INDIA. 323 



A BENARES SAINT. 



The priest to whom J have first referred is, as lie 

 claims, the legitimate successor to the Benares Saint. 

 Swami Bhaskara Xaml Saraswati. ■ (Fig. 64.) He has 

 the advantage over his predecessor in the greater length 

 of his name. The saint, or, as Ids successor calls him, 

 "Holy Sage," died a few years ago and I visited his 

 plain tomb near the temple. He was for many years 

 a familiar Benares character. His deep learning, plain 

 manner of living and ascetic dispositon made him prom- 

 inent in the priesthood and an object of curiosity to 

 the visitors. He was bom in the year 1833. He was in- 

 vested with the sacred thread when he was 8 years old. 

 He married at the age of 12 but left no issue, although 

 a son had been born to him. Soon after the birth of his 

 child he left his home and wife and devoted himself to 

 the study of Sanscrit, visited shrines and became known 

 to all as a profound Sanscrit scholar, a philosopher and 

 a real Yogi. His successor says of him: "His dignified 

 mein and venerable face silenced the onlookers who had 

 doubted that a man could learn and practice Yoga at 

 such an early age." And again, "His soul penetrated in- 

 to the very heart of Being, by seeing reality as it is. He 

 was a philosopher to whom God was not merely the 

 creator of this universe, its protector and guide, but 

 the life of his life, the soul of his soul — his very self. 

 Such a sage was the Swami Bhaskara Xand — calm, 

 silent, majestic, immersed in the glory of his own soul.'"' 

 What an enviable record to leave in this world of sin 

 and corrpution. 



HINDU CREMATION. 



Sitting on the deck of a river rowboat and gliding- 

 down the sacred Ganges near its border on the side of 

 the ancient city of Benares, Ave passed the principal 

 temple. A saw a number of burning funeral pyres at 

 the very edge of the turbulent, dirty stream. It was 

 too late to see the whole process of cremation as prac- 

 ticed by the Hindus. It was at Agra that I was given 



