Varanasi/Benares - the ancient living city

 

Dt : 18^th Nov 2021

Before I get down to telling all about our trip, there are a few people I would like to thank. My dear friend Deepti for having encouraged us to visit Benares and for having helped us plan the itinerary, my partner for conscientiously planning the trip. Also Picture credits to Parijat Punj whose insta handle is https://www.instagram.com/parijat.punj/

By the ghats - a day after Dev diwali

A trip planned not so long ago; just before we were surprised by what turned out to be worst pandemic of the century, finally became reality. It required some bit of coordination to ensure that the some important people were not home alone which meant folks had to be hustled in and given few instructions to keep the home afloat for the 4 days of absence. Am sure they were as anxious as us.

Turned out that the flight was a bit delayed and had been clubbed with another flight for reasons unknown.

While waiting at the airport post the security check we got talking to a gentleman who mentioned how the delay might possibly lead to a tardy entry for a family event. As always, P got talking to a fellow passenger who turned out to be an IG photographer and to my excitement a kindred spirit – a fellow allied sciences grad!!! You don’t find them too often you know.

Her IG account read @rash_mint

While aboard the flight, I continued to read the book recommended by a friend about Imperfections. It had several concepts I could relate to – Shame, Courage, Connection, Love & Belongingness.

What struck me and stayed with me the most is that we ought to love ourselves if we want to love others. Also, often belongingness is often confused with fitting in. ‘Fitting in’ is a conscious act and requires some bit of work on our behalf while belongingness does not – as we can belong just the way we are; without any efforts/ performance.

1100 Km and 1hr 50min later we were in the city of lights, city of temples (22000 of them), a city completely thriving in chaos. Our ride from the airport to our hotel, Temple on the Ganges took a little over an hour. The drive opened my eyes to the regular, systematically managed traffic in Mumbai; which I mostly take for granted. I was shocked to know that this busy city functions with minimal traffic rules, signals. On the same street the pedestrian, cattle, dogs, cycle rickshaws, totos, other vehicles jostle for space. One is often rubbing shoulders ‘literally’ with all of these.

Day 1 - A quick simple lunch and we proceeded to Gadolia chowk (near the Girijaghar) for ‘North walk’ conducted by Roobaroo walks. The group for this walk had 7 of us enthusiasts, all set to learn more about this vibrant, chaotic and seemingly interesting city. We were greeted by our tour escort – Saurabh Chakraborty – a well read and fantastic story narrator originally from Kolkata. Also, not to forget, a gifted singer (although he might choose to call himself an amateur)

Kaali mandir

North walk entailed a visit to the Maha kali mandir – an ancient temple beautifully restored one, kothi of the literary figure responsible for giving us Indians the devnagari – Bharatindu Harishchandra ji, Dhara hara mosque which replaced the Bindu Madhav temple in the Aurangzeb era near Brahma ghat. Saurabh is such a fantastic story-teller that he kept us enthralled by his stories, couplets and he effortlessly moved between languages.

Bhartendu Harishchandra's kothi

Varanasi as we learnt derived its name because it is a city which stretches between the Varuna river in the north and Assi in the south. The city has been a residence of Lord Shiva and was gifted to him by Lord Vishnu when he approached him on the request of Parvati for a city to live in as she was fed-up of a life in the mountains, the Himalayas. Shiva chose Varanasi as it has the Ganges and forests on one side where he can meditate and the other side has a bustling city which met Parvati’s demands for a regular life among people.

It is called the city of temples as it has near 22000 shrines and very few mosques, gurudwaras, churches. The centre is Varanasi and is spread across fewer acres while the larger area around it is Kashi.

We stopped by Laxmi chai place at the chowk and in an area which is known for its jewelry shops . The advantage we had of traveling with a few like minded people who were also curious to know more about the city, was that we had the opportunity to sample many sweets and eatables as we could order a variety of dishes and each sample a small portion without over eating. At Laxmi chai place, as is evident, we had chai served in kulhads; which seems the norm in Varanasi. We also accompanied it with what is called the Underground butter toast (the bread is freshly grilled over charcoal and slit in the centre and a dollop of butter is slid into the slot with a little bit of kala namak, pepper. The malai toast was yummy too, with a similarly toasted bread smothered with freshly made cream (malai) and delicately sprinkled with crystal sugar.

