REV. T MiZLr:o 282 Aurora Avenue St. Paoi 3, Mioncaou SV^ UCSB LIBRARY Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2007 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/benaressacredcitOOIiaveiala BENARES, THE SACRED CITY bo tfc, o I < -^ I— I <3^ z < "I < i: ^ BENARES THE SACRED CITY SKETCHES OF HINDU LIFE AND RELIGION BY E. B. HAVELL, A.R.C.A. LATE PRINCIPAL OF THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL OF ART, CALCUTTA With many Ilhistralions SECOND EDITION LONDON: W. TRACKER & CO., 2,CREED LANE, E C CALCUTTA & SIMLA: TRACKER, SPINK & CO. LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E, AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W. PREFACE It is, perhaps, because Benares is not forbidden, that such a mine of human interest, and one of the most extraordinary cities of the East, is now probably less known to most Euro- peans than Lhasa. Even of the Europeans who have seen Benares, few have any adequate conception of the ideas and beliefs which many millions of our fellow-subjects associate with it. Few, indeed, have either the time or the inclination to read through the increasing accumulation of very solid literature which deals with the philosophic side of Hinduism; and the more popular missionary accounts (with our national tendency to underrate the enemy's strength) generally make the mistake of representing all Hinduism as a mass of de- graded superstitions and idolatry, only held together by the profound ignorance and backwardness of the Indian people. These sketches are not offered as a contribution to oriental scholarship, or to religious controversy, but as an attempt to give an intelligible outline of Hindu ideas and religious prac- tices, and especially as a presentation of the imaginative and artistic side of Indian religions, which can be observed at few places so well as in the sacred city and its neighbourhood — the birthplace of Buddhism and of one of the principal sects of Hinduism. The illustrations have been, for the most part, specially prepared to elucidate the text, and include some of the re- vi BENARES, THE SACRED CITY markable discoveries made this year at Sarnath. They will, it is hoped, give some idea of the wonderful artistic wealth of Benares life, and at the same time be more instructive than those of ordinary books of travel. The authorities consulted include Sherring's Sacred City of fhe Hindus \ The Life and Times of Sri Sankaracharya, by C. Krishnasami Aiyar; and the works of Barth, Beal, Sylvain Levi, Rhys Davids, Monier Williams, Max Miiller, Taylor, and many others. My acknowledgments are due to Messrs. E. J. Lazarus & Co., of Benares, for permission to use Mr. Ralph Griffiths' translation of the Rig- Veda; and to Messrs. Som Brothers, Calcutta, for extracts from Pandit Tattvabhushan's translations of the Upanishads. I am indebted to H.H. the Maharajah of Benares and staff for much courteous assistance; and to Babus Abanindro Nath Tagore, Dinesh Chandra Sen, and other Indian friends for valuable information. Mr. J. H. Marshall, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, Dr. Vogel, Messrs. Johnstone & Hoffman, Calcutta, and Messrs. Saeed Bros., Benares, have kindly helped me with some of the illustrations. E. B. HAVELL. Calcutta, October, igoj. CONTENTS Page Chapter I. In the Vedic Times— The Kasis — The Vedic hymns — The Upanishads — The ancient universities — The story of the Flood — Aryan ethics — The storv of Nachiketa Chapter II. The Hindu Epics— Hero-Worship— Vasishtha and Vishwamitra— The caste system — The preser- vation of Sanskrit learning — The Mahabharata and Rama- yana — Hero-worship in modern times - - - - - i? Chapter III. The Advent of Buddha— Sarnath and the Latent Discoveries— The Jains— The points of dispute between Buddha and the Brahmin priests — The tyranny of Brahminical rites — Buddha's preach- ing at Sarnath — The Chinese pilgrims and their accounts of Sarnath — The recently discovered Asoka column and Buddhist sculptures — The story of the Deer-park — History of Jainism - 32 Chapter IV. The Rise of Modern Hinduism— Asoka — The decline of Buddhism — The Hindu reformer Sankaracharya — The Bhagavat Gita — Shiva-worship — The esoteric doctrine of Hinduism regarding the universe — Hindu philosophy and its comprehension by the masses — Shiva and the lingam — Shiva in Hindu art - - - - - * 58 Tii viii BENARES, THE SACRED CITY Chapter V. In the City— Page The sacrificial virtue of the city and environs — The up-to-date Indian's transformation— The cantonment — Streets — Symbol- ism of Hindu temples — The microcosm of Indian life — Art industries — The dancing-girls — Story of Vajrasena and Syama 71 Chapter VI. On the Ganges— The river at dawn and sunrise — Rites and ceremonies of the bathers — Ganges water— Funeral rites — The Diwali festi\al - 90 Chapter VII. The Ghats— Asi Sangam to Nepali Ghat— Dasasamedh Ghat — The Kali-puja — Sitala Ghat — Munshi Ghat — Yogic exercises — Chauki Ghit — The pippal-tree— The Aghoris — Kedarnath Ghat — Shivala Ghat and fort — Mud- figures of Bhima — The tulasi plant — Man Mandil Ghat and the observatory — The Nepalese temple 106 Chapter VIII. The Ghats — From Manikarnika to Barna Sangam— Scene at Manikarnika — The well — ScindhiaGhat — A camping- ground for Sadhus — Ram Ghat and Panchganga — The piazza at Panchganga — A bed of spikes — A Vaishnavite nun - - 134 Chapter IX. The Temples and Sacred Wells— The dififerent classes of Hindu deities — Household worship — The Durga temple — The Ahmety temple — Annapurna temple — Vishweshwar — The temple at Ramnagar — The Maharaja's palace— Temple of Bhaironath — Ganesha, the god of wisdom — The well of Knowledge and the well of Fate— The Snake well 160 Chapter X. The Panch-tirth and the Pilgrimage of the Panch-kosi Road— The Pilgrimage of the Soul— The virtues of pilgrimages— The Panch-kosi road and village of Khandawa— Shradha ceremonies for the repose of the souls of the dead 186 CONTENTS ix ---- Page Chapter XI. Remains of Old Benares— A Hindu-Muham- MADAN Riot— A Weavers' Colony— The study of Indian sculpture and painting — Miniature stone iemples — Mosques built of materials from ancient temples — The Lat Bhairo — Bakariya Kund - - - - - - 199 Chapter XII. Benares under British Rule — Chet Singh and Warren Hastings — The murder of Mr. Cherry — Influence of British rule — Benares and Neo-Hinduism - 210 ILLUSTRATIONS Page Manikarnika Ghat Frontispiece A Vyas, or Public Reader, at Benares - - - - - 21 The Coronation of Rama and Sita --27 Site of Deer- Park, excavated 1905 41 Miniature Votive Shrine, excavated at Sarnath, 1905, showing the sikra crowned by the amaUka ornament 43 Model of a Nepalese Buddhist Temple 45 The Asoka Column, marking the place where Buddha began to preach. Discovered at Sarnath, 1905 47 Buddha Preaching. Discovered at Sarnath, 1904 - - - - 5' Carving on the Dhamek Stupa 53 Excavations below Humayun's Tower, Sarnath, 1905 - - - 55 Shiva, as Natesa. From a bronze in the Madras Museum - - 69 The Goddess Durga — a fresco painting 74 A Benares Street ----- 77 A Village Temple in Bengal ---.