bow down 
 and worship." Finally the devout builder thereof thus ex- 
 claims in flowing Persian: 
 
 " May this Jam 'i Masjid of majestic structure shine forth 
 for ever like the hearts of the pious ! 
 
 " Its roof is high like aspirations of love ; its courtyard is 
 wide like the arena of thought." x 
 
 All this is incongruous in this stronghold of Hinduism ; 
 and the travellers soon wander away in search of older sites 
 associated with "blessed Krishna," whose countenance was 
 fair and bright " like the moon in an autumn festival." A 
 small temple marks his birthplace ; but more interesting are 
 the scanty remains of what tradition confidently avers to be 
 the Palace of Kansa itself. Herein did that violent usurper 
 long hold his evil court. No human monarch was he in 
 truth, but the mighty demon Kalanemi disguised in the form 
 of a man. No safety was there in his days for priests or for 
 sacred cattle ; for he slew them all alike, till the temples ran 
 with blood. And when he heard how the boys Krishna and 
 Balarama his brother did wondrous deeds at Bindraban, his 
 wicked heart was filled with fear, and he sought to slay them 
 also. Then said he within himself, " If they do but come to 
 Mathura, then shall they quickly die ; for who can withstand 
 the might of the champions, even Chanur and Mushtika my 
 servants ? " So he sent to the noble brothers by the hand 
 of Akrur the chieftain, saying, " Behold I have set a contest 
 of arms in my royal city of Mathura. Come ye, therefore, 
 hither, and try your strength before me." 
 
 Then Krishna and Balarama were glad, and set forth to- 
 
 1 Translated by Blochman (apud Growse).
 
 280 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 gether for Mathura. And when the set day was come, king 
 Kansa sat on a lofty throne hard by the place of contest. 
 Then came Krishna and Balarama. But, as they came in, 
 there went against them the mighty elephant Kuvalayapida ; 
 for Kansa urged him on, saying, " Surely he will trample 
 them under foot, and so shall they die." But Krishna seized 
 the beast by his tail, and, swinging him round his head, he 
 cast him down on the earth, so that he died forthwith. Then 
 Krishna and Balarama took each one of his tusks, and said, 
 " Who will fight against us ? Let him come forth, for we 
 are ready." Then came Chanur and Mushtika, the mighty 
 champions, and fought with the noble boys. And forthwith 
 Krishna slew Chanur, and Balarama slew Mushtika. 
 
 Then Kansa arose in haste, and commanded to slay Krishna 
 and Balarama with Vasudeva their father, and Ugrasen the 
 rightful king. But Krishna sprang up the steps of the 
 throne, and seized Kansa by the hair of his head, and hurled 
 him down from his lofty seat into the deep ravine hard by. 
 So the aged king, Ugrasen, sat again on the throne of 
 Mathura, and ruled thenceforth his kingdom in peace and 
 great prosperity. And to this day may be seen, hard by the 
 city of Mathura, the mount where Kansa's throne was set, and 
 the arena wherein Were slain the champions and the elephant 
 Kuvalayapida. 
 
 After this a visit must be paid to the Museum. To enter 
 the Museum is difficult, because the outside is so beautiful ; 
 but, when one is once within, it is harder still to come out 
 again, so fascinating are the ancient sculptures, carrying back 
 the mind to those strange old Buddhist times when Krishna's 
 name was not so much as mentioned in all his sacred city. 
 
 Fifteen hundred years ago, in good Fa-hien's days, there 
 were grand times, in Mathura and the neighbourhood, for
 
 PEACOCK CITY AND FOREST OF VRINDA. 281 
 
 the wearers of the Yellow Robe. Then were kings devout 
 believers, and humbly brought them offerings. Laying aside 
 their royal head-dresses, with their own hands they brought 
 the food that was their gift to the devotees. Then was it 
 never known that in presence of a Buddhist community a 
 king should sit on a couch ; but he would cause to be spread 
 for himself on the ground an unassuming carpet. Long did 
 the Buddhist doctrine nourish; and Hiuen Tsiang has left 
 us a vivid account of Mathura's great devotion early in the 
 seventh century. Then were in this district some twenty 
 monasteries containing about 2000 monks ; and wonderful 
 then were the scenes enacted on the sacred festivals of the 
 Buddha. Jewelled banners flashed in the sunlight; "rich 
 coverings" were "crowded together as network"; the fra- 
 grant smoke of incense rose up in clouds continually ; and 
 flowers were scattered like rain, till "the sun and moon 
 were concealed" as by the mists that veil the valleys. 
 
 Little do the learned seem to know of how Buddhism 
 came to Mathura and extinguished for a time the ancient 
 cults. Some say that its coming is shadowed forth in the 
 legend of Kala-yavana. A terrible conqueror was Kala- 
 yavana, mighty and fierce and cruel. From the far West he 
 came, and brought a vast army of barbarous folk against the 
 city of Mathura. But in the night of his coming, through 
 the wondrous power of Krishna, there arose, far off on the 
 shore of the ocean, a city strong and fair, whereof the name 
 was Dwaraka. And thither did Krishna carry away all 
 that dwelt in Mathura, bearing them thence in the night 
 while they slept, so that they knew it not until they awoke 
 in the morning, and, lo ! they were hard by the sea-shore, 
 and the sound of the waves was in their ears. But Mathura 
 was taken by Kala-yavana, who reigned there all his days.
 
 282 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 And, long after, the soul of that fierce conqueror once more 
 returned to earth; so he lived again, and men called him 
 Aurangzib. 
 
 Leaving the Museum at length, the travellers wander 
 long in the intricate streets of the city. Strange are they 
 to Western eyes, even though these be long accustomed to 
 oriental scenes. Strangest of all are the native shops 
 gleaming to right and left with the wealth of Mathura 
 brass-work. And still the monkeys gambol round, grinning 
 and grinning again at their wonderful, white-faced visitors. 
 
 Onward they wander still, ever meeting new and dis- 
 tracting sights, until at last they come to the Eiver, and, 
 walking out to the middle of the bridge, look back in silent 
 wonder at the ancient city on the bank. Many are the 
 pilgrim- bathers, and here and there a monkey has come 
 clown to the water to drink. Many, too, are the ghats by 
 the water's edge ; and each ghat has its own quaint legend, 
 too many for me to tell. 
 
 Near the centre of the city's river-side face is the famous 
 Visrant Ghat, the Landing-place of Eest, where Krishna 
 and Balarama rested after dragging the body of Kansa down 
 to the water's edge that it might lie on the funeral pyre. 
 Hard by is a water-course, so the ignorant call it ; but no 
 rain or torrent ever scooped that ancient and venerable 
 channel : it is the trace of the body of Kansa himself, left 
 in the river-side ground as they dragged him down to the 
 water ; and to this very day they call it Kansa Khar. 
 
 Very conspicuous too is the Sati Burj, a tower built on 
 the spot where a widow once was burned along with her 
 husband's body. He, they say, was Raja Bihar Mall, who 
 ruled long since in Jaipur, and the tower was builded 
 A.D. 1570 by their son Bhagavan Das.
 
 PEACOCK CITY AND FOREST OF VRINDA. 283 
 
 At length the travellers leave the bridge, and embark on 
 a native boat a shapeless, lumbering thing that one can 
 scarcely contemplate with gravity. As they glide along the 
 stream, past ghats and palaces and temples, they are sud- 
 denly aware of many eyes watching them with grave intent - 
 ness, the eyes not of men but of majestic tortoises who dwell 
 in the Eiver at home. Long necks they have, and far out of 
 the water they thrust their snake-like heads, watching the 
 strangers in solemn silence with a gaze of mild toleration but 
 of very much qualified approval. Seeing the travellers' admir- 
 ing glances, one of the bathers seizes and holds up in the air 
 the most solemn and dignified of all the tortoise company 
 a striking example of that Hindu scheme of the universe, 
 known as the Science of Sank, which asserts that " nothing 
 is annihilated, but only disappears, the effect being absorbed 
 in the cause, as the tortoise draws his legs into his shell." l 
 
 Too soon it is time to hasten away and prepare for the 
 Agra train. As our friends are leaving the travellers' 
 bungalow, Wazir comes softly out to wish them a sad fare- 
 well. The Father, thankful indeed to take leave of him, 
 bestows a small remembrance, which Wazi'r receives with 
 the utmost dejection, and with such heartrending looks of 
 disappointment that the Father is compelled, from mere 
 humanity, to give him a little more. But all is to no pur- 
 pose. Poor Wazi'r is broken-hearted at so poor a requital of 
 his devotion. His manifest misery casts a gloom over the 
 pleasure of parting ; but, as the travellers drive away, there 
 sounds through the still air a wild, chuckling laugh, and, 
 looking back, they behold Wazi'r bounding into the air with 
 irrepressible exultation, and waving his long, brown arms 
 overhead in a transport of triumphant joy. 
 
 1 From the ' Ayeen Akbery. ' Glad win.
 
 284 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY. 
 
 To the cities of Dehli and Labor our friends devote as much 
 time as they can, and a respectable amount of study ; but con- 
 cerning these places there are not many things to write that 
 have not been written before, and the travellers' experiences 
 therein may safely be left, they think, to the kind and 
 indulgent Eeader's graphic imagination. 
 
 Toward the end of their stay in Labor their restless and 
 excitable minds are invaded by visions of Amritsar the 
 Sikhs' most holy city, of the Pool of Immortality, and the 
 far-famed Golden Temple. A long day must be devoted 
 thereto, and early in the morning they set forth with eager 
 expectation. Amritsar lies only thirty-two miles to the east 
 of Labor, and the railway journey should be a short one ; but 
 the engine, despising with a stolid and lumbering contempt 
 our travellers' impatient enthusiasm, breaks down midway 
 on purpose, and our friends must resign themselves as best 
 they may to spending on the journey four long, hot hours, 
 which they beguile by diligently rehearsing the history of 
 Sikhism. 
 
 Having duly recalled all the historic events they can 
 remember, having ascertained that the present number of
 
 THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY. 285 
 
 Sikhs in the Panjab is not much less than 2,000,000, and 
 having generally done their duty by serious matters of fact, 
 they begin telling those quaint traditions of the Sikh Gurus 
 which, thanks to Dr Trumpp, are now within the reach of 
 even those benighted beings who cannot read Gurmukhi. 
 
 Delightful is his account of the manuscripts of various ages 
 which he has so diligently translated, and particularly of 
 that oldest of all the lives of Nanak, long ago forgotten even 
 by the Sikhs themselves, and for many years unknown to 
 any one except the white ants, who have browsed on its 
 precious pages and made lamentable gaps therein. This 
 early ' Book of l^anak ' is far more to be relied on than the 
 later accounts at present in use among his followers, and 
 even the most wonderful stories thereof may rest on a sub- 
 stratum of truth. Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, 
 was born, saith this venerable authority, "in Sarnbat 1526 
 [i.e., A.D. 1469], in the month of Vaisakh ; in a moonlight 
 night at an early hour, while yet about a watch of the night 
 was remaining, he was born. . . . The 330 millions of gods 
 paid homage to the child Nanak." 
 
 A later manuscript tells how Kalu, his father, made 
 request of the Pandit Hari Dyal that he would give him a 
 name. Then "the Pandit reflected for thirteen days. When 
 thirteen days had passed, a coat was put on the child " ; and 
 the name that the Pandit gave him was " Nanak, the Form- 
 less One " : and, being wise in the wisdom of the stars, he 
 spake and said, "This one both Hindus and Turks will 
 worship; his name will be current on earth and in heaven. 
 Wood and grass will say, ' Nanak ! Nanak ! ' The ocean will 
 grant him access." 
 
 As Nanak grew up he was not like to other children, for 
 in his spirit he meditated on the Lord. " When he was five
 
 286 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 years old he began to talk of the Shastras and the Vedas," 
 and " everybody received comfort from him." When he was 
 seven years old, Kalu his father said to him, " ' Nanak, 
 read ! ' Then he brought Guru Nanak to the schoolmaster. 
 Kalu said, ' schoolmaster, teach this one to read ! ' ' Then 
 the schoolmaster wrote on a wooden slate the thirty-five 
 letters of the Gurm'ukhi alphabet, and gave it to Nanak to 
 read. But forthwith the wondrous child began to instruct 
 his teacher, exhorting him in a discourse of thirty-four verses, 
 which, afterward written in the holy book of the Adi Granth, 
 are called to this day Patti, the Wooden Slate. 
 
 Afterward the Guru " went home and sat down. It was 
 the order of the Lord that he did no work whatever." Thus 
 does the 'Book of Nanak' depict the years of his life at 
 home : " When he sits down, he remains seated ; when he 
 goes to sleep, he remains asleep. He associates with Fakirs." 
 It was his custom, moreover, to go and sit under trees, and 
 there remain " retired from the world." And one day " at 
 the time of noon " he had fallen asleep in a garden within 
 the shade of a tree. For many hours he slept; and the 
 shadows of the other trees moved round as the day wore on, 
 but that wherein Nanak had laid himself down remained ever 
 steadfast to shield him. Moreover, as the later writings 
 record, a black snake came forth and sat at his head, and 
 spread over him the shelter of its hood. So Nanak " drank 
 the breath of the snake," but took no hurt at all. 
 
 When Nanak was grown to be a man he still refused to 
 work, and spake to none except Fakirs. And when he 
 neither ate nor drank for three full months, his kinsfolk 
 said, " He is mad." Then by " the order of the Lord " he 
 departed from Talvandi his birthplace, and came to Sultan - 
 pur, where Jairani dwelt who had married his sister ; and
 
 THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY. 287 
 
 there he became a steward of the Nawab Daulat Khan. 
 Now by the order of the Lord " the river was going con- 
 tinually." And one day Nanak came to the river, having 
 his servant with him. And when he had entered the river 
 to bathe, celestial messengers carried him away and set 
 him at "the threshold of the Lord." But his servant 
 tarried on the bank " standing and standing " ; and when 
 Nanak came not again he returned home. And they cast 
 a net into the river, and the fishermen searched for Nanak, 
 but they found him not. For by the order of the Lord 
 Nanak stood at the threshold, and beheld the celestial court. 
 Then a cup was filled with elixir of life and given to him, 
 and a voice commanded him, saying, "Nanak, this elixir 
 is a cup of my name, drink it ! " Then " Guru Nanak made 
 a salutation and drank it," and the voice spake to him, 
 saying, "I have made thee exalted. ... Go and mutter 
 my name, and cause others also to mutter it ! ... My 
 name is the Supreme Brahm, the Supreme Lord." Then " a 
 dress of honour was given" to Nanak, and those celestial 
 messengers were commanded that they should bring him 
 back to the river, whence they had carried him away. So 
 on the third day they brought him thither, and Nanak 
 came out from the water. But when they saw him the 
 people were astonished, and said, "Friends, this one had 
 fallen into the river ! Whence is he come ? " 
 
 After this Nanak gave all that he had to the poor, and 
 "removed his abode afar off." And when he had "con- 
 tinued in silence for one day," the next day " he arose and 
 said, ' There is no Hindu and there is no Musalman! " Then 
 all the people wondered, but Nanak added and said : 
 
 "He is a Musalman who clears away his own self, who 
 is sincere, patient, of pure words.
 
 288 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 "Who does not touch what is standing, who does not 
 eat what is fallen down: 
 
 " That Musalman will go to Paradise, says Nanak." 
 
 Then the wisdom of Nanak was made manifest to all. 
 "Wherever he looked, there all were saluting him;" the 
 Khan also "came and fell down at his feet." But Nanak 
 began to wander over the earth; and he took with him 
 Mardana the rebeck -player, and "practised wind -eating." 
 The first journey of Nanak was toward the East. Many 
 things befell him by the way ; and on every occasion Nanak 
 exclaimed, " Mardana, play the rebeck ! " And as he played, 
 Nanak chanted forth those poems of wisdom and instruc- 
 tion which all may read to this day in the book of the 
 Adi Granth. 
 
 Wandering thus, they came to Dehli, and when they 
 were come thither, behold ! an elephant had lately died, 
 and all the folk were lamenting. But Nanak recalled the 
 elephant to life, and there were great rejoicings. And on 
 this same journey he met with certain Thags, and when he 
 spake to them they repented. 
 