Underground butter toast

Palang tod (layers of malai in syrup and garnished with pistachio)

Rabri ...all the way

After this delectable snack, we walked through the lanes and by lanes of Tatheri bazaar and between the sights that we saw and learnt about, we also sampled malaiyo (whipped cream with saffron and sweetened with sugar, garnished with pistachio), palang tod (a sweet made with near 7 layers of cream, dipped in sugar syrup flavoured with saffron, cardamom and pistachio), rabri. The thought makes me salivate 😉

Dhara hara / Alamgir mosque

We finally reached the Dhara hara mosque where we could oversee the Ganges and enter the ghats at Panchganga ghat. We then walked along the ghats parallel to the Ganges while listening to Saurabh’s tales. The ghats were dotted with lamps hoisted on tall bamboo sticks which are lit on days leading onto Karthik Poornima. The final ghat where we exited from (literally and figuratively) was Manikarnika. This ghat derives its name from the earring (mani karn) that Parvati deliberately hurled into the Ganges with the help of Ganga; to ensure that Shiva is kept busy looking for it and doesn’t recede to the mountains for his tapasya. This ghat is also known as the burning ghat as it is here that pyres of the deceased are lit and people believe that this is the direct entrance to moksha/ liberation/ salvation. It is believed that once rendered to dust (ash), Lord Shiva stops each soul before entering the next world/next life and enquires if they have seen the mani. The ash resulting from the pyres is then picked by Shiva and smeared on himself and that is how our soul becomes one with the Shiva.

Lord Vishwanath/ Shiva is the key God worshipped in Benares; after whom the Kashi Vishwanath temple has been built. He is considered to be as human as can be having married, borne kids, loved his wife, full of emotions, a true artist – who plays damru, dances, a connoisseur of music, easily pleased through penance by devotees and equally easily annoyed (ref to the tandav, the third eye etc)

Currently the spot at Manikarnika has huge piles of rubble due to the Kashi Vishwanath corridor construction being underway. Although most of the near 79 ghats are connected; some like the Manikarnika, due to the construction, break the continuum. The dominant community in these ghats who arrange for the funeral and help enable the final rites are called Dome. They have a leader – the Dome Raja (dynastic leadership) who wields power. Unless he approves, one cannot be included in this community.

There are as many tales as there are Benarasees ;) Saurabh, our guide, pointed out - if you ask someone in Benares about anything, he will never disappoint you ;)

We exited the ghats at Manikarnika and then parted ways as it was near 10 pm and time for us to say a quick goodbye and head back to our hotels so we could get a head start to the next day’s program – the South walk followed by the Dev Diwali celebration. Before we headed back we opted to have chaat for dinner so we had tamaatar chaat (5/10), palak chaat (8/10), alu tikki karari (8/10) and dahi Bhalla (7/10).

Day 2 - The next morning our tour began at 6:15 am. This time the group was different; while 4 of us were from last evening group, the others were new. However it was an equally vibrant, enthusiastic group with wives of defence personnel (from Siliguri and Allahabad) to add to the glamour and spunk and a well traveled couple from Ahmedabad of which the gentleman was a wild life photographer.

Jagannath mandir (also housed Lakshmi Narasimha)

We visited the Akhada, the Jagannath mandir, Eshwar mandir, Rani Jhansi memorial. This time the delectable drink – the quintessential chai was had from Dada’s chai tapri. The morning breakfast was super tasty kachori with hing-wali alu ki sabzi and the tastiest jalebis I have ever had. They were juicy, sweet, with no artificial colouring. They were pulled out fresh from the sugar syrup and melted in the mouth.

Hingwale alu and kachori

We were excited to learn that while we were at Rani Jhansi memorial, it was Rani Laxmi bai’s bday. So we celebrated it by having lunch at the Pizzeria where we enjoyed mixed pasta, ravioli, nana mint (a lemon drink with lots of mint) which had all been recommended by Saurabh.

