Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Three small children beating gongs played near the shrine's
entrance - as if it were their toy house. They giggled shyly at me,
tiny hands covering big, toothy mouths. Facing the mahayogi's
temple, across the empty concrete space, were numerous peeling
double doors, all but one of them closed.
'Come, my friend,' Amar said, walking through the open one.
Within was a small, bare room containing two charpoys. Another
doorway led to a walled-in open area surrounded by small rooms,
their entrances variously open or closed. Many people, mainly
women, came and went, glancing briefly at the room in which I stood.
On one charpoy, the dom raja, a slender little old man with a
profuse, startlingly white beard, was emerging from a nap. I was
offered the charpoy opposite, watching as the regal old fellow
demanded a silk kurta to slip on over his undershirt. This
shimmering, creamy kurta had diamond studs instead of buttons.
In Hindi, Amar explained that I was an American writer who
wished to interview him.
'British-Canadian,' I added, but this did not seem to make either
of them aware that I understood enough Hindi to make furtive
conversation unwise.
The king of death turned his unnervingly piercing black eyes to
his son. What did this visitor want to know, he wondered. What was
his actual name, for a start? I asked. This resulted in much
discussion; 'Kalu' seemed to be the answer. How had his family
come to be dom rajas? At least six assorted men had drifted into the
room by now, perched on the dom raja's charpoy, squatting on the
floor, or leaning against each other. They all babbled loudly at once,
repeating each question in every possible way it lent itself to being
interpreted. The group decided that I was interested in the history
behind the title. I soon wondered if any of them actually knew it.
Numerous topics give various accounts, and I had read several
accounts of the dom rajas, all different, but this is finally what the
man himself believed to be his family history, at least on July 21,
1992:
A long time ago, there was a great king in Benares, Harischandra.
What was a long time ago?
Amar suggested six hundred years; another man disagreed
