Proceeding along the east bank we pass a number of small tumble-down shrines, overshadowed by majestic banyans, extending their mighty arms in graceful curves over the tranquil green water. We still follow the steps and arrive at the north end which has quite a recent look about it. Our guide tells us that this modern addition was the work of one “Larkeen Sahib,” an official in these parts, who was very fond of the Hindu, and had built this _ghat_ for them out of a feeling of gratitude because his wife had owed her recovery from a mysterious illness to the intercession of the Brahmans. Oh! “Larkeen Sahib,” I wonder if the pious local legend which is told about you has ever reached your ears! On the western side we find a little brick cenotaph which commemorates the _suttee_ of the five wives of a Brahman whose name is now forgotten. Somewhat in advance of this cenotaph, and a little away from the lake-side, we are conducted to a “_bythuck_” of Guru Nanak, the original founder of the Sikh sect, and we take shelter within its walls from a pelting shower of rain which makes the landscape more cheerless than ever. Here our guide informs us Guru Nanak used to sit beside the sacred pool to practise contemplation. But the admiring crowds who came to visit him would give him no peace; so one day, to avoid their unwelcome attentions, he just sank into the ground and, following a subterranean tunnel, emerged at Hurdwar on the Ganges. There could be no doubt about this miraculous underground journey, for there was the very tunnel itself to support the truth of the story, with a substantial flight of steps leading down into it. Yes, true enough, there were three or four steps leading down into a small hole within the walls of the shrine. But how about the tunnel? My son descended into the hole to explore it. A look of chagrin passed over the face of our Brahman guide. Why this unnecessary and irreverent curiosity? The story _must_ be true, for _every one_ believed it; and, certainly, the position of this _bythuck_ of Guru Nanak is interesting, for it shows how persistently the Sikhs attach themselves to the old Hindu faith to which the vast majority of professing Sikhs now practically belong. [Illustration: [_To face p. 200._] THE TEMPLE AND BATHING GHÂTS ON THE SACRED LAKE AT KURUKSHETRA.]