The sacred city of the Hindus : an account of Benares in ancient and modern times

Preface

The history of a country is sometimes epitomized in the history of one of its principal cities. The city of Benares represents India, religiously and intellectually, just as Paris represents the political sentiments of France. There are few cities in the world of greater antiquity, and none that have so uninterruptedly maintained their ancient celebrity and distinction. In Benares, Buddhism was first promulgated ; in Benares, Hinduism has had her home in the bosom of her most impassioned votaries. This city, therefore, has given impulse and vigour to the two religions which to this day govern half the world.

An account of a city of such remarkable associations, which has occupied such a prominent place in the annals of the human race, is not without its importance, and ought not to be devoid of interest. Having resided in’ it for several years, I have enjoyed peculiarly favourable opportunities for becoming acquainted with its inner life

VI

PREFACE.

and character. The task I have set myself is not that of discussing the religious systems existing there, — which would be an unnecessary undertaking, it having been so frequently accomplished by abler hands, — but of giving a representation of Benares as she was in the past, and as she is in the present. Her early condition — her connexion with ancient Buddhism — her architectural remains — her famous temples, holy wells and tanks, and numerous ghats or stairs leading down to the Granges — the legends concerning them — the peculiar customs at the temples — the ceremonies of the idolater — the modes of worship — the religious festivals, and other topics, illustrative of the character which Benares maintains as the sacred city of India, are dwelt upon, with some amount of detail, in this volume. I have deemed it of moment, also, in a book of this nature, to make some observations on the influence which education, European civilization, and, above all, Christianity, are now exerting upon the city. As Benares has held a foremost place in the history of India for two thousand five hundred years, at the least, so, in all likelihood, she is destined to retain that position in the new era of enlightenment which has already dawned upon the land.

Portions of this work have, at various times, appeared in print, in contributions to the Calcutta Beview and the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and in a

PREFACE.

vii

Lecture delivered before the Benares Institute, published in the Transactions of that Society.

I would express my warmest thanks to Charles Horne, Esq., C.S., late Judge of Benares, for his very valuable assistance in the archaeological researches described in this book, especially in Chapters xix. and xx. My thanks are also due to J. H. B. Ironside, Esq., C.B., Magistrate of Benares, for his kindness in placing at my disposal a paper on the Melas or Festivals of Benares, drawn up by Babu Sftal Prasad, Deputy Inspector of Schools. I would likewise acknowledge my great obligations to D. Tresham, Esq., Head Master of the Government Normal School, Benares, for his excellent photographs of the city, from which the illustrations of this volume have been taken.

M. A. S HERRING.

Contents

Preface . . v

Introduction — By Fitzedwakd Hall, Esq., D.C.L xvii

Chapter I

Early history of Benares. — Sanctity of the city. — Mythic character of Indian history. — Ancient Buddhist records respecting Benares. — S'akya Muni, or Buddha, preached the doctrine of Buddhism first in Benares. — Antiquity of Benares. — Hiouen Thsang’s account of his visit to the city in the seventh century of the Christian era. — Macaulay’s description of Benares. — Connexion of Benares with the religious history of half the human race. — Its connexion with Buddhism. — Life and labours of Buddha. — Benares subsequent to the fall of Buddhism in India.

— The Brahman. — Sons of the Ganges. — Devotees and pilgrims.

— Benares, the religious centre of India . 1

CHAPTER H.

No Architectural remains dating prior to the third century before Christ yet found in India. — Ancient Hindu Edifices of the primitive period, not of a rude character. — Did the Hindus borrow from the Assyrian and Persian Sculptors ? — Ancient remains found chiefly in the northern quarter of the city. — Mohammedan lust for Hindu edifices. — Shifting tendency of the modem city. — Origin of the appellation “ Benares.” .... 19

Chapter III

Puranic form of Modem Hinduism. — Increase of Temples in Northern India. — Number of Temples in Benares. — Temple of Bisheswar, the idol-king of Benares. — Ancient Temple of

X

CONTENTS.

Bisheswar, now a Mohammedan Mosque.— The Well Gyan Bapi. — Temple of Ad-Bisheswar. — The Well Kasi Karwat. — Temple of Sanichar. — The goddess Annpurna and her temple. — Temples of Ganes and S'ukreswar 37

CHAPTER IY.

