BENARES. 
89 
the terrible Siva has just cause to inflict punishment, 
the fire has come down and devoured their temples, 
while the country around has received no such chas- 
tisement. And again, which proves beyond a doubt 
the city’s isolated position, the earthquakes, which 
have undulated through the adjacent plains, upsetting 
every description of building in their desolating pro- 
gress, have never been known to approach within the 
charmed limits of their seven Jcos ; while the up- 
heaved land and tottering hills, at no great distance, 
have given fearful proof of the power at work without ; 
the history of untold ages records that no symptom of 
such a convulsion, ever so slight, has been known or 
felt in Benares. 
It has been computed, that out of the six hundred 
thousand souls who form the population of Benares, 
eighty thousand are officiating Brahmins attached to 
the temples, exclusive of the thousands who daily visit 
it from other parts of the country. It is not, however, 
to be supposed, that this immense multitude of priests 
subsist entirely upon the charity or the fees of their 
congregations. It is true that a small tribute is re- 
ceived by them from all whom they assist by their 
prayers or their advice, and during festivals, every 
devout passenger casts a mite into their treasury; but 
this of course would be quite insufficient for the support 
of so vast a swarm of idlers. Many of the temples are 
endowed with overflowing funds for their support, and 
to others are attached the revenue of large tracts of 
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