The Lamas. Social gatherings. Silk industry. 790 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. The writer of the sketch made notes of all that he saw; the short lines call up living pictures be- fore one’s imagination. Regarding the Buddhist Lamas (Priests) he says:
- The ascetics called Lamas who outwardly pro-
fess renunciation are in reality full of worldliness. They transact a prosperous loan-business and trades of various kinds ; and everyone of them is immensely rich, having residential houses like palaces.” The various amusements and religious festivities of Benares, the mode in which the citizens passed their evenings in idle gossip lounging on the banks of the Ganges, and other matters chiefly of social and domestic interest have been briefly noted. A
chapter is devoted to the silk industry for which the Benares weavers have always been so famous, We find in this chapter a list of various kinds of cloth which used to be manufactured there,—the far-famed Benares Sadi, the fine silken stuff colour- ed with various dyes, a piece of which used to | sell for Rs. 200, velvet of the first quality, striped silk with which turbans were made, silk adorned with gold embroidery and so on. He concludes his remarks under this head by saying,—t‘ They show admirable skill in making artistic designs on cotton with coloured silk threads, but they can not produce
- " লাম! সন্টাসীর কত শত মঠ।
বাহো উদ্দাসীন মাত্র, গুহী অন্তঃপট ॥ সদ্দাগরী মৃহাজনী ব্যবসা সবার। এক এক জনার বাড়ী পব্বত-আকার ॥" +" সা্দাতে রেশম পাড়ি কত রঙ্গ করে। শুদ্ধ সাদ অতুযুন্তম করিতে না পারে ॥'