We rested awhile before we met the group again – this time a bigger one with ~17 people for a boat ride to enjoy the dev Diwali festivities which were taking place on the ghats. This was around 4 pm on Day 2

Ghats by the Ganges on Dev diwali/ Karthik poornima

The time from 4:30pm to 10pm was well spent on the boat and then putting together a lovely swastik rangoli with flower petals and oil lamps. The boat ride enabled us to see the grand aarti, fireworks, the well and aesthetically decorated ghats resplendent with oil lamps, electric lamps, rangolis. Each ghat competed with the other for attention with better decorations and lighting. We had snacks (stuffed kachori, sandwich, kheer kadam and ras Madhuri) and thandai (made with almond, pistachio, bade elaichi, saffron, bela flower juice, pepper) onboard. The most magnificient aartis were at the Dashashwamedh ghat and Assi ghat.

The amateur swastik diya-flower rangoli our motley group put together

Here we learnt that many years ago residents of Benares had become complacent. They did not lead a disciplined orderly life. A person by the name of Devdas was appointed to take charge and improve the conditions in the city. He conveyed that the Gods (including Shiva) should leave the city so that the folks in the city spend less time in pujas and festivals and begin working and get more productive. However, after a few years, Devdas decided to leave the city and the Gods came. We could now clearly appreciate what the locals had meant when they said that there are more festivals in Benares than there are days in the year. Forever they are celebrating some festival in this city!!! Too much 😊

Day 3 – Sarnath – the place in Mrigdaya where Lord Buddha preached his first sermon to his five key disciples. The place has been excavated for years and the remains of the stupa, monastery, pillars, gate are in a constant state of restoration. The Ashoka chakra, the lions of Sarnath which are our national emblem and also a beautiful statue of the Buddha along with many other finds during excavation have been displayed at a museum in the premise. There is a deer park too to symbolise the original Mrigdaya. After heading back after a quiet peaceful trip at Sarnath, we had lunch at Bhatti chowka and visited the Kashi Vishwanath Shrine. It was a quick visit amidst the heavy construction activity to complete the Kashi Vishwanath corridor slated to link the shrine to the ghats. The shrine deity as we were later enlightened was a contribution by Ahilya bai Holkar - also once a resident of Benares. There is a mosque right next to it and its pillars and stone work with hindu deities and art forms is a clear indication that it was once a temple that was, as many times in the past, destroyed by the invaders - mughals or otherwise. 

We went back to the ghats after a trip to the shrine. Took a boat ride, in the now restful ghats where the past evening activities had been wound up and what we saw was a relatively quiet Gange and embankment. After combing through the ghats we discovered the Kashi math which we happily visited and the pujari there was thrilled to have us as he mentioned there are hardly any GSBs who visit Benares and so it is often just him and some helpers who manage the 3 storey math with a few temples within. 

Day 4 - was a day we had kept for ourselves. The morning began with salutation to Maa Gange watching the beautifully choreographed aarti by the Bhirju Maharaj school of dance.

We sampled Kachori and sabji at a new place and was not a patch on the Baba kachori (opp the Marwar sangh near Assi). So we went back to Baba kachori corner and had the hing alu + kachori and super slurppy jalebis made in fresh desi ghee. 

Birla Mandir at BHU

Entry gate at BHU

BHU campus

We had our chai from dada ki chai right by our hotel and moved on to the see the Benares Hindu University, the Birla temple within and then the Sankat mochan Hanuman mandir. It was very mystic because non of our temple visits were planned and yet we were able to be there just before the shrines were closed for rest / cleaning. Clearly the deities wanted us to pay them homage.

Sunset by the Ganges

Itinerary	Description	Walk/ sight seeing organizer	Contact
Day 1	Stayed at a no frills place called Temple on the Ganges as it is at Assi ghat (the hub), North walk, dinner at Kashi chaat	Roobaroo walks	write to me
Day 2	South walk, breakfast at Baba kachori opp Marwari sangh at Assi, lunch at Pizzeria and Dev Diwali celebrations/ Sunset	Roobaroo walks	write to me
Day 3	Sarnath, Kashi Viswanath temple, lunch at Bhaati chowka (Telya bazaar), Kashi math on Brahma ghat, Sunset aarti at Dashashwamedh ghat, dinner at Pizzeria	Roobaroo walks + self	write to me
Day 4	Sunrise n aarti at Assi ghat, BHU, Birla mandir, Sankat mochan temple	Self	write to me

 Picture credits to Parijat Punj whose insta handle is https://www.instagram.com/parijat.punj/