Mark Twain (1835-1910) also known as Samuel Clemens, one of the most widely loved and celebrated American writers since his first books were released in the late 1860s. Many of his writings have reached the pinnacles of American and world literature, including the timeless Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthurs Court and Following the Equator. Besides these easily recognizable classics, Twain wrote fascinating Travelogue detailing his experiences in Asia. So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked. Land of religions, cradle of human race, birthplace of human speech, grandmother of legend, great grandmother of tradition. The land that all men desire to see and having seen once even by a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the globe combined. India had the start of the whole world in the beginning of things. She had the first civilization; she had the first accumulation of material wealth; she was populous with deep thinkers and subtle intellects; she had mines, and woods, and a fruitful soul. Varanasi or Banaras has been continuously populated for more than 3,000 years, and has often been called the oldest city in the world. It was the contemporary of Thebes and Babylon. Early visitors were struck by the spectacle the panorama of the Banaras riverfront. In his around-the-world adventures, Following the Equator, Mark Twain wrote: The Ganga (Ganges) front is the supreme showplace of Benares. Its tall bluffs are solidly caked from water to summit, along a stretch of three miles, with a splendid jumble of massive and picturesque masonry, a bewildering and beautiful confusion of stone platforms, temples, stair flights, rich and stately palaces....soaring stairways, sculptured temples, majestic palaces, softening away into the distances; and there is movement, motion, human life everywhere, and brilliantly costumed - streaming in rainbows up and down the lofty stairways, and massed in metaphorical gardens on the mile of great platforms at the rivers edge. (source: Banaras: City of Light - By Diana L Eck p.14). He had said in his inimitable style: “Varanasi or Banaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.” (source: Soul of a Nation - The Hindustan Times). Mark Twain remarked: India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire. When traveling through India, he had exclaimed that though a week had only seven days, Indians seemed to celebrate eight festivals every week. He observed that having had only the briefest glimpse of India, you would not trade the experience for all the riches in the world. This is what he wrote about India in 1896: India had the start of the whole world in the beginning of things. She had the first civilization; she had the first accumulation of material wealth; she was populous with deep thinkers and subtle intellect; she had mines, and woods, and a fruitful soul. (source: Hinduism Today July/August/September 2002 p. 52). Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India. Twain was awed by Hindu tradition. He said, the one land that all men desire to see, and having once seen, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined. (source: Hinduism - By Linda Johnsen p. 364). India is a country whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of nations.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 08:41:25 +0000
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