A STEANGE LEGEND. 
133 
the assailants so vigorously, that he kept them at bay 
until he was rescued from his perilous situation by the 
timely arrival of a government troop of cavalry from 
the adjacent station of Sultanpoor. This atrocious 
transaction on the part of Vizier Ali caused a great 
sensation at Calcutta, but though the instigator 
escaped for the moment, he became soon afterwards a 
state prisoner at the Presidency, where he was con- 
fined under one of the bastions of Fort William, and 
where, pitied by few and regretted by none, he finally 
closed his iniquitous life. 
There is a most absurd legend respecting the sanc- 
tity of Benares, which, though it partakes of all the 
extravagances of eastern fable, exhibits an unexcep- 
tionable moral, and as this is not always the case 
with similar legends, it may be thought not un- 
worthy of a place in these pages. It is stated 
to have been originally built of gold, but in conse- 
quence of the sins of the people it became stone, and 
latterly, owing to their increasing wickedness, it has 
degenerated into clay. The Bramins assert that “ Be- 
nares is no part of the terrestrial globe, for that rests 
on the thousand-headed serpent Ananta, (Eternity,) 
whereas Benares is fixed upon the point of Siva’s tri- 
dent ; as a proof of which, they allege that no earth- 
quake is ever felt within its holy limits, and that in 
consequence of its peculiar position it escaped de- 
struction during a partial overwhelming of the world.” 
However the writings of the Hindoo philosophers and 
divines may be deformed by wild speculations, mon- 
strous exaggerations, and marvellous fictions, it must 
nevertheless be confessed that, amid the motley mass 
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