 But most wonderful of all were the things that befell them 
 in the country of Kauru ; for therein was a town where 
 dwelt many women that were conjurers. Now Mardana 
 went before into the town, for he was hungry ; and he 
 came to the door of a woman's house "and stood there." 
 Then she took a thread and bound him therewith, and 
 forthwith Mardana became a ram. So when Guru Nanak 
 came thither, Mardana began to bleat ; but the woman was 
 gone to fetch water. And when she came back with the 
 water-jar, Guru Nanak caused the jar to remain fixed on 
 her head, and she could in nowise remove it. And the 
 Guru spake to the ram, and said, "Mardana, say 'Vah
 
 THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY. 289 
 
 Guru ! ' and bow thy head." So, when Mardana bowed his 
 head, the thread brake, and he regained his own form. 
 
 Now the chief of the conjurers was Nur Shahi. And 
 when she heard how the water-jar remained immovable, she 
 sent to all the other conjurers, saying, " Come ye, every one ; 
 let none remain behind." So all the women that were 
 conjurers "came with their skill. One came mounted on 
 a tree, another came mounted on a deerskin, another on 
 the moon, another on a wall " ; and they all began " to 
 practise their jugglery, binding threads " ; but all their 
 spells were powerless in the presence of Guru Nanak. 
 Then came Nur Shahi with her wisest disciples, riding 
 on " an apparatus of paper," and began to apply her 
 mightiest spells ; but when they were of no avail, she 
 "fell down at the feet of the Guru," and "became a votary 
 of the name," muttering " Guru, Guru ! " 
 
 On another day, as they wandered, Nanak and Mardana 
 the rebeck - player " came to a city of ants " ; and of the 
 inhabitants thereof the Guru recounted a marvellous history, 
 which no doubt was the attraction which drew their white 
 relatives to evince for this manuscript such enthusiastic 
 affection: Once on a time it happened that a Eaja came 
 to this city; for he was marching to war with another 
 Eaja, and with " a host of fifty-two complete armies " he 
 passed through the land by the way of the city of ants. 
 Then an ant went out to meet him, and said, " Eaja, 
 remain in this place; march no farther. Or if thou wilt 
 march, my will is this that thou shouldest first eat of my 
 bread, and then shalt thou go thy way." But the Eaja was 
 very proud, and said, " I am the Eaja of fifty-two complete 
 armies, how should I eat thy bread ? " " Then," said the 
 ant, " thou must do battle with us " ; and the Eaja said, 
 
 T
 
 290 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 "So be it." Then he took his fifty-two complete armies, 
 and "began to fight with the ants. The chief of the ants 
 gave the order to the ants, ' Go and fetch poison.' Hav- 
 ing filled their mouth with poison from the Piyal-tree, they 
 brought it ; every one died to whom they applied it. ... 
 The whole host of the fifty-two complete armies died by 
 the order of the Lord ; the Eaja alone remained alive. Then 
 that ant went and said, ' O Eaja, hear my word, now thou 
 wilt eat of my bread.' The Eaja, joining his hands, stood 
 and said, ' Well, be it so ! ' Then that ant gave the order to 
 the ants, 'Go and bring nectar!' In the nether regions 
 there are seven pools of nectar and seven pools of poison. 
 The ants went, filled their mouth with nectar and brought 
 it. To whom they applied it, he rose and stood; so the 
 host of fifty-two complete armies rose and stood by the 
 order of the Lord." Then the Eaja arose and "went to 
 eat bread with his fifty-two complete armies," and after- 
 ward he "returned to his house." 
 
 Such was the history that Nanak told, and he added, in 
 praise of the Lord, the Formless One, this verse : 
 
 " He establishes an ant and gives it dominion, and an army 
 he reduces to ashes." 
 
 So Nanak wandered over the earth, and returned at length 
 to Talvandi. And the second time he wandered, journeying 
 toward the South, and came even as far as Singhala dvipa, 
 the same is Ceylon. 
 
 The third time he wandered, journeying toward the North ; 
 and he came into the country of Kashmir, and even to 
 Mount Sumeru in the far-off northern land. 
 
 And the fourth time he wandered, travelling toward the 
 West, journeying as a pilgrim to Mecca ; and as he went a 
 cloud went with him, floating overhead to give him shade.
 
 THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY. 291 
 
 And when he came to Mecca, he lay down to sleep, and by 
 chance his feet were directed toward the holy place of the 
 Ka'ba. And at " the time of evening prayer the Kazi Eukn 
 Din came " in to offer his prayers. And " when he beheld 
 Nanak he said, '0 servant of God, why dost thou stretch 
 out thy feet in the direction of the house of God and towards 
 the Ka'ba ? ' " Then said Nanak, "Where the house of God 
 and the Ka'ba is not, thither direct my feet ! " So the Kazi 
 Eukn Din turned away the Guru's feet ; but whithersoever 
 he turned them, thither the Ka'ba also moved. Then " the 
 Kazi Eukn Din became astonished and kissed his feet," 
 and "made his salaam and said, 'Vah, Vah! Wonderful, 
 wonderful ! ' >: 
 
 And the fifth time Nanak wandered, and journeyed as far 
 as the country which is called Gorakh-hatari ; but where 
 that country is, methinketh no man knows. 
 
 So Nanak passed his life until his age was sixty-nine ; and 
 the time drew near when the Guru, the " turning-pin of the 
 world," should be absorbed in the Formless One. As his 
 successor he named his faithful disciple who is called Lahana 
 and Angad. And it was the Sambat year 1595 (the same is 
 1538 of the Christian era), " on the tenth of the light half of 
 the month of Asu." " It was night, towards dawn of day, 
 at the time of his departure." And he "went to a sarih- 
 tree and sat down under it." Now the sarih-tree was dry, 
 and had no leaves ; but when the Guru had sat him down, 
 it "became green again; leaves and blossoms came forth." 
 Then " the wife of Nanak began to weep ; brothers, relations, 
 all the retainers began to weep. . . . The Society began to 
 sing funeral songs." 
 
 And there were many Hindus and Musalmans who were 
 " votaries of the Name." Then the Musalmans began to say,
 
 292 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 "We shall bury him "; but the Hindus said, " We shall burn 
 him." And Nanak said, " Put ye flowers beside me ; on the 
 right side put those of the Hindus, on the left those of the 
 Musalmans. If the flowers of the Hindus remain fresh 
 till to-morrow, then they shall burn me ; and if the flowers 
 of the Musalmans remain fresh, then they shall bury me." 
 Then Nanak lay down to sleep, and they covered him with a 
 sheet, and laid him on a funeral pyre. But in the morning, 
 " when they lifted up the sheet, there was nothing at all " ; 
 for, behold ! the Guru had been absorbed. And the flowers, 
 both those of the Hindus and those of the Musalmans, were 
 all of them fresh and fragrant. Then "the whole Society 
 fell on their knees," and the Hindus took their flowers and 
 departed, and the Musalmans did likewise. 
 
 So much for Guru Nanak ; but what has our learned 
 Doctor to say of the nine other Gurus who succeeded him ? 
 Angad and Amar-das, the second and third Gurus, were both 
 unlettered men, and did nothing more noteworthy than com- 
 posing sundry verses afterwards included in the ' Book of the 
 Adi Granth.' The fourth Guru was Eam-das, who succeeded 
 to the Guruship A.D. 1574. He was born in the village 
 Gurucakk, and in his native place he restored an ancient 
 tank and adorned it with the utmost splendour, and in the 
 midst of it he builded a temple; and he called the tank 
 "Amrita Saras," the Fount of Nectar, the Pool of Immor- 
 tality ; and both it and the great city which surrounds it are 
 to this day called Amritsar. Many verses also did Guru 
 Eam-das compose, and they are written in the ' Adi Granth.' 
 He named as his successor his son Arjun ; and thenceforth 
 the Guruship became an hereditary office and acquired much 
 wealth and temporal power. 
 
 Arjun, the fifth of the Gurus, succeeded to the Guruship
 
 THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY. 293 
 
 A.D. 1581 ; and he it was who collected the verses of his 
 predecessors, and, adding thereto many of his own and many 
 also from the writings of the Bhagats or Saints who lived 
 before Nanak's days, he compiled that holy book of the 
 Sikhs, the far-famed ' Adi Granth.' Guru Arjun, moreover, 
 wore no longer the garb of a Fakir like the earlier Gurus, 
 but kept the state of a prince, and busied himself in trade 
 and politics. Whereupon the Muhammadan Government 
 awoke, and Guru Arjun was slain. 
 
 Then succeeded, A.D. 1606, Har Govind, the sixth Guru ; 
 and he it was who armed his followers, and first fought 
 against the Muhammadans. And there followed him in the 
 Guruship Har Kai and Har-Kisan and Teg-Bahadur ; and the 
 tenth of the Gurus was Gdvind Singh. 
 
 In the year 1675 of our era Govind Singh became Guru. 
 He had been born at Patna, and by the Pandits there his 
 mind had been filled with superstitions of Hinduism. 
 Wherefore he began his military career by cutting off the 
 head of one of his followers (who willingly offered the same) 
 and giving it in sacrifice to the Goddess Durga, who, pleased 
 with this devotion, appeared forthwith, and said, " Go, 
 thy sect will prosper in the world." And so it did, for 
 Govind Singh is said to have gained for the Sikh persuasion 
 120,000 disciples. Many other things he did ; and he it was 
 who added to the names of his followers that surname of 
 " Singh," or " Lion," which to this day is characteristic of the 
 Sikhs. 
 
 But at length (A.D. 1708) his death drew near, and " his 
 disciples heaped up a pyre of sandal-wood, and kept every- 
 thing ready " for his cremation. Then " they all joined their 
 hands, and asked, ' true Guru, whom will you seat, for the 
 sake of our welfare, on the throne of the Guruship ? ' He
 
 294 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 answered, ' As the nine Kings before me seated at their death 
 another Guru on their throne, so shall I now not do ; I have 
 intrusted the whole Society to the bosom of the timeless, 
 divine male. After me you shall everywhere mind the book 
 of the Granth as your Guru ; whatever you shall ask it, it 
 will show to you.' . . . He then sat himself down on the 
 funeral pyre, and having meditated on the Supreme Lord, 
 ... he closed his eyes and expired. . . . All the Sikhs and 
 saints who from many parts were assembled there, raised a 
 shout of ' Victory ! ' and sang a beautiful song, and the eyes 
 of many people were filled with tears on account of the 
 separation of the Guru." 
 
 Such histories do the travellers rehearse as the broken 
 engine crawls puffing along at a rate which a snail would 
 despise, until at length the journey is nearly over and Am- 
 ritsar not far off. 
 
 " Philippa," exclaims Irene, " you have never told us what 
 the Sikh religion is like ! Do pray be quick, for we are al- 
 most there." 
 
 " It is a reformed phase of Hinduism," says Philippa ; " and 
 its chief merit is the rejection of idolatry, and the recognition 
 of one formless, timeless god whom they call Hari. The 
 system is pantheistic; but it is monotheistic too, and the 
 Granth abounds with personal epithets addressed to the 
 Absolute Being who is the root and the ground of all things. 
 It is interesting to notice that that fundamental and almost 
 universal instinct which creates a longing to worship some 
 one who is human as well as divine, and which in Hinduism 
 expresses itself in the myths of Vishnu's avatars, appears in 
 Sikhism as a tendency to regard the Gurus as successive 
 incarnations of the Formless One, and to pay them divine
 
 THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY. 295 
 
 honours accordingly. The Metaphysic of Sikhism, like that 
 
 of other pantheistic systems But here we are at Am- 
 
 ritsar ! " 
 
 So long time has the journey taken that not many hours 
 remain for sight-seeing ; and our travellers, ignoring the other 
 sights of the city, drive straight to the Pool of Immortality. 
 It is surrounded by a square of palaces, the Tmngahs of dis- 
 tinguished chiefs. The pavements are all of marble from 
 Jaipur; and the marble tank itself contains a grand sheet 
 of water 470 feet square. In the midst of the waters, ap- 
 proached by a marble causeway, rises the Golden Temple, 
 nearly cubical in form, and decorated with wonderful rich- 
 ness. In all their wanderings the travellers have never seen 
 the like. The lower part of the walls is faced with snow- 
 white marble slabs (many of them were stolen, they say, by 
 Eanjit Singh from Jahangir's tomb at Shah Darrah) inlaid 
 with arabesques of conventionalised flower-sprays in many- 
 hued precious stones. But above this gleaming dado, all 
 the temple, walls and cornices, dripstone and roof, slender 
 columns, cupolas and fmials, are one blaze of gilded cop- 
 per, reflecting the mighty sunlight with a brightness that 
 is almost terrible. Beautiful is the contrast between the 
 snowy marble and the burnished gold ; and every detail 
 is reflected in the glassy waters with scarcely diminished 
 lustre. To ask whether the temple is in good taste, would 
 be as absurd as to inquire whether the martial adorn- 
 ments of the Duke of Diamonds (or any other fairy-tale 
 Prince) were resthetically correct. I have no patience with 
 those who apply to the fantastic splendours of India the 
 humdrum rules of art which mere mortals have to build 
 by! 
 
 Of the palaces our friends only have time to enter one,
 
 296 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the bungah of Takht Akal, made conspicuous among its 
 fellows by a resplendent gilded dome. Here they are intro- 
 duced to the sword of Govind Singh, and other relics of the 
 Gurus preserved in a gilded ark. 
 
 Thence the visitors betake them to the west side of the 
 tank, and prepare to pass along the causeway into the island- 
 temple. They are now despoiled of their shoes, which they 
 willingly relinquish as a sign of respect to the magic fane of 
 gold; for, though looking as if built by enchantment, it is 
 still a monotheistic temple, and doubtless possesses some 
 weird kind of holiness. The causeway is approached by a 
 grand gateway of marble, wherein the travellers ascend to 
 an upper room and behold the wonderful jewels wherewith 
 the holy Granth is adorned when carried in procession at 
 festivals, tall chowries with golden handles, and strings of 
 pearls, and a priceless canopy of pure gold thickly set with 
 diamonds, rubies, and emeralds of astonishing size and lustre, 
 and further adorned with pendent tassels of pearls. 
 
 Descending thence and passing out on to the causeway, 
 our travellers go on between tall lamps of marble, looking 
 wonderingly the while at the extraordinary scene around 
 them. In the clear waters of the tank some pilgrims are 
 devoutly bathing ; and on the bright pavement of the cause- 
 way sit many solemn figures of white -robed Sikhs, who 
 mutter under their breath that secret name of Hari which 
 none but the initiate may know. Striking figures are these, 
 and their bearing is far more free and dignified than that of 
 the average Hindu. In their grave faces and steadfast 
 eyes is something which calls to mind that truthfulness 
 and kindness are strictly inculcated by the law of the Sikh 
 religion. The dark, handsome faces are well set off by the 
 full black beards, each ending in two plaits, which are
 
 THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY. 297 
 
 turned back into the silky black cloud of the whiskers. To 
 shave either head or beard is strictly forbidden among Sikhs. 
 The women plait their hair in a compact peak, which stands 
 out like a horn at the back of the head. They also wear 
 gigantic earrings, several in each ear. 
 
 But it is hard to look at anything but the temple itself, 
 with its brilliant reflection piercing the clear depths of the 
 water with inverted domes of gold. A sound of deep-toned 
 chanting comes out through the temple door ; but, as the 
 visitors enter, the voices cease, and they find themselves in 
 the presence of a silent assemblage of worshippers. Beneath 
 a canopy of state lies the ponderous tome of the Adi Granth, 
 whereof some irreverent scholars have said that in all the 
 world exists not another book so stupid for its size. Eesting 
 on cushions, it is wrapped in a rich covering of silk, and 
 fragrant roses are scattered over it. Near it is a little heap 
 of grain, the accumulated offerings of pious worshippers. 
 Before the Granth sits a white -turbaned personage who 
 seems to be presiding over the assembly. He continually 
 waves a chowrie over the holy Book to prevent the flies from 
 settling on the folds of its silken wrappings. Facing him in 
 a semicircle sit on the floor the other worshippers, a solemn 
 company, with one or two musicians among them, who hold 
 in their hands quaint native instruments wherewith to ac- 
 company the chanting. The walls and vaulted ceilings of 
 the hall are covered with gilding and with elaborate designs 
 in colours. India is the land of reflected lights, but never 
 have our travellers beheld such a strange effect as is caused 
 by this vaulted ceiling ; for, reflecting the mighty glow from 
 without, the golden vaulting throws it downward on the 
 assembly of worshippers, until their snowy robes and turbans 
 are all dyed in gleaming colour.
 
