Benares by Little Helpers

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 15, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 19.

Benares.

By Little Helpers

BENARES is counted the most sacred city of the Hindus, and, in the traditions of the country, is said to be as old as creation. Every year, multitudes gather here to bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges upon whose banks it is situated. The immediate margin is chiefly occupied with flights of steps called ghauts, by means of which the devotees descend to the water. Sometimes, as many as one hundred thousand pilgrims are found in this sacred place. Once, during an eclipse of the moon, forty persons were trampled to death in the crowded streets.

We are glad, however, to tell you that the influence of the place is slowly waning. European science and Christian teaching are taking effect upon the public mind; and the present generation have a little less confidence in the efficacy of the sacred waters than their fathers had. Let us hope that many of their children will go for cleansing to the fountain Jesus has opened.—Little Helpers.