DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.611#0049
THE RIVER FRONT. 33
in this order. We, therefore, taUe the Ghats as they
come, steadily working, with the stream, from Ass'i to
Raj Ghat. Mention will not be confined to the Ghats
themselves but to the buildings above them.
1. Assi Ghat.—Although this is the southern
termination of the line of Ghats, it is not the most
southernly point of the city. The Panchkosi Road/'"
breaks away from the Ganges at Assi, and on it there \
are several temples and Akharas, or Monasteries, and
these should be included in the city. Just above Assi
Ghat itself, slightly to the south, there is a temple of
Jagannath of some importance. In the large enclosure
there are spacious court-yards, blocks of buildings and
a temple. The whole place has rather a dilapidated
look, and is not much frequented, except once in the
year, when a Mela ''religious gathering) is held at this
spot. There are such innumerable temples in Bena-
res, that it is difficult to keep them all going, and most
of them have to be content to be publicly noticed
once a year or so.
The Assi is a stream of some volume during the
rains, but for th a greater part of the year is a dry bed.
The story runs that the goddess Durga after achieving
a victor^', rested at Durga Kund, at no great distance
from this, and let fall her sword (assi means sword),
and that this sword cut out in the ground, where it fell,
the river Assi. There are points in the story which
might suggest doubts to a sceptical mind, but a slavish
attention to matters of topography and such trifles is
beneath notice in traditions which have the hall-mark
of antiquity.
The spot where the Assi meets the Ganges has great
virtues as a bathing place. It is one of the " Panch-
tirath," or five specially sacred spots in the Ganges
which should be successively bathed in. These five
in this order. We, therefore, taUe the Ghats as they
come, steadily working, with the stream, from Ass'i to
Raj Ghat. Mention will not be confined to the Ghats
themselves but to the buildings above them.
1. Assi Ghat.—Although this is the southern
termination of the line of Ghats, it is not the most
southernly point of the city. The Panchkosi Road/'"
breaks away from the Ganges at Assi, and on it there \
are several temples and Akharas, or Monasteries, and
these should be included in the city. Just above Assi
Ghat itself, slightly to the south, there is a temple of
Jagannath of some importance. In the large enclosure
there are spacious court-yards, blocks of buildings and
a temple. The whole place has rather a dilapidated
look, and is not much frequented, except once in the
year, when a Mela ''religious gathering) is held at this
spot. There are such innumerable temples in Bena-
res, that it is difficult to keep them all going, and most
of them have to be content to be publicly noticed
once a year or so.
The Assi is a stream of some volume during the
rains, but for th a greater part of the year is a dry bed.
The story runs that the goddess Durga after achieving
a victor^', rested at Durga Kund, at no great distance
from this, and let fall her sword (assi means sword),
and that this sword cut out in the ground, where it fell,
the river Assi. There are points in the story which
might suggest doubts to a sceptical mind, but a slavish
attention to matters of topography and such trifles is
beneath notice in traditions which have the hall-mark
of antiquity.
The spot where the Assi meets the Ganges has great
virtues as a bathing place. It is one of the " Panch-
tirath," or five specially sacred spots in the Ganges
which should be successively bathed in. These five