----79 Gai Ghat — A Classic Group 80 An old Sacrificial Vessel --82 An old Benares Brocade --..----83 An old Benares Lota 85 Temple at Dasasamedh Ghat -------- 88 " Lighting up the recesses of the cave-like shrines ' . - - 91 A Sannyasi's Water- Vessel 95 A Shivaite Rosary 9° " He will sit like a living Buddha, motionless" - - - - 97 The Burning Ghat lo' zi xii BENARES, THE SACRED CITY Page- Dasasamedh Ghat - • 107 The Temple of Sitala 114- A Sanskrit School 116 Carved Snakes at Chauki Ghat 118 An Aghori - - - - - I20' A Suttee Stone -121 "Another venerable hermit, seated on a leopard's skin'' - - - 123. Shivala Ghat - 127 Balcony of Man Singh's Observatory - 129. The Nepalese Temple 131 The Shrine of Ganga - - - - - - - - - i35 " Groups of women . . . are performing puja ' - - - - I35 " Like a painted frieze from Pompeii, or the decoration of an antique vase" - - - 139' Scindhia Ghat . . - - _ 141 An Encampment of Sadhus 145 The Buildings at Ghosia Ghat 147" The Head of Bhima 143 Bhima completed ---------- 149, Lamps for the Pitris 151 Lamp-stand at Panchganga 152; " Three old women, who pause to barter with a seller of pots and pans, unconsciously posing themselves in their classic drapery like the Fates, or the Weird Sisters" - - - - i53' Palhvad Ghat - - - - - I56• A Vaishnavite Nun reading the Rimayana ----- 157 The Salagram Stone 161 Plan of Hindu Roofing 162 The Temple of Durga, or " Monkey Temple" 163. Durga 167 Mask of Shiva 169- In the Ahmety Temple: a Brahmin performing his jfl«fl%ya - - 170- The Ahmety Temple 171 A Sacrificial Spoon 175 The Temple at Ramnagar 178 Mask of Bhaironath - - . I7g^ ILLUSTRATIONS xiii Page Ganesha i8i The Well of Knowledge - 183 The Panch-kosi Road 189 A Village Deity - - - - - - - - - 190 The Temple and Tank at Khandawa - - - - - - 191 Ancient Carving, Khandawa Temple 193 *' Thin vaporous clouds of smoke rise from the funeral pyres. The slanting rays of the morning sun cast long shadows across the ghat" ---.-.---.. 195 Ancient Votive Stones 201 Tomb of Lai Khan ------ 203 " An idyll of peace and self-satisfaction - - - - - - 207 Panchganga - - - - - - - - - 215 CHAPTER I IX THE VEDIC TIMES History, in the conventional European sense, has never possessed much interest for the Hindu mind. Thoroughly permeated with the idea of the un- reality of material things, the Brahmin priesthood,^ while taking extraordinary precautions to preserve their inheritance of spiritual culture, have never troubled themselves to mark the footprints which kings and dynasties leave upon the sands of time. It is chiefly through the exertions of European scholars, with the help of the old Buddhist records, that the main outlines of Indian history, previous to the Muhammadan invasions, have been made in- telligible. The detailed history of the petty kingdoms into which northern India was divided would probably possess little interest, even if it were sifted out of the wild legends which Eastern imagination has woven into it. Benares will always possess supreme interest as the chief centre of the evolution of two of the great world -reliorions — Brahminism and Buddhism; but while the development of Buddhism can be, to some extent, traced and mapped out with exact dates and events, the history of Brahminism must always be regarded from a different stand-point. 2 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY Of the antiquity of Benares there can hardly be any question. From its peculiar situation on the banks of a splendid river, with its eastern boundary con- verted by the current into a magnificent natural amphitheatre, facing the rising sun, it is not un- reasonable to conjecture that even before the Aryan tribes established themselves in the Ganges valley, Benares may have been a great centre of primitive sun-worship, and that the special sanctity with which the Brahmins have invested the city is only a tradition of those primeval days, borrowed, with so many of their rites and symbols, from their Turanian pre- decessors. The first definite historical event known about Benares is that the Kasis, one of the Aryan tribes which were then occupying northern India, established themselves in the Ganges valley, near Benares, at a date supposed to be between 1400 and 1000 B.C. The origin of the Aryans is still a much-debated question, but the researches of ethnologists have com- pletely disturbed the theory of philologists, which placed the home of the Aryan people in Central Asia, and point to more northern and western latitudes as the cradle of the race. Certainly the Aryans brought with them into India all the habits and ideas of northern people — they were fair-skinned, ate horse-flesh and beef, and drank fermented liquor — the soma juice, which they held to be the amrita, or nectar of the gods. Like the ancient Britons they were polyandrous. Their religion, at first, was a simple adoration of the beneficent powers of Nature, with little of the mysticism and dread, born of a tropical environment. They worshipped the sky, EARLY WORSHIP 3 Dyaus-pitar, as Heavenly Father, and Prithivi, the earth, as Mother; Varuna, the all-embracing firma- ment, the upholder of heaven and earth, king of gods and men, who made the sun and moon to shine, whose breath was the wind — " He knows the path of birds that fly through heaven, and sovran of the sea. He knows the ships that are thereon. True to his holy law, he knows the twelve moons with their progeny, ^ He knows the moon of later birth. He knows the pathway of the wind, the spreading-high and mighty wind. He knows the gods above." — /^tg- Veda, Hymn sj. Grijith's translation. They invoked Indra, the rain-god, as brother, friend, and father, who heard their prayers; Agni, the Fire- god, slayer of demons, who protected them day and night from evil; Surya, "the soul of all that moveth not, or moveth", and Savitri — the sun and sunshine. The early Vedic hymns are redolent with the fragrance of a bright and genial spring-time, reflecting the joy of a simple, pastoral life in the golden age, when the children of men played with Mother Nature in her kindest moods, and the earth and the stars sangf to- gether. The gloom and terrors of tropical forests, the fury of the cyclone, the scorching heat, and the mighty forces of the monsoon floods, had not yet infected Aryan life and thought. Their poets loved to sing the beauties of the dawn — Ushas, the lovely maiden, daughter of the sky; but her dark sister. Night, was also to them a kindly divinity: — ' The days. ^6488) C 4 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY *' Friend of the home, the strong and youthful maiden, Night, dear to Savitar the god, and Bhagu, All -compassing, all -glorious, prompt to listen, hath with her greatness filled the earth and heaven. Over all depths hath she gone up, and