Temple of Bhaironath, the god-magistrate of Benares. — Dandpan, or the Deified Staff. — Temple of the Planet. — Kal-kup, or Well of Fate. — Image of Mahakal, or Great Fate. — The Manikarnika Well and Ghat. — Legends respecting the Well. — Temple of Tarakeswar. — Sindhia Ghat, and the Raja of Nagpore’s Ghat. — Temple of Briddhkal. — Shrines of Markandeswar and Daksheswar. — • Legend of Raja Daksh. — Temples of Alpmriteswar and Ratneswar 61

CHAPTER Y.

Legend respecting Divodas. — Temple of Divodaseswar. —

The Well Dharm-kup. — Radha-Krishna. — The Nag-Kuau, or Serpent’s Well. — Old Images. — Temples of Bageswari, Jwarahareswar, and Siddheswar 82

CHAPTER VI.

Benares, Kasi, and Kedar, the three Grand Divisions of the city. — No old Hindu Temples in Benares. — Puranic character of the Kasi Division of the City. — No trustworthy information concerning Ancient Buildings to be obtained either from Hindus or from their sacred writings. — Preference of the Old Fanes by Pilgrims. — Trilochan Temple. — Legends respecting Trilochan.

— The Idolater’s idea of the benefit resulting from Worshipping in this Temple. — Kot Lingeswar. — Nanak Shah, the Sikh Guru.

— Painting in the Trilochan Temple, depicting the Punishments of Hell. — Trilochan Ghat. — Gae Ghat. — Temples of Nirbuddheswar and Ad Mahadeva. — Gor Ji, the Gujarati Brahman. . 93

CHAPTER VH.

Panchganga Ghat. — Legends respecting it. — Lakshmanbala Temple. — The Minarets. — Temple of Kameswar. — The Machaudari Tirth or Place of Pilgrimage 107

CONTENTS.

XI

CHAPTER VIII.

Temple of Jageswar, a Eesort of the Native Aristocracy of Benares. — Kasi-Devi, Goddess of the City of Benares. — Karnghanta Talao or Tank. — Temple of the Demon Bhut-Bhairo. — Temple of Bara Ganes. — Jagannath. — Satis 116

CHAPTER IX.

The Pisach-Mochan Tank. — Legend of the Goblin Pisach. —

The Festival of Lota-Bhanta, or the Egg-plant. — The Ghats and Temple of Pisach-Mochan. — Suraj-Kund or Tank of the Sun. —

The Horn or Burnt Sacrifice. — The god Ashtang-Bhairo. — Temple of Dhruveswar or the Pole Star 123

CHAPTER X.

The Man-Mandil Ghat. — Temple of Dalbhyeswar. — Temple of the Moon or Someswar. — The Man-Mandil Observatory, erected by Raja Jay Sinh. — Description of its Instruments. —

The Nepalese Temple 129

CHAPTER XI.

Dasasamedh Ghat and Temple. — Legend of Dasasamedh. — Siddheswari Temple. — Chandra Kup, or Well of the Moon. — Temple of the goddess S'ankata Devi. — S'ankata Ghat. — Ram Ghat . . .’ .’ 139

CHAPTER XII.

The Bengali population of Benares. — The popular Temple of Kedareswar. — Legend of Kedar. — Mansarwar Tank and surrounding Temples. — Bal-Krishna and Chaturhhuj Idols. — Maneswar Temple. — The great Image of Tilubhandeswar. — Ancient mutilated Statue. — Temple of Dulareswar. — Peepul tree at Chauki Ghat. — Swinging gods 116

CHAPTER XTTT.

Durga Kund Temple. — Bloody Sacrifices ; their meaning. — Sacred Monkeys. — Legend of Durg and Durga. — Durga Kund or Tank. — Kurukshetr Talao or Tank. — The Lolarik Kuan or Well. — Ancient Sculptures 157

Xll

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE XIY.

Temple of the Maharaja of Benares at Bamnagar. — Eaja Cheit Singh’s Tank. — Virtue of Pilgrimage to the Bamnagar side of Benares. — Temple of Vedavyas. — Panch-kosi Eoad, or Sacred Boundary of Benares. — Pilgrimage of the Pannh-kosi.

— Sanitaiy condition of Benares. — Improvements suggested . .169

CHAPTEE XV.

Barna Sangam, or Confluence of the Bama and Ganges. — Ad-kesav Temple. — Bama Ghat. — Eaj Ghat Fort ; its use in 1857. — Eemains of Buddhist Monastery. — Tank of Bhairo. —

Lat or Pillar of S'iva. — Ancient Pillar. — Account of Disturbance in Benares when the Pillar was thrown down. — The Ghazeepore Eoad. — Ancient Bridge over the Barna . . . . 181

CHAPTEE XVI.

