X432/4(24)

View taken near the city of Sirinagur.

No. XXIV. VIEW TAKEN NEAR THE CITY OF SERINAGUR.

At this place, which is a little above the city, terminated the author's rout through the mountainous district of Serinagur. War, which is the scourge of art and science, rendered the further gratification of his curiosity, however inoffensive its object, in these parts dangerous. The fighting men were preparing for resistance, and the rest of the people, seeking their safety by flight, were removing in a body to the opposite side of the river, by means of their temporary bridge.

The mountains are here embellished with scattered villages, and their sides with regular horizontal stripes of cultivation, producing an effect not so agreeable to the artistical as to the philanthropic observer, who is much less interested by the beauties of form than by such unpicturesque indications of useful industry. The Alucnindra, which flows through this fertile vale, might, indeed, be termed the Ganges, being its principal branch, although it does not actually receive that appellation till, after passing the mountains, it makes its solemn entrance into the plains of Hindoostan, at the Hurduwar; a place of vast consideration among the Hindoos, regarded by all the faithful as a bathing place of prodigious efficacy in preparing the way to future bliss, and thence denominated Hurduwar, or the Gates of Heaven.

It seems to be the property of this marvellous river to sanctify whatever it approaches, its islands are therefore devoted to the habitation of priests and pious hermits; its rocky banks display the embellishments of religious art; the cities upon its shores, by their innumerable ghauts, or flights of steps, for the convenience of ablution, seem erected chiefly for pious purposes; and the name of Serinagur, or Holy Place, would probably never have been given to that city, had it not been situated on the banks of the Ganges. But time makes no distinction between what is sacred and what profane; this ancient city has felt its effects, and shares in the common fate of Hindoo grandeur, which can now only be seen in its mutilated remains. Raja Purdoo Maan Saa, its present chief, is a man of high cast, and much beloved by his people; of whom, nevertheless, he is but a feeble protector: like many of the minor sovereigns of our own hemisphere, whose sceptres of straw, the gracious boon, perhaps, of some colossal power, command no respect, and impart no security.

Serinagur is in latitude 31 deg. N. longitude 78 deg. W. and is distant from Cape Comorin, the first View of this Series, about 2500 miles.