Slowly Down the Ganges. Eric Newby
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of the sun that was shooting up across the river, blinding the Sivite sadhus who squatted, coated in ashes, in the alcoves below the temple of Gangadwara, still warming themselves before the smouldering tree-trunks with which they had seen the night through. Here we turned inland, away from the river, and began to climb a steep path at the back of the town which led to the temple of Manasa-Devi.
At the temple, nearly 2,000 feet up, the air was gelid. G. asked the priest to recite the Lalita-sahasra-nama, the thousand names of Vishnu.8
‘I do not know the Lalita-sahasra-nama’, the priest said, equably and went back to his own protracted devotions.
‘It’s disgraceful,’ G. said. ‘He ought to know it. It’s like priest in Church of England not knowing the Lord’s Prayer.’
From the hills to Sookerthal on the Ganges, the navigation is restricted entirely to rafts of timber and to the passage of boats which, being built in the valley of Deyra, are with some difficulty and great danger floated, empty down the rapids.
Col. Sir T. Proby Cautley: The Ganges Canal, Vol. 1
A list of suggestive articles which are needed on the journey is given here but the pilgrims may have all or some of them as desired and needed.
Religious
Japalma
Agarbattis
Camphor
Dhup Powder
Kumkuma
Sandalwood Powder
Wicks soaked in ghee and kundi
Asanam
Bhagavad Gita or any religious book for daily use
Bhajan Songs or Namavali
Sri Ramakoti Book
Cloths
Rugs, Blanket
Muffler
Dhavali or Silk Dhoti
Dhoties 2
Shirts 4
Baniyans 2
Uppar clothe 3
Towels 3
Waterproff cloth (2 yards)
Rotten cloth (pieces 4)
Coupeens 2
Cloth bag for money to keep round waist
Bedding
Mosquito Curtain
Medicines
Amrutanjan
Smelling Salt
Vaseline bottle
J & J De Chane’s
Medical Service set with its guide book
Homeopathic Box & a guide Booh
Diarrhoea Pills
Dysentery Pills
Indigestion Pills
Malaria Pills
Boric Powder
Cotton
Cloth (Plaster)
Bandage cloth
Aspro Tablets
Purgative chacklets
Tooth powder or paste
Utensiles
Canvas bucket
Cooker
Oven
One set of stainless steel vessels
Ladle
Spoons – 3
Fraid pan
Tiffin Carrier
Tumbler
Glass
Miscellaneous
Looking Glass and comb
Soaps for bath and wash
Nails of all sizes
Locks 2
Cloth bags for food stuffs
Pen knife
Small gunny bag for coal
Wrist Watch
Umbrella
Hand stick
Visiting Cards
List of departed souls and their Gotras
Hand bags 2
Note book
White Papers
Fountain pen and pencil
Candles
Needles and thread
Railway Guide
Pilgrim’s Travel Guide
A small hand axe
Good Camera with flash
Movie (Cene) Camera
Tongue Cleaner
Suit case or hand jip bag
Lock and chain
Pandari bag to carry things on shoulder
Safety pins
Change for Rs. 10 00
Setuvu from Rameswaram
Ganges from Allahabad
Haridwar or Gangottari
Rail and Road Maps
Battery light with spare Batteries
Thermos Flask
Hurricane Lamp
Match box
Calendar both Telugu and English
News Papers
Ink bottles
Postage stamps and cards
from A Pilgrim’s Travel Guide
At six-fifteen the following morning we were at the bridge, ready to embark. A bitter wind was blowing and against a pink sky flights of teal and mallard were rocketing upstream towards the Hardwar gorge.
The boat was moored ready for us alongside one of the piers of the bridge on the upstream side and the current was grinding it against the stones, emphasising its tinniness. It was as full of holes as it had ever been and there were eight inches of water in the bottom. Because of its lightness it had somehow achieved a balance between floating and foundering; but if any further weight was imposed on it, it would certainly scuttle itself.
Of the crew whom we had interviewed the previous day, a pair of terrible ruffians with mops of greasy hair, there was no sign. We had told them to be ready to leave at six and we had arrived at a quarter past, hoping to start within an hour or so, this being the custom of the country, but now it was evident it did not matter at what time they arrived; there would be no sailing in this boat today or any other day.
We were prey to all the violent, unworthy emotions that have consumed visitors to India from time immemorial: impotent rage; the desire that Timur Leng, the terrible Tatar, knew and was able to gratify, to make hecatombs and raise great towers of skulls (he made a sanguinary detour to the banks of the Ganges in the Year of the Hare, 1399, and entered Hardwar and sacked