DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.614#0156
BENARES, PAST AND PRESENT. 117
of polished marble. In the centre of the portico,
facing the door of the temple, crouches a large bull,
called Nandi, the animal on which the god rides. But
what would one fancy the size and form of the idol
which the elite of Benares, its men of opulence, of
illustrious birth, of intelligence, and education, reve-
rently worship, and before whom they beat their heads
upon the threshold, and even prostrate themselves upon
the floor, and to whom they pay that supreme homage
and adoration due only to the Lord God Almighty?
It might be supposed that it was an object of sur-
passing splendour, with diamond-sparkling eyes, and a
body of gold, adorned with garlands, necklaces, and
bracelets, of costly value and of dazzling beauty. But
its pretensions are of a very different order; for it is
simply an enormous block of stone, round and black,
six feet in height, and twelve in circumference. The
tradition is, that, on one occasion, the gods assembled
to perform a great sacrifice, and that out of the burn-
ing oblation issued S'iva, in the shape of this stone.
Above the temple is a capacious spout, looking not
unlike a chimney, placed immediately over the shape-
less idol below. In the hot weather this spout is kept
filled with water, which dribbles perpetually upon the
god, through one or more holes in the bottom, and
keeps him cool. At the entrance to the temple from
the portico are two small shrines, one on each side of
the door.
Adjoining the Ausanganj Mahalla is the Mahalla of
Kasipura, where, at the junction of several narrow
streets, stands a banyan tree, near which is a temple
of polished marble. In the centre of the portico,
facing the door of the temple, crouches a large bull,
called Nandi, the animal on which the god rides. But
what would one fancy the size and form of the idol
which the elite of Benares, its men of opulence, of
illustrious birth, of intelligence, and education, reve-
rently worship, and before whom they beat their heads
upon the threshold, and even prostrate themselves upon
the floor, and to whom they pay that supreme homage
and adoration due only to the Lord God Almighty?
It might be supposed that it was an object of sur-
passing splendour, with diamond-sparkling eyes, and a
body of gold, adorned with garlands, necklaces, and
bracelets, of costly value and of dazzling beauty. But
its pretensions are of a very different order; for it is
simply an enormous block of stone, round and black,
six feet in height, and twelve in circumference. The
tradition is, that, on one occasion, the gods assembled
to perform a great sacrifice, and that out of the burn-
ing oblation issued S'iva, in the shape of this stone.
Above the temple is a capacious spout, looking not
unlike a chimney, placed immediately over the shape-
less idol below. In the hot weather this spout is kept
filled with water, which dribbles perpetually upon the
god, through one or more holes in the bottom, and
keeps him cool. At the entrance to the temple from
the portico are two small shrines, one on each side of
the door.
Adjoining the Ausanganj Mahalla is the Mahalla of
Kasipura, where, at the junction of several narrow
streets, stands a banyan tree, near which is a temple