Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Varanasi a religious destination


Varanasi one of the city of pandits in orange chaddars and wooden sandals, a city where a smoky haze of funerals, and according to Hindu mythology it is supposed to be the first city on earth, I have no clue why they have named it so, will find out in Google today.

Visit the ghats on the Ganga and the old city. Both are linked through series of steps. Dasashwamedh ghat one of the ghats of Kashi is considered to be Varanasi’s holiest spot. Here I found the sight of the sun rising over the Ganga beautiful. We took a boat from Dasashwamedh Ghat to the nearby Manikarnika Ghat, one of Varanasi’s two burning ghats, as it is permanently lined with funerals pyres and bodies in shrouds awaiting the final rites.

Well there are many ghats so we hired a boat and started at ASI Ghat, where we saw the confluence of ASI and Ganga rivers also close by was one of the Varanasi’s oldest ghats named after Sant tulsidas and near the great sage’s home. Then we stopped next at Darbhanga Ghat which was built by the royal family of Bihar. We found out one of the four jantar mantars and the massive sundial at the Man Mandir ghat which was built by Raja Jai Singh of Jaipur. My friend who was a local here took us to eat the piping hot jalebis and kachoris at Vishwanath Gali where I also found maximum amount of foreigners looking for the Hare Ram Hare Krishna T shirts. And at the end of the gali is the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. I loved the aarti at the Dasashwamedh ghat which is conducted every evening. It was amazingly beautiful watching the diyas and flower all over the ghat.

I brought some silk brocades for my mother as she asked me to bring some for her because she the love the Varanasi saris.

Find driving direction from Lucknow to Varanasi here..

1 comment:

vikas saini said...

ur work is
realy good
keep it up!