mounted, Most Mighty One, the sky's exalted summit. Over me now the loving Night is spreading with her conspicuous God-like ways like Mitra. Excellent, high-born, blissful, meet for worship. Night, thou hast come; stay here with friendly spirit. Guard us the food for men that we have gotten, and all prosperity that comes of cattle." — Atha>-va Veda. Book xix, ^g. Griffith's translation. They had no idols, and the nature-gods whom they worshipped provided their only temples. The Aryan ritual consisted of burnt-sacrifices, oblations of clarified butter, and libations of soma-]u\c^ or milk, accom- panied by hymns of praise and prayer. Far back in time, in that dim region which modern historical telescopes are ever trying to explore, the father of the family was both sacrificer and priest; but when the Aryans appeared in India, their ritual had already become so complicated as to call for a separate class of priests and poets, like the Druids — the Brahmins of ancient Europe. Caste was still unknown, but the poets and thinkers of the people had already begun to concern themselves with those speculations regard- ing the origin of all things which form the basis of modern Hinduism: — " There was neither existence, nor non-existence. The kingdom of air, nor the sky beyond. What was there to contain, to cover in — Was it but vast, unfathomed depths of water? There was no Death there, nor Immortality. No sun was there, dividing day from night. EARLY RITUAL c Then was there only that, resting within itself. Apart from it, there was not anything. At first within the darkness veiled in darkness, Chaos unknowable, the All lay hid. Till straightway from the formless void made manifest By the great power of heat was born that germ." — i?/^'- Fe(/a. Hymn of Creation. There had also sprung up the idea of the com- pelling power of prayer and sacrifice, which became the key-note of the later Brahminical ritual. Certain individuals, families, or tribes acquired a reputation for the success which followed their sacrifices and prayers, and by a post hoc, propter hoc line of reason- ing, it was assumed that the divine powers could not only be propitiated, but coerced into granting the favours desired, whether it was victory over enemies, wealth, rain, recovery from sickness, or spiritual benefits. The hymns and prayers which seemed specially efficacious were handed down to posterity as most precious legacies, and the rule of sacrifice gradually developed into a complicated science, the practice of which required the most exact knowledge and ex- perience. The priestly office thus tended more and more to become a hereditary position of great power and responsibility, for though the virtue ascribed to a successful sacrifice was great, the disasters which would result from a blundering performance might involve a whole tribe or kingdom in ruin. Every tribe had a ptirohita, or high priest, who always performed the proper sacrifices before a battle, and claimed a liberal share of the booty which might 6 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY be gained from a victory. The composers of the sacred hymns, now known as the Rishis, or sages, also expected and generally received handsome re- wards for their services. But some of them have celebrated the niggardliness of their patrons in sar- castic verses, which shows that their minds were not always above worldly considerations. One disappointed author, who had composed an ode to the Ashvins, the twin heralds of the dawn, and received as a reward a chariot without horses or harness, expresses his indignation thus: — "This teamless chariot I received from the Ashvins, owners of many horses. It gratified me greatly! It must get on somehow with me to the place where men drink soma, the precious car! Dreams and wealthy niggards, both are unprofitable. Let me have nought to do with them." Though the purohitas and priests thus occupied a very important place in Aryan society, they were as yet entirely subordinate to the nobles and chiefs of the warrior class, and were very far from the position of absolute supremacy which they gained for themselves in later times. As in the middle ages in Europe, the functions of warrior and priest were often combined. Many of the finest hymns pre- served in the sacred books of the Hindus were com- posed by the Kshatriyas, or fighting chiefs. A very important part of the sacred lore treasured in the religious literature of the Hindus is contained in the Upanishads, the records of the debates on metaphysical questions and the theory of sacrificial practice which excited the profoundest interest of our Aryan forefathers. Kings, nobles, and priests. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 7 wise men and women, took part in the discussions. The greatest freedom of thought was allowed, and the rules which regulated the debates were only those which were approved of as likely to lead to sound conclusions. The rewards for debaters who showed profound thought and argument were not less liberal than those which were given to successful composers and sacrificers, but the penalties for those who in- fringed the rules of logic, or spoke foolishly, were heavy. These disputations, or " Brahmodyams ", after- wards became so much a national institution, that, if we may believe the Sanskrit traditions, even kings would yield their thrones and become the servants or pupils of the wisest philosophers. The methods of the Inquisition, and the argument of the sword and stake, never became popular with Hindu religious teachers. Whatever may be urged against the Hindu system, it must be admitted that it has always stood for absolute liberty of conscience. One religious movement after another has swept over Indian soil, but until the Muhammadan conquest it was never con- sidered justifiable, or necessary, to suppress the voice of the preacher and the argument of the philosopher with torture, bloodshed, and judicial murder. The old Buddhist records, though referring to a considerably later time than the Vedic period, throw much ligfht on the character of these ancient universi- ties, and on the distinctions which were given as rewards of learning. A member of the Buddhist order who had thoroughly mastered one section of the philosophical books was exempted from the common drudgery of monastic 8 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY duties. As he progressed the rewards were propor- tionately increased. When he could expound two sections he was allowed to reside in a furnished upper room. The privileges attached to expert knowledge of the third and fourth sections were the services of a number of attendants, first of a lower class, and then of lay -disciples, called "pure men", upasakas. Por the fifth section he was granted an elephant carriage, and finally when he attained to complete knowledge of all six sections he was entitled to the dignity of an escort. When one of the members had