S'ivala Ghat. — The Old Fort. — Eaja Cheit Singh; History of his Insurrection and of the proceedings of Warren Hastings in connexion therewith 197

CHAPTEE XVTL

Hindu and Mohammedan Melas or Beligious Festivals, held periodically, in Benares 213

CHAPTEE XVIH.

The Buddhist Euins at Sarnath — Their Antiquity. — Summary of the Narratives of Fa Hian and Hiouen Thsang, respecting the buildings formerly existing at Sarnath and in its neighbourhood. — Points of agreement in the Narratives. — Modern Explorers of the Euins. — Extent and Nature of the Eemains. — The Great Tower: Description of it by Major- General Cunningham, and account of his Excavations. — Age of Buddhist Topes or Towers. — Eemains of a Buddhist Monastery— Mr. Thomas’s Account of them. — Discovery of large numbers of Statues and Bass-reliefs.— Excavated Chamber. — Foundation of an Ancient Tower — Major-General Cunningham’s Description of it. — The Chaukandi Tower. — The Isipattana Hall, or abode of Buddhist Devotees. — Eemains of Vihara

CONTENTS.

Xlll or Temple-monastery. — Small Building, containing Sixty Sculptures.— The Seal Chaityas. — The Buddhist Formula. — S'akya Muni, the historical Buddha — His visit to Benares. — Spread of Buddhism from Benares. — Decline of Buddhism in India. — Destruction of Buddhist Structures at Sarnath, by fire. — Fall of Buddhism 230

CHAPTER XIX.

Ancient Buddhist Ruins at Bakarfya Kund. — Remains of old Wall. — Carved Stones and Ancient Pillars. — Remains of small Buddhist Temple. — Remains of larger Temple. — Traces of Buddhist Monastery 271

CHAPTER XX.

Further Account of Ancient Remains recently discovered in Benares and its vicinity. — Meaning of the epithets ‘ancient’ and ‘ old ’ in relation to Benares. — Ancient Remains, No. I., in Raj Ghat Fort. — Ancient Remains, No. H., near Raj Ghat Fort. — Ancient Remains, No. HI., Small Mosque in the Budaon Mahalla. — Ancient Mound or Ridge. — Ancient Remains, No.

TV., Tiliya Nala and Maqdam Sahib. — Ancient Remains, No.

V., Lat Bhairo. — Ancient Remains, No. VT., Battis Khambha. — Ancient Remains, No. VH., Arhai Kangura Mosque; Hindu Temple of Kirtti Bisheswar. — Ancient Remains, No. VJLLL, Chaukhambha Mosque. — Ancient Remains, No. IX., Aurungzeb’s Mosque, near Bisheswar Temple. — Ancient Remains, No.

X., Ad-Bisheswar Temple and neighbouring Mosque. — Ancient Remains, No. XI., Stone Pillar standing in Sone ka Talao. —

Note • 288

CHAPTER XXI.

Source of the great wealth of Benares — Its chief Articles of Commerce — Its Native Bankers — Its Poor — Increased desire for Education. — The Government or Queen’s College. — Monolith in the College Grounds. — The Normal School. — The Church of England Mission. — The London Society’s Mission. — The Baptist Society’s Mission. — Native Schools of various classes. — The Benares Institute. — Public Buildings in the suburbs. — Monument to Mr. Cherry. — Influential Native Gentlemen of Benares. 328

XIV

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXH.

Sentiments engendered by the contemplation of the city of Benares — Its history, the history of India. — Principles of progress at work in the city. — Changes visible in native society. — The Brahmo Samaj. — Diminished study of Sanskrit.

— Diminished faith in Idolatry in Benares and Northern India generally. — Influence of education on Hindu youths. — A Martin Luther for India. — Influence and spread of Christianity. — Gunga-putras, or sons of the Ganges. — Literary and Religious Societies amongst the natives. — The Benares Institute — Nature of its discussions. — Lecture of Pandit Lakshmaji — His account of the consequences of Hinduism. — Effect of Missions and Education on Benares and on India. — Religious agitation in India. — What is the destiny of Idolatry and of Christianity in India ? — The Future in respect of Benares. — Remarks of the Rev. Dr. Thomson, a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States, on the religious and social condition and future prospects of India 341

APPENDIX A.

