DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.611#0035
BENARES IN 1909. 21
and odds and ends of temples, even unexpected little
scraps of gardens, there are trees in out of the way
corners, giving shelter, at their bases, to sundry idols of
quaint designs, (the trees themselves often being objects
of worship) there are cows basking in sunless gullies,
some of them occupying platforms which you wonder how
they ever reached, there are blind alleys, and dust-heaps,
and smells indescribable. And yet Benares is a healthy
city. Let the visitor wander and wonder.
The Chauk presents a very busy scene in the evening.
A very heterogeneous concourse of vendors of edibles
and wearables and other commodities throng the south-
east corner. Some of these have stalls, many have not.
At other parts of the square, the carriages of wealthy
merchants and others await their owners' exit from the
narrow lanes in which their houses are situated, and
down which no carriage can drive. Like many of the
residents of the West End in London, these gentlemen
have their stables and coach-houses in mews situated at
some distance from their houses, there being this im-
portant difference that the Indian gentry cannot have
their carriage driven up to their doors at the appointed
hour, but must walk through the narrow lanes to the
open street, or, if they be very careful of their dignity,
be carried in palanquins. A miscellaneous assortment
of loungers haunts the Chauk of an evening, some of them
dandies of questionable social standing, many against
whom the charge of dandyism could not justly be levelled.
Altogether the Chauk presents a very striking picture of
Indian life. This, however, is not so typical of Benares
as many other scenes here found, for it is a scene which
may be viewed in Allahabad or Lucknow, and some
other towns in the United Provinces.
Passing on again from the Chauk southwards. On
the left hand there is a refreshing little plot of garden
and odds and ends of temples, even unexpected little
scraps of gardens, there are trees in out of the way
corners, giving shelter, at their bases, to sundry idols of
quaint designs, (the trees themselves often being objects
of worship) there are cows basking in sunless gullies,
some of them occupying platforms which you wonder how
they ever reached, there are blind alleys, and dust-heaps,
and smells indescribable. And yet Benares is a healthy
city. Let the visitor wander and wonder.
The Chauk presents a very busy scene in the evening.
A very heterogeneous concourse of vendors of edibles
and wearables and other commodities throng the south-
east corner. Some of these have stalls, many have not.
At other parts of the square, the carriages of wealthy
merchants and others await their owners' exit from the
narrow lanes in which their houses are situated, and
down which no carriage can drive. Like many of the
residents of the West End in London, these gentlemen
have their stables and coach-houses in mews situated at
some distance from their houses, there being this im-
portant difference that the Indian gentry cannot have
their carriage driven up to their doors at the appointed
hour, but must walk through the narrow lanes to the
open street, or, if they be very careful of their dignity,
be carried in palanquins. A miscellaneous assortment
of loungers haunts the Chauk of an evening, some of them
dandies of questionable social standing, many against
whom the charge of dandyism could not justly be levelled.
Altogether the Chauk presents a very striking picture of
Indian life. This, however, is not so typical of Benares
as many other scenes here found, for it is a scene which
may be viewed in Allahabad or Lucknow, and some
other towns in the United Provinces.
Passing on again from the Chauk southwards. On
the left hand there is a refreshing little plot of garden