 298 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 The presiding dignitary receives the visitors with grave 
 and gracious courtesy, even uncovering the holy Book that 
 they may see the unfamiliar writing. He also presents each 
 of them with a small cup made of what looks like white 
 sugar. "No doubt these are specimens of that sacred sweet- 
 meat (consisting of flour and sugar and melted butter) which 
 Guru G5vind Singh in his dying speech directed his fol- 
 lowers to make and distribute, saying, " Whichever disciple 
 wishes to have an interview with me, he shall make for one 
 rupee and a quarter, or for as much as he is able, Kardh 
 parsdd ; then, opening the Book and bowing his head, he 
 will obtain a reward equal to an interview with me." 
 
 Next, to each of the travellers is presented a sacred rose 
 from the Book ; and then he of the waving chowrie exclaims 
 in the vernacular, " It is enough " ; and they find that they 
 are expected to withdraw. As they go out they admire the 
 devotion expressed by the worshippers as they enter and 
 leave the temple. Each one prostrates himself on the 
 threshold, placing his head against the stone, and reverently 
 touches with his hand first the threshold itself and then his 
 own forehead. 
 
 The visitors now ascend to a gallery in the upper part of 
 the temple, and thence go up to the roof. Here they wander 
 freely among the dazzling cupolas ; only they are not allowed 
 to tread within that sacred circle drawn in the pavement of 
 the roof immediately above the sacred Book and adorned 
 with peacocks' feathers. As they explore the outside of the 
 building, the musicians within again take up their interrupted 
 strains, and the deep voices of the turbaned congregation ring 
 forth, chanting who shall say what passage from the holy 
 Book ? Perhaps that solemn hymn of Nanak, which comes
 
 THE POOL OF IMMORTALITY. 299 
 
 as near as anything else in the Granth to the dignity of true 
 
 devotion. 
 
 " HYMN TO 
 
 " Thou art the Friend of my heart, and for ever beside me ; 
 
 Thou art my Friend, my Beloved ; 
 Thou art my Honour and Jewel ! My soul in Thy presence 
 
 Moment by moment must be. 
 
 Thou art my dearest, the breath and the life of my being ! 
 Who is my Prince, and the Lord of my spirit, but Thee ? 
 
 "Where wilt Thou set me ? Lo, there will I tarry in silence ; 
 
 What is Thy word ? I will do it. 
 Whithersoever I look, Thou art there. By Thy servant 
 
 Gladly Thy Name is confessed. 
 
 Thou art my treasure, in Thee is the store of my riches ; 
 All my delight is in Thee, and in Thee is my rest. 
 
 Thou art my glory, my loved one, my shield and my shelter ; 
 
 Lo, Thou art He that upholdeth ! 
 Ever of Thee are the thoughts of my heart ; for the Teacher, 
 
 When to Thy servant he gave 
 Freely Thy secret, the One in my spirit established. 
 
 Thou art the Helper, Hari, of Nanak Thy slave ! " 
 
 1 From the literal prose translation in ' The Adi Granth ' . . . translated 
 from the original Gurmukhl . . . by Dr Ernest Trumpp.
 
 300 
 
 CHAPTEK XIX. 
 
 PESHAWAR AND THE KHAIBER PASS. 
 
 MARCH is already far advanced when the travellers leave 
 Lahor and set forth on that northward journey to which 
 they have long looked forward as the crowning achieve- 
 ment of their Indian wanderings, an expedition wherein 
 they hope to penetrate to the north-west frontier of India 
 and into the wild recesses of the far-off Khaiber Pass. 
 
 The first day's journey brings them to Eawal Pindi, and 
 a very hot journey it is. Already the spring crops are 
 gathered; and the plains, lately so richly covered with 
 verdure, are turning, beneath the blazing sun, to a scorched 
 expanse of yellow. Crossing the Eavi, the railway runs 
 nearly due north for sixty-two miles, as far as Wazirabad 
 on the southern bank of the Chenab; then, crossing the 
 broad stream, arrives at Gujarat, where the travellers 
 recall that memorable 21st of February in the year 1849 
 and the great battle that was fought thereon, the death- 
 blow to the power of the Sikhs. Vividly do they picture 
 to themselves the headlong flight and the hot pursuit, and 
 the closing scene at Eawal Pindi, where General Gilbert 
 received the Sikhs' submission. 
 
 Meanwhile the train speeds on north-westward through
 
 PESHAWAR AND THE KHAIBER PASS. 301 
 
 the Jetch Doab, and so across the Jhilam and away north- 
 westward still. Through the hottest hours of the day the 
 scorched plains glow like a furnace; but on the right, 
 from the north-eastward horizon, rise up in shining loveli- 
 ness the snow-clad mountains of Kashmir ; and to bear the 
 burden of the overwhelming heat is worth while, our travel- 
 lers think, for the sake of that constant vision of ideal 
 coolness and beauty. 
 
 " My dear," says Irene to her youngest sister, " why 
 do you gaze at the mountains with that wool - gathering 
 expression of countenance ? " 
 
 " ' Wool - gathering,' Irene, is scarcely an accurate ex- 
 pression ! I was merely recalling the ancient Buddhist 
 legends which tell how the land of Kashmir is guarded 
 by an aged and venerable Dragon a mighty Naga Prince, 
 by reason of whose dignity the country is reverenced by 
 all the surrounding peoples. In ancient days a vast lake 
 filled all that region of the earth, and in the waters of 
 that lake the Dragon had made his home. Then came 
 Madhyantika, the wise and holy Arhat ; and he sat in a 
 wood on a mountain's summit, wrapped in profound medita- 
 tion. And the Dragon saw him from the lake below, and 
 being filled with reverence and faith, he besought the Arhat 
 to tell him what service he might perform. And the Arhat 
 made request that in the centre of that lake the Naga would 
 grant him so much dry ground as his knees might securely 
 rest on. Then the great Naga Prince withdrew the waters, 
 and granted that spot of ground ; but presently the Arhat 
 began to grow, till his knees filled all the space where that 
 great lake had been ; and the good Naga still kept back the 
 waters, for he would not break his promise. So that kind 
 Dragon could dwell no more in his ancient home ; and, going
 
 302 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 forth in sadness of heart, he abode in a little lake that 
 lies to the north-west of Kashmir. There shall he dwell 
 in silence while the law of Buddha endures ; but when the 
 law declines and is no more taught on earth, then shall 
 this land return and become a lake once more, and that 
 good Dragon shall come to his home and dwell therein as 
 aforetime. Nor is that day far distant now, for long years 
 ago in Kashmir the fountains began to rise again, bub- 
 bling up ever more and more in token that the time draws 
 near." 
 
 "That is a pretty story," says Philippa meditatively, 
 "and its meaning is, I suppose, that, when Buddhism was 
 preached in Kashmir, the old serpent - worship of pre- 
 historic times was suppressed, and those who still adhered 
 to it were obliged to leave the country. It is always well, 
 my dears, to sift these curious legends, and to seek, among 
 worthless accretions, for hidden grains of truth." 
 
 " My poor, dear old Dragon ! " sighs Sebaste ; " I would 
 never, never have mentioned him if I had thought he was 
 to be 'sifted' by Philippa." 
 
 At length comes the welcome hour of sunset; and at 
 a quarter to eight in the evening, wearied out with twelve 
 hot hours' travelling, our friends are fain indeed to arrive 
 at Eawal Pindi. 
 
 Except Bishop Milman's tomb, the Fort, and the can- 
 tonments, there is very little to see, and the next day the 
 travellers are again rushing away north-westward, eager to 
 reach Peshawar. On their right still lies in stainless glory 
 the lofty chain of mountains. Here and there, between 
 nearer and lower peaks, appear the far-off heights of snow ; 
 but more wonderful than even their dazzling and ethereal
 
 PESHAWAR AND THE KHAIBER PASS. 303 
 
 beauty are the iridescent opal -hues that rest and change 
 and melt one into another on the rocky slopes and shadowy 
 folds of the intervening ranges, a harmony of exquisitely 
 tender colours, the glory of many hot climates, but never to 
 be seen in Europe. In those purple lights and deep-blue 
 shadows, in the delicate softness of the rainbow lustre, is an 
 irresistible enchantment as of some land of magic light that 
 has nothing to do with earth. Above and beyond all the 
 beauty there seems to be a radiant mystery about that far- 
 off region, making one long to reach it with a wild and 
 childish eagerness that is hard to understand. 
 
 "And if you could have your wish, my friend," some 
 unseen moraliser seems to be saying, "how much do you 
 think you would find there of the wondrous glories you 
 imagine yourself to be looking at ? It is a mere effect of 
 light which makes that part of the landscape look like a 
 fairyland of mysterious loveliness. If you could go thither 
 you would see that those shining heights and dreamy depths 
 of shadow are nothing in the world but barren rocks and 
 gullies; and you would find the walking rough and dis- 
 agreeable, and would very soon wish yourself back again. 
 It would be a good lesson of experience for you, and would 
 teach you to realise that ' things are not what they seem.' " 
 
 Ah yes, Mr Moralist, I had not thought of that ; and it is 
 indeed a saddening reflection. And in like manner were we 
 to examine accurately the greatest picture that ever brought 
 fame to an artist, we should see (if only we could get near 
 enough) that it is really nothing in the world but blotches of 
 paint on a canvas ground. Nay, sir, even your own learned 
 and eloquent books, if their pages were accurately examined 
 with a microscope and subjected to chemical analysis, would 
 enforce the same sad moral that " things are not what they
 
 304 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 seem." Is it not so with all that is beautiful when we draw 
 near to look into it ? And if so, surely there is no such 
 thing as real beauty. Beauty exists not, save in the vain 
 imagination of those who fancy they see it ; unless, indeed, 
 it were possible to think that beauty is a spiritual thing, and 
 that it is with the spirit that we must draw near to it. 
 
 " What a frown, Sebaste ! " exclaims Irene in alarm. 
 " And what are you muttering under your breath ? " 
 
 " It is absurd and ridiculous, Irene, what people say ! 
 They had better hold their tongues instead of setting up to 
 be moralists and philosophers." 
 
 " This is serious ! " exclaims Philippa ; " Sebaste speaks, 
 and no philosopher or moralist is ever to bark again." 
 
 " But, my dear," says patient Irene, " try to tell us ! What 
 have they said lately to hurt your feelings ? " 
 
 " One of them says that a statue is in the marble block, 
 only waiting for the sculptor's hand to call it forth, Irene ! 
 To think that it is more than twenty-two centuries since 
 Aristotle wrote, and that men don't know the difference yet 
 between matter and form ! " 
 
 "But, my dear, that saying about the statue is only a 
 fanciful mode of expression. Why do you consider it a 
 personal affront ? " 
 
 " It is an affront, Irene, an insult to the understanding ; 
 and the evil lies much deeper than mere fancy and grace of 
 expression. Even dear Thomas a Kempis was infected by 
 it, thanks to his exaggerated asceticism. For, exhorting the 
 ' good monk ' to seek no earthly delight but to remain alone 
 in his cell, in the persuasive cadence of his sweet Church- 
 Latin he says, 'What canst thou see elsewhere which here 
 thou seest not ? Behold the sky and the earth, and all the 
 elements ; for of these all things are made.' The fallacy is so
 
 PESHAWAR AND THE KHAIBER PASS. 305 
 
 obvious and childlike that one almost loves him the better 
 for it ; but of that same fallacy the moralisers have made to 
 themselves spectacles through which to look, not only at the 
 beauties of Nature, but also at those life-landscapes, the 
 distant views of the future that wayward hope is wont to 
 gaze at, till they see in them nothing but stocks and stones 
 and mists of dull delusion." 
 
 " My dear," says the Father, " I do not quite see what such 
 moralisings have to do with the Punjab ! We are just 
 arriving at Atak, and here is the Indus that you ought to be 
 looking at, and in a moment more we shall see the Kabul 
 River flowing into it. See what a narrow gorge the great 
 Indus is rushing through, and how bare and rugged the 
 mountains are." 
 
 " What a savage landscape it is ! " exclaims Philippa. 
 " We must be coming to the ends of the earth at last. And 
 how quaintly the little town of Atak is perched up there, 
 with its antique fort, that Akbar built, overlooking the 
 deep, swift river! How wild it all looks, with only the 
 little red-roofed church to seem familiar and home-like ! " 
 
 So the train rushes on, past the junction of the mighty 
 streams, and up the valley of the Kabul Eiver, westward 
 toward Peshawar. Here the travellers arrive soon after 
 sunset ; whereupon two turbaned drivers of gharries fight 
 furiously together for them and their luggage, and have to be 
 forcibly separated by some dark-faced native policemen. 
 
 Purushapura, now called Peshawar, is an ancient city ; 
 and Fa-hien, who was here about the year 400 of our era, 
 has many things to say of its long and marvellous history, 
 while Hiuen Tsiang, who journeyed to India in 629, tells 
 us still more curious matters of fantastic Buddhist tradi- 
 tion. Here it was that for long centuries was preserved 
 
 u
 
 306 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the Buddha's sacred begging-bowl, that venerable fourfold 
 vessel that the four Guardian Deities gave him, coming 
 from the four corners of heaven and presenting each his 
 separate bowl ; whereupon the Buddha placed them one 
 within another, and caused them to grow together and to 
 form one single vessel. And of old it happened that a 
 great conqueror had subdued the land, and in the pride of 
 his boastful heart would carry away in triumph that bowl 
 of far-famed virtue. So, when he and his captains had 
 made to the Three Precious Ones abundant offerings with 
 great devotion, he caused to be caparisoned a mighty ele- 
 phant, and placed the bowl on its back; but the great 
 elephant fell on his knees beneath that holy burden, and 
 could not rise or move. Then in a four-wheeled waggon 
 they reverently set the bowl, and eight elephants were 
 yoked thereto and dragged it with all their strength, but 
 they could not move it at all. So the mighty conqueror 
 was ashamed, and the alms - bowl abode in peace at 
 sacred Purushapura. There it still resided at the time of 
 Fa-hien's visit; and well hath he described the worship 
 it daily received, and how, when poor folk cast therein an 
 offering of but very few blossoms, the bowl was straight- 
 way full, but how rich men might throw in thousands of 
 bushels of flowers and never be able to fill it. 
 
 But the venerable antiquities of Purushapura are now 
 no more. Gone is that ancient pipal-tree which Hiuen 
 Tsiang describes as about 100 feet high, and under which, 
 Tradition avers, the Buddha discoursed of old. The very 
 name is almost forgotten of the mighty King Kanishka, 
 who at first "had no faith either in wrong or right," and 
 " lightly esteemed the law of Buddha," but who was event- 
 ually converted to the faith, and held, about 79 A.D., the
 
 PESHAWAR AND THE KHAIBER PASS. 307 
 
 fourth great Buddhist Council ; and vanished from the city 
 is that great stupa of his that once reared its towering 
 summit to a height of 400 feet, the grandest and most 
 majestic building that Fa - hien saw in his journeyings. 
 Gone, too, is the famous Buddhist Monastery, and that 
 other most sacred building wherein was enshrined in 
 solemn splendour the Buddha's begging -bowl. Muham- 
 madanism reigns supreme ; and the chief interest of Pesha- 
 war lies now in the variety of the unfamiliar races that 
 haunt its winding streets. 
 
 Our travellers love the native town with its encircling 
 walls of mud, and find wandering through the crowded 
 ways thereof an intensely interesting occupation. Never 
 before have they found themselves in such unconventional 
 company. There are mighty Afghans arrayed in sheep- 
 skins, and wild -looking Afridis, and shaggy specimens of 
 those other unconquered mountain - tribes who, owning 
 allegiance to none, have favoured the British with their 
 friendship. 
 