won all that pure scholarship could gain, and had acquired a reputation as a great teacher, he had the right to call together and preside over a meeting for philosophical discus- sions. In this convention he would be the judge of the merit or demerit of the debaters, commending some and reproving others. If one of them should become distinguished above the rest for elegant lan- guage, profound logic, and depth of thought, he would be placed upon a splendidly-caparisoned elephant and escorted from the convent with great state and dignity. But when a member presented an ill-reasoned argu- ment, or tried to sustain it by breaking the rules of logic, and was feeble and clumsy in his rhetoric, the assembly would paint his face, smear him with dirt, and then take him from the monastery to some de- serted place, or throw him in a ditch. "Thus they distinguish between worth and demerit, between the wise and the foolish." The natural evolution of Aryan thought and religion had so far produced three classes of literature — first the Vedic hymns, which I have already described ; secondly BRAHMANAS AND UPANISHADS 9 the Brahmanas, which embody the priestly traditions of sacrifice; and thirdly the Upanishads, or philosophical discussions. Sanskrit scholars have made widely dif- ferent estimates of the periods covered by these three classes. No doubt the hymns of the Vedas reflect traditions of the Aryans long antecedent to the time when they reached India. Max Miiller has fixed the date to which they belong as approximately B.C. 2000; other authorities place them as far back as B.C. 6000; while an Indian scholar, Mr. Tilak, from a study of the astronomical data given by the Rig- Veda, and from the description of the dawn and sunrise, and the phenomena of the seasons, believes that some of them refer to a time when the original Aryan home must have been at or near the Arctic circle. The Brahmanas probably represent a development of Hinduism, for the most part, if not entirely, Indian. The age of their first compilation has been put be- tween B.C. 1300 and B.C. 1 100, but there are many later additions extending to perhaps B.C. 6cmd. They are an extraordinary compilation of ritual practice and ex- planation, evolved by the imaginations of the priestly families, who piled form upon form and rite upon rite, until the simple piety of the early Aryans was buried in a mass of superstitious observances. To European readers they are chiefly interesting for the light they throw upon modern Hindu ritual, and for the Aryan legends regarding the creation and the flood which have been preserved in them. The story of the deluge is as follows : — The seventh Manu of the fourteen mythical pro- genitors of mankind was one day washing his hands when he caught a fish. The fish spoke and said. lo BENARES, THE SACRED CITY " Take care of me, and protect me from the big fish that would eat me, and I will one day save you ". Manu asked, "From what will you save me?" The fish answered, " A flood will come and destroy all living creatures. I will save you from that." Manu kept the fish in a jar, until it grew so big that it begged to be put into a ditch, at the same time telling Manu to build a ship to prepare for the coming catastrophe. Manu built the ship accordingly, and as the fish grew too big for the ditch, carried it down to the sea. When the flood came, Manu tied the ship to the horn of the fish, which dragged him swiftly towards the northern mountains, the Himalayas. Arrived there, the fish instructed him to tie his ship to the mountain-top, and then swam away. As the flood subsided, the ship gradually descended the slope of the mountain, and Manu left it to perform worship and sacrifices. After a year a woman was produced from the sacrifices. Manu asked, '* Who art thou?" "Thy daughter," she replied. "How, illus- trious one, art thou my daughter?" he asked. She answered, " Those offerings of ghee, sour milk, whey and curds, which thou madest in the waters, with them thou hast begotten me. I am the blessing; make use of me at the sacrifice! If thou wilt do so, thou wilt become rich in offspring and cattle." He accordingly made use of her as the benediction in the middle of the sacrifice. "With her he went on worshipping and toiling in religious rites, wishing for offspring. Through her he generated this race, which is the race of Manu." The Upanishads, like the Brahmanas, are now incor- porated in the four Vedas. Their first compilation is BRAHMANAS AND UPANISHADS ii attributed to a time shortly after the offshoots from the first Aryan settlement of the Punjab began to spread to the Ganges valley. They form the basis of the later schools of Indian philosophy. Though deeply tinged with Oriental mysticism, they, unlike the Brah- manas, are almost free from ritualism and sectarian spirit ; they are chiefly devoted to discussions as to the nature and means of realizing a knowledge of Brah- man, the Universal Soul and Cause of all things. The Brahmanas and Upanishads, in fact, seem to represent two different currents of thought, which can be traced throughout the whole development of Hin- duism. The one, the exclusiveness and pedantry of the narrow-minded priest, always concerned with the interests of priestcraft; the other, the true religious feelings of the people, interpreted by their most earnest thinkers. The ethical stand-point of the Aryan race, as put forward in the Upanishads some three thousand years ago, can hardly be surpassed in the present day: — " Having taught him the Vedas, a teacher exhorts his pupils thus : ' Speak the truth. Practise virtue. Do not neglect the study of the Vedas. Having paid the honorarium to your preceptor [i.e. having returned home at the close of your studies), do not cut off the line of children (i.e. marry and bring up a family). Do not swerve from the truth. Do not swerve from virtue. Do not swerve from the good. Do not be indifferent to the attainment of greatness. Do not neglect your duties to the gods and to your parents. Honour your mother as a deity. Honour your father as a deity. Honour your guest as a deity. Do those deeds which are commendable, and not those that are 12 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY otherwise. Imitate our good deeds, and not those that are otherwise. . . . Give alms with a willing heart. Do not give with an unwilling heart. Give wisely. Give with modesty. Give with fear. Give with a sympathetic heart.' "^ The story of Yama and Nachiketa is the most char- acteristic in the Upanishads. It is as follows: — Nachiketa was a young Brahmin, who, having been hastily vowed by his father as a victim to Yama, the god of Death, cheerfully submitted, even though his father repented of his vow and hesitated to fulfil it. Owing to Death's absence when Nachiketa arrived at his abode, he remained three nights without food. On his return Yama, as an apology for the slight to his Brahmin guest, begged of him to ask