Varanasi, where you see life and rebirth 10/2023 (Stop 15)

24-26th, October 2023 Varanasi, India

From New Delhi, I took the train to Varanasi, the holy city of the Hindus.

As I walked toward the guesthouse at about 6 am, people were already on the streets, holding little jugs and flowers, their foreheads marked with red and orange, some barefoot. Age-old Hinduism is very alive and thriving.

The Ganges River flows here. The locals call it the Ganga River. They regard this river as sacred. It is their mother-of-all-mothers’ river. It is not wide at this time of the year, narrowed by a sandbank, and surprisingly free of rubbish. The temperature was pleasant, the river was light greyish and its flow looked imperceptible. It was very calming.

I spent 2 days along the river, along its bank, and on its steps (ghats). Large tall mansions of different styles rose like cliff faces along miles of the river. Concrete steps cascaded from the top to the river bank below, taking devotees and visitors to the river’s edge. Each of these cascades of steps has its own name on the cliff face walls, each unique in how they touched the river.

So many and so much is nourished by the great Ganges, Varanasi

Old mansions on the high ground along the Ganges, with ghat leading to the river

Chet Singh Ghat, 18th-century fortress-style palace with steps down to the Ganges

The ghat, muddy riverbank and old mansions along Ganges, Varanasi — A busy ghat on the Ganges, Varanasi

The historic buildings that have been by her side, the mother Ganges

No better place to ruminate than a ghat by the calm Ganges — The historic buildings that have been by her side, the mother Ganges

At a couple of the ghats, a few bonfires of logs were burning and crackling on the slopy river bank. The smoke, people, some dogs and goats gathered around. The goats would pick through the rubbish and the dogs howled eerily. The covered dead bodies on the river edge, the fire continued to burn brightly, the choking smoke billowed, while the living stood around in solemnity – this was their altar, the stage, where the transition from life to death and beyond, was enacted.

Manikarnika Ghat, a cremation ceremony in progress

Manikarnika Ghat on the bank of the Ganges in Varanasi, a cremation ghat where bodies are burnt day and night

Harishchandra Ghat, a sacred cremation ghat — Manikarnika Ghat on the bank of the Ganges in Varanasi, a cremation ghat where bodies are burnt day and night

I have never seen reverence and devotion so explicitly and emotionally expressed to a river. Devotees swam, bathed, or scattered their ashes in it. Many just sat by her side. Every evening, Ganga Aarti is held on the Ganga riverbank, attended by a large crowd. This elaborate spiritual ceremony shows gratitude and respect for the river.

In the evening, enthusiastic processions of heavy-hitting ear-piercing drums could be heard on some of the city streets. This added to the shocks to the senses.

Many restaurants here were “pure vegetarian”, upholding the sanctity of life to the utmost. Their devotion is total.