CLEANING A SACRED TANK.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1616, 22 February 1884, Page 3

CLEANING A SACRED TANK.

An extraordinary spectacle has been on viow at Amritsar for a month past, The Kaulsar tank in that city has loug been in a state of foulness almost equal to its sanctity, and the authorities at length found themselves obliged to clean it. • Popular excitement ran tremendous, but by most careful and patient deference to the superstition of the Sikhs, the pumping was effected without a tumult, Whon the workpeople withdrew the principal, citizens formed a cordon round the holy pool, and their wives, daughters, and young sons proceeded to empty out the mud, It lay several feet deep, a hideous compound. No "common persons" were allowed to approach; the ladies, in satin and gold embroidery, did all the work. They carried out the stuff in baskets and pots, daubing their fino clothes purposely, took it homo, and plastered every portion of their houses therewith; some even ate it, The remainder they loaded upon elephants for sale to devout Sikhs, Meantime dozens of bands played day and night, fireworks were exploded, and the priests performed their ceremonies in irotation, After the ladies had cleaned out the tank, bricklayers put it in thorough order without payment, It makes this anecdote the more interresting to remember that Sikh authorities are very undecided why the Kaulsar tank is so holy,