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MODERN HINDUISM. We can only notice in any detail the two greatest places of pilgrimage in India, Benares and Puri: the
former being the special abode of Siva, the Benares. latter of Vishnu. In no Indian city has gross idolatry a stronger hold than in Benares; ugly idols, monstrosities, and reproductive emblems are met with on all sides. More temples have been built and more money has been spent on worship under British rule than during an equal period of Mussulman domination; but this is accounted for by the greater wealth and freedom of the people. Some years ago more than a thousand temples were counted in Benares proper, exclusive of suburbs, and of images in house walls. These are devoted to a great variety of deities, sometimes Siva under different names, or relatives of other deities connected with Siva; and not content with an image of the god worshipped in a particular temple, in many cases the priests have added images of others in niches or in rows; sometimes even a hundred are to be seen in rows. The exceeding sanctity of Benares is accounted for by a legend which we have already given (p. 78), and this holy character extends to ten miles from the Ganges, the tract being bounded by a winding road fifty miles long, containing hundreds of temples. To walk along this road is itself a most meritorious act; residents are taught that they should walk along it at least once a year; and whosoever dies within this area, even a heretic or a criminal, gains heaven.
The most important temple in the city is that of Bisheshwar (god of the world), a name given to Siva as
Temple of king of all the gods in the Benares territory, Bisheshwar. the gods of the sacred road being his police force. He is supposed to reside in a stone linga emblem, and before this crowds of people pass daily with offerings of rice, flowers, grain, ghee, and money. Many of the worshippers in approaching the god show signs of great fear, dreading to call down his anger. Another of the great places of attraction is the Mankarnika well, a foul tank of water which is believed to wash out the greatest crimes.
Pilgrims taking the fifty miles journey round Benares
