March, 1848. BOODHIST TEMPLE, GHAZEPORE. 77 



Benares, though it is now dirty and ruinous, and the great 

 stone instruments are rapidly crumbling away. The 

 building is square, with a central court and flat roof, round 

 which the astrolabes, &c. are arranged. A half naked 

 Astronomer-Royal, with a large sore on his stomach, took 

 me round — he was a pitiful object, and told me he was 

 very hungry. The observatory is nominally supported by 

 the Rajah of Jeypore, who doles out a too scanty pittance 

 to his scientific corps. 



In the afternoon Mr. Reade drove me to the Sar-nath, a 

 singular Boodhist temple, a cylindrical mass of brickwork, 

 faced with stone, the scrolls on which were very beautiful, 

 and as sharp as if freshly cut : it is surmounted by a tall 

 dome, and is altogether about seventy or a hundred feet 

 high. Of the Boodh figures only one remains, the others 

 having been used by a recent magistrate of Benares in re- 

 pairing a bridge over the Goomtee ! Prom this place the 

 Boodhist monuments, Hindoo temple, Mussulman mosque, 

 and English church, were all embraced in one coup d'ceil. 

 On our return, we drove past many enormous mounds of 

 earth and brick-work, the vestiges of Old Benares, but 

 whether once continued to the present city or not is un- 

 known. Remains are abundant, eighteen feet below the 

 site of the present city. 



Benares is the Mecca of the Hindoos, and the number of 

 pilgrims who visit it is incalculable. Casi (its ancient 

 name, signifying splendid), is alleged to be no part of 

 this world, which rests on eternity, whereas Benares is 

 perched on a prong of Siva's trident, and is hence beyond 

 the reach of earthquakes.* Originally built of gold, the 



* Probably an allusion to the infrequency of these phenomena in this 

 meridian; they being common both in Eastern Bengal, and in Western India 

 beyond the Ganges. 



