114 
BENARES. 
magnificent works I ever beheld. It is of very large dimensions, 
with flights of steps down to the bottom. On the right is an exten- 
sive and by no means inelegant habitation, the front of which is 
level with the water, the back with the top of the tank. It was in- 
tended as a bathing house for the women, where they could amuse 
themselves unseen by any persons without : the baths communicate 
with the tank. At the two corners are two towers with domes simi- 
lar to those on the wall of the gardens, and which render the angles 
uniform. On the third side, or right hand, as you enter, is a most ele- 
gant Hindoo temple, small, and built of stone. From a square base 
it rises into a dome. The whole outside is divided into compart- 
ments of about two feet square, in each of which is exquisitely 
carved the figure of a deity. There are three open doors, and a 
false one cut out in stone, the mouldings of which are most deli- 
cately executed. The inside is nearly similar, except that in the 
wall formed by the false door is a nich for a statue of Lachmy. 
In the centre was to have been placed the statue of Maha-deva, 
to whom the whole was dedicated. The fourth side facing the 
garden is vacant. Unfortunately these beautiful buildings were 
never finished. They were left in this state by Cheyt Sing, when 
he fled from Benares; and the superstition of India prevents his 
successor from completing them, for it would be considered as 
tending to inherit his misfortunes. Cheyt Sing is still alive in the 
Mahratta country, living on a small jaghire. He has married a 
nautch girl, and is sunk into debauchery and contempt. He has no 
issue, and the person placed on the musnud is his nearest relation, 
the present Rajah being his great nephew, and great grandson to 
Bulwunt Sing, who built the fort of Ramnagur. 
