DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.635#0179
166 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY
handfuls of grain and sweetmeats thrown to them.
Though it is not Hanuman, the monkey god and the
ally of Rama in his fight with Ravana, who is wor-
shipped in the temple, the monkeys are found by the
Brahmin attendants to be a successful draw for the
bakshish of tourists. The cell where the image of
Durga. is placed was built by a Bengali Ram at the
end of the eighteenth century. The pillared porch in
front dates from about the middle of the nineteenth.
They are both fair specimens of modern Hindu temple
architecture and decoration.
The image of Durga in this temple is an insig-
nificant doll-like figure of no artistic merit. The
illustration here given is from a fine stone bas-relief at
Chamba1, representing Durga, at the command of Shiva,
destroying the Asuras, or demons who were usurp-
ing the authority of the gods and oppressing humanity.
The face is unfortunately mutilated. Lying at her
feet is the dead body of Mahisha, an Asura in the
form of a buffalo, whom she slew.
Durga is one of the wives, or saktis, of Shiva. Her
aspect is fair and shining, as her original name Gauri
signifies. She appears to be especially related to Shiva
in his manifestation as god of the Himalayas, and to
represent the destructive forces of creation, while Kali,
whose images are always black, is the Earth-mother
and the universal destroyer of Time, and the Cosmos.
In every country the highest mountains have always
been associated with the religious ideas of the people.
The benignant and ferocious aspects of Indian moun-
tain deities are doubtless but the impression on the
Indian mind of the two aspects of those natural
1 From a photograph by Dr. Vogel, Architectural Surveyor of the Punjab.
handfuls of grain and sweetmeats thrown to them.
Though it is not Hanuman, the monkey god and the
ally of Rama in his fight with Ravana, who is wor-
shipped in the temple, the monkeys are found by the
Brahmin attendants to be a successful draw for the
bakshish of tourists. The cell where the image of
Durga. is placed was built by a Bengali Ram at the
end of the eighteenth century. The pillared porch in
front dates from about the middle of the nineteenth.
They are both fair specimens of modern Hindu temple
architecture and decoration.
The image of Durga in this temple is an insig-
nificant doll-like figure of no artistic merit. The
illustration here given is from a fine stone bas-relief at
Chamba1, representing Durga, at the command of Shiva,
destroying the Asuras, or demons who were usurp-
ing the authority of the gods and oppressing humanity.
The face is unfortunately mutilated. Lying at her
feet is the dead body of Mahisha, an Asura in the
form of a buffalo, whom she slew.
Durga is one of the wives, or saktis, of Shiva. Her
aspect is fair and shining, as her original name Gauri
signifies. She appears to be especially related to Shiva
in his manifestation as god of the Himalayas, and to
represent the destructive forces of creation, while Kali,
whose images are always black, is the Earth-mother
and the universal destroyer of Time, and the Cosmos.
In every country the highest mountains have always
been associated with the religious ideas of the people.
The benignant and ferocious aspects of Indian moun-
tain deities are doubtless but the impression on the
Indian mind of the two aspects of those natural
1 From a photograph by Dr. Vogel, Architectural Surveyor of the Punjab.