s' the same as Theebaw's Queen
An' I seed her first a-smokin' of a whackin' white cheroot.
An' a wastin' Christian kisses on a 'eathen idol's foot'"

{207 continued}

But let us get back to Benares and its pilgrims. They do not all die,
nor do they spend all their time bathing in the sacred waters of
"Mother Gunga," as the Ganges is called. Naturally there are many
temples in which they must worship, many priests whom they must
support. There are said to be 2000 temples in Benares and the high
priest of one of them--while sparring for a bigger tip for his
services--told me that he was at the head of 400 priests supported by
his establishment alone (the Golden Temple).

And such temples as they are! I have seen the seamy side of some great
cities, but for crass and raw vulgarity and obsceneness there are
"temples" in Benares--so-called "temples" that should minister to
man's holier nature, with so-called "priests" to act as guides to
their foulness--that could give lessons to a third-rate Bowery den. No
wonder that the Government of India, when it made a law against
indecent pictures and carvings, had to make a special exception for
Hindu "religious"(!) pictures. There is a limit, however, even to the
endurance of the British Government, and at the Nepalese Temple I was
told that the authorities do not allow such structures to be built
now. Moreover, it is not only admitted that the temples in many parts
of India are the resort of the lowest class of women, "temple girls"
dedicated to gods and goddesses, but their presence is openly defended
as proper.

Most of the temples in Benares, too, are as far from cleanliness as
they are from godliness. The Golden Temple with its sacred cows penned
up in dirty stalls, its ragged half-naked worshippers, its holy
cesspool known as "The Well of Knowledge," its hideous,
leprosy-smitten beggars, its numerous emblems of its lustful god
Krishna, and its mercenary priests, {208} is a good illustration. And
the famous Monkey Temple (dedicated like the Kalighat to Mother Kali)
I found no more attractive. This temple is open to the sky and the
most loathsome collection of dirty monkeys that I have ever had the
misfortune to see were scrambling all around the place, while the
monkey-mad, bloodstained, goat-killing priests, preying on the
ignorance of the poor, and itching for a few annas in tips, won a
place in my disgust second only to that occupied by their monkey
companions.