for any three boons he might desire. Nachiketa's first request was that his father might have peace of mind and cease to feel anger towards him. This was immediately granted. The next was that Death would explain to him the manner of pro- ducing the sacrificial fire which led to heaven. To this also Death readily assented. Nachiketa's last boon was that Death would tell him what all men desired to know, the mystery of the future life. Yama said: "Ask for sons and grandsons who shall live a hundred years; ask for wealth, pleasure, power, long life for yourself — all that men hold most precious, but only not this — ask me no question about death ". Nachiketa replied: "In all these things you offer, O Death, no wise man will take delight. They are things of a day; even all life is short. Keep your ' The Upanishads. Translated by Sitanath Tattvabhusan. Som Brothers, 1904. Vol. II. p, 104. UPANISHAD STORIES 13 pleasures, power, and riches. The boon I have asked I have asked." Then Yama said: "The good, the pleasant, these are separate things, with different objects, binding all mankind. They who accept the good, alone are wise. They who prefer the pleasant, miss life's real aim. " Fools who live in darkness, believing themselves wise and learned, wander in devious ways, like blind men led by blind. " To the man without understanding, thoughtless and deceived by wealth, the future life is not revealed. He who thinks this world alone exists, and the future is not, must yield himself to me time after time. "The knowledge you would gain cannot be gained by reasoning. Few have the means of hearing it, few after hearing can understand it. It is subtler than an atom, and beyond the ken of reason. " The wise man who has realized by spiritual com- munion that Divine Being,^ invisible, hidden, pervad- ing all things, who is in the heart and lives in in- accessible places, gives up both joy and sorrow." Nachiketa said: " That which is different from virtue and different from vice, different from the chain of cause and effect, different from the past and future, tell me of that ". Yama replied: "The Worshipful One, whom all the Vedas tell of, to whom all discipline of mind and body is directed, for whom men acquire spiritual knowledge, I will speak to you briefly of that Worshipful One. He is AUM. " Verily this syllable is Brahman, this syllable is the Highest. Knowing this, one obtains every desire. ^ Brahman, the Universal Soul, or Self. 14 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY " This help is the best, this help is the highest. Knowing this, one becomes glorified in the world of Brahman. "The real Self is neither born, nor dies. It is not produced, nor is aught produced from it. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting, and ancient. When the body is destroyed, it is not destroyed. " If the slayer thinks he slays the Self, and if the slain believes the Self is slain, both are ignorant. The Self is neither slain nor slays. "The wise man knowinor the Self to be incor- poreal — though existing in changing bodies — knowing it great and all-pervading, is free from grief. " This Self cannot be realized by the Vedas, nor by reason, nor by learning. The wicked cannot know it, nor he whose mind is not at rest. It manifests itself to itself. Only Self knows Self."^ We may picture Benares in the later Vedic times as one of the first Aryan settlements in the Ganges valley — a clearing in the primeval forest, perhaps first occupied by the Dravidians or Kolarians, There they kept their cattle and cultivated the soil with the help of the conquered aboriginals, whom they called Da- syus. Their ordinary dwellings were probably of mud, roofed with bamboos and thatch — very like those in the villages round Benares now; the better ones might have been partly of brick or stone, plastered over and decorated with paintings in fresco, the most ancient form of pictorial art, such as the oldest Buddhist records describe. It was an admirable site for such a setdement. The rich alluvial soil afforded plenty of sustenance for men ^ Abridged from Pandit Tattvabhusan's translation. BENARES IN VEDIC TIMES 15 and cattle. The Ganges was at the same time a pro- tection from hostile invasions, and an easy highway of communication with the older Aryan settlements in the Punjab. The river Barna on the north, and the Asi on the south — a more important stream than it is now — gave protection from sudden attacks of the fierce aboriginal tribes dwelling in the densest forests, and called by the Aryans Rakshasas, demons. It only needed a wall or forts on the west to make the little colony secure on all sides. The cool bathing in the splendid river and worship on its sunny banks would afford to the Aryan settlers refreshment for body and soul. So even in those remote times the place may have acquired a reputa- tion as being propitious for the favoured people, and thus to them sacred soil, an oasis of spiritual life in the midst of the impious non-Aryan tribes, like Brahma- varta, their much- beloved home in the north-west. It has been supposed that the spiritual leaders of the Aryans began, about the time when the Kasis first appeared in the Ganges valley, to arrange the com- pilation of the Vedic hymns, the Brahmanas and the Upanishads, in order to preserve their traditional faith from the risk of corruption which was incurred by intermarriage with the Dravidian and Kolarian neigh- bours. Benares, therefore, may perhaps have begun already to establish its reputation as a great seat of Aryan philosophy and religion. The first idea of caste, which was mainly that of race protection, originated at the same period, and from the same cause. But caste as it is now under- stood did not become a fixed institution for many centuries later. Even in the sixth century B.C., though i6 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY there were restrictions as to eating together, and a fair complexion was regarded as indicating high birth, a low occupation by itself did not involve any social ostracism. A Brahmin or Kshatriya could work at a trade or engage in agriculture without any dishonour or penalty. CHAPTER II THE HINDU EPICS HERO-WORSHIP In order to follow the further development of Hindu religion and society from the time the Kasis established themselves in the valley of the Ganges, it is necessary to understand the political situation which confronted the Aryan settlers in northern India. They were by no means a united people, but composed of numerous tribes and clans, not all of pure Aryan stock, often fighting with each other, and surrounded not only by savage aboriginals of the lowest type living in the dense forests, and classed by the Aryans as Rakshasas, or demons, but by a medley of other races in various stages of civilization and with all manner of religious beliefs. The Dravidians, who, like the Aryans, had entered India from the north-west, were probably more