Narrative of Fa Hian, concerning his visit to Benares and Samath. Extracted from the Foe Koue Ki by MM. Remusat, Klaproth, and Landresse 364

APPENDIX B.

Narrative of Hiouen Thsang. Translated by the author from the “Memoires sur les Contrees Occidentales de Hiouen Thsang,” of M. Stanislas Julien, translator of the original

Chinese work 366

APPENDIX C.

Further information concerning Divodas 381

Index 382

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Raja of Ahmety’s Temple Frontispiece

Temple at ManikarnikA Ghat 70

Raja of Nagpore’s GhAt 72

The Minarets *.110

The Nepalese Temple 137

RAm GhAt 145

Great Buddhist Tower at SArnAth . . 236

Carving on the Buddhist Tower, No. 1 240

Ancient Buddhist Temple at BakariyA Kund

ERRATA.

Page 68. — For Purnas'ubhakaran, read Purnas'ubhakaranf.

Page 320. — In line 21, and also line 26, in place of No. X., read No. IX.

Introduction

Alike as to limits and as to influence, the Indian kingdoms of former times were, with few exceptions, inconsiderable ; such of them as lay conterminous were often at open feud; and their cities, or fortified towns, constituted, in fact, their only stable boundaries. It was, probably, with the dominion of the Kasis as it was with other seats of Hindu power. Deriving its origin from some city, as Pratishthana,1 or Varanasi,2 it must have acquired extent and consideration by very gradual development.

At least since a hundred and twenty years before our era, Varanasi, as denoting a city, has been a name

1 Vide infra, p. xxv., note 1.

2 Also called Varanasi and Varanasi, according to the Haima-Tcosa and the Sabdaraindvali, respectively. The latter of these vocabularies is of small authority.

A rational system of Romanized spelling would give us, instead of Benares, Banaras. The form was the work, perhaps, of

the Muhammadans. It should appear that the metathesis of r and n, in the original word, must be later than the times of Fa Hian and Hiouen Thsang. Vide infra, p. xxviii., notes 1 and 2.

In the ordinary belief of the vulgar of Benares, the name of their city is connected with Raja Banar, — a mythical magnate, of whom mention is associated with that of the reformer Kabir, of the beginning of the fifteenth century. Asiatic Researches, Vol. XVI., p. 57. “According to some of the Muhammadan accounts,” says Mr. James

b

INTRODUCTION.

familiar to Bralimanical literature.1 The word is crudely referred, by modern inventiveness, to a combination of Yarana and Asi ; 2 and all the other explanations that we have of its source are equally questionable.

Prinsep, but without naming bis voucher for the statement, Benares “ was governed by a Baja Banar, at the time of one of Mahmud’s invasions, or in a.d. 1017, when one of his generals pen«trated to the province, and defeated the Baja.” — Benares Illustrated, p. 9. General Cunningham states that Baja Banar is traditionally believed to have rebuilt Benares about eight hundred years ago. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, for 1863, Supplementary Number, p. xcvi.

1 Varanasi is specified more than once in Patanjali’s Mahabhdshya. On the age of that work, see my edition of Professor Wilson’s translation of the Vishnu-purdna, Vol. II., p. 189, ad calcem.

2 So allege the Pandits of the present day ; repeating, no doubt, a long-current conceit of their predecessors : see the Asiatic Researches, Vol. III., pp. 409, 410. This notion, though it has found expression in the Araish-i-mahfil and other recent Muhammadan books, is, I believe, only implied in the Puranas. It is said, for instance, in the third chapter of the Vdmana-purdna, that Varanasi lies between the Varana and the Asi :

ffVWB I

B BB B Bfwt BBBB: II

bbbtbbb^bbb; ii

INTRODUCTION.

XIX

Convertible, in later usage, with Yaranasi is the de-

There is a statement to the like effect in a section of the Padmapurdna, the Kdsi-m&hdtmya, Y., 58 :

^r^TTcT rpHT^f T. I

WE II

The same idea occurs more than once in a putative appendage to the Skanda-purana, the Kdsi-khanda. It will suffice to quote XXX., 20, 21 :

Particular reference may, also, he made to stanzas 69 and 70 of the same chapter ; and similar passages might be extracted from other Puranas.