 It is a strange city, and our travellers have time to ex- 
 plore it while awaiting an opportunity to visit the Khaiber 
 Pass, for only on certain days do the Afridis undertake to 
 guard the Pass so that it may be safe for travellers. But 
 at length the day arrives, and early in the morning, while 
 the sunshine is as yet innocent of the cruel fierceness to 
 come, our friends drive westward across the plain, gazing 
 the while at the grand amphitheatre of rocky heights that 
 hems the lowland round with so stern and immovable a 
 barrier. Wonderful is the colouring thereof, deep purples 
 and browns, and luminous depths of azure shadow, with now 
 and then a radiant glimpse of far-off snow-clad peaks. 
 
 About ten miles and a half the travellers drive, to the
 
 308 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Fort of Jamrud, a point in that line, visible only on maps, 
 which is the boundary of British India. Here they find 
 awaiting them their picturesque mounted escort, two tur- 
 baned Afridis, bearing themselves with martial dignity, and 
 riding on horses so beautiful that our friends feel envious, 
 and eye with ungracious contempt the tumtums to which 
 
 they are fated. Now a tumtum But no ! let me not 
 
 disperse with impertinent explanations the glamour of that 
 mystic word. Tumtums are tumtums; and in them our 
 travellers dispose their tiffin-basket and themselves, and so 
 set forth in procession. Crossing the invisible border, they 
 speed on westward still, and enter with eager expectation 
 the mouth of the rugged Pass. Many and uncouth are the 
 figures which they meet or overtake, wild, shaggy men free 
 as their own rude mountains, and proud as untamed lions. 
 And there are journeying caravans with hundreds of lordly 
 camels no sleek, meek -spirited creatures, but rough and 
 unkempt as their masters, with thick masses of curling 
 mane. Those from Afghanistan are doubtless laden with 
 silk and nuts and dyes ; those journeying toward Kabul, 
 with salt and tea and spices, and stuffs from Indian 
 looms. 
 
 The rocky sides of the narrowing Pass are almost wholly 
 bare of vegetation, and, as mile after mile the sun pours 
 down an ever more merciless heat, they glow like the sides 
 of an oven. But at length the watershed is passed, and a 
 refreshing line of verdure marks the course of the Khaiber 
 stream, as it flows away north-westward to pour itself into 
 the Kabul. And now the fort of AH Masjid is visible, 
 towering aloft on its isolated height, beyond which, alas ! the 
 Pass is not safe for Europeans. 
 
 Presently the travellers pass some of the dwellings of
 
 PESHAWAR AND THE KHAIBER PASS. 309 
 
 the mountain -folk, many of them mere holes in the moun- 
 tain-sides like the lairs of wild beasts; and then, arriv- 
 ing at the foot of the rock whereon Ali Masjiol stands, they 
 leave their tumtums, and, in the cheerful warmth of the 
 noonday sun, climb up some 400 feet to the top, guided by 
 a wild man clad in white and carrying a very long gun. 
 Starting merrily, they arrive subdued, and, with eyes too 
 nearly blinded to look at anything, creep feebly into the 
 fort. Presently they find themselves in a shady verandah, 
 whence they look abroad at their leisure on a panorama 
 more absolutely rude and savage in its grandeur than any 
 they have ever seen. 
 
 Around and above them rise in endless variety of form 
 tall crags and masses of rock, while at their feet, far, far 
 below, winds on, north-westward still, the narrowest part 
 of the Pass, a deep way shut in by the rugged cliffs which 
 rise to right and left. Onward it winds, and onward march 
 the caravans in long procession, moving slowly along the 
 narrow passage, and away on the road to Kabul; but our 
 travellers may not follow. The shaggy camels may go 
 onward and onward still ; but they, on the very verge of 
 that alluring country which is ever a little beyond, must 
 sadly turn away and retrace their wasted steps. Oh, these 
 turnings back ! What strange disappointment they bring ! 
 what a ridiculous bitterness of spirit, what perversity of 
 vague discontent ! They make one to think that all travel 
 is vanity, to suspect that those eager longings for the 
 Beyond, which are the very essence of the travelling spirit, 
 are after all the expression of an instinct too deep to be 
 satisfied by mere fresh mountains and valleys, fresh streams 
 and plains and cities. 
 
 Wistfully the travellers gaze along the Pass, and away
 
 310 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 into the northern mountains. To think that they have 
 come all this way for nothing ! that they have journeyed 
 over those thousands of miles to be turned away at last from 
 the gate of that enchanted region on whose very borders they 
 seem to stand. 
 
 " Oh, how impatient it makes one," exclaims Sebaste, " to 
 reach that other pass toward which we are journeying, and to 
 get through it and out into a wider world where barriers of 
 time are not, and where perhaps (who knows ?) we may have 
 the whole universe before us, and explore it all at our 
 leisure ! " 
 
 "You talk wildly, my dear," says Philippa, reprovingly, 
 "and flippantly too, I think." 
 
 " Flippantly ! " cries Sebaste. " Do you think that death 
 is a graver matter than life, Philippa ? Would you like me 
 to copy those good people who pull a long face when they 
 talk of their souls, just as if all the rest of them were not 
 exceedingly serious too ? Oh, it is dreadful to be stopped 
 like this ! Why can't we be disguised as camels, and go 
 to Kabul in a caravan ? " 
 
 In a dejected frame of mind, but laughing too at their own 
 dejection, the travellers eat a picnic tiffin, and, having rested 
 through the fiercest heat of the afternoon, descend at length 
 to their waiting tumtums, and begin the return journey to 
 Peshawar. But as the overpowering glare is softened, and 
 the air grows cooler and yet more cool, their drooping spirits 
 revive ; and when the sun is low and all things shine trans- 
 figured in the glow of the evening light, they are lost in 
 wondering admiration of the wild beauty of form, the gor- 
 geous richness of colour, which on every side surround them. 
 Though the rocky crags are bare and dry, yet are they so
 
 PESHAWAR AND THE KHAIBER PASS. 311 
 
 brightly bathed in vivid and changing hues that they seem 
 to breathe and live, until it is hard to believe it possible for 
 any reverent mind to look upon material Nature as a life- 
 less, mechanical thing. It is a scene such as makes the 
 soul spring up in sudden exultation, exclaiming, The world 
 is Thought ; and thought is Life ; and life is Light, and 
 Love!
 
 312 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 FEOM SIMLA TO JAIPUK. 
 
 EETUENING toward Labor through the wide, scorched-up 
 plains of the Panjab, the travellers begin to understand 
 what is meant in India by " the hot weather." For one Sun- 
 day they stay at Labor, helpless victims to mosquitoes and 
 the still more terrible sand-flies ; and then, unable to bear 
 it any longer, set forth for exalted Simla and the breezes 
 of the Himalaya. South-eastward they travel as far as Am- 
 bala, and northward thence to Kalka, where, surrounded by 
 pomegranate-trees bright with scarlet blossoms, they rest for 
 one day at the very foot of the mighty hills, which rear 
 themselves up to their lofty height with slopes of wonderful 
 abruptness. 
 
 Next morning at three o'clock, through the heavy and 
 fragrant night-air, they set forth by starlight on the upward 
 drive of fifty-seven miles to Simla, passing by the way long 
 strings of camels, who carry on their backs the baggage of 
 the Government and of all other Europeans who can escape 
 from Calcutta for the hot weather. When the dawn over- 
 takes them they are far above the plains, and around them is 
 a whole forest of cactuses, their thick, green arms all covered 
 with yellow blossoms. The way is haunted by wild monkeys,
 
 FROM SIMLA TO JAIPUR. 313 
 
 and there are many other things to see as the mountain- 
 views become grander and less confined. Hour after hour 
 the air grows fresher, until, at more than 7000 feet above the 
 sea, the ridge of Simla is reached at length. 
 
 And now follow for our travellers days of peace and cool- 
 ness and freedom, and a rest from sight-seeing which they will 
 long remember. Far they ride on mountain-paths, through 
 the blue-green shade of majestic deodars, or by forests of 
 rhododendrons ablaze with crimson blossoms, mingling with 
 the silvery foliage of the beautiful Himalayan oak-trees. 
 Sometimes the path lies along the edges of abysmal valleys, 
 sometimes in a far-off glory of sunshine appear the per- 
 petual snows of the higher ranges to the northward. As 
 for the little heights whereon Simla itself is builded, they 
 would be called mountains in Europe, but in the Himalaya 
 they almost resemble those hills of nursery fame which were 
 " so low as to look like hollows." 
 
 One of them, who rejoices in the name of Jako, reaches a 
 height of 8048 feet ; and to his summit our travellers walk 
 before breakfast one morning when the air is full of dewy 
 freshness and overflowing with sunshine. On the top lives 
 an ascetic, a holy yogi, said to have a strange understanding 
 with the wild monkeys who haunt the surrounding forests. 
 As the travellers approach his little hermitage, they hear 
 his voice reading aloud in chanting monotone from some 
 volume of ancient scripture. Presently he comes forth, a 
 wild figure in strange attire, his face covered with a pig- 
 ment of the brightest yellow imaginable. Perceiving that 
 the visitors desire to see not only himself but also his 
 monkey friends, he looks abroad among the deodars, and 
 gives forth a peculiar cry. The monkeys are far away, 
 and at first no answer comes ; but presently, swiftly gliding
 
 314 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 up the mountain-slope from below, rising noiselessly from 
 the deep shadows of the trees, the monkeys begin to assemble. 
 Wonderfully varied is the group they form. There are old 
 monkeys and young monkeys, stout and mighty monkeys, 
 and monkeys slim and graceful, and one charming baby in 
 arms no bigger than a kitten. The visitors regale them with 
 grain and native sweetmeat, which delicacies the beasts 
 snatch out of their hands in a defiant and ungrateful fashion 
 that gives a bad impression of monkey manners. Evidently 
 our travellers' white faces have excited suspicion and dislike, 
 for toward their friend the yogi the monkeys are far more 
 gracious. With his yellow countenance he stands in the 
 midst of the excited crowd, and beyond is a background of 
 tall, dark trees, a picture to be long remembered. 
 
 Too soon comes the day of departure, and the downward 
 plunge into glowing heat and the oppressive air of the plains. 
 Dreadful, after the breezes of the heights, is the glare of 
 the sun on the vast, scorched-up expanses of yellow ; and, as 
 they journey southward toward Dehli, our travellers begin 
 to realise the meaning of that terrible similitude of Holy 
 Writ, " I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth 
 as brass: and your strength shall be spent in vain." 
 
 Travelling in such weather would hardly be safe without 
 many mitigating precautions. All Indian railway-trains are 
 furnished with a broad eaves of wood, but now must be 
 drawn up as well the deeply-tinted window-panes, which 
 darken and deaden the tremendous glow without into some- 
 thing nearly as faint as our own so-called sunshine ; and now 
 is the time to keep continually drenched with water the round 
 tatties of klias-klias grass through which alone the air from 
 without should enter. By such means our travellers succeed 
 in keeping the temperature within down to about 106 Fahr.,
 
 FEOM SIMLA TO JAIPUR. 315 
 
 and very triumphant they feel about it. It does not sound 
 very cool; but step outside for a moment into the outer 
 blaze, and you will come in again with a sense of delicious 
 relief, and be thankful indeed for the contrast. 
 
 Still, if the day is somewhat trying, it is compensated for 
 by the glory and the beauty of the night. Then the soft 
 air is heavy with the sweetness of flowers, and resplendent 
 with moonlight, no cold and ghostly radiance as with us, 
 but a living glory of almost golden light, which yet, wher- 
 ever it falls, seems to cover the ground with snow. April 
 weather in India almost tempts one to think with regret of 
 those long -past days of the wicked Tareke, that "mighty 
 injurer of men," x for then the sun, " out of fear of that ill- 
 fated, violent monster, altogether desisted from his heat ; the 
 moon also, in terror of that passionate, bloodthirsty fiend, 
 appeared always at full." Certainly he was not an estimable 
 character, for he "stretched out the arm of tyranny and 
 oppression " ; but then what austerities he had performed 
 whereby he gained his power ! It is recorded of him that 
 " for a hundred years he held up his two arms and one foot 
 towards heaven, andjm his eyes upon the sun for the whole 
 time." 
 
 For two days our travellers rest at Dehli; and then 
 they set forth south-westward to cross once more the bound- 
 ary of British India, and to visit that most wonderful of 
 native cities, Jaipur in Eajputana. To spend Holy Week 
 and Easter in a place so thoroughly oriental is the strangest 
 of strange experiences. The church is so small, and the 
 Christians are so few, that it seems hardly credible that 
 the number of Easter days that have been is already be- 
 tween eighteen and nineteen hundred. 
 
 1 From Halhed's ' Sheeve Pouran.'
 
 316 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 In exploring the city our friends are assisted by a white- 
 turbaned, grave-faced Muhammadan whose name is Fakir- 
 ud-din, and who speaks very creditable English. Many 
 wonderful things hath he to tell as that the precipitous 
 rock which, crowned by the Tiger Fort, overlooks the city 
 on its north-western side, is hollow, and that therein is 
 safely stored the Maharaja's countless treasure. Such things 
 are easy to believe among surroundings so unfamiliar. The 
 extraordinary buildings, the gorgeous Eastern colouring, the 
 exuberant intensity of the native life, all unite to produce 
 a sense of dream-like unreality which makes it no longer 
 possible to be astonished at anything. 
 
 Of brilliant scenes there is plenty in Jaipur; and most 
 brilliant of all are those of the hour before sunset, when the 
 broad streets overflow with sacred cows and thronging human 
 life, and when all the Maharaja's innumerable elephants 
 come forth to take the air. Then doth the great Hall of the 
 Winds, with its multitudinous array of cupolas, glow softly 
 in the reddening light; and all aglow in like manner are 
 the other palaces, and that central Ishwari Minar Swarga 
 Sul, " the Tower that pierceth Heaven." Then many dark- 
 faced citizens ride past on bullocks or camels, or are borne 
 by their servants in jhampans, or speed gaily along in ekJcas, 
 while the ladies drive forth in curtained lalilis drawn by 
 oxen, or in those glittering tents on wheels, ablaze with crim- 
 son and embroidery, called khdsa raths, " select chariots," as 
 indeed they well may be. Wonderfully lively is the cease- 
 less motion of the crowds of humbler folk, who buy and 
 sell for ever, and hasten always hither and thither in vivid 
 streams and eddies of ever- varying colour. 
 
 Often the throng is parted to let a procession pass through, 
 perhaps a wedding -train of bronze -faced girls robed in
 
 FROM SIMLA TO JAIPUR. 317 
 
 crimson, and carrying on their heads in open baskets goodly 
 presents from the house of the bride to be bestowed on the 
 bridegroom's father; or a wailing funeral- train on its way 
 to the burning-place, whence the dead man's ashes will be 
 carried away to be thrown into the far-off Ganges. 
 
 But grave and decorous amid all the stir, the numberless 
 elephants move slowly along, towering in their solemn dig- 
 nity like massive rocks above the eddying crowds ; and high 
 on their necks the mahouts are set, and look down upon all 
 the world. Most amiable of all the elephant worthies is a 
 dear little fellow whose age is two. In a sprightly manner 
 he makes a salaam to the travellers, and then puts out 
 his baby-trunk in the most endearing way, as though he 
 said, "Have you got a banana about you that you don't 
 require ? " 
 
 Most of the private houses in Jaipur are painted a bright 
 strawberry-pink. Other buildings there are in plenty, im- 
 posing palaces, and temples with many worshippers, and 
 little idol-shrines built in the middle of the broad streets. 
 
 Then there are choice collections of native art-work to be 
 visited ; and our travellers gaze with delight at the enamel- 
 work for which Jaipur is renowned, rich harmonies of deep- 
 blue and scarlet, or more brilliant shades of blue combined 
 with wondrous mazes of delicate gold arabesque. 
 
 Our friends fail not to visit the far-famed alligator-tank, 
 nor to feed with welcome lumps of meat its eager and vora- 
 cious inhabitants. It is wonderful to see the monsters 
 thrusting high above the surface of the water their great, 
 gaping jaws bristling with saw-like teeth. Truly was it 
 said of the crocodile, long ago in the days of Job 
 
 " Who can open the doors of his face 1 
 Bound about his teeth is terror."
 