advanced in the industrial arts, and had developed into petty kingdoms, with many of which the Aryans formed alliances, both in the fighting which resulted from tribal disputes, and in their foreign wars. There were two political parties in the Aryan camp: one headed by Vasishtha, a Rishi of the priestly caste, who represented the school of orthodoxy and exclu- siveness; and the other by Vishwamitra, a Kshatriya, or warrior chief, who became the leader and spiritual adviser of one of the larger non-Aryan tribes which 17 i8 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY adopted the Aryan religious teaching. The Aryans themselves were a mere handful amidst a multitude, and Vishwamitra probably realized the danger of a wholly aggressive and exclusive policy. For a long time, however, pride of race kept most of the Aryans aloof from their dark-skinned neighbours, and Brahma- varta, " that land created by the gods, which lies between the two divine rivers Saraswati and Drishad- wati ",^ or the part of the Punjab which they first occu- pied, was held to be the only soil fit for the faithful people. But as fresh immigrations pressed in upon the original settlers, and the more enterprising of the clans pushed farther south and east, more of the so-called Turanian races were admitted into the Aryan fold, and there gradually accumulated round the pure Aryan doctrines a vast agglomeration of the primitive native faiths and purely Indian traditions which constitute the basis of the popular Hinduism of to-day. The caste system which was evolved out of these peculiar political and social conditions provided, on the one hand, an auto- matic system of subdivision to make room for social development and differences of religious practice; and, on the other hand, for the consolidation of all the heterogeneous elements of which Hinduism is com- posed into one great community of beliefs, impelled by common sentiments which bring every sect and caste and grade of society to worship together on the banks of the Ganges. The effect of this continual process of subdivision may be realized from the fact that, whereas Manu, the Hindu Moses, legislated for four castes only. Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas. and ' Manu, II. 17. THE CASTE SYSTEM 19 Sudras, the Brahmins alone are now made up of over a hundred castes, each with different customs, and neither intermarrying nor eating together. Though it may be urged that the caste system has helped to perpetuate many gross superstitions and revolting customs, it was nevertheless admirably adapted for the purpose of preventing Aryan culture and civilization from being entirely swallowed up in the whirlpool of contending races which confronted them in the early period of their development. The Aryan race, indeed, has been so modified by its Indian environment that probably the pure Aryan stock no longer exists, but Aryan culture and Aryan philosophy form the cement which now binds Hindu society to- gether from one end of India to the other. The means by which the Aryans handed down to posterity their great storehouse of spiritual wisdom, learning", and science, together with their national epics and social regulations, were not the least remarkable of their political ideas. For many centuries after Sanskrit had ceased to be spoken by the people, and a written language had come into common use, the ever-increasing accumulations of Sanskrit learning were preserved by an extraordinary system of memorizing, aided by elaborate and most scientific methods of grammar and etymology, which extended to the count- ing of each verse, word, and syllable, and took note of the pronunciation, accent, and intonation of the sacred texts. The most stringent laws were enacted to prevent the Vedas from being corrupted by common use. Manu says, " He who acquires without permission the Veda from one who recites it, incurs the guilt of 20 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY stealing- the Veda, and shall sink into hell" (II. ii6). Gautama, the reputed author of another set of regula- tions, lays down that " the ears of a Sudra who listens intentionally when the Veda is being recited are to be filled with molten lead. His tonorye is to be cut out if he recite it. His body is to be split in twain if he preserve it in his memory." On the other hand, the Brahmin who forgot the sacred writings or divulged them to unauthorized persons was subject to various penances. Though the earliest Sanskrit records date back to thousands of years before Christ, the first known manuscripts are not much earlier than the sixteenth century of our era. The great epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and sacred books like the Bhagavat Gita, have long ago been translated into the vernacu- lars. The celebrated Hindi translation of the Rama- yana is said to have been written by Tulsi Das in the neighbourhood of Benares, about 1 574 a.d. But learned Brahmins are still to be seen at Benares, especially during the great Hindu festivals, swaying to and fro on the carved chair of a Vyas, or public reader, as they recite the sonorous Sanskrit slokas and translate a Vedic story, or expound what the vulgar are permitted to know of the ancient wisdom, to crowds of intent listeners. One cannot be in Benares city many hours without noticing how closely the stories of the Ramayana and Mahabharata are interwoven with Hindu thoughts and fancies. The pilgrims who pass in the boats on the river chant one refrain — Ram! Ram! Sita-Ram! It is echoed by the ash-besmeared Sadlms along the ghats, and scrawled by school-boys on the walls. Rama < z ^ 1 < ^ a: < -? CO t>« O s THE MAHABHArATA 23 and Sita, Hanuman the king of monkeys, Krishna and the great fights of the Mahabharata are the sub- ject of innumerable paintings on the walls of temples, monasteries, and houses. Huge sprawling figures of Bhima with his club are modelled in the river mud. The five Pandava brothers are worshipped in temples both in the city and along the Panch-kosi road. The main story of the Mahabharata is an account of the great war between the Aryan tribes of northern India, called the Bharatas, assisted by their Dravidian or Kolarian allies, which is supposed to have taken place between 1400 and 1300 B.C. The heroes on one side are the five Pandava princes, sons of Pandu, king of Hastinapur, whose names were Yudhishthira, Bhima> and Arjuna by one wife, and Nakula and Sahadeva by another. They were assisted by Krishna, whose worship as one of the incarnations of Vishnu is the chief popular cult of modern Hinduism. After his children were born, Pandu took the vow of an ascetic^ and retired into the forest, leaving the government of his kingdom to his blind brother, Dhritarashtra, and Bhishma, his uncle. The opponents of the Pandavas were the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra, known as the Kuru princes, or Kauravas. The eldest, Duryodhana, who claimed