DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.635#0199
CHAPTER X
THE PANCH-TIRTH AND THE PILGRIMAGE OF THE PANCH-
KOSI ROAD----THE PILGRIMAGE OF THE SOUL
One of the spiritual aids which Benares is supposed
to afford to Hindus is that it contains within its limits
various shrines constituted by Brahminical authority
as equal in sanctity to the most sacred places of Hindu
pilgrimage, such as Allahabad, where the Jumna joins
the Ganges; Kedarnath, in the Himalayas; or Rames-
waram, in the extreme south. The pilgrim, therefore,
without the toilsome journeys which the longer dis-
tances involve, can obtain all the merit and spiritual
benefit he desires by visiting certain shrines in Benares,
specially distinguished from the thousands it contains.
One of the pilgrimages is known as the Panch-tirth,
from the five holy places the pilgrim must visit,
namely, Asi Sangam, where the river Asi joins the
Ganges, Dasasamedh Ghat, the well at Manikarnika,
Panchganga Ghat, and Barna Sangam, at the extreme
north. He will thus have traversed the whole length
of the ghats from the south to the north.
But the most interesting and the most meritorious
of all the pilgrimages is that of the Panch-kosi road,
the sacred road which limits the area of Benares on
the land side. Throughout its length of about fifty
miles, it is reckoned to be at a distance of panch-kds,
THE PANCH-TIRTH AND THE PILGRIMAGE OF THE PANCH-
KOSI ROAD----THE PILGRIMAGE OF THE SOUL
One of the spiritual aids which Benares is supposed
to afford to Hindus is that it contains within its limits
various shrines constituted by Brahminical authority
as equal in sanctity to the most sacred places of Hindu
pilgrimage, such as Allahabad, where the Jumna joins
the Ganges; Kedarnath, in the Himalayas; or Rames-
waram, in the extreme south. The pilgrim, therefore,
without the toilsome journeys which the longer dis-
tances involve, can obtain all the merit and spiritual
benefit he desires by visiting certain shrines in Benares,
specially distinguished from the thousands it contains.
One of the pilgrimages is known as the Panch-tirth,
from the five holy places the pilgrim must visit,
namely, Asi Sangam, where the river Asi joins the
Ganges, Dasasamedh Ghat, the well at Manikarnika,
Panchganga Ghat, and Barna Sangam, at the extreme
north. He will thus have traversed the whole length
of the ghats from the south to the north.
But the most interesting and the most meritorious
of all the pilgrimages is that of the Panch-kosi road,
the sacred road which limits the area of Benares on
the land side. Throughout its length of about fifty
miles, it is reckoned to be at a distance of panch-kds,