Havell, Ernest B.: Benares, the sacred city: Sketches of Hindu life and religion (London, [1912])

CHAPTER VII

THE GHATS. ASI-SANGAM TO NEPALI GHAT

The European traveller generally makes first ac-
quaintance with the ghats of the river at Dasa-
samedh—the ghat of the Ten-Horse Sacrifice—to
which the principal roads of the city converge. It
is also an important point in the river traffic, for
the boats bringing stone from the Chunar quarries,
which have supplied Benares with building material
from times immemorial, here discharge their cargoes.
The popular legend which accounts for the name of
the ghat probably refers to the time when the Brah-
mins were beginning to recover their authority in
the city, on the decline of Buddhism. The story
goes that all the gods had been expelled from Benares
by Raja Divodas, who had acquired extraordinary
power by the practice of religious rites. Shiva, wish-
ing to return to the city, invoked the aid of Brahma,
who transformed himself into an aged Brahmin, and
sought an interview with the raja. The latter re-
ceived him with much respect, and begged him to
ask whatever he might desire. Brahma replied that
the only favour he craved was that the raja would
furnish the materials for the great horse-sacrifice.

Now this was one of the most complicated of the
Brahminical sacrifices, requiring a perfect knowledge