Travels in India (Tavernier) 129.1.6

129.1.6

I come to the pagoda of Benares, which, after that of Jagannath, is the most famous in all India, with which it is even, as it were, on a par, being also built on the margin of the Ganges, and in the town of which it bears the name. The most remarkable thing about it is that from the door of the pagoda to the river there is a descent by stone steps, where there are at intervals platforms and small, rather dark, chambers, some of which serve as dwellings for the Brahmins, and others as kitchens where they prepare their food. For after the idolaters have bathed, and have gone to pray and make their offerings in the pagoda, they prepare their food without any one but themselves touching it, through the fear they have lest any one who approached it might be unclean. But above all things, they ardently desire to drink the water of the Ganges, because, as soon as they have drunk it, they believe, as I have said, that they are cleansed from all their sins. Every day large numbers of these Brahmins are to be seen going to the clearest part of the river to fill this water into round, small-mouthed, earthen pots, which hold about a bucketful. When they are full they are taken to the chief priest, who directs the mouth to be covered with a very fine cloth of fire-colour, in three or four folds, upon which he applies his seal. The Brahmins carry this water at the end of a stick, which is flat like a lath, from which hang six small cords, and to each of them one of these pots is attached.