the succession to the throne, was mean, spiteful, and cruel, while the Pandavas and Draupadi, " loveliest of women ", who was their common wife, were types of chivalry, honour, and virtue. The chief heroes on the Kauravas' side were their uncle, Bhishma, who vainly endeavoured to reconcile the contending parties, and Kama, a half-brother of the Pandavas, who was probably of Dravidian descent. Arjuna and Kama 24 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY are the Achilles and Hector of this Indian Iliad. The quarrel finally ended in a Homeric struggle, lasting for eighteen days, on the field of Kurukshetra, outside the modern Delhi. In the terrific slaughter which took place all the Kurus were annihilated, and only seven of the Pandu army, including the five brothers, were left. Yudhishthira was then crowned king at Hastinapur. The climax is the renunciation of the kingdom by all the five brothers, and their journey together towards Indra's heaven, on Mount Meru, beyond the Hima- layas. But, except Yudhishthira, none could shake themselves entirely free from worldly attachments, and one by one they perished on the way, until the sole survivor, and a faithful dog which followed him, were met by Indra at the gates of heaven. After further tests of his constancy, in which Yudhishthira refused to part with his dog, and went to seek for the souls of his wife and brothers in the reg-ions of hell, all the Panda vas were at last reunited in Indra's abode of eternal peace. Around the original story there have accumulated in the course of many centuries a number of beautiful legends — such as that of Savitri, the devoted wife who by her insistence released her husband's spirit from the hands of Death — moral discourses, and religious treatises, includingr the famous Bhao^avat Gita, which is virtually the Hindu Bible of the present day. The Mahabharata, as it now stands, contains in poetic form a moral and religious code which is part and parcel of Hindu practice and belief. The Ramayana refers to a later period, supposed to be about looo b.c, when the Kosalas, another THE RAMAYANA 25 branch of the Aryan family which claimed descent from the sun, had pushed down to the present Oudh and north Behar, and established there a great city, Ayodhya, which is described as the centre of Aryan culture and religion. The Kasis, as before mentioned, were at this time in the district of Benares. While the Mahabharata stirs the imagination with tales of mighty warriors and political strife, the Ramayana is pervaded with tender sentiments of domestic virtue and affection, tried by many sufferings and misfortunes. The first part describes the boyhood and youth of Rama, son of Dasaratha, king of Ayodhya, by his first queen, Kausalya, and heir-apparent; his exploits at the tournament, where he breaks the famous bow of Shiva and wins for his bride the fair Sita, daughter of Janaka, king of the Videhas. She was miraculously born of a field-furrow. Dasaratha was about to re- sign the throne in favour of Rama, when an intrigue of the Queen Kaikeyi inveigles him into naming Bharat, his younger son by Kaikeyi, as his heir, and a decree of fourteen years' banishment against the elder. Rama and Sita, accompanied by Lakshman, another half-brother, then wander into the forests of Central India and take refuge with a holy hermit, called Valmiki, the reputed author of the poem. Dasaratha shortly afterwards dies of grief Bharat, who had refused to accept the regency to which he was not justly entitled, followed Rama to his retreat, and having endeavoured, without success, to persuade him to come back, returned himself to Ayodhya with Rama's sandals to place on the throne as a symbol of the rightful king's authority. The three exiles then 26 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY wander farther south beyond the Vindhya mountains to a hermitaoe on the banks of the Godavari, where another famous Rishi dwelt. There they Hved in a hut the faithful Lakshman had built of bamboos and branches of trees, enjoying the peace and beauty of the primeval forest and performing the holy rites of their religion. *' And they prayed to gods and fathers with each rite and duty done, And they sang the ancient fnantra to the red and rising sun."^ Their happiness was soon, however, rudely dis- turbed by the abduction of Sita by Ravana, the king of the demons, who appeared before her in the disguise of an anchorite, while Rama and Lakshman were absent, and carried her through the air on his magic car to his royal palace in Ceylon. The rest of the story describes Sita's despair and sufferings in the demon king's palace, the wanderings of Rama and Lakshman in search of her, and the discovery of her by the help of Hanuman, the monkey king of the Nilgiri mountains. With Hanuman and his monkey troops Rama attacks and kills Ravana and his demon chieftains, and takes his stronghold by storm. Finally the exiles, accompanied by Hanuman, return to Ayod- hya on the magic car taken from Ravana, and Rama and Sita are crowned amidst the rejoicings of gods and men. A sequel, of later date than the original story, gives a sad ending to the Ramayana. Some slanderous tongues in Ayodhya began to whisper suggestions regarding Sita's conduct while in the palace of Ravana, and Rama's jealousy was aroused by finding ' R. C. Duu's abridged translation of the Rama3-ana. << O § h I < i: z "^ o a: o s RAMA AND SITA 29 a drawing- of Ravana which Sita had scrawled on the floor while conversinof with her handmaids about her captivity. Sita was banished to the forest, where she gave birth to two sons, Lava and Kusha, who were brought up by the hermit Valmiki. They were recognized by Hanuman as the sons of Rama. According to one version, Sita and her sons then returned to Ayodhya and passed the rest of her days in happiness with her husband; but another story is that the boys wandered into Ayodhya accidentally, and were recognized and acknowledged by Rama, who sent for Sita, and in public assembly called upon her to attest her innocence. Sita in an agonized appeal invokes her Mother Earth to come to her aid and be witness of her purity. "Then the earth was rent and parted, and a golden throne arose; Held aloft by jewelled Nagas as the leaves enfold the rose, And the mother in embraces held her spotless, sinless child." Sita sank back into the earth, and Rama in despair sacrificed himself in the river Sarayu. ■Mr. Romesh Chandra Dutt, whose abridged English translation I have quoted, says of the Mahabharata and Ramayana: "It is not an exaggeration to say that the two hundred millions of Hindus of the present day cherish in their hearts the story of their ancient epics. The Hindu scarcely lives, man or woman, hioh and low, educated or ionorant, whose earliest recollections do not cling round the story and the characters of the great epics. An almost illiterate oil -manufacturer of Bengal spells out some modern translation of