n8

BENARES, THE SACRED CITY

the one who honoured the Queen Victoria jubilee in a
similar fashion, dispense with the screen, which to
ordinary intelligences gives an unfortunate aspect of
conjuring to the performance.

Proceeding up the river, the next ghat of interest is

CARVED SNAKES AT CHAUKI GHAT

Chauki Ghat, where, under a fine old pippal-tret, there
is a small shrine and a great number of old carved
stones, some of snakes, twined together like Mercury's
cadnceus, with the lingam placed between. The wor-
ship of snakes, especially as emblems of the Earth
Goddess, is one of the most ancient of Indian cults,