456 ON THE ANCIENT 
the lock of hair on his head, from which it drops continually into a bason 
beneath, called Bindu-sarovara or the dripping pool, but this cannot be 
the same with our dripping Cutda. 
0 
Tis curious account of the origin of the Ganges, was not unknown to 
our ancient writers; for PLiny says, that the Ganges, after such fatiguing a 
journey, brushing the tops of mountains in its way, as Currius says, rests 
itself at last ina lake. Mr. Jamzs Fraser of the Civil Service, in his sur- 
vey of the source of the Ganges, saw the peaks which surround this hollow, 
but the road to this holy Cuda was impracticable, and this holy place 
remains inaccessible to this day.* Below Haradwdra the Ganges sends 
forth several branches, which rejoin the parent stream at various distances. 
These branches are in general the remains of old beds of the river, at dif- 
ferent periods. 
On the western side, they form an almost uninterrupted chain as far as 
Furruckabad, according to the latest surveys of that country. 
Tues branches have various names; but in general, they are called by 
the country people BurtGangé, or the old Ganges. Another name is 
Bat-ganga, or the reed river, because, whenever the Ganges, or any other 
river forsakes its old bed, this old bed and its banks are soon overrun with 
‘Bara or reeds, which form numberless thickets, in Sanscrit Saraban: and 
these two denominations, are used by the learned, particularly the latter. 
: 3 
* Sez Astatick Researches, Vol. XII 
