288 An Acconnt of Giirlizval, [Sess. 



be feared if you happen to be wearing any red article of dress, 

 the ghosts of unmarried young ladies having a peculiar 

 antipathy to that colour) ; Bind, the ghosts of those who 

 have died a violent death, the most dreaded of all. You may 

 have noticed that after the discovery of the body of the 

 unfortunate English gentleman Mr Eose, who was murdered 

 lately in Arran, his boots were carefully buried below high- 

 water mark. I mention this to illustrate the fact that 

 moiuitaineers seem, in all countries, to be more superstitious 

 than those who inhabit plains. 



I have not yet touched on the aspect in which Gurhwal is 

 best known to the people of India generally. This is as a 

 sacred country, as a land of pilgrimage. Every year, on the 

 12th of April, the greatest of all the sacred fairs of India is 

 held at the point where the Ganges leaves the hills and enters 

 the plains. This place is called Hurdwar, or the gate of the 

 gods. On an average, more than a million people assemble 

 there every year to bathe in the Ganges on the holy day. 

 Some years there have been three millions, or even four 

 millions, of bathers. This bathing festival is called the 

 " Vernal Equinox Festival," and was arranged by the Hindoo 

 astronomers to be held when the sun entered the constellation 

 Aries. Unfortunately, these astronomers did not allow for the 

 precession of the equinoxes. The vernal equinox — the 20th 

 March — is now a long way from the 12th April, the clay 

 when the sun enters the constellation Aries ; but the Hindoos 

 have adhered to the date of stars and sun, and disregarded the 

 date when the day and night are equal. One advantage there 

 is, however — the date of the institution can easily be calcu- 

 lated. It must have been instituted when the vernal equinox 

 coincided with the entrance of the sun into Aries — that is, 

 about the year 500 a.d. 



After their bath on the 12th April most of the pilgrims 

 from the plains trudge back home, or, in modern times, take 

 third-class railway tickets ; but some of the bolder spirits — 

 some 10,000 or 20,000 men and women — venture to enter 

 the mountains, and struggle through fearful mountain-passes, 

 to visit two temples which have been built inside the eternal 

 snows, — one named Budrienath, to the god Vishnu ; the other 

 named Kidarnath, to the god Mahadao. It is easy for a well- 