The Asi — now known as the A si, and still trickling during the rainy season, despite Father Yivien de Saint-Martin’s scepticism as to its existence, — has a niche in the Haima-kosa, a work of the twelfth century. The Varuna (sic) and Asi are named in the Calcutta edition of the Mahdbhdrata, BMshma-parvan, kl. 338. But, in my annotations on the English translation of the Vishnu-purdna, Yol. II., p. 152, it is surmised that this stanza is an interpolation ; and it may be added that is omitted from the text of the Mahdbhdrata as accepted by the commentator Nilakantha; while the scholiast Arjunamisra reads, at least in my manuscript, Charuna and Asi.

Dr. Schwanbeck — Megasthenis Indica, p. 36, note, — is reminded, by Arrian’s ’Epevvecns, of Yaranasi. Hereupon, Professor Lassen — lndische Alterthumskunde, Yol. I., Appendix, p. LIV., — precipitately took the two for one ; and he still holds to this opinion ; for, in the second edition of his great work, Yol. I., p. 161, note 1, (1867), he writes : “ Des Megasthenes Erennesis ist die vereinigte Yaranasi.” This “ conjunct Yaranasi ” — or, rather, what he unwarrantably calls its modern name, Baranasi, — he compounds, incautiously, after Mr. Walter Hamilton, of two unknown streams, the Yara and the Nasi.

The Jdbala - upanishad places Avimukta — which is a Pauranik title of Benares, — between the Varana and the Nasi or Nasi ; and the commentator, S'ankarananda, disciple of Anandatman, etymologizes the words. An anonymous expositor of the same Upanishad, whose work I consulted in India, reads varand and asi, explains them by ping ala and idd, and makes the result of their conjunction, vdranasi, in some acceptation or other, to be equivalent to sushumnd. One need not stop to expatiate on such trifling.

XX

INTRODUCTION.

signation Kasi 1 or Kasi.2 Whence it arose history has

Something of the same sort is to be seen in the fifth chapter of the Kaki-khanda.

Father Vivien de Saint-Martin — the genesis of whose fictitious river I trace in note 2 to p. xxviii., — began with being disposed to make the Asi an affluent to the Varana, with a Varanasi below their confluence, and the city Varanasi therefrom denominated. Memoir es sur les Contrees Occidentales, Vol. II., p. 361. Here “ il serait trespossible que l’un de ces ruisseaux se fut nomme Asi, et qu’apres sa reunion a la Varana, la petite riviere eut pris le nom compose de Varanasi qu’elle aurait communique a la ville.” This, as speculation, will pass ; but, to this writer, with his bias in favour of the theological or mythopeic method of geographizing, what are, at first, only suggestions, very soon ripen into indubitable certainties : “Cette riviere [the ’Epevveo-vi], la derniere de la liste d’Arrien, se recommit sans difficult^ dans la Varanasi, petite riviere qui se jette dans la gauche du Gange a Benares, qui en a pris son nom (en Sanscrit Varanasi).” Etude sur la Geographie Grecque et Latine de I’Inde, p. 286.

This author more than inclines to see Varanasi in the words Erarasa (or Cragausa) metropolis, foisted into the Latin translation of Ptolemy. Ibid., pp. 227, 351. Here, very much as just above, having to do with a Latin interpolation, he sets out with describing it as such, and as offering “ un reste de ressemblance qu’on entrevoit encore a travers la corruption du mot ; ” and, a little while afterwards, as if process of time necessarily stood for an accession of facts and reasons, persuades himself that he may speak of “ une ville que Ptolemee enumere sous le nom altere d’ Erarasa,” and that he finds, therein, “la trace bien reconnaissable de Varanasi, forme sanscrite de notre Benares.”

I have everywhere scrupulously reproduced the varieties of spelling indulged in by the writer just cited.

The final d and the initial a of two words coalescing into a compound might, possibly, yield a ; and Varana and Asi would, therefore, combine into Varanasi. But this form seems to be the peculiar property of a single recent and very indifferent lexicographer ; and, moreover, the name of the second stream is, correctly, Asi, not Asi. In the Kdsi-khanda, XXX., 18, it is the subject of a pun, in connexion with asi, “ a sword.”

1 This is the oldest form, and that recognized in the Jl aima-kosa and by Ujjwaladatta’s commentary on the Unnddi-sutra.

2 Kasi is not so markedly feminine as the more usual Kasi, its derivative. Most Indian cities have feminine appellations.

INTRODUCTION.

