238 An Account of Gopilmuni and its Antiquities. [No. 3, 



nest pilgrim who called for the purpose. In this way he appeared 

 to have realized a profit of a rupee on every pice worth of goods 

 he had in his shop. 



Among the pilgrims, I could not find a single kayast, boido, or 

 brahman. All the lower classes of Hindus, almost without a sin- 

 gle exception, were present. The reason is, the three higher class- 

 es named above do not believe in the sanctity of the Copotuc at 

 the time of the Baroni. This would seem to prove that Copil 

 was born of low parentage. Indeed, he is suspected by some to 

 be an ancestor of the present mohunts of Copilmuni, who are Ju- 

 gis (cloth-weavers) by caste. Hence his influence over the higher 

 castes of Hindus is very small. It is necessary to state that Copil 

 is a different individual from his great namesake who figures so 

 conspicuously in the Eamayan, and is said to have destroyed sixty 

 thousand sons of Rajah Sagur on being disturbed by them in his 

 devotions, which subsequently caused the Granges, in compliance 

 with the prayers of one of their descendants, named Bhagirath, to 

 pour from the heavens like an avalanche over the Himalaya, and 

 thence thundering down to the plains, pass over the spot where 

 his ancestors had been reduced to ashes. 



March 23rd, 1868. — At night I received visits from the respec- 

 table people of Mahmudkati, Hurridhahe, &c. One of them 

 stated, on the authority of an old man who had again heard it from 

 his grandfather, that on the day of the Baroni festival, Copil 

 became Sidha, and being anxious to test the fact by ocular demon- 

 stration, invoked his favourite goddess. The goddess came riding 

 over the waves, and when she departed, Copil threw himself into her 

 waters and died praying that on the anniversary of his death she 

 would make her appearance on that spot for an hour. This, how- 

 ever, differs from the popular account given above. 



March 24th, 1868. — I heard a legend about Copil. It is said, 

 he used daily to bathe in the Granges at dawn, and then perform 

 his morning prayers at his hermitage on the banks of the Copotuc, 

 the distance travelled being about three days' journey. 



March 26th, 1868. — At dawn I took a walk towards the fa- 

 mous old tank known by the name of Lahona Khulna. It is 

 perfectly dry and overgrown with tall trees, which the superstitious 



