Benarasiya
Benaras is the spiritual and cultural capital of India, Hindu religion’s holiest city and one of the most ancient living cities of India and indeed the world! These few lines by Mark Twain say it all: “Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together”. It is said that dying in Benaras is a jackpot to salvation and moksha – you are freed from the cycle of birth and rebirth and become one with God. I am not religious. At all. But I have always had this fascination to visit Benaras / Varanasi / Kashi and soak in the culture, tradition, philosophy, knowledge, arts, music and dance. All of these have flourished here for centuries and Benaras has been the center of learning and civilization and a center of Hindu renaissance.
And Benaras did not let me down. It is such a vibrant city, with so much color, people, sounds, silks, gold. It’s a melting pot for people from not just all over India, but all over the world! The narrow winding streets are dotted with a couple of thousand temples and hundreds of thousands of people every single day of the year. There is no off season in this city, as there is no off season to pray to God or to wash away your sins…
Sowmya and I just completed a visit to the most phenomenal spiritual party on the planet at the ardh kumbh at Allahabad and landed at Godowliya chowk in Benaras. We stayed at Alka hotel right on the banks of Ganga on the Meer ghat. Everything that matters is close by from here – the ghats, Ganga, BHU, the Kashi Vishwanath temple, and other important temples. It’s an OK hotel but a great location especially if you want to experience the quintessential rustic Benarasiya exuberance.
There are so many narrow lanes near Godowliya chowk just about 4 feet wide. And it is always buzzing with activity. In one of the lanes leading to the hotel, there were hundreds of people waiting in a serpentine line to enter the Kashi Vishwanath temple. There were shops selling sarees, Pooja items, jewellery, sweets, trinkets, and scores of other things in the street. There was a woman snake charmer showing off her snake charming skills, there were cows and dogs scouring for food, there were travellers who were just sitting there probably not having a place to stay and spending time on the streets. There were bikes going in both the direction. And hundreds of people walking, shopping, eating, catching up with friends. All of this in that narrow 4 feet lane! It was the same scene in the entire area in all the streets! Total and utter chaos everywhere. And so much noise, I could hardly hear myself talk. And in all this chaos, we saw a dog lying calmly in a cement dustbin with probably just born half a dozen puppies hurriedly suckling on their mamma. For a while I just stood there stunned, not knowing what to do and where to go. Wonder how life goes on perfectly fine everyday amidst all this chaos!
Temples
We can’t be in Kashi and not visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple, the most important temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in India. This temple has been mentioned in the puranas and has been destroyed and re-constructed several time in its long illustrious history. The current structure was built by the Maratha Ahilya Bai Holkar. We stood in a long line from about 3.45 am to offer our prayers. But the line was moving fast and we finally entered after a lot of security checks. As soon as you enter the courtyard, you can see the brilliance of the two long spires and one dome all made of pure gold! It’s a very beautiful structure and the grandeur of the gold remains in your memory. Inside the temple is the Jyotirlinga of Shiva placed on a silver platform. We offered our prayers and then visited other deities in the complex – Annapurna devi, Kaal Bhairav, Dhandapani and a few more. We visited several more temples in the city – Sankat Mochan mandir, Durga mandir, Aghori mandir, Vyas mandir and several more. I think I exhausted my quota for the year!
Though not planned, we made a visit to Saranath, the place where Buddha first preached after his enlightenment. It is just 15 km from Benaras and what a beautiful, well maintained and serene place it is! Tall Buddha statue, Shanti stupa, Ashoka pillar, Golden seated Buddha statue adorned the beautiful park lined with flowers and fountains. Our guide gave us sprinklings of Buddha’s teachings and that added to the sereneness of the place.
Ghats
This was the most enjoyable part of my trip – a walk along the hundred odd ghats on the banks of the holy Ganga early in the morning. There were thousands of people thronging the ghats in all colors shapes and sizes. Some of them feverishly washing away their sins in the Ganga, some offering prayers to the sun, some performing mundan, some performing pind daan, some shraad, it was like a busy market place. Scores of pandits sat under their private canopy inviting customers for any kind of Pooja. We saw a man in his early twenties sitting on his mother’s lap getting his head shaved. Dogs and cows were roaming about. Amongst all this chaos, there were some sadhus who were peacefully meditating, oblivious to the cacophony around them. And there were dozens of ash smeared Naga babas stark naked, sitting and smoking chillums. Many of them had taken a dip in the Triveni sangam at Kumbh and had come to Benaras to meet their hero Bum Bum Bhole. When we tried taking their pictures, they demanded money! They refused to give ashirwad unless we pay them! In fact that was one bad memory I have carried back – all sadhus and babas kept asking for money, some of them demanding as though it was their right!
The most active and popular of the ghats is the Dashashwamedha ghat. Other important ghats are the Assi ghat, Tulsi ghat where Tulsidas wrote the Ramayana, and the Manikarnika ghat where funerals take place. I thought the mood will be very sombre at the Manikarnika ghat but people were just going about their business in a matter of fact manner. There were a couple of bodies burning at the funeral pyre and a couple more waiting in line to go to heaven to meet their maker. It is here that you can see life and death together. There were several people sitting on the ghats and just watching life go by.
Ganga
People have been visiting Ganga on the ghats of Varanasi for thousands of years to cleanse their bodies, souls and mind. The devotion, faith and belief with which I saw people washing themselves and literally rubbing their sins away, I sometimes I wish I had that kind of faith and just lock all my problems, desires, wishes and a to-do list in a box and hand them over to God to action them ASAP! But alas, that is not to be. I believe that no one but I can help myself.
Seeing the Ganga Aarti from a boat on the river after sunset amidst the sounding of conches and beating of the drums, listening to the holy mantras with the priests performing Pooja with multi-layered lit brass lamps is an absolutely mesmerizing experience! About 80 to 100 boats were all stacked up together opposite the Dashashwamedha ghat where Ganga Aarti is performed every single day at 6.30 for an hour. All buildings and temples along the ghats are lit up in blue, green, pink, yellow, red and the hues keep changing. We, like several other people let float diyas in a leaf bowl into the river and the ripples of the river made the diyas bounce softly and carried them away into the distance. It was such a beautiful sight!
Khaike paan Benaraswala
Of course I knew about the famous Benaras paan thanks to Mr. Bachchan, and so I could not miss that. And the paan we had was absolutely delicious! But to my surprise, I discovered that Benaras street food too is lipsmackingly delectable! I tried almost everything there was and each dish / snack I tried was even better than the previous. Started off with the tamatar paneer chaat that was so yummy, I didn’t even stop to take a breath, I just kept gorging on it. The malaiyyo is served in clay kulhads and it just melts in your mouth. It is made of fresh cream, saffron, almonds, pistachio and I cannot explain the taste but to say that if you have a choice between catching your flight and having malaiyyo, I’d say go for malaiyyo! For breakfast we had kachori with aloo sabji and chana. It cost just Rs. 20 but it was so tasty that right now if someone offered it to me for Rs. 2000 for it, I’d happily take it! The chura matar, palak chaat, paneer matar stuffed paratha, thandai were all so scrumptious. The lassi with rabdi was the icing on the cake! I think that was the best lassi of my life!
I come back with so many memories of the sights, sounds and smells of Benaras, but if I were to go back (and I think I will), it will be for two reasons – sitting on the ghats and observing the melee of the hundreds of thousands of people; and the yummy streetfood! Har Har Mahadev!
poorvismusings 