 318 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 The travellers, moreover, go to pay their respects to the 
 Maharaja's lions and tigers, and very charming beasts they 
 find them to be. They are in charge of a one-armed native 
 keeper, who, to gain the visitors' applause, thrusts his hand 
 into the lions' mouths, and pulls their whiskers, and pinches 
 them, until they growl and snarl in fury. In this way he 
 lost his arm one day, and it seems likely that the other one 
 will soon follow down one of the lions' throats. In another 
 place are kept several great tigers who used to be man- 
 eaters. Some say that man -eating entails a shabby coat 
 with mangy patches of bare skin ; but if so, these particular 
 delinquents have remained in captivity long enough to re- 
 gain their good looks, for their fur is smooth and glossy, and 
 only a greedy fierceness of the eyes recalls their former 
 misdoings. Two of them are known to have eaten some 
 half-a-dozen men apiece, and of such achievement they look 
 fully capable. The bars of their cage are so close together 
 that there is no danger of a paw being thrust out between 
 them, and to place one's own face within a few inches of 
 theirs, and to gaze into their savage eyes, is a possible and 
 instructive amusement. The travellers have never seen such 
 eyes before. They seem to have a curious magnetic power, 
 and with a sullen implacable gleam they say, as clearly as 
 ever eyes said anything, " I should like to eat you !" 
 
 On another morning our friends explore the great Palace 
 of the Maharaja, which, with the gardens belonging to it, 
 covers one -seventh of the whole area of the city. Over 
 many of the gateways are hung long wreaths of mango- 
 leaves. These, as Fakir -ud- din explains, prevent the en- 
 trance of evil spirits. 
 
 Presently the visitors are introduced to the Maharaja's 
 horses, three hundred princely steeds of all imaginable na-
 
 FROM SIMLA TO JAIPUR. 319 
 
 tionalities. Their stables are built round the exercising- 
 ground, in the middle of which a wild boar is tethered with 
 a view to accustoming the horses beforehand to the terrors 
 of boar-hunting. It is breakfast-time, and the three hundred 
 horses have been led forth to be fed, and placed in two long 
 rows facing each other. Each has a humble native attend- 
 ant who carries a large bowl of brass, wherein is a delectable 
 compound of gram and milk and sugar and liquid butter. 
 The horses are far too proud to help themselves, and the 
 rich mass is crammed down their throats by the hands of 
 their obsequious servants. It is an absurd scene, and the 
 travellers, as they pass between the long rows of banquet- 
 ers, find it hard to maintain the requisite solemnity. But 
 suddenly they come upon one solitary horse who, though 
 handsome and dignified, has none of the supercilious airs 
 of his companions. No sugar and butter for him ! He 
 is eating plain and wholesome grain from an unassuming 
 nosebag. 
 
 " Fakir-ud-din, what is this ? Why is not that horse fed 
 like the others ? " 
 
 Fakir-ud-din inquires into the matter, and then explains, 
 with a look of solemn wonder at the grave countenance of 
 the steed in question, "This is an English horse, and he 
 becomes ill if fed on sugar ! " 
 
 With a smile of pardonable pride the travellers leave their 
 compatriot, and go in search of the Maharaja's elephants. 
 Many of them they have already seen parading through the 
 streets at evening ; but there are some who never go out, 
 twenty or thirty gigantic beasts, kept only for fighting, and 
 poisoned into raging madness by some pernicious native 
 drug. They are terrible to behold as that awful steed of 
 " Indra, the Lord of the Sky," even the " infuriated elephant
 
 320 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 Airavata, whose eyes were dim with inebriety." * Furiously 
 they toss up their trunks, and make wild grimaces at the 
 travellers, and stamp their mighty limbs, each of which is 
 secured by a great iron cable. Sometimes, says Fakir-ud- 
 din, these strong chains burst, and then the maddened 
 elephants wreak deadly vengeance on their cruel tyrant- 
 masters. Truly it would seem as though Jaipur were one 
 of those three magic cities (built long ago for the sons of 
 Tareke) wherein were excellent wells and tanks, and chariots 
 and drunken elephants. 
 
 On the day before their departure our friends rise early, 
 and at five o'clock set forth to visit the ancient city of 
 Amber, the seat of the former Kings of the State whereof 
 Jaipur is now the capital. Northward they drive among 
 the hills, through seas of ethereal moonlight at first, and 
 then through the sudden dawn. Dazzlingly shines the 
 morning sunlight as they come among Amber's stately 
 buildings, now all deserted, and half buried in luxuriant 
 leafage. What the travellers most desire to see is the 
 great Palace of the Maharajas ; but up the long and sacred 
 ascent thereto no wheeled thing may rumble, and they look 
 round anxiously for the elephants who should be awaiting 
 them. Those worthies, it seems, have not yet arrived ; and 
 our friends start on foot, wondering, as they go, at the dense 
 forest of tall cactuses growing wild by the roadside. They 
 are in full blossom, and very beautiful is the crimson colour 
 of the small flowers wherewith they are covered. Along the 
 road, and in and out among the cactuses, stray many wild 
 peacocks. Secure in their sanctity, they have no fear of 
 native wayfarers ; but the white faces of the English travel- 
 lers inspire them with vague uneasiness, and at their ap- 
 
 1 From the ' Vishnu Purana,' translated by H. H. Wilson.
 
 FROM SIMLA TO JAIPUR. 321 
 
 proach they glide swiftly into the shade among the thronging 
 cactus-stems. So regal are they in their jewelled plumage 
 that one feels tempted to steal pot-herbs for the rest of one's 
 life, in the hope of incurring the penalty allotted to that 
 misdeed, and being born next time as a peacock. 
 
 Presently advances, from behind, a soft but ponderous 
 tread ; and, turning round, the travellers are met by their 
 welcome elephants, two solemn and dignified personages who 
 humbly kneel before them. The name of the one is Ganga, 
 and that of the other Jawahur Kuli, whereof the significa- 
 tion is " Perfect Jewel." Each has his face and trunk 
 elaborately painted, and their countenances are benign and 
 affable. As soon as the travellers have mounted, the great 
 beasts rise to their feet, and go swinging and rolling and 
 flopping along toward the venerable deserted Palace. It 
 was built, the learned say, by that Man Singh who began 
 to reign A.D. 1592 (whose is also the great temple at Bindra- 
 ban, but who must not be confounded with that earlier Man 
 Singh who built the palace at Gwaliar), and was finished 
 by Sawai Jai Singh II., who afterward builded Jaipur, and 
 called it after his own name, and in 1728 removed thither, 
 and made it thenceforth his capital. A striking group of 
 buildings is the Amber Palace, perched picturesquely on a 
 rock overlooking the waters of a lake wherein alligators are 
 said to live. 
 
 Passing the outer gate, the travellers enter a spacious 
 court, and then, leaving their gigantic steeds, wander far 
 through the palace-buildings halls and chambers, corridors 
 and marble baths, with here and there a balcony whence 
 they look forth on the lake and far over the sunlit land- 
 scape. At last they find their way to the small palace- 
 temple dedicated to Shila Devi, who is none other than 
 
 x
 
 322 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 their old acquaintance the goddess Durga herself. From 
 Ambika, another of her many appellations, the name of 
 Amber is said to be derived. Very hideous is the image 
 of her which sits enthroned in the palace-temple ; and over 
 the whole place seems still to linger the horror of those 
 human sacrifices which were daily offered in past days be- 
 fore that dreadful image. The goddess sits in a recess, not 
 looking straight before her, but with her head turned aside. 
 In the good old times, they say, when she daily feasted on a 
 human victim, she looked forth into the temple with open 
 and gracious countenance ; but there came a day when men 
 presumed to cheat her of her rightful tribute, and, when the 
 hour of the daily sacrifice came round, to bring her nought 
 but a goat. Then, in high disdain, the dread goddess turned 
 her head away, and ever since has eyed with scornful, side- 
 long glance her miserable, makeshift kid. Nor can she now 
 be persuaded to relent even by the great yearly sacrifice 
 wherein, at the feast of the Dasahra, are slain for her 
 delectation a hundred buffaloes and. five hundred goats or 
 sheep. 
 
 Among the unholy shadows of the haunted temple our 
 travellers linger long, telling those old legends of the 
 Devi's wondrous achievements which are written in the 
 ' Sapta-Shati,' l that most curious of Hindu scriptures, and 
 are solemnly chanted day by day in Durga's numberless 
 temples. 
 
 Long, long ago it was that the goddess came into exist- 
 ence. It was the terrible time of the demon-war, when the 
 
 1 The ' Sapta-Shati,' or ' Chandi-Pat,' has been translated into English by 
 that learned Pandit, Cavali Venkat Rdmasswdmi, who says in his preface that, 
 " as an orthodox Hindu," he " firmly and devoutly " believes " that the theo- 
 machy described in this sacred volume is to be taken in its plain and literal 
 sense."
 
 FROM SIMLA TO JAIPUR. 323 
 
 great-cheeked demons Maclhu and Kaitabh, that were born 
 from the wax of Vishnu's ear, fought furiously against the 
 gods, and drove them from their heavenly thrones. Then 
 from all the deities proceeded " a great mass of light," and 
 being conglomerate it " appeared as a flaming mountain," and 
 the demons, when they saw it, receded to the extremities of 
 the regions. Then that " effulgent lustre," that " peerless 
 light," was transformed into the figure of a glorious goddess 
 " extending through the three worlds. The energy of Siva 
 created her face; the brightness of Yama made her hair; 
 her arms were formed by the light of Vishnu. . . . Her feet 
 were made by the energy of Brahma ; her toes by the rays 
 of the sun. . . . Her teeth were created by the brightness 
 of Prajapati; her three eyes by the energy of Parvak." 
 
 Then all the deities vied one with another in bestowing 
 fair gifts on the goddess. Vishnu gave her a chakra, that 
 mystic circle, the symbol of universal supremacy. Indra, the 
 God of a Thousand Eyes, gave her a thunderbolt ; he took 
 also the bell from the elephant Airavata and bestowed it on 
 Durga the mighty. " The maker of day filled his rays in the 
 roots of her hair. . . . Jaladhi the Ocean conferred on her a 
 prosperous chaplet of lotus." Himavant, King of the Dewy 
 Mountain, " gave her a lion " whereon she should ride to 
 battle. The Earth also "granted a necklace of snakes, and 
 the other deities gave her jewels and arms," and Shesha, 
 the King of Snakes, "gave her a necklace of serpents' 
 ornaments." 
 
 Then Durga shouted " with a terrible voice, the sound of 
 which filled the sky. The eternal vault echoed with the 
 terrific sound, ... all the world was alarmed, the ocean 
 trembled. The earth quaked, . . . the deities joyfully ex- 
 claimed, ' Victory to the rider of the lion ! ' ' Terrible was
 
 324 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 the goddess to the hosts of the demons ; " she indented the 
 earth occupied by her foot, her crown struck the sky : the 
 sound of her bowstring terrified the whole subterraneous 
 world. She grasped all the space of the regions by her one 
 thousand arms; fierce war was waged between the goddess 
 and the enemies of the gods." 
 
 " The great demons encountered the goddess with a thou- 
 sand times ten million millions of chariots, and with elephants 
 and horses of like number ; " but Durga " sportively cut them 
 in pieces by the shower of her powerful shafts and arrows. 
 By the trident, by the mace, by the shaktiristi, by the sword, 
 she killed immense numbers of demons, and made others to 
 fall by the ringing of the bell. The lion made an excessive 
 roar, it produced a concussion among the . . . foes of the 
 gods. . . . The gods were gratified, and poured down am- 
 aranthine flowers from heaven." Then came against her 
 Chamara, the general of the demon-host, riding on an ele- 
 phant. But she " leapt from the lion to the globular fore- 
 head of the elephant, and direfully wrestled " with the 
 enemy of the gods. "During the combat, they both dis- 
 mounted and began furiously to beat one another." But 
 the lion of the goddess, that mighty " enemy of beasts," 
 swiftly attacked the dreadful demon, " and separated the 
 head of Chamara from his body, by the strokes of his 
 paws." 
 
 " The band of deities with the magnificent sages applauded 
 the goddess," Devi the "Three-eyed," the "Matron of the 
 World," who bore " wrathful redness of the eyes. . . . The 
 eloquent Indra and the crowd of gods, after the death of the 
 demons, lowing their heads, were delighted," and making 
 obeisance to the goddess, implored her " to rule the uni- 
 verse," saying: "Thou art the instigating cause of the
 
 FROM SIMLA TO JAIPUR. 325 
 
 universal earth, . . . thou art ... the proprietor of this 
 world; thou art indefinable, inscrutable, and the excellent 
 principle of matter. ... Ambika ! preserve us by thy 
 trident and sword ; preserve us by the ringing of thy bell, 
 and by the sound of thy bowstring." 
 
 Many other battles did the valiant goddess fight. For it 
 happened on a time that " Sumbha, lord of the demons," and 
 " the mighty demon Nisumbha " were suitors for Durga's 
 hand. But when Sumbha asked her to be his bride, " the 
 goddess with a disdainful smile replied to him, ' How can I 
 repeal my determined vow that I formerly swore to without 
 consideration, that whoever can vanquish me in combat, 
 whoever can oppress my pride, whoever is equal to me in 
 vigour, he shall be my husband ? ' ' 
 
 Then Nisumbha sent against Durga Dhumralochan the 
 Smoky-eyed Giant, with an army of 60,000 demons. But 
 the " supreme goddess," the " Supporter of the World," " be- 
 came mightily enraged ; she furiously rose and destroyed the 
 force of the demons by her lion. Grasping some of them, 
 she dashed them against each other and killed the great 
 demons; she demolished some by the blows of her hand. 
 The lion tore some with his claws, and some by the strokes 
 of his paws, separating their heads. In a moment all that 
 army was destroyed by the magnanimous and enraged lion 
 of the goddess," and Dhumralochan was reduced to ashes by 
 the breath of the wrathful Durga. 
 
 Then " Sumbha, king of the demons, with agitated lips 
 thus commanded the great demons Chand and Mund: 
 'O Chand and Mund, go ye with a great army against 
 the Devi; kill ye the wicked lion quickly.'" So Chand 
 and Mund, " attended by four sorts of armies," marched 
 forth in anger to the fight. " Ambika then became terribly
 
 326 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 angry at her enemies ; rage changed her face into a hideous 
 black," she was transformed in a moment and became " the 
 terrific-faced Kali." " Her contracting brows overshadowed 
 her forehead; . . . her mouth expanded, she had a lolling 
 tongue, a horrible red-tinged eye ; her front filled the regions. . 
 She furiously fell upon the demons, and destroyed the foes 
 of the deities and devoured their forces. . . . The troopers' 
 chariots with their drivers she threw into her mouth, and 
 chewed them with her teeth horribly. . . . The magnanimous 
 goddess . . . killed some with the sword, and struck some 
 with the khatwanga weapon ; the giants died with the pres- 
 sure of her teeth." " Chand beheld it," and rushed on the 
 frightful Kali. "The dreadful-eyed goddess . . . angrily 
 shouted: her voice was horrible, her mouth became dis- 
 tended and frightful, and she gnashed with her tremendous 
 teeth. The goddess made her lion to rise, ran at Chand, 
 and laying hold on him by his hair, she cut off his head 
 with her sword. After this, Mund, seeing the fall of Chand, 
 marched against her ; she made him to fall on the earth, and 
 instantaneously killed him with her sword. The surviving 
 forces perceived the fall of Chand and the valiant Mund, and 
 through fear retreated in all directions. . . . The lion roared 
 tremendously; the goddess rang the bell; Ambika shouted. 
 The sound of the roar penetrated to the extremities of the 
 regions, the mouth of Devi expanded hideously." 
 
 Such things the travellers tell in the gloom of the blood- 
 stained temple, gazing the while at the hideous image of 
 the goddess, until a half-superstitious horror begins to fill 
 their minds. It is a strange sensation, often experienced in 
 India by our not very imaginative travellers, but hard to 
 make intelligible to those who have never entered idol-
 
 FROM SIMLA TO JAIPUR. 327 
 
 temples, or who have made acquaintance only with the 
 fossil-gods of Egypt, whose life and worship were over and 
 done with thousands of years ago. Here in India the gods 
 are still alive, endowed with a hideous and personal vitality 
 which, fancy though it be, yet makes itself felt and feared. 
 Absurd and unreasonable as the feeling is (springing perhaps 
 from some mysterious influence of unconscious suggestion 
 set in motion by the ardent conviction of the surrounding 
 multitudes of believers), yet is it strong enough to give rise 
 to a curious notion, a half-felt suspicion that millions of 
 human minds concentrated in one deep-seated belief may be 
 strong enough to project into something like objective exist- 
 ence the thought they have made their own. 
 
