The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.34

v2.c17.34

¹⁶ The following is Mr. Sherring's account of this act of devotion : “To perform the pilgrimage of the *pañckoṣi* is accounted a very meritorious act. It is necessary that every good Hindu residing in the city of Beneres should twice a year accomplish this pilgrimage, in order that the impurity which the soul and body have contracted during the year may be obliterated; for it is held to be impossible even to reside in such a holy city as Beneres, without contracting such devilement Not only the inhabitants of Beneres, but also mutitudes of persons from various parts of India, traverse the road, and seek to obtain the blessing which, they are told, such a pious act ensures. It is customery for a large number of pilgrims to travel together on this journey. Before setting out each morning, they must bathe in a tank or stream, and on terminating their march each day, must perform the same rite. They do not permit themselves the luxury of shoes, nor do they relieve the fatigue of the journey by the assistance of either horse, or ass, or camel, or elephant, or of any carriage or cart or vehicle whatever. Anxious to secure a full measure of merit, they cannot afford that it should be lessened by the appliances and arts of civilized life. All, therefore, men, women, and children, rich and poor, princes and peasants, travel on foot. Starting from the Maṇikarṇikā Ghāṭ, the pilgrim keeps along the banks of the Ganges until he arrives at the Asi Sangam and Asi Ghāṭ, where a petty stream flowes into the great river From this spot he proceeds to a temple of Jagannāth close by, and thence on to the village of Khāṇḍhava, where he stays for the day, having performed a journey of 6 miles The second day's march is to the village of Dhūpcandī, 10 miles further on, where he worships the tutelary goddess of that name. On the third day he arrives at Rāmeśvara after a long walk of 14 miles. The fourth day brings him to Śivapur, where he visits the famous shrine of Pañc Pāndav, or five brothers, who were all married to one woman. On this day he travels 8 miles, and, on the fifth day, 6 more, namely, to the village of Kapildhārā, where he worships the god Mahādeva. The sixth and last stage is from Kapildhārā to the Burna Sangam, thence to Maṇikarṇikā Ghāṭ from which he first set out, which is also 6 miles in length. He has thus completed in 6 days a march of nearly 50 miles.” (*The Sacred City of the Hindus*, pp. 177 f.). Mr. Sherring is of opinion, that this pilgrimage is of modern date, not earlier than the time of Rāṇī Bhavānī, or 150 years; but seeing that in the time of Todar Mall a tank was excavated by the road for the service of Śiva, and the rite got currency at Bhuvaneśvara when the *Kapila Saṁhita* was written long before that date, and everything at Bhuvaneśvara was got up in imitation of Benares, with a view to make it a second Benares, I think the conjecture is not tenable. The main argument used is that there is nothing old about the road, is, to say the least, a very weak one. Mr. Sherring says the oldest inscription is about 250 years of age, but Todar Mall's inscription (*Proceedings As. Soc. for May* 1875, p.84) is older.