We were up at 5 AM and got ready as Dibesh had said that he will come to fetch us at 5:30, the plan was to go to the Ghats again for the morning Ganga Aarthi and then on a boat ride to witness the sunrise while we go along the banks of the Ganges viewing the many ghats along the river. Then we are to get off at the Manikarnika Ghat (cremation ghat) and walk to the Kasi Viswanathar temple.
There is so much to see and experience in this ancient city and it would appropriate to spare a few days here to ensure a complete experience.
The boat ride over we started walking up the Manikarnika ghats and were told that photography is not allowed in the cremation ghats, so we put our cameras away and got onto the narrow lanes that make Varanasi. The many narrow lanes and the crowd and the very hig securoty levels at the temple made it a harrowing and claustrophobic experience. A cup of tea for each of us served in Kullads helped just before we walked into the temple. The temple sanctun sanctorum is a small basin of about 6 feet diameter in which is a lingam, to which the millions who visit the temple pray. We poured the mug of milk that we had purchased for this purpose said our prayers and moved and this before we were pushed away by force to make way for others.
After breakfast at the Hotel we took an auto and went off in search of Aghoris, however we did not find any but did visit the Keenaram Babus ashram for Aghoris, after the Ashram we went to another Ashramkashi Mumkshu Bhavan Sabha at Assi, the elderly from various parts of India come here and wait till they die. The elders are taken care of well till their time comes.
Our next stop was the Harishchandra Ghats, another cremation ghats where we saw a couple of bodies being cremated, the amount of firewood that is used in the ghats is amazing. Most people use the traditional method of cremation rather than the electric crematorium.
Ganga Mahotsav and Dev Deepavali commence tomorrow in varanasi and to join in on the celebrations here over 200000 people I am told have come into Varanasi. No hotel rooms are available and the rush is great, this also means that the ghats will have large numbers of people.
The highlight of the festival is on the last day, when more than a million clay lamps are floated down the river at dusk amidst chanting of Vedic hymns as part of Dev Deepavali.
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| Clay pots eing sold at Harishchandra ghats for the last rites to be carried out before cremation |
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| Shuvkumar Chouhan our Auto driver |
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| A common sign in Varanasi |
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| An ashram in Varanasi to which the elderly from many parts of India and wait here to die. |
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| Tea in Kullad just outside the Kasi Viswanathar temple |
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| Lane in Varanasi |
Dear HLR,
ReplyDeleteBeen following your travelogue. Nice experience. Thanks for sharing. Good Luck and safe driving for the remaining leg.
Cheers
VAUsrini
Just yesterday, watched two youtube clips interviewing an old friend of mine who was air traffic controller in Benares Airport for five years. He narrates two incidents his friends experienced. In the first, sitting on the ghat steps, he sees an elderly woman and man, obviously mother and son, come and sit. After quite some time, the man leaves, and the woman starts weeping. My friend's friend goes over to enquire, and confirms that she is the mother and he the son. They had come from somewhere far away, the 85 year old woman doesnt know where, and her son has left her there in Kashi, to be taken care of by the Gods. She had the old woman taken to a care home. In the second incident, his another friend was sitting in the train waiting for it to leave. There was an elderly woman, Tamil speaking, crying and running up and down the platform, as she had lost contact with the Group she had come with, and the train was to leave anytime. He thought he will go out and enquire. But, the person sitting opposite nudged him, and said, this is a regular scene in Kashi. The old woman is brought along with the big family to see Kashi, which she is only too happy to see before dying, but the family leaves leaving the lady behind ...
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