 "I wish," exclaims Philippa, "that those who talk so 
 glibly about ' the vandalism of the early Christians ' would 
 but live for a while among these demon-deities, until they 
 realise that there may be such a thing as a condition of 
 thought and feeling in which there is no possible compromise 
 between believing in the power of idol-gods, and straightway 
 knocking them to pieces ! " 
 
 "Oh, hush, Philippa!" cries Sebaste, shivering. "She is 
 listening ! She has fixed her sidelong glance upon you, and 
 surely her eyes are gleaming ! " 
 
 At this moment enters the temple a group of Brahmans 
 leading a black kid. It is the time of the daily sacrifice. 
 Moving to a little distance, the travellers sit down to watch 
 the performance of the rite. The pretty little kid is made 
 to stand before the goddess, and a cord is fastened to his 
 horns and held by one of the priests. Then an ancient 
 chopper a large and curious implement of sacrifice is 
 laid on the ground beside him. Eice and flowers and 
 Ganges water are sprinkled on the blade of the chopper
 
 328 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 and on the unresisting head of the innocently unconscious 
 kid. All is now ready for the slaying of the victim, and 
 the chopper should be raised in the air and brought down 
 on the kid's black neck. But the chopper is old, and no 
 doubt blunted and jagged with hacking at something other 
 than the necks of kids; and, as severing the head with a 
 single blow is an essential part of the sacrifice, it is neces- 
 sary now to use a newer and sharper sword. This is brought 
 by one of the attendant Brahmans, who, lifting it above his 
 head, brings it down with a rushing sound, and all is over 
 for the poor little kid. The head is caught up by the cord 
 before it can touch the ground and placed in a basin of 
 brass, whereinto, with a gurgling noise, the blood of the 
 victim is made to flow, while a stately Brahman holds down 
 with his bare brown foot the still violently struggling limbs. 
 Then the brimming basin, with the head still lying therein, 
 is borne into the recess where sits the expectant goddess 
 with a look of greedy discontent on her half-averted face ; 
 and over her hideous lips the warm blood of the victim is 
 smeared. But to hide this concluding rite a Brahman draws 
 across the recess the folds of a crimson curtain. 
 
 Throughout the ceremony our travellers are haunted with 
 visions of former more horrible sacrifices, and at its con- 
 clusion they come forth into the sunlight shuddering in 
 spite of the heat. Silently they return to the great court 
 of the Palace, and so go rolling and flopping away, en- 
 throned on the high and spacious backs of Ganga and 
 Jawahur Kuli.
 
 329 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 BOMBAY THE CAVES OF ELEPHANTA. 
 
 OUR travellers' last railway journey in India is a south- 
 westward rush lasting two nights and a long, hot day. 
 Awaking in an atmosphere of tropical moisture and heat, 
 they find themselves surrounded by a forest of coco -nut 
 palms, and presently arrive in the city of Bombay. 
 
 Hence they are to sail for England in the good ship Clyde, 
 and the time of their stay is but a very few days. There 
 are many things in Bombay that are worthy to be studied ; 
 but by resolutely ignoring the existence of whatever they 
 have not time to see, our friends gain in the short time 
 at their command a very satisfactory impression ; and this 
 closing scene of their Indian wanderings will always be 
 remembered as a bright, many-coloured picture wherein are 
 blended in pleasant and dream-like confusion majestic build- 
 ings and picturesque streets, and thronging multitudes of 
 people with faces of many different hues and garments of 
 endless variety. Specially animated are the scenes in the 
 markets, and the travellers are fond of lingering in that 
 famous fruit- market where is massed and piled together a 
 marvellous wealth of tropical produce. What a pity to be 
 leaving India when the mangos are just in their glory !
 
 330 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 But the island of Elephanta and the great cave -temple 
 therein are haunting our travellers' imagination, and before 
 long they set forth in a steam-launch to explore those 
 ancient wonders. Eastward they steam for an hour, and 
 then land on the western side of a rocky island whereon 
 corinda- bushes grow. Gharapuri the natives call it, "the 
 Town of the Eock " ; but the Portuguese named it Elephanta 
 by reason of a great elephant of stone that they found here, 
 and so it is called by Europeans even to this day. On their 
 way to the cave-temple the visitors fall in with some very 
 attractive beetles in a brilliant livery of scarlet ; but other- 
 wise the way is lonely, leading upward with many steps to a 
 height of about 250 feet above high-water mark. 
 
 Here at length the travellers reach the great cave-temple, 
 hewn into the hard trap -rock to a depth of 130 feet. A 
 thousand years old it is, the learned say, or maybe a little 
 older, and the ghosts of the centuries haunt it. As the 
 travellers enter its gloomy depths, the desolate silence 
 wraps them round with a heavy, irresistible oppression. 
 So dreary are the shadowy spaces, so hopeless the massive 
 rock-hewn columns, so daunting the immovable weight of 
 the darkly impending roof, that the visitors can hardly 
 rouse themselves to find out what manner of place they 
 are in. 
 
 The first to recover the power of speech is the ever strong- 
 minded Philippa, who remarks (with the more vehemence 
 because she has herself to convince as well as the others) 
 that they are not in a bad dream, but, on the contrary, in a 
 Brahmanic rock-temple well worthy of careful study. 
 
 " You see," she continues cheerfully, " the temple consists 
 mainly of a square pillared hall of which the side measures 
 about 90 feet, and this is approached on the North and the
 
 BOMBAY THE CAVES OF ELEPHANT A. 331 
 
 East and the West by pillared porticoes, at the sides of which 
 are left considerable masses of unhewn rock. The principal 
 entrance, by which we came in, is the northern, and only on 
 that side was there originally a free surface to work upon. 
 On the east and west sides of the temple the solid rock has 
 been laboriously hewn away, a tedious piece of work that it 
 tires one only to think of ! " 
 
 "What tires me," says Sebaste dolefully, "is to look at 
 these oppressively heavy columns ! What an extraordinary 
 kind of pillar it is ! first a great square pedestal 8 feet high, 
 with queer little gods sitting on the corners ; and then a 
 short, round, fluted shaft ; and then a great bulging cushion ! 
 Why could they not carve out slim graceful columns here 
 like those in the rock-temples at the Seven Pagodas ? " 
 
 "Because they had learned better," answers Philippa 
 severely. "The work at the Seven Pagodas belongs to an 
 earlier stage of rock-cut architecture. In those days they 
 copied structural forms exactly, and did not realise that 
 pillars which have thousands of tons of solid rock to support 
 ought not to waste their strength in trying to look elegantly 
 slim and graceful as if they had only a wooden roof to think 
 about. Even this Elephanta Cave is, of course, copied from 
 structural architecture, those great beams of rock left 
 attached to the roof are unmistakably wooden in form ; but 
 at the Seven Pagodas the analogy is much closer, and very 
 disastrous were the results of it. Have you forgotten 
 Bhima's Eath, and how the roof settled and cracked, so that 
 the work was given up in despair ? But you never had an 
 architectural mind ! " 
 
 "I would rather not, Philippa, if it would require such 
 pillars as these to bolster up the roof of it ! " 
 
 " But let us hear the rest of your lecture, Philippa ! " ex-
 
 332 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 claims Irene. " You have not even told us yet to what god 
 the temple is dedicated/' 
 
 " It is a Saiva temple," says Philippa, " and here on our 
 right is the shrine or garWia, in the middle of which stands 
 that symbol of Siva which is the central object of worship in 
 whose honour the temple was made. They say that it is 
 still adored by crowds of worshippers on Siva's festival-days." 
 
 The shrine is a square rock-hewn chamber filling the space 
 included by four of the massive pillars. Each of its four 
 doors is approached by a flight of six steps, and is guarded 
 by two gigantic dwdrpdlas, or Doorkeepers, about 15 feet 
 high. These rocky personages are supported by those curious 
 figures of dwarf-demons which are so striking a feature of 
 this temple, and are thought by some to represent aboriginal 
 races of India, while their tall and lordly neighbours are 
 supposed to symbolise the mightier and conquering Aryans. 
 
 Having sufficiently admired these worthies, and long 
 enough contemplated the central symbol of stone (which 
 stands on a square base of rock awaiting the libations of 
 liquid butter which its worshippers devoutly pour over it), 
 the travellers go on through deepening shadows, until, reach- 
 ing at length the southern wall of the temple, they find 
 themselves confronted by that most solemn and impressive 
 of all the Elephanta sculptures, a colossal three-faced bust, 
 the far-famed Trimurti. It is carved from the living rock, 
 in a recess whereof the depth is 10| feet. The height of 
 the sculpture is 19 feet, and its breadth is 21| feet. It 
 represents Siva in the threefold character of Brahma the 
 Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Eudra the Destroyer. 
 Very solemn, in the dim light of the gloomy temple, look 
 those three gigantic countenances, each crowned with a high 
 head-dress elaborately wrought with sculptured ornament.
 
 BOMBAY THE CAVES OF ELEPHANTA. 333 
 
 The central face, looking northward into the cave, is that 
 of Brahma, the Father of the Yedas. His head-dress is the 
 tallest of the three, and he wears a pendent breast-ornament 
 of beautiful and elaborate design. In his left hand he holds 
 what is probably a gourd, the characteristic drinking-vessel 
 of a Hindu ascetic. The face on the right, which looks west- 
 ward, is that of Vishnu, who holds in his right hand his well- 
 known symbol, a full-blown lotus-flower. 
 
 Eudra, the Destroyer, faces eastward. He is an ancient 
 Vedic deity who in later times became identified with Siva. 
 He is " the god of the roaring storm, terrible as a wild beast " ; 
 but, notwithstanding his destructive powers, he is described 
 as " the promoter of the desires of the two worlds, and the 
 gratifier of the inclinations of the Universe." He holds in 
 his right hand a cobra which, with hood uplifted, gazes into 
 his eyes. His lips are parted in a terrible smile, and between 
 them the tongue is visible. A projection at the corner of the 
 mouth is said by the learned to be a tusk, and a mysterious- 
 lump in the middle of the forehead represents that third and 
 vertical eye wherein Siva so constantly rejoices. From that 
 third eye a flame will blaze forth one day, and all the world 
 will be burned to ashes. 
 
 Strangely impressed by the silent majesty of the mystic 
 Trimurti, the travellers, with eyes growing used to the dark- 
 ness, gaze awhile in silence ; but presently the immovable 
 expression of the colossal countenances above them seems to 
 cast a spell on their vague imaginings, and to carry away 
 their minds as captives into a mythic region of ancient 
 fable where the light is more dim, the shadows are more 
 confused than even in the gloomy depths of this abysmal 
 rock-hewn temple. So, in the solemn presence of the 
 faintly seen Trimurti, our friends begin to tell old legends
 
 334 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 of Brahma and Vishnu and Siva, and of how the world 
 was made. 
 
 The beginning of all things, it seems, is Brahma the Im- 
 perishable and the Supreme ; for, in that far-off day when 
 the universe was yet undiscerned, the self-existent Spirit 
 "created the waters by meditation"; and in the waters 
 there floated a golden egg whereiuto the self-existent Spirit 
 entered, and from that egg he was born as Brahma " the 
 forefather and creator of all things." Of old, they say that 
 Brahma had five heads ; but Siva offended him, and there 
 was battle, and Siva cut off one of the heads, so that there 
 remained but four; and the head that was cut off gave 
 chase to Siva, so that he fled before it and hardly escaped at 
 the last. But from the mouths of the four heads that were 
 left the four Vedas came forth ; and many other benefits did 
 Brahma confer on the world. Cool is "the water of the 
 knowledge of Brahma," l bringing life and refreshment when 
 duly sprinkled on minds " disordered with pain through the 
 heat of the sun of mundane existence." 
 
 But Brahma must not be overmuch praised in a temple 
 dedicated to Siva. The " three-eyed lord " is here supreme, 
 and all other gods must be regarded as manifestations of his 
 power; wherefore the travellers bethink them of the wild 
 myths of the Siva Purana, and begin to rehearse a wondrous 
 history wherein Siva is greatly exalted. 
 
 Long, long ago, when neither the four castes nor yet any 
 of the other creatures had as yet been brought into " the field 
 of existence," there was shining in stainless splendour a " ray 
 of essential light." And " out of the body of that ray " there 
 bubbled forth " water like a boiling froth," which forthwith 
 " enveloped the surface of the earth." And from the midst 
 
 1 Markandeya Purdna. Pargiter.
 
 BOMBAY THE CAVES OF ELEPHANTA. 335 
 
 of the boundless waters sprang a lotus-plant whereon grew a 
 flower the length of whose petals was hundreds of thousands 
 of miles. With a light as it had been thousands of millions 
 of suns the sacred flower shone, and from it did Brahma 
 come into existence. Having been born from the flower, he 
 marvelled greatly, saying, " Who am I ? and whence came 
 I ? and how should I employ myself ? and who is my 
 creator ? " And being unable to trace his origin, he began 
 to descend the stem of the lotus, climbing downward and 
 downward still, in hope to reach its root. But when he had 
 descended for a hundred years, nor yet could see the end, 
 he returned to that place whence he had set forth. Then 
 he began to ascend the stem of the lotus, climbing upward 
 and upward still, in hope to reach the top. But when for 
 a hundred years he had " measured upward " the " road of 
 his desires," nor yet could see the summit, he fell into a 
 " trance of thoughtfulness and perplexity." 
 
 Then, after twelve years, Vishnu sprang on a sudden into 
 existence. He had four arms and " a skin entirely black ; a 
 crown of jewels on his head, and a yellow garment on his 
 breast ; " his eyes were " large as the flower of the lotus, his 
 body splendid as the purest gold;" around his neck "cor- 
 nelians and diamonds were sparkling ; he appeared smiling 
 and simpering with a heavenly beauty that surpassed all 
 imagination." And forthwith Brahma " made a sign with 
 his hand and said, ' Who art thou, and from whence ? Arise, 
 and be at a distance.' " But Vishnu was very angry at that 
 word, and " the fire of wrath began to blaze high " between 
 them, and they two prepared to do battle. 
 
 Then suddenly "shone out into view another luminous 
 figure, whose splendour was like that of a dazzling flame 
 and his rays more bright than a thousand suns." He was
 
 336 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 " exempt from defect and increase, and from the past, present, 
 and future ; " and his form was that of the symbol of Siva. 
 Then said Vishnu to Brahma, " Why dost thou hold forth the 
 signal of war ? Lo ! a third excellence is now produced. 
 Let us attain to its extremities." After this Vishnu, for a 
 thousand years, in the shape of a boar, descended into the 
 nether regions, while Brahma " for the same space of time, 
 assuming the figure of a goose, soared to the world above." 
 So for a thousand years they " travelled over the superior 
 and inferior worlds," but still they sought in vain. Eeturn- 
 ing therefore to the place whence they had come, they per- 
 formed devotions .for a hundred years to that third excel- 
 lence. And at the end of that time Siva himself was seen 
 proceeding from the essential light which formed the figure 
 of his symbol. He had " five heads and ten arms," he was 
 " as white as camphor " and " of great strength," endowed 
 with all beauty and clad in " majestic garments." So Brahma 
 and Vishnu doubted no longer concerning their origin, for 
 they both exclaimed, exulting, " This same is our Creator ! " 
 and opened their mouths in his praise with sacred mantras 
 of the Veda. 
 
 And Siva told them, saying, " Another figure, in this same 
 form of mine, shall appear from a wrinkle of Brahma's fore- 
 head, and be named Eudra ; he shall possess power not 
 inferior to my own. Between him and me there is no 
 distinction." 
 
 After this Brahma "earnestly took him to the work of 
 creation," and from the golden egg of the world all creatures 
 came into existence ; but that, methinks, is too long a tale to 
 tell, which is a pity ; for such wondrous virtue is it said to 
 possess, that only to listen to it " will atone for the blackest 
 crimes," and heap up merit for the hearer.
 
