CHAPTER XX.

SCENES AT ALLAHABAD—PILGRIMAGE TO THE TRIVENI.

The old Brahman—The Triveni—The Achivut—The Pātal Pooree—Temples of Bhardoajmun—Radha Krishnŭ—Hindoo oath—The Tulsī—The Peepul-tree—The Letin leaves—Lamps in the air—Paintings on Ubruk—Impressions on leaves and flowers—The Mootee Musjid—The Crows a pest—Byā birds—Haymaking—The silver Tankard—An Earthquake—Transferring diseases to flowers—Perjury—Farming operations—Oats—Bhoodder Ram the Dwarf—The Camel—The Powder-works and Rocket manufactory.

1831, _July 6th._—I study the customs and superstitions of the Hindoos so eagerly, that my friends laugh and say, “We expect some day to see you at pooja in the river!”

In one of the temples near the Circuit bungalow, I was surprised at seeing two small brazen figures of Krishnŭ and his love Radha, or, to speak more correctly, of Radha Krishnŭ, dressed up in silks and satins. Making a reverence, “Salāmut,” I exclaimed, in Hindostani, “yah! yah!” “Oh, my father, what a beautiful Krishnŭ is this! and there is Radha the beloved. This is, indeed, a Krishnŭ; I never saw so beautiful a fellow!” The old Brahman made many salāms and reverences, exclaiming, “There is an excellent mem sāhiba! she understands all, she understands every thing!” As Krishnŭ of yore charmed every woman who beheld him, so that quitting all on earth they followed and worshipped him alone, I suppose the old Hindoo imagined his god still retained the power of fascination.

PILGRIMAGE TO THE TRIVENI.

The Hindoos think it most meritorious to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Prāg (Allahabad); but this is not perfect, unless they visit three different places on that spot:

1st. The junction of the Ganges and Jumna.

2nd. The holy Achibut, or Akhivut.

3rd. The temples of Bhardoajmun.

One of the holiest spots of the Ganges is where it joins the Jumna (Yamuna), just below the fort. The Saraswati is supposed to unite with them _underground_, whence the junction is called Triveni or Tribeni. This spot is deemed so holy that a person dying there is certain of immediate _moskh_ or beatitude, without risk of further transmigration.

There is a mythological representation of the Triveni, or mystical union of the three divine rivers personified,—“Gunga, Yamuna, Saraswati.” The drawing represents a female with three heads and six arms, riding astride upon a fish. The Hindoos say the Ganges and Jumna unite above ground; the Saraswati joins them below; this they see with the eye of faith. In reality, the Saraswati falls into the Jumna a little below Delhi; and, _therefore_, they all three unite below the fort at Prāg. Saraswati, the wife of Vishnoo, by the curse of a Brahman was turned into the river which bears her name.

The Purānas declare that the sight, the name, or the touch of Gunga takes away all sin, however heinous; that thinking of Gunga when at a distance is sufficient to remove the taint of sin; but that bathing in Gunga has blessings in it, of which no imagination can conceive. At the Tribeni they bathe and make pooja.

THE HOLY ACHIBUT.

This tree grows in, or is enclosed within the walls of the fort, in such a manner that you cannot see it from any place. They take you into a room, which was formerly one of an hummām, or steam bath. This room is called the Achibut chamber, and there, with the eye of faith, the pilgrims behold the everlasting tree; which they believe has been there from the beginning of time, and will remain there to all eternity. They showed me a crack in the roof, and said, “Do you not see the branch of the tree has cracked the roof in three places?” I certainly saw three cracks, but whether from a tree or ivy I cannot say; not a leaf was visible. The door of this chamber has been blocked up, on account of a native in the collector’s office wishing to put up his idol there; the man is a worshipper of Parisnāth, the god of the _heretical_ Hindoos. No orthodox Hindoo will worship in a temple where there is an image of Parisnāth; and as this man had raised an altar in the Achibut chamber, and wished to place his idol thereon, it caused a great commotion; to quell which, the Commandant of the fort bricked up the door, and has never allowed the people entrance since that time.

There are about four hundred heretical Hindoos at Prāg; I did not know until to-day such a caste existed.

The sacred Achibut is the bér, or great banyan tree, the Ficus Indica; the burgot of the Mahrattas; the Portuguese arbor de rayz, _i.e._ the rooting-tree. It is sacred to Vishnoo, who was born on its leaves. It is called the rooting tree, from the circumstance that it propagates itself by letting a kind of gummy string fall from its branches, which takes root, grows large, and by this means the branches often spread to a vast circuit, affording the most delightful shade in a hot climate; it is one of the largest and most majestic trees in the world.

At the gate of the magazine is a very fine young bér tree. Although sacred to Vishnoo, the preserver, nevertheless, it is said that “a demon resides under a bér tree.[80]” The goblin attached to this tree is reported to be exceedingly obstinate. Demons or goblins are said to be attached to different places; as to Musans, or places where the dead are burned; and to various trees and shrubs.

