Thousands of trucks were encountered on the road from Jaipur to Delhi - it seemed wall to wall trucks at times. Unlike Canada, the trailers were flatbed with tarpaulins to hold the loads in place, rather than the enclosed box trailer common on our highways. In the final 2 hours of the route to Delhi, large industrial parks and high rise dominated the landscape at the expense of farmland. It begs the question where the country will get its food from in the future? We also passed the “Model Industrial Township” of Manesar - this is another “silicon suburb” similar to Noida that we passed when travelling between Delhi and Agra.
We stopped in at the Pride Plaza Hotel close to the airport to leave the luggage we didn’t need to take to Varanasi. The hour long flight to Varanasi was on an Airbus A320 on IndiGo Airlines.
Our accommodation in Varanasi was at the Gateway Hotel - it was busy on our first night playing host to both a wedding party and engagement party. It had been a long day, so the music didn’t keep us awake!
The following morning, it was an early start leaving the hotel at 5.30am. to take the bus part of the way then walk the last kilometre through the narrow streets, taking care not to step on the manure along the away. However, we were surprised that there were no “over-powering” odours here or indeed, during most our trip. In the dawn light, the crowds were quite small - at least compared to what was anticipated. We saw one high priest, called a Sadhu who takes ashes from the crematorium on the banks of the Ganges and rubs them over his body. We boarded a row boat to follow the Ganges for about an hour. One young man rowed 17 of us for the entire journey. The number of ghats along the banks of the Ganges came as a surprise - there are 88 in total; they were were originally owned by maharajas but are now re-purposed as hotels, restaurants or schools where Sanskrit is taught. The Ghats are a magnet for pilgrims who flock to the place to take a dip in the holy Ganges, which is believed to absolve one from all sins. Along the way, our tour guide shared his knowledge of Hinduism including the origins of the God Ganesh.
After the trip down the Ganges, we scaled the ghat and walked through another part of Varanasi, passing a home established by Mother Theresa. The amount of garbage and manure on the streets was rather depressing. One has to wonder about the impact of what the cattle and goats eat on the milk they produce. Perhaps I shouldn’t dwell on that for too long. Along the way there was a stop at a local version of a Tim Horton’s for a chai tea. The owner made the chai with a great deal of flourish!
Preponderance of religious sites
After returning to the Gateway Hotel for breakfast and a freshen up, it was time to head out to another religious site - this time it was Buddhist. Sarnath, one of the four most sacred sites for Buddhists - it is where Lord Buddha preached his first sermon after attaining enlightenment. The most imposing structure at the site is the Dhamekh stupa, 28.5m in diameter at the base, rising to a height of 33.5m, dating back to 250BC. Surrounding the stupa is an archaeological site where there are remnants of an ancient Buddhist monastery. While walking around the grounds, I offered to take a family photo, so that all members could be included. This resulted in a great conversation with “locals”. They were most interested in us, where we were from, were we enjoying our trip. Within a a few square kilometres, there are at least a dozen religious Buddhist and Hindu sites - I don’t think we have been anywhere where there has been a greater density of religious sites.
The next stop was Mehta’s Silk where we learned about the history of silk in this region. There is a pattern whenever we visit a business, whether it be carpets, marble or silk. It starts with the soft sell, including servings of local rum. Sales at the silk