 BOMBAY THE CAVES OF ELEPHANT A. 337 
 
 The Trimurti is guarded by colossal dwdrpdlas, who lean 
 on dwarf -demons of hideous aspect. These figures con- 
 trast strangely with the majestic calm of the great central 
 bust, and the whole group is one of the most extraordinary 
 sculptures that the travellers have ever seen. 
 
 Adjoining it on the east side, carved in this same south 
 wall of the cave, is a group wherein the principal figure is 16 
 feet 9 inches high, and calls itself Arddhanarishwar. This 
 too is a form of Siva, and is attended by Nandi his sacred 
 bull, while around him appear Brahma seated on a lotus- 
 flower upheld by five swans, and Vishnu riding on Garuda, 
 and Indra, " the king of gods," mounted on his elephant 
 Airavata. 
 
 There are so many quaint stories to be told about Indra, 
 if only my book would hold them ! He is an ancient Vedic 
 god, and his very name, methinks, has a ring of Aryan dig- 
 nity. He is the god of winds and rains, and something of 
 nature- worship lingers about his legends. Very curious is 
 the history of how the might of the wind is derived from 
 Indra, set forth in that holy book of the illustrious Mar- 
 kandeya : 
 
 "Then uprose Vritra, the mighty demon, encircled with 
 flame, huge in body, with great teeth. . . . He, the enemy of 
 Indra, of immeasurable soul, . . . mighty in valour, increased 
 daily a bow-shot in stature." But Indra, when he saw the 
 mighty demon Vritra eager to slay him, trembled with fear, 
 and sent unto him seven Sages, desiring peace. Then the 
 " affectionate-minded " Sages, " who delighted in benevolence 
 towards all creatures, brought about friendship and treaties 
 between him and Vritra." But Indra violated that sacred 
 treaty, and slew Vritra the demon ; and forthwith Indra's 
 might was " overwhelmed by the sin " of that slaying, and 
 
 Y
 
 338 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 ebbed away from his powerful limbs ; and " that might which 
 quitted Indra's body entered the wind " which pervadeth all 
 things, invisible to the eyes of men. 
 
 There is another legend which tells how " Indra the king 
 of gods" once walked the earth in the form of "a bird 
 mighty in size, with broken wings, stricken with age, with 
 eyes of a copperish colour, downcast in soul." Thus he came 
 
 to the four sons of a Kishi, and said But what he said, 
 
 and what they answered, and all that befell thereupon, is 
 more than I can relate just now; for my travellers have 
 moved away, and I perforce must follow. 
 
 In another part of the temple Siva's wedding has been 
 carved in the rocky wall, and there are many other groups 
 of sculpture which ought to be minutely studied. Then 
 the supplementary excavations have to be explored, and 
 there are other rock-temples in the neighbourhood which 
 ought to be visited. 
 
 For these last no time remains, and, as the travellers steam 
 back to Bombay Island, the night is falling fast.
 
 339 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 BOMBAY THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 
 
 BY the city of Bombay the travellers have as yet not half 
 done their duty. There is the Cathedral of S. Thomas to be 
 visited, and the history of the Diocese to be studied ; and 
 time must be left wherein to rejoice over the fact that in the 
 Bombay Presidency (including the native states appertaining 
 thereto) the number of Christians is already no less than 
 170,651. In Bombay city the Society for the Propagation of 
 the Gospel is hard at work, having therein five schools, four 
 Clergy, and fifteen lay-agents. That other most admirable 
 and useful institution, the Society for the Promotion of 
 Christian Knowledge, has been at home in Bombay for more 
 than seventy years, and the Church Missionary Society is 
 also working vigorously. There are, moreover, a Mission to 
 Seamen, Church- work among the Jews, many Church-schools, 
 and I know not how many other kinds of devoted Christian 
 labour. Of the interesting and prosperous work at Puna the 
 travellers hear much, with many regrets that they have no 
 time to go and see it for themselves. 
 
 But to such pleasant studies our friends can devote but 
 a very little while, for soon their inconstant minds are 
 attracted by a fresh object of interest. Continually, dur-
 
 340 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 ing their walks in the city, they meet the strange figures of 
 the Parsis, men in unfamiliar costume, whereof the most 
 curious part is the stiff, curving head-dress; and ladies 
 arrayed in silken robes, with beautiful unmuffled faces whose 
 expression fits admirably with the well-known fact that their 
 owners enjoy more respect, and are more worthy of the same, 
 than any other gentile women outside of Christendom. 
 
 Very cheerful are all Parsi countenances, and they wear a 
 look of good-humoured enjoyment which recalls that con- 
 demnation of asceticism uttered long ago by Ahura Mazda, 
 the Lord of Light : " Verily I say unto thee, O Spitama 
 Zarathustra ! ... he who has riches is far above him who 
 has none. And of two men, he who fills himself with meat 
 is filled with the good spirit much more than he who does 
 not do so ; the latter is all but dead ; the former is above him 
 by the worth of a dirhem, by the worth of a sheep, by the 
 worth of an ox, by the worth of a man. It is this man that 
 can strive against the onsets of the Asto-vidhotu ; that can 
 strive against the self -moving arrow [of death] ; that can 
 strive against the winter fiend, with thinnest garment on ; 
 that can strive against the wicked tyrant and smite him on 
 the head." * 
 
 In Bombay the Parsis number some 74,000, and this is the 
 great bulk of the Zarathustrians, though some smaller bodies 
 still remain in cities of Guzerat, and there is also a remnant 
 in their original Persian home, living at Kerman and Yazd 
 and Teheran. Of these last, according to Professor Darme- 
 steter, there may still be 8000 or 9000 ; but their numbers 
 are fast diminishing. 
 
 Very delightfully has that same learned Professor set forth 
 
 1 Sacred Books of the East. ' The Vendidad,' translated by Professor 
 Darmesteter.
 
 BOMBAY THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 341 
 
 the origin of the migration which brought the Parsis into 
 Guzerat and thence as far as Bombay. Until the fall of the 
 Sassanian Dynasty all Persia followed the religion of Zara- 
 thustra (one is not allowed to call him Zoroaster now, for 
 that form is a Greek invention) ; but in the seventh century 
 of our era the Muhammadan invasion befell, and the great 
 battle of Nihavand, and before the second successor of the 
 Prophet the Sassanian Dynasty went down. Then was 
 Persia brought over to the Muslim religion, and such as 
 were faithful to the teaching of Zarathustra must leave their 
 ancestral home. So forth they fared, and came to Guzerat, 
 and adopted the language thereof, bringing it with them on 
 their further journey to their present home in Bombay. It 
 is a romantic history, and a beautiful one, but too modern 
 for the fastidious minds of our travellers, who, with a some- 
 what childish and unreasonable preference, love rather to let 
 their fancy wander away into the far-off past, where, in the 
 first faint dawn of history, with a fair halo around him of 
 age-long tradition, stands in majestic grandeur Zarathustra's 
 mighty form. 
 
 He was born in ancient Media, who shall say how long 
 ago? Was it the fourteenth century B.C., as some have 
 thought, and was he really a contemporary of Moses ? I 
 know not; and what matters it so long as his birth took 
 place indeed, putting to flight the Daevas, those fiends of 
 darkness, and that evil Drug, the Nasu, the demon of 
 death ? " They rush," l cries the birth-hymn of Zarathustra, 
 "they run away, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas; they run 
 away with shouts, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas ; they run 
 away casting the evil eye, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas: 
 ' Let us gather together at the head of Arezura, at the gate 
 
 1 From Professor Darmesteter's translation.
 
 342 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 of hell ! For he is just born the holy Zarathustra, in the 
 house of Pourushaspa. How can we procure his death ? He 
 is the stroke that fells the fiends ; he is a Drug to the Drug. 
 Down are the DaeVa worshippers, the Nasu made by the 
 Da6va, the false-speaking Lie ! ' They run away, they rush 
 away, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas, into the depths of the 
 dark, horrid world of hell. Ashem vohu : Holiness is the 
 best of all good ! " 
 
 And who was Vistaspa, that great King of Bactria, " the 
 mighty-speared and the lordly one," at whose court Zara- 
 thustra rose to power ? Hystaspes we call him after the 
 Greek manner, and try to think we know something about 
 him ; but that he was not Hystaspes the father of Darius 
 seems to be all that is historically certain, except that he 
 supported Zarathustra, and encouraged the religion he taught. 
 " We sacrifice," saith an ancient liturgy, " to the awful kingly 
 Glory made by Mazda, that clave unto king Vistaspa, so that 
 he thought according to the Law, spake according to the Law, 
 and did according to the Law, destroying his foes and causing 
 the Daevas to retire. Who, driving the Drug before him, 
 sought wide room for the holy religion ; who, driving the 
 Drug before him, made wide room for the holy religion ; who 
 made himself the arm and support of this law of Ahura, of 
 this law of Zarathustra ; who took her (Daena, the Eeligion), 
 standing bound, from the hands of Hunus, and established 
 her to sit in the middle of the world, high ruling, never fall- 
 ing back, holy, nourished with plenty of cattle and pastures." 
 
 Zarathustra himself has fared but ill at the hands of the 
 learned. First they discover that the meaning of his sonor- 
 ous name is " Keeper of Old Camels," and then they do their 
 utmost to explain him away into a storm-god. From this 
 latter undesirable fate Professor Geldner has rescued him,
 
 BOMBAY THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 343 
 
 setting aside the myths that grew up among his successors 
 the Magi, and showing how his supernatural attributes are to 
 be found only in the " later Avesta," while the Zarathustra 
 of the Gathas (those earliest of the Avesta scriptures) emerges 
 as a struggling, sorrowing Prophet with a personality that is 
 intensely human. But shall Zarathustra now be left in 
 peace ? Ah no ! Professor Geldner is a valiant champion ; 
 but he is out-professored, alas ! by Zarathustra's relentless 
 foe, Professor Darmesteter the learned and the terrible. Did 
 the ancient Prophet live indeed? Well, be it so; but the 
 ground shall be cut away from beneath his feet till he falls 
 to the depths of insignificance. A great work he cannot 
 have done, there was none such for him to do. Was he the 
 founder of a new religion ? Nay, for Zarathustrianism is but 
 a natural development of the ancient Aryan faith. Did he 
 even revolutionise the old ? Nay, for the development was 
 long and gradual, and we can trace no sudden changes. Can 
 he be called a great Eeformer ? Nay, there was no Keforma- 
 tion, but an age-long, insensible growth, with never a violent 
 reaction. 
 
 O venerable Zarathustra ! If from some transcendental 
 home thy spirit yet looks down on this small planet whence, 
 more than three thousand years ago, it soared away to the 
 holy stars, what dost thou think of us now ? Of old thou 
 didst tell how, when the world was in making, all the holy 
 creatures, all animals and plants that are good, were fashioned 
 by Ahura Mazda, 1 the Lord of Light and Life ; but Angra 
 Mainyu, 1 who is Death and the Lord of Darkness, made all 
 creatures that are destructive and evil. In which catalogue, 
 
 1 " Ormazd " and " Ahriman " are now, alas ! no more ; and although the 
 correct forms of the names look sadly unfamiliar, yet what am I that I should 
 presume to fly in the face of the learned ?
 
 344 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 couldest thou have foreseen the ages that were to come, would 
 European Professors have been placed ? 
 
 It is the Magi's fault. They it was who opened the door 
 to the ancient Aryan gods, and allowed a whole multitude of 
 beautiful myths to obscure the simplicity and the grandeur 
 of Zarathustra's sublime conceptions. The Gathas alone 
 the work of Zarathustra himself and his immediate disciples 
 can show us Zarathustra and his teaching as they really 
 were. But the Gathas are obscure and difficult ; and for me, 
 who know nothing of Eastern languages, only to speak of 
 them is presumption. 
 
 Yet, thanks to the labours of oriental scholars, the most 
 unlearned now can read the Avesta in English, and it is truly 
 a pity that they do not. The task is a sad one; for the 
 Avesta, as we have it, is but a precious fragment of a far 
 larger and richer literature, and the more we study what 
 remains, the more we shall grieve for what is lost, and glow 
 with anger against him who, they say, burned all that price- 
 less treasure, Sikander Eumi, the mighty conqueror of Persian 
 tradition whom we call Alexander the Great. Still we may 
 be thankful that something escaped him ; and the writings of 
 the Avesta, as we know them now, are truly a great posses- 
 sion. There is, indeed, no universality about them ; to com- 
 pare them for a moment with our own inspired Scriptures 
 to liken, for instance, the Gathas to the Psalms would be 
 mere trifling and absurdity. But (setting aside the sacred 
 Hebrew books) they are, I suppose, more beautiful and more 
 exalted than any other ancient literature of the East. In 
 any case, no one can hope to understand anything of the 
 Parsi religion until he has read the Avesta. 
 
 There is so much to say about that religion and its history! 
 Would that I could stay to trace its long development, to
 
 BOMBAY THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 345 
 
 see the uncompromising Dualism of Zarathustra's original 
 teaching gradually changing to the definite Monotheism of 
 the present day; to disentangle the elements of Nature- 
 worship so conspicuous in the writings of the Magi, and the 
 myths that they borrowed from the old Indo-Iranian faith, 
 from Zarathustra's simpler creed. But my poor little book 
 is a feeble beast of burden, and such overlading with heavy 
 materials would hardly be kind or wise. 
 
 And where are my travellers all this while ? I had almost 
 forgotten them, and now they have driven away without me 
 to visit the Parsi Towers of Silence. Let us overtake them 
 as quickly as may be, and indulge in no more reveries. 
 South-westward they drive through the sunlight of early 
 morning, and eagerly converse by the way. 
 
 " Philippa," exclaimed Sebaste, " you are treating us very 
 badly indeed. What is the use of knowing everything if 
 you don't instruct your sisters ? Pray tell us at once what 
 these Towers of Silence mean ! Why can't the Parsis bury 
 their dead or burn them like other folk, instead of building 
 these extraordinary places for them ? " 
 
 " Because of the holiness of the material world ! " says 
 Philippa. "That is one of the most beautiful of all the 
 Zarathustrian doctrines, and if it is connected with Nature- 
 worship, that is no proof that it has not a great truth at the 
 bottom of it. But if Water, and Earth, and ' Fire the son of 
 Ahura Mazda ' are holy things, then they must not be pol- 
 luted by contact with the dead, and there is nothing for it 
 but to get the vultures to make their graves for them. There 
 is a passage in the ' Vendidad ' which tells how Zarathustra in- 
 quired of Ahura Mazda the All-knowing Lord, and said : ' 
 Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! if a man shall 
 bury in the earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of
 
 346 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 a man, and if he shall not disinter it within the second year, 
 what is the penalty for it ? What is the atonement for it ? 
 What is the cleansing from it ? ' And Ahura Mazda an- 
 swered, Tor that deed there is nothing that can pay, nothing 
 that can atone, nothing that can cleanse from it : it is a tres- 
 pass for which there is no atonement, for ever and ever.' I 
 am glad to say that there is added the comforting doctrine, 
 ' The law of Mazda indeed, O Spitama Zarathustra ! . . . 
 takes away the sin of deeds for which there is no atone- 
 ment, ... as a swift - rushing mighty wind cleanses the 
 plain.' " 
 
 So doth Philippa discourse, until, arriving in the south- 
 west corner of Bombay Island, the travellers reach the height 
 whereon stand the Dakhmas, or Towers of Silence. As they 
 ascend the hill where the sea - breeze blows, they call to 
 mind that ancient ordinance for the disposal of the dead, 
 given of old, say the Avesta scriptures, by Ahura Mazda, 
 the Lord of Life, to his righteous servant the holy Zara- 
 thustra. For Zarathustra inquired and said : " Maker of 
 the material world, thou Holy One ! whither shall we 
 bring, where shall we lay, the bodies of the dead, Ahura 
 Mazda ? " And Ahura Mazda answered, " On the highest 
 summits where they know there are always corpse -eating 
 dogs and corpse -eating birds, holy Zarathustra ! There 
 shall the worshippers of Mazda fasten the corpse, by the 
 feet and by the hair, with brass, stones, or lead, lest the 
 corpse-eating dogs and the corpse-eating birds shall go and 
 carry the bones to the water and to the trees. . . . The wor- 
 shippers of Mazda shall erect a building out of the reach of 
 the dog, of the fox, and of the wolf, and wherein rain-water 
 cannot stay. Such a building shall they erect, if they can 
 afford it, with stones, mortar, and earth ; if they cannot afford
 
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 BOMBAY THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 347 
 
 it, they shall lay down the dead man on the ground, on his 
 carpet and his pillow, clothed with the light of heaven, and 
 beholding the sun." 
 
