DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.635#0200
PANCH-KOSI PILGRIMAGE 187
or five kds,1 from Manikarnika well. It is believed
by the Hindus to be of great antiquity, and I see no
reason to doubt this, though Sherring discredits the
tradition. It is possible that the alignment of the road
may have varied from time to time, but the practice of
circumambulating a shrine, or other holy place, is
one of the most ancient of religious observances, and
it is interesting to note that the recent Tibet expedition
found crowds of Buddhist pilgrims circumambulating
the sacred city of Lhasa.
The pilgrimage of the Panch-kosi road is now one
which every Hindu inhabitant of Benares is enjoined
to make, especially every third year, in the intercalary
month which regulates the Hindu lunar calendar. The
merit ascribed to this pilgrimage is immense. All the
sins which have been committed within the limits of
the city can be expiated by the proper fulfilment of
the rules of the journey, for along this road the pilgrims
circumambulate all that is holy in the holiest of cities.
Manikarnika is the starting-point. They must walk
on foot without shoes, except in the case of the sick or
infirm, taking with them only necessary food, without
luxuries of any kind. They must refrain from quar-
relling or using bad language. They must not give or
receive food or water, nor take any gift from anyone.
But as human nature is the same all the world over,
the wealthier pilgrims often find means to soften the
austerities of the journey by arranging with members
of their own family, who are not making the pilgrimage,
to meet them at the different halting-places with food
and other comforts.
Whatever we may think of the special virtues attri-
1 A k6s is about two miles.
or five kds,1 from Manikarnika well. It is believed
by the Hindus to be of great antiquity, and I see no
reason to doubt this, though Sherring discredits the
tradition. It is possible that the alignment of the road
may have varied from time to time, but the practice of
circumambulating a shrine, or other holy place, is
one of the most ancient of religious observances, and
it is interesting to note that the recent Tibet expedition
found crowds of Buddhist pilgrims circumambulating
the sacred city of Lhasa.
The pilgrimage of the Panch-kosi road is now one
which every Hindu inhabitant of Benares is enjoined
to make, especially every third year, in the intercalary
month which regulates the Hindu lunar calendar. The
merit ascribed to this pilgrimage is immense. All the
sins which have been committed within the limits of
the city can be expiated by the proper fulfilment of
the rules of the journey, for along this road the pilgrims
circumambulate all that is holy in the holiest of cities.
Manikarnika is the starting-point. They must walk
on foot without shoes, except in the case of the sick or
infirm, taking with them only necessary food, without
luxuries of any kind. They must refrain from quar-
relling or using bad language. They must not give or
receive food or water, nor take any gift from anyone.
But as human nature is the same all the world over,
the wealthier pilgrims often find means to soften the
austerities of the journey by arranging with members
of their own family, who are not making the pilgrimage,
to meet them at the different halting-places with food
and other comforts.
Whatever we may think of the special virtues attri-
1 A k6s is about two miles.