CHAPTER VII.

_HOLY WELLS AND TANKS._

Worship of Khwaja Khizr—Alexander’s ramble in quest of the blessed waters—Northern India customs—_Khwaja Saheb ka Dalya_—Water of Zumzum—Mother Ganges and Lady Jumna—Pilgrimage to the Godavari—Russian ceremony of blessing the waters of the Neva—Sita’s kitchen—Dr. Buchanan’s visit to the Monghyr well—The theory of expiating sins by baths—King Trisanku’s deadly sins and salvation—Washing of sins with the sacred thread—Sacred wells of India—Rajput woman turned into a male Rajput of the Solanki class—The legendary lore of the holy wells of England—Thomas Quiller-Couch’s notes on the holy wells of Cornwall—Sacred wells of Scotland and Ireland 44-53