 Presently the travellers pass a small temple, which they 
 are not allowed to enter. Herein is the sacred fire brought 
 long centuries ago from Persia, and kept perpetually burn- 
 ing. Fire, the " Beneficent," the " Valiant Warrior," is holy 
 in its commonest forms, much more this symbolic flame 
 devoutly worshipped day by day with the consecrated 
 bundles of baresma, 1 with stately ritual, and with chanted 
 hymns such as that solemn formula used thousands of years 
 ago in the cities of ancient Iran : 
 
 "Bring libations unto the Fire, bring hard wood unto 
 the Fire, bring incense of Vohu-gaona unto the Fire. Offer 
 up the sacrifice to the Vazista Fire, which smites the fiend 
 Spengaghra: bring unto it the cooked meat and the offer- 
 ings of boiling milk." 
 
 There are other fire-temples in Bombay, and there is a 
 story that into one of them, as a great and unprecedented 
 favour, an American traveller was once admitted. Solemnly 
 he was led by the priest to the sacred flame, and told that 
 for thousands of years that fire had never been extinguished. 
 " Is that so ? " said the visitor. " Puff! I guess it's out 
 now ! " 
 
 But my travellers have passed on, and see before them 
 at length those five mysterious towers in one of which the 
 body of every Parsi in Bombay must sooner or later be laid. 
 The largest tower measures 25 feet in height and 276 feet 
 in circumference. Each tower is entered by a square open- 
 
 1 These were bundles of twigs, originally, I suppose, symbolic fuel for the 
 sacred Fire, but now represented by lengths of wire bound together in 
 bundles.
 
 348 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 ing at the top of a flight of steps. The travellers are not 
 allowed to enter themselves; but a model is shown them 
 whereby it is easy to understand the internal arrangements. 
 In the centre is a well, round which, rising from it in an 
 incline, is a circular platform filled with shallow grooves 
 wherein the bodies of the dead are placed. The grooves 
 are disposed in three circles, the outermost reserved for men, 
 the next for women, and the innermost for children. 
 
 Round the top of the encircling walls of the towers huge 
 vultures sit expectant, portentous forms looming dark 
 against the sky. Very drowsy they look and indolent, 
 until a funeral is seen approaching. Then suddenly they 
 are all on the alert, watching with greedy eyes till the 
 dead is left alone. Whereupon down they swoop in 
 thronging companies, and feast to their hearts' content. 
 In a very short time a bare skeleton only is left, and this 
 is afterwards dragged away with tongs and cast into the 
 central well. 
 
 Eound the Dakhmas are planted palms and other pleasant 
 trees, forming a luxuriant garden which, if those awful 
 vultures did not haunt it, might be delightful to wander in. 
 As it is, the very sunlight seems infected, and it is not hard 
 to believe that ancient saying, " Nor is the Earth happy at 
 that place whereon stands a Dakhma with corpses upon it ; 
 for that patch of ground will never be clean again till the 
 day of resurrection." Long do the travellers linger near the 
 towers, watching the ways of those evil birds, and recalling 
 the discourse which Ahura Mazda spake of old to Zara- 
 thustra "the wisest of all beings": "Those Dakhmas that 
 are built upon the face of the earth, O Spitama Zara- 
 thustra ! and whereon are laid the corpses of dead men, that 
 is the place where the fiends are, that is the place whereon
 
 BOMBAY THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 349 
 
 the troops of fiends come rushing along, that is the place 
 whereon they rush together to kill their fifties and their 
 hundreds, their hundreds and their thousands, their thou- 
 sands and their tens of thousands, their tens of thousands 
 and their myriads of myriads. On those Dakhmas, O 
 Spitama Zarathustra ! those fiends take food. ... It is, 
 as it were, the smell of their feeding that you smell there, 
 O men ! Thus the fiends revel on there, . . . thus from 
 the Dakhmas arise the infection of diseases . . . and hair 
 untimely white. There death has most power on man, from 
 the hour when the sun is down." 
 
 As our friends wander about recalling such fragments of 
 the Magi's ancient lore, a funeral procession draws near, 
 and, passing between the trees, moves slowly toward that 
 nearest Dakhma whereon the giant birds of prey do more 
 especially congregate. The body of the dead is carried 
 openly, muffled only in a white sheet, which, when the 
 last resting-place is reached, will be taken away, so that 
 the dead man may lie, according to the ordinance, clothed 
 only in "the light of heaven." The mourners are clad in 
 white robes, and walk in twos and threes, linked together 
 by cloths of white, whereof they hold the ends in their 
 hands. With them goes a dog, that most sacred of Ahura 
 Mazda's creatures, whose very look is enough to put to 
 flight the " corpse-drug " that haunts the helpless dead. 
 
 To find, here in the East of all places, such reverence for 
 the dog is very curious. Hinduism regards him as unclean, 
 and it is written in the book of Virtuous Custom that if 
 raiment have been looked at by dogs it is no longer fit 
 to be worn. But what said Ahura Mazda of old to Zara- 
 thustra the wisest of men ? " The dog, O Spitama Zara- 
 thustra ! I, Ahura Mazda, have made self - clothed and
 
 350 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 self-shod, watchful, wakeful, and sharp-toothed, born to take 
 his food from man and to watch over man's goods. I, 
 Ahura Mazda, have made the dog strong of body against 
 the evil-doer, and watchful over your goods, when he is of 
 sound mind. And whosoever shall awake his voice, neither 
 shall the thief nor the wolf steal anything from his house, 
 without his being warned ; the wolf shall be smitten and 
 torn in peaces ; he is driven away, he flies away." 
 
 To injure dogs, or to offer them bad food, is to Zarathus- 
 trians a terrible crime, and in sickness they must be care- 
 fully tended. Long ago Zarathustra asked, and said : " 
 Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! if there be 
 in the house of a worshipper of Mazda ... a mad dog, what 
 shall the worshippers of Mazda do ? " And Ahura Mazda 
 answered : " They shall attend him to heal him, in the same 
 manner as they would do for one of the faithful." 
 
 The dog used to scare away the corpse-Drug should be 
 " a yellow dog with four eyes," or " a white dog with yellow 
 ears;" but as four-eyed dogs are not easy to find in these 
 latter days, and even a white dog with yellow ears may not 
 always be forthcoming, there prevails in this matter a great 
 deal of laxity, and the present funeral is followed by a dark- 
 brown specimen who, though not fully qualified for the office, 
 looks quite equal to the occasion. He must be led three 
 times at least along the way whereon the corpse has been 
 carried, else that way is Drug-haunted and unclean, and 
 never again may it be passed through " by flocks and herds, 
 by men and women, by Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, by 
 the consecrated bundles of baresma, nor by the faithful." 
 But " when either the yellow dog with the four eyes, or the 
 white dog with the yellow ears, is brought there, then the 
 Drug Nasu flies away to the regions of the north in the
 
 BOMBAY THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 351 
 
 shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, all 
 stained with stains." And before the dog the priest must 
 walk, chanting as he goes " these fiend - smiting words : 
 ' Yathd ahti, vairyo . . . Kern nd mazdd . . . Ke verethrem 
 gd. . , . Perish, fiendish Drug ! Perish, O brood of the 
 fiend ! Perish, world of the fiend ! Perish away, Drug ! 
 Rush away, Drug ! Perish away, O Drug ! Perish away 
 to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death 
 the living world of the holy spirit ! ' Then the worshippers 
 of Mazda may at their will bring by those ways sheep and 
 oxen, men and women, and Fire the son of Ahura Mazda, the 
 consecrated bundles of baresma, and the faithful." 
 
 The funeral train moves on, the great birds begin to bestir 
 themselves, and our travellers turn away and begin to de- 
 scend the hill, telling as they go that strange Zarathustrian 
 myth concerning the far journey that the souls of the dead 
 must make. When one of the faithful departs, for three 
 nights the soul abides hard by the head of the corpse, sing- 
 ing the Ustavaiti Gatha : " Happy is he, happy the man, 
 whoever he be, to whom Ahura Mazda gives the full accom- 
 plishment of his wishes ! " In those nights " his soul tastes 
 as much pleasure as the whole of the living world can taste. 
 And at the end of the third night, when the dawn appears 
 . . . and makes Mithra, the god with the beautiful weapons, 
 reach the all -happy mountains, . . . then the soul enters 
 the way made by Time, and open both to the wicked and the 
 righteous," and comes to the Kinvad Bridge, the holy bridge 
 made by Mazda. There do the dead " ask for their spirits 
 and souls the reward for the worldly goods which they gave 
 away here below." Then " it seems to the soul of the faith- 
 ful one as if it were brought amidst plants and scents: it 
 seems as if a wind were blowing from the region of the
 
 352 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 south, ... a sweet-scented wind, sweeter-scented than any 
 other wind in the world. And it seems to the soul of the 
 faithful as if he were inhaling that wind with his nostrils, 
 and he thinks, ' Whence does that wind blow, the sweetest- 
 scented wind I ever inhaled with my nostrils ? ' And it 
 seems as if his own conscience were advancing to him in that 
 wind, in the shape of a maiden fair, bright, white-armed, . . . 
 as fair as the fairest things in the world." And the soul of 
 the faithful one addresses her, asking, " What maid art thou, 
 who art the fairest maid I have ever seen ? " And she, being 
 his own conscience, answers him : " thou youth of good 
 thoughts, good words, and good deeds, of good religion, I 
 am thy own conscience ! Everybody did love thee for that 
 greatness, fairness, sweet-scentedness, victorious strength and 
 freedom from sorrow, in which thou didst appear to me. . . . 
 I was lovely, and thou madest me still lovelier ; I was fair, 
 and thou madest me still fairer." So the soul of the faithful 
 passes on in felicity across the Kinvad Bridge. And " the 
 first step that the soul of the faithful man makes " brings 
 him into the "Good Thought Paradise"; "the second step 
 that the soul of the faithful man makes " brings him into 
 the " Good Word Paradise " ; " the third step that the soul of 
 the faithful man makes " brings him into the " Good Deed 
 Paradise " ; " the fourth step that the soul of the faithful 
 man makes " brings him into the " Endless Lights." So 
 with gladness " pass the souls of the righteous to the golden 
 seat of Ahura Mazda," to Garo Nmanem the House of Songs. 
 But " when one of the wicked perishes," for three nights 
 the soul abides hard by the head of the corpse, singing the 
 Kima Gatha, " Kdm nemd zam : To what land shall I turn, 
 Ahura Mazda ? To whom shall I go with praying ? " 
 " In those nights he tastes as much suffering as the whole
 
 BOMBAY THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 353 
 
 living world can taste." And when he comes to the Kinvad 
 Bridge, "the holy bridge made by Mazda, the bridge that 
 leads to Paradise, then it seems to the soul of the wicked 
 ... as if a wind were blowing from the region of the north, 
 a foul-scented wind, the foulest-scented of all the winds in 
 the world. And it seems to the soul of the wicked man as 
 if he were inhaling that wind with his nostrils, and he 
 thinks, ' Whence does that wind blow, the foulest-scented 
 wind that I ever inhaled with my nostrils ? ' ' Then there 
 comes to meet him a horrible old woman who is none other 
 than his own evil conscience ; and the Kinvad Bridge, when 
 he would cross it, shrinks to a single thread, and he falls 
 therefrom, and goes down through the Evil Thought Hell 
 and the Evil Word Hell and the Evil Deed Hell, until he 
 comes at length to the Endless Darkness and the abode of 
 Angra Mainyu, the deadly, the fiend of fiends. 
 
 Such legends the travellers recall on this their last day in 
 India; and when, on the morning of their departure, the 
 dawning light glows brightly, and the world is transfigured 
 in that golden radiance which heralds the coming of the 
 " undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun," then seems to ring in 
 their ears that sweetest of ancient Zarathustrian hymns 
 chanted by the faithful in the early ' morning, before the 
 day has fully come, when the dawn appears in the East : 
 
 "Gin UsHAHiN 1 HYMN TO THE DAWN. 
 
 " We worship the lord Ushahina that rules our devotion 
 
 In th' order of ritual reigning ! 
 We worship the breaking of day ; and the upspringing motion 
 
 We praise, of the glorious morn. 
 We worship the Dawn that in splendour appeareth, refraining 
 
 Her glittering steeds, in the brightness of heaven upborne. 
 
 1 That division of the day which extends from midnight to 6 A. M. 
 
 Z
 
 354 AMONG THE GODS. 
 
 The brave among men and the prudent thy glories are telling, 
 
 As servants to thee they are given. 
 Of thee is the brightness that shines in our innermost dwelling ! 
 
 Hail, hail to the manifold light ! 
 Hail, hail to the Dawn, and her steeds that so swiftly are driven 
 
 Far over the sevenfold Earth in all-radiant flight ! " l 
 
 So at length comes the last farewell, and then the Arabian 
 Sea and long, bright days of rest. Far beneath the eastern 
 horizon lie the vanished shores of India. That strange part 
 of our travellers' lives when they rode upon elephants and 
 met wild peacocks by the way, when stately palm-trees waved 
 overhead and the green parrots fluttered in the sun, when 
 they wandered through lordly cities among bright -robed 
 native crowds, those days have receded already to the im- 
 measurably long ago. India has faded back into dreamland, 
 leaving behind but a radiant vision of verdant plains and 
 purple mountains, and faery gardens of tropical foliage where 
 strange birds of brilliant plumage soar and sweep through 
 the golden sunshine, and through all the haunted night the 
 glorious moonlight glows; a vision of magic palace -halls 
 with walls of dazzling marble inlaid with precious gems ; a 
 vision of ancient cities, and weird temples filled with worship- 
 pers who, clad in gorgeous robes, bring fragrant garlands of 
 all bright hues to honour their idol-king ; a vision of sacred 
 Rivers gliding hard by palace- walls and bearing with them to 
 the far-off ocean a fragrant wealth of floral offerings. The 
 darkness of foul superstitions, the horrors of a degrading 
 worship, the nameless evils of a pagan civilisation, all 
 these are for the moment forgotten, and India is a magic 
 
 1 From the prose version in ' The Zend Avesta,' Part iii. ; translated 
 by L. H. Mills. Sacred Books of the East.
 
 BOMBAY THE TOWERS OF SILENCE. 355 
 
 Fairyland far removed in elfin light, shining with a glow of 
 all rich colours, transfigured with enchantment of radiant 
 mystery. 
 
 Slowly it faded away, sinking beneath the deep - blue 
 waters ; and now all the world is golden sunshine and azure 
 sea and sky. Day after day the same wide plain is traversed, 
 a vast and shining pavement whereon rests in unchanging 
 splendour the great dome of stainless blue. India is vanished 
 for ever ; and our travellers gaze not long on its grave in the 
 eastern waters. Eagerly they turn away, to look with home- 
 sick longing toward the far-off horizon before them whence, 
 after many days, the dear white cliffs will rise. 
 
 Hardly can they know the loveliness of home who have 
 never beheld it from far-off deserts or the strange wastes of 
 foreign seas ! Gazed at thence in the shadowy distance, it 
 shines with an ideal brightness which can only be seen afar 
 off. It is like those dream-homes which fanciful minds so 
 often build for themselves in the sunny, far-off plains of a 
 dim and indefinite future. Each one is an enchanted palace 
 in the eyes of its wistful architect, and full of all good things 
 that the heart of man can desire. And when, after long toil, 
 he reaches it, and finds it after all but an inn on the great 
 high-road, then he builds him another farther on, and there- 
 after another yet ; and seldom do such travellers bethink 
 them that Home, being no merely physical thing, is not to be 
 reached, or even approached, by walking through miles or 
 years. 
 
 " Ah, well," says Philippa kindly, " it is quite right to end 
 with a Moral ; but the really original parts of your book, 
 Sebaste, are the quotations."
 
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