There is a remarkable passage in the Brahma Purāna, respecting the Achibut.

“Let the man who is afflicted with a grievous and incurable disease enter a burning fire, or procure his death by starvation, or by plunging into unfathomable waters, or by precipitating himself from an eminence, or by ascending to Paradise by a respectful pilgrimage to the Himalaya mountains; whoever relinquishes life under these circumstances,—by precipitating himself from the sacred bér tree at Prāg (Allahabad), or his time being come destroys himself; that high-minded person shall receive a great reward in the future state, and shall not be considered a suicide; even although he may have been a great sinner, he shall meet with supreme bliss in Paradise.”

The pooja of the Achibut takes place on the 9th of June (jet ke pondrah tarik). All bér trees are holy; no Hindoo will cut them.

On the outside of the magazine is a subterraneous passage, called Pātal Pooree; it is built of stone. From the entrance, you pass down a long stone passage, the walls of which on both sides are covered with idols; you arrive at a chamber, supported by pillars; in this place there are forms of Mahadēo, that are worshipped.

When the Achibut chamber was blocked up, the Brahmans set up the stump of a bér tree in the Pātal Pooree, and declared that it was a branch of the real Achibut, that had penetrated through the walls.

They certainly have established it firmly in that situation, making good the proverb, “Its roots have already reached to Pātal[81]” (the infernal regions). The morning I visited the Pātal Pooree, I saw this stump, which must have been freshly worshipped, as the earth at its base was covered with oil, ghee, boiled rice, and flowers. The passage itself, and the chamber also, were oily, dark, very hot, and slippery: we saw it by lamp-light; the chirāgh (lamp) was carried by a portly Brahman, who has charge of the place, and makes much money during the time of the fair. The resident Hindoos of Prāg, who know the trick the Brahmans have played, do not pooja the false Achibut. In this place is the mysterious passage which they say leads underground to Delhi; devotees were making pooja before it.

THE TEMPLES OF BHARDOAJMUN.

The third holy spot visited by the devotees are some mhuts, Hindoo temples, about two miles from the fort, near the circuit Bungalow. This spot was formerly the abode of Bhardoajmun, a fakir, and here he displayed his red flag from a bamboo. This Bhardoajmun was a very holy man; after his departure, or after his ashes had been consigned to Gunga-jee, some temples were raised on the spot, and dedicated to Mahadēo, the great god. There are three principal mhuts, in one of which is a white marble image or form of Mahadēo, with four faces, very well executed. In the second is an image in stone of the old fakir himself, about fifteen inches high, to which divine honours are paid. There are, counting all the small mhuts, some nine or ten temples, under the shade of very fine tamarind trees, which are very picturesque. The eyes of the images are covered with thin silver plates, and the eyes themselves are about five times larger than the natural size; in one of the temples the face of the idol was covered or made of a thin plate of gold.

One of the temples is dedicated to Varaha, an avatār or incarnation of Vishnoo; and represents a man with a boar’s head, on whose tusks rests a crescent, containing in its concavity an epitome of the earth, which had been immerged in the ocean as a punishment for its iniquities,—the story of the deluge. Vishnoo, in the form of a boar, dived into the abyss, and restored the earth on the points of his tusks. This is the first temple I have seen dedicated to Varaha: also, for the first time, I here saw a shrine, sacred to Radha Krishnŭ, the wife of a cowherd, whom Krishnŭ carried off from her husband to a forest on the banks of the Jumna, where they resided for some time; she has been deified with the god, and her image is worshipped at his festivals. If a Hindoo be charged with any particular act, of which he wishes to express his abhorrence, he exclaims “Radha Krishnŭ!” Many persons repeat, “Ram, Ram, Ram!” on such occasions, but no one says Seeta Ram; yet, when Krishnŭ’s name is to be repeated they always join to it that of his beloved Radha. It has passed into a proverb, “Apne Radha ko yad ker.” As Krishnŭ always thought of Radha, so they say, “Attend to your own Radha[82],” either in anger or laughingly; _i.e._ attend to your own business.

What a noise the people are making! a Hindoo is taking an oath. The man is holding in both hands a lota, a brass drinking vessel, filled with Ganges water, on which is placed a sprig of the sacred tulsī, and by Gunga-jee he swears. I would bet ten to one all he is swearing is false, from the elevation of his voice, and his insisting so strongly on its being true. In the plate, entitled “The Thug’s Dice,” figure 4 represents a highly ornamented small brass lota, containing the Ganges water, and a sprig of the kālā tulsī on the top of it.

The tulsī or tulasī is a native of India, and there are several sorts of it. The kālā tulsī, purple-stalked basil, (ocymum sanctum,) is more especially worship