t
the Shivaites have no right to it. From the first days of their rule
the English inherited endless lawsuits between the fighting sectarians,
cases decided in one law-court only to be transferred on appeal to
another, and always having their origin in this ill-omened tail and its
pretensions. This tail is a mysterious deus ex machina that directs all
the thoughts of the Nassik Brahmans pro and contra.

On the subject of this tail were written more reams of paper and
petitions than in the quarrel about the goose between Ivan Ivanitch and
Ivan Nikiphoritch; and more ink and bile were spilt than there was mud
in Mirgorod, since the creation of the universe. The pig that so happily
decided the famous quarrel in Gogol would be a priceless blessing to
Nassik, and the struggle for the tail. But unhappily even the "pig" if
it hailed from "Russia" would be of no avail in India; for the English
would suspect it at once, and arrest it as a Russian spy!

Rama's bathing place is shown in Nassik. The ashes of pious Brahmans are
brought hither from distant parts to be thrown into the Godavari, and so
to mingle for ever with the sacred waters of Ganges. In an ancient MS.
there is a statement of one of Rama's generals, who, somehow or other,
is not mentioned in the Ramayana. This statement points to the river
Godavari as the frontier between the kingdoms of Rama, King of Ayodya
(Oude), and of Ravana, King of Lanka (Ceylon). Legends and the poem of
Ramayana state that this was the spot where Rama, while hunting, saw a
beautiful antelope, and, intending to make a present to his beloved Sita
of its skin, entered the regions of his unknown neighbor. No doubt Rama,
Ravana, and even Hanuman, promoted, for some unexplained reason, to
the rank of a monkey, are historical personages who once had a real
existence. About fifty years ago it was vaguely suspected that the
Brahmans possessed priceless MSS. It was reported that one of these
MSS. treats of the prehistoric epoch when the Aryans first invaded the
country, and began an endless war with the dark aborigines of southern
India. But the religious fanaticism of the Hindus never allowed the
English Government to verify these reports.

The most interesting sights of Nassik are its cave-temples, about five
miles from the town. The day before we started thither, I certainly
did not dream that a "tail" would have to play an important part in
our visit to Nassik, that, in this case, it would save