the Mahabharata to while away his leisure hour. The tall and stalwart peasantry of the north- 30 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY west know of the five Pandav brothers and of their friend the righteous Krishna. . . . The morals in- culcated in these tales sink into the hearts of a naturally religious people, and form the basis of their moral education." The sentiment of hero-worship is still as strong in the Hindu mind as it was three thousand years ago, and the philosophy of Hinduism finds nothing- unreasonable in according- divine honours to a man, woman, or child, alive or dead, who is considered to have manifested in some special sense the nature of the supreme soul which is believed to be a part of every individual. The extremes to which this doctrine can be pushed by Hindus of the present day is described by Mr. H. H. Risley in the report of the last census: — " Priests and priestesses, pious ascetics and suc- cessful dacoits, Indian soldiers of fortune and British men of action, bridegrooms who met their death on their wedding-day and virgins who died unwed, jostle each other in a fantastic Walpurgis dance, where new performers are constantly joining and old ones seldom go out. . . . "In 1884 Keshub Chandra Sen, the leader of the Brahmo Somaj, narrowly escaped something closely resembling deification at the hands of a section of his disciples. A revelation was said to have been received enjoining that the chair used by him during his life should be set apart and kept sacred, and the legal member of the Viceroy's council was invited to arbitrate in the matter. Sir Courtenay Ilbert discreetly refused ' to deal with testimony of a kind inadmissible in a court of justice'. . . . Sivaji, the founder of the DEIFICATION OF HEROES 31 Mahratta confederacy, has a temple and image in one of the bastions of the fort at Malvan in the Ratnagiri district, and is worshipped by the caste of fishermen. This seems to be a local cult imperfectly developed, as there are no priests and no regular ritual. . . . Portraits of Yashvantrao, a subordinate revenue officer in Khandesh, who ruined himself by promiscuous alms - giving and sacrificed his official position to his reluctance to refuse the most impossible requests, are worshipped to-day by thousands of devout householders. Far down in the south of India I have come across cheap lithographs of a nameless Bombay ascetic, the Swami of Akalkot in Sholapur, who died about twenty years ago. In life the Swami seems to have been an irritable saint, for he is said to have pelted with stones any ill-advised person who asked questions about his name and antecedents. As he was reported to be a Mutiny refugee, he may have had substantial reasons for guarding his incognito. He is now revered from the Deccan to Cape Comorin as Dattatreya, a sort of composite incarnation of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, and has a temple and monastery of his own." It should be stated, however, that the original Dattatreya, who has gained so much veneration, is not the Swami of Akalkot, but a much older saint, or previous incarnation, who is said to have been a son of one of the Yedic Rishis. CHAPTER III THE ADVENT OF BUDDHA SARNATH AND THE LATEST DISCOVERIES THE JAINS We have brought down the development of modern Hinduism to the time when the great epics began to assume their present shape, and when speculation as to the future life and the origin of the soul had cul- minated in the philosophy of the Upanishads. We now arrive at the time, which may be fixed roughly from 800 to 500 B.C., when we begin to get on firmer historical ground, and approach to the great parting of the ways which came with the advent of Buddha. It is necessary to explain briefly the differences which led to the breach between Buddha and the orthodox teaching of his day. In the basis of his philosophic teachinof Buddha was a Hindu of the Hindus, The Brahmins of his time taught the whole theory of the transmigration of souls; Buddha's doctrine was but a slight modification of it. They held that human suffer- ing was to be destroyed by the termination of the cycle of re-births; Buddha taught practically the same. The main point of difference between the two was, that whereas the Brahmanas, which contain the essence of the sacerdotal doctrine, declare that '* sacrifice in its totality is the bark which carries one to heaven ", and that the Brahminical teaching is the only means of DOCTRINES OF BUDDHA 33 salvation, Buddha denied the divine authority of the Vedas, rejected the theory of sacrifice, and declared that the Eight-fold Path was the way by which all suffering was annihilated, through right views, right resolve, right speech, right actions and living, right effort, right self-knowledge, and right meditation. To realize the revolution which Buddha effected in the whole development of Hinduism, it is necessary to understand something of the tyranny of rites and pen- ances, with which the priestly class had then enveloped the spiritual teaching of the people. The original pro- cess of Vedic sacrifice was based on the theory that orods and men shared between them the orderinir of the universe, and that the one party was bound to assist the other. If no rain fell on the earth, it was because the gods needed refreshment. They were refreshed with Soma, the nectar of the gods, and with milk from the earthly cows, which had their counterpart in the heavenly cattle — the clouds of the sky. The god Agni — Fire and Light — was brought down to the earth by the friction of two sticks, and refreshed with oblations of clarified butter (ghee), which he licked up with his seven tongues. The gods came down from heaven to attend the sacrifices, and took their seats on the place spread with the sacred kuska grass. The Brahmanas declare that formerly the gods and men on one side, and the pilris, ances- tors of men, on the other, sat and feasted there to- gether. At one time the gods dnd pitris were visible; they still are present, but invisible. "The gods sub- sist on what we offer them here below, just as men subsist on the gifts which come from heaven." As nourishment for the crods, and as thank-offerings for 34 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY favours received, men must give presents of what they valued most, both to the gods themselves and to the priests whose knowledge of the sacred lore brought the oods to earth. The presents to the gods were the victims which were sacrificed. The Aryans at some very remote period of their history offered human victims, the first- born of the family, as the supreme sacrifice. The horse was next in value, and after that the cow. As the science of the Aryan ritual became more developed, it was not considered necessary to actually sacrifice the victims. They were formally offered and then released. The Brahmanas describe the gradual de- velopment of a more humane ritual as follows: — "The