"Among animals, they chiefly look upon the cow, ox, elephant, ape,
eagle, swan, peacock, and serpent, as sacred; among plants, the
lotus, the banana, and the mango-tree.
"The Brahmins have an especial veneration for a stone, which is,
according to Sonnerat, a fossil ammonite in slate.
"It is in the highest degree remarkable that there is no
representation of the Supreme Being to be found in all Hindostan.
The idea appears too great for them; they consider the whole earth
as his temple, and worship him under all forms.
"The adherents of Shiva bury their dead; the others either burn them
or throw them into the river."
No one can form an accurate idea of India who has not gone beyond
Calcutta. This city has become almost European. The palaces, the
equipages are European; there are societies, balls, concerts,
promenades, almost the same as in Paris or London; and if it was not
for the tawny natives in the streets, and the Hindoo servants in the
houses, a stranger might easily forget that he was in a foreign
country.
It is very different in Benares. The Europeans are isolated there;
foreign customs and manners everywhere surround them, and remind
them that they are tolerated intruders. Benares contains 300,000
inhabitants, of which scarcely 150 are Europeans.
The town is handsome, especially when seen from the river side,
where its defects are not observed. Magnificent rows of steps,
built of colossal stones, lead up to the houses and palaces, and
artistically built gateways. In the best part of the town, they
form a continuous line two miles in length. These steps cost
enormous sums of money, and a large town might have been built with
the stones employed for them.
The handsome part of the town contains a great number of antique
palaces, in the Moorish, Gothic, and Hindoo styles, many of which
are six stories high. The gates are most magnificent, and the
fronts of the palaces and houses are covered with masterly
arabesques and sculptured work; the different stories are richly
ornamented with fine colonnades, verandahs, balconies, and friezes.
The windows alone did not please me; they were low, small, and
seldom regularly arranged. All the houses and palaces have very
broad sloping roofs and terraces. The innumerable temples afford a
proof of the wealth and piety of the inhabitants of this town.
Every Hindoo in good circumstances has a temple in his house, i.e.,
a small tower, which is frequently only twenty feet high.
The Hindoo temples consist properly of a tower thirty or sixty feet
in height, without windows, and having only a small entrance. They
appear, especially at a distance, very striking and handsome, as
they are either artistically sculptured or richly covered with
projecting ornaments, such as pinnacles, small columns, pyramids,
leaves, niches, etc.
