Life on the Ganges in Benares (Varanasi)

After a few harried days in Delhi settling in and getting over the jet lag I boarded my first overnight India train of this trip with Benares (also known as Varanasi) as my destination. When I was in India in 2007 Varanasi was my favorite stop and where I really fell in love with India. The Ganges River is probably the most sacred river in the world and thousands of Hindu pilgrims from India and abroad congregate on its banks in Varanasi for a purifying bath. It is said the bathing in the river at this city of Shiva will purify and a lifetime of sins. Each morning the waters of the Ganges teem with people bathing and performing puja (Hindu prayers) to the god Shiva. The river truly has a life and rhythm all its own. My favorite spot is in a boat on the river at first light watching the ritual take place as the sun rises at my back.

In addition to the morning rituals that individuals perform, there are nightly pujas full of incense, song and the ringing of bells at the Dasaswamedh ghat on the banks of the river. Through the all the noise and chaos there is a peace and a rhythm within these ceremonies that I love. Varanasi sits above the Ganges and there are sets of steps called ghats that come down to the river in the dry season but during the wet monsoon season (starting in June/July) these steps are under water. Each ghat has a name which usually corresponds with the person or family that originally financed the project.

One of the best things about returning to a place that you have previously been is that you are able to reconnect with people that you met along the way. Back in 2007, I spent many afternoons sitting on the steps of the ghats hanging out with the children. I became friends with a young boy named Deepak and I was able to see him again and he had grown so much in the past two years (he is nine now!) but he still had those shining eyes and that easy smile. I was also able to reconnect with Manish. He owns a silk shop and his business had expanded from a small shop to a much bigger enterprise and he now has an 18 month old daughter.

India has numerous festivals throughout the year and they were celebrating Maha Mela and Saraswati while I was in Varanasi. The Maha Mela brought even more pilgrim than usual to the banks of the Ganges and the activity when on from dawn into the night. As pilgrims bathed, participated in pujas and offerings of rice to the beggars and sadhus tht lined the ghats.

Saraswati is the Hindu goddess of knowledge and students pray to her before exams. During the January festival, effigies are created of Saraswati and they are paraded through the streets down to the river. Once at the river there is usually a celebration involving really loudly amplified music and dancing in the streets. Following the dance party the effigies are taken out the middle of the Ganges on a boat and drowned in the river.

The Hindu faith believes in cremation at death and the most auspicious place to be cremated is on the banks of the Ganges. Following cremation the ashes flow into the river. There are two ghats along the river that are burning ghats and families of the dead come to say there last goodbyes as the bodies of their loved one are released to the flames. Normally, only the men of the family attend the cremation because it is said the women are too likely to cry and there should be no tears at this event. The burning ghats run 24 hours a day. It is amazing to sit a watch the comings and goings but I find the energy to heavy that I can’t sit for very long. Just down from one of the burning ghats is the ashram of Lali Baba. Lali Baba is a sadhu, a Hindu holy man, and he performs beautiful pujas at sunrise and sunset. He invited Lew and I to his ashram and we went up one afternoon but he was engaged with a Finnish film crew at the time and we were not able to spend time with him.

While Benares is one of my favorite places in India it is also one of the most filthy places I have ever been. With the sheer number of pilgrims filtering in and out and the sacred cows and buffalos all along the bank the dirt and poo can be hard to take. To me this is the paradox of India, one of the most sacred places in the country is also one for the dirtiest and a place where you could be blinded by the intense filth the beauty shine through.

While enjoying the sacred Hindu rituals on the Ganges I decided to take a dip into the Buddhist side of life. About half an hour outside of Varanasi is Sarnath, one of the most important Buddhist site in the world. After the Buddha attained enlightenment he came to Sarnath to preach his message of the middle way to nirvana to his followers. Today, Sarnath is home to Buddhist temples from around the world. Around 400 monks live in the area at monasteries built by Tibetan, Chinese, Thai, Burmese and Japanese Buddhists. It was great to be back in the land of serene Buddhas and prayer wheels. I have a fascination with Buddhist temples and it was great to see all the styles from around the world. This whet my appetite for the next part of this journey into Bodhgaya.