Our guide, Achilis, showed us around Varanasi with religious pride, explaining this holy place and showing us things beyond our expectations.
Varanasi is the oldest living city, also called Gesci by Hindus, meaning city of light, while Muslims call it Banaris. There are 3.4M residents and 5M visitors.
This is the pilgrimage place. On the Gangis river western bank, bordering river Varuna to the North and River Asi to South. People come here to die, or atleast to be cremated or even least to have their ashes placed in the Gangis River, the holy river of India. Majashimsaun meaning burial has two huge cremation banks. If you can't be cremated here, and if you can, you want to come and take a dip in the holy water on the banks of the Gangis. If you are mourning someone, you also take the dip.
Cremations and their ceremony/watch takes 2 hours on average. They run 24 hours a day. At night there are celebrations by the high religious figures every night accept for in monsoon season when rooftops are the place. Cremation fires light up the night sky. After the two hour burning, men's bodies are left with some chest bone, wiomen's bodies some pelvic bone. This is handed to a high priest to toss in the river Gangis. One body needs 360kg of wood to be burned and it takes a massive bonefire for which family must be present to witness.
Also in Varanasi, Banaris Hindu University hosts 40,000 students. It is very tough to get in as it's the cheapest in India and trains doctors, science, biz, performing arts and ayurvedic medicine and yoga. Dynamic meditation was recommended to S as a 'cure' to diabetes. The incidence of T1D here is low, T2D is high. Opium addiction is common. There are definitely some different issues and healing remedies at play.
We also saw more artisan fabric weaving here. Some interesting facts on sourcing in India, fine silk and pashminas come from Kashmir. Currently, due to the ongoing Pakistan border conflict we are discouraged from visiting. Guides from every place we visited talked about Kashmir's beauty. Maybe next trip:-) Other places recommended to us for future are Madras/Southern India, and Calcutta in the west 'for the experience'. Bangalore
is the IT capital/Silicon valley of India, which we won't hit. This is included here because our Varanasi guide was quite chatty on the subject of places to see in India. I want to see Punjab and visit Amaritsar for certain someday! A good temple sitting in the water!
Varanasi was surely the most overwhelming place we saw. You literally see the deceased laying on the shore waiting for their cremation. It is meant to be celebratory as it is said that the Gangis River waters mean direct to heaven.
The Hindus believe in kharma above all else. What you do in this life will dictate the next. And while our guides described the religion as 'unorganized' and rather a 'lifestyle', it feels dogmatic when your among it. What you eat and don't, when you wake (sunrise is what matters), what pets you keep (daily feeding of three specific animals in a specific order is required --cows, dogs, pigeons) and daily prayer at 5 set times with certain prayers and sanskrit chanting on a broadcast system, even what herbs you can have and when (no cooking with garlic and onion on certain days)--it seems to be a full time job, to be sure, from an outsiders perspective.
Our hotel in Varanasi was reminiscent of the Marigold Hotel from the famous movies which I love. It was quirky and lively, tons of fresh flowers dressing up a maze like, meandering old home made hotel. We heard singing through the ceiling vents and a stray dog rampage outside, and the sounds of the daily prayers and the nightly ceremonies. It was lively 24 hours a day. Then again, that is what we found so fascinating about India--its alive, vibrant, overwhelming at times and simply exhilarating at others.
Yogis do come here too, and Buddhists also consider it a pilgrimage with the story of the Budda in a national museum and grounds for Buddhist retreats. It didnt seem zen to us though--perhaps way too touristy. Also, the Buddha was said to sit for 6 years under a tree with no food or water, and his mother was said to have birthed him out of her arm pit. Having given birth a few times, this seems hard to imagine. The Buddha also boasts two heads, the top one resembling a hair bun. I am intrigued by buddhist philisophy, but the visit might have lessened my perspectives on the historical validity of the story.
Varanasi was so out of this world it is hard to describe. S attempted to dip her finger in the River Gangis while we were on a boat feet from the shore of one of several crematoriums and we had just watched a priest drop bone fragments and ash into the river. I grabbed her hand away from the edge in time. Holy water sounds amazing, but this was a lot to process. There was an older male couple who were staying at our hotel. We visited with them briefly. They were from New Jersey. They had come to Varanasi several years prior and something 'kept calling us back'. They found it magical, mystical, spiritual. So they've visited several times since, this time spending a month 'trying to discover the draw'. So, others might find themselves in this camp upon visiting, drawn to the place.
The MWT was glad to have visited, and really glad to move on two days and three nights later. S did find one particularly redeeming aspect to our visit, a small cafe called the Sparrow Cafe where the Honey/Lemon/Ginger tea does indeed taste like heaven.
Look at these photos at your own risk!
Comments