DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.614#0082
46 BENARES, PAST AND PRESENT.
atry is a word denoting all that is "wicked in imagination
and impure in practice. These remarks are especially
true of rigid and thorough Hindus, like the Ganga-
putras, or " sons of the Ganges," who may he regarded
as representing, in their own persons, the complete
results of their strange religion. To speak plainly,
and yet without extravagance, the moral nature of such
Hindus has hecome so distorted, that, to a large extent,
they have forgotten the essential distinctions of things.
Their idol-worship has plunged them into immoralities
of the grossest forms, has rohbed them of truth, has
filled their minds with deceit, has vitiated their holy
aspirations, has greatly enfeebled every sentiment
of virtue, has corrupted the common feelings of hu-
manity within them, has disfigured and well-nigh
destroyed the true notion of God which all men in
some shape are believed to possess, has degraded them
to the lowest depths, and has rendered them unfit alike
for this world and for the next. Idolatry is a demon—
an incarnation of all evil—but, nevertheless, as bewitch-
ing and seductive as a Siren. It ensnares the depraved
heart, coils around it like a serpent, transfixes it with
its deadly fangs, and finally stings it to death. Idolatry
has, for many centuries, drunk the life-blood of the
Hindu with insatiate thirst, has covered with its pollu-
tions the fair and fertile soil of India, has drenched the
land with its poisoned waters, and has rendered its inhabi-
tants as godless as it was possible for them to become.
Most of the temples are of modern date; but many of
them occupy, in popular belief, the sites of immemorial
shrines long since displaced by their successors. It
atry is a word denoting all that is "wicked in imagination
and impure in practice. These remarks are especially
true of rigid and thorough Hindus, like the Ganga-
putras, or " sons of the Ganges," who may he regarded
as representing, in their own persons, the complete
results of their strange religion. To speak plainly,
and yet without extravagance, the moral nature of such
Hindus has hecome so distorted, that, to a large extent,
they have forgotten the essential distinctions of things.
Their idol-worship has plunged them into immoralities
of the grossest forms, has rohbed them of truth, has
filled their minds with deceit, has vitiated their holy
aspirations, has greatly enfeebled every sentiment
of virtue, has corrupted the common feelings of hu-
manity within them, has disfigured and well-nigh
destroyed the true notion of God which all men in
some shape are believed to possess, has degraded them
to the lowest depths, and has rendered them unfit alike
for this world and for the next. Idolatry is a demon—
an incarnation of all evil—but, nevertheless, as bewitch-
ing and seductive as a Siren. It ensnares the depraved
heart, coils around it like a serpent, transfixes it with
its deadly fangs, and finally stings it to death. Idolatry
has, for many centuries, drunk the life-blood of the
Hindu with insatiate thirst, has covered with its pollu-
tions the fair and fertile soil of India, has drenched the
land with its poisoned waters, and has rendered its inhabi-
tants as godless as it was possible for them to become.
Most of the temples are of modern date; but many of
them occupy, in popular belief, the sites of immemorial
shrines long since displaced by their successors. It