XXI long forgotten;1 but conjecture may, possibly, unravel its etymology.2

Among the descendants of Ayus3 was Kasa, whose son is noticed under the patronyms4 of Kaseya,5 Kasiya,6 and Kasi.7 The regal successors of Kasi, and

Kasika is found in the Kasi-khanda, XXX., 70, and elsewhere. Compare Avantika for Avanti, as in note 1 to p. xxxiii., infra.

1 The vocabularists refer the word to has, “ to shine.” And herewith agrees the Kdsi-hhanda, XXYL, 67 :

In the stanza immediately preceding this, the city is called Muktikshetra. Krishna is speaking ; and he says that the radiance of Kasi emanates from S'iva.

If, where they interpret Kasi by “splendid,” Colonel Wilford and his numerous followers intend to take the word from the adjective kdsin, they have forgotten that the feminine is not hast, but kasini. See the Asiatic Researches, Yol. III., p. 409.

2 Professor Wilson has already written : “ It seems probable * that the city [of Kasi] was founded, not by him [Kshattravriddha], but by his grandson or great-grandson, denominated Kasa and Kasiraja.” Mr. James Prinsep’s Benares Illustrated, p. 8. It is meant, here, I suppose, to hint a derivative connexion of Kasi with Kasa or Kasiraja. The latter name Professor Wilson everywhere puts, erroneously, for “ King Kasi.” See note 7 in the present page.

3 See the English Vishnu-purdna, Yol. IY., pp. 30-32.

4 Compare Mandukeya, from Manduka ; and Swaphalki, from S'waphalka.

6 So reads the Harivamsa, si. 1734, in the best MSS. accessible to me.

6 Gam on Panini, IV., II., 90 ; and the Brahma-purdna.

7 Bhdgavata-purana, IX., XVII., 4. In the Vishnu-purdna, he is called Kasirdja ; but the term, a compound, is there to be explained “Raja Kasi.” Differently, Kdsirdja, Kasipati, etc., descriptive of Ajatasatru, Divodasa, Pratardana, and others, signify “ Raja of the Kasis.” That ^dfiryTST: may be the same as 3\lflPJ WT. is clear from the Mahdbhdrata, Anusdsand-parvan, si. 1949 and 1952.

XXII

INTRODUCTION.

equally their subjects, were called Kasis.1 Though at first a masculine appellation, Kasi, as applied to the city so styled, is feminine.2 An exact parallel to this hypothetical evolution is not far to seek. The name of King Champa, femininized, became that of the metropolis of Anga, Champa.3

The term Kasi, denominating, if not a city,4 a people

1 Kasi’s successors were likewise known as Kasyas and as Kasikas. These terms are, all, actually employed. The last is, also, applied to persons or things pertaining to Kasi.

* Kuntl, a woman, was so called from Kunti, a man.

Kasi, according to the Vishnu-purdna, — see the English translation, Yol. IV., p. 159, — was the name of the wife of Bhimasena. Tbe reading is, however, erroneous, most probably. I find, as a variant, Kaseyl. This, like the corresponding Kasya of the Malidbhdrata, Adi-parvan, si. 3829, is a derivative of Kasi.

3 See the English Vishnu-purdna , Yol. IV., p. 125.

I am not unaware of the gana on Panini, IV., II., 82.

4 “ In the Mahabhdrata, frequent mention of Kasi occurs,” according to Professor Wilson, as quoted in Benares Illustrated, p. 8. I should be much surprised to find Kasi mentioned even once in the Ma- Jiabharata.

Not till medieval times, it seems, do we read of the city of Kasi. To the authority, on this behalf, of the Puranas may be added that of an inscription which I have deciphered and published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, for 1862, pp. 11, 15. The document in question, a land-grant, was issued by Vinayakapala, Raja of Mahodaya or Kanauj, about the middle of the eleventh century, it may be. Kasi is there indirectly described as in the vishaya of Varanasi, in the bhuhti of Pratishthana. For Pratishthana, vide infra, p. xxv., note 1.

It is, in my judgment, very doubtful indeed that Ptolemy’s KaaaiBa metamorphoses Kasi, as has been confidently asserted by Colonel Wilford and very many others. See the Asiatic Researches, Vol. III., p. 410 ; Vol. IX., p. 73.

Fa Hian may have intended to reproduce Kdsirdjya, “kingdom of the Kasis,” in his words rendered by “ le royaume de Kia chi.” Vide infra, p. xxviii., note 1.

INTRODUCTION.

and its chieftains, occurs repeatedly in Sanskrit works of all but the highest antiquity.1 Of Kasi, in whatever sense of the word, we cannot, however, collect, from indigenous records, materials from which to con-

The expression cRlftruyt , in tlie Dasa-kum&ra-charita,

means “Varanasi, a city of the Kasis.” In the subjoined verse, from the Rdmdyam, TJttara-kdnda, XXXVIII., VI., 17, Varanasi is qualified by an expression meaning, the commentator says, “ a city in the country of the Kasis : ”

^TVTW' sT51 I

Finally, in the Mahdbhdrata, Adi-pctrvan, si. 4083, 4084, we read of the king of the Kasis as dwelling in the city of Varanasi.

1 The oldest among them, probably, is Panini, IV., II., 116 ; with which compare IV., II., 113. Then come the S'atapatha-brahmana, the Brihad-dr any alia and KaushUaki-brdhmana Vpanishads, etc., etc. In some of these works, the substantive is involved in the adjective Kasya. This word, like Kasika, — for which see the Mahdbhdrata, TJdyoga-parvan, si. 5907, — means, etymologically, Kasian. But commentators on old writings explain it, and rightly, to signify “ king of the Kasis.” Kasiraja and Kasya are used of the same person in the Bhagavad-gltd, I., 5, 1 7.

The Rigveda affords no warrant for connecting with the Kasis any person whom it mentions. It speaks of Divodasa, and it speaks of Pratardana ; but only in later literature are they called father and son, and rulers of the Kasis ; and, where Katyayana, in his Rigveddnukramanikd, characterizes the latter as Kasirdja, he may have expressed himself metachronically, under the influence of a modern tradition which he and his contemporaries accepted. As to the former, we find, indeed, in post-vaidik books, two Divodasas ; into whom a single personage seems to have been parted. One of them is son of Badhryaswa, as in the Rigveda ; but it is the other, the son of Bhlmaratha, and father of Pratardana, that is called king of the Kasis. It may be added, that there is no ground for considering Badhryaswa and Bhlmaratha to be two names of one and the same person. See the English Vishnu-purdna, Vol. IV., pp. 33, and 145, 146. Badhryaswa, not Bahwaswa, is the reading of the Vishnu-purdna. Correct accordingly Professor "Wilson’s translation of the Rigveda, Vol. III., p. 504, note 1. See, further, the Mahdbhdrata, Anusdsana-parvan, Chapter XXX.

XXIV

INTRODUCTION.

struct anything approaching a history. The kingdom of the Kasis, and its rulers, as is evinced by the frequency of reference to them, enjoyed, from distant ages, more or less of notoriety ; and this is, substantially, all that the Hindu memorials teach us.

The Puranas specify but one dynasty of Kasi kings ; a goodly catalogue, beginning, in the most authoritative of those works, with the son of Kasa.1 To Kasa, by a lapse of perhaps two centuries, succeeded Divodasa, in whose reign Buddhism seems to have been still acting on the aggressive.2 In this synchronism there is no discernible improbability ; and, with some likelihood, it embodies an historic fact. A reflexion of actual events may, likewise, be afforded in the story of the burning of Varanasi by the discus of Vishnu.3 Of the age of Ajatasatru, as of other very early leaders of the Kasis, none but most vague indications have, as yet,

1 A Kasa is named in the gana on Panini, IV., I., 10.

According to my five wretched copies of the Vdyu-purdna, Kasa

was followed by Kasaya (???), Kashtra (??), Dirghatapas, Dharma, Dhanwantari, Ketumat, Bhimaratha, Divodasa.

The Brahndnda-purdna has, in one place, Kasa and Kasiya, as sire and son, and, a little further on, instead of them, Kasika and Kaseya. Kasika, as evolving Kaseya, must be considered as an optional elongation of Kasi.

2 See the English Vishnu-purdna, Vol. TV., pp. 30-40.

We read, in the Vayu-purdna :

f^rr^ra jfri wr?fr i

irari wr ii

Then follows an account of the expulsion of Divodasa from Varanasi. So far as we know, he was the only king of the Kasi family that had to do with that city.

3 See the Vishnu-purana, Book V., Chapter XXXTV.

INTRODUCTION.

xxv been discovered. Some of these personages ruled, not at Benares, but at Pratishthana ; 1 and, at the time of the Muhammadan conquest, Benares and the surrounding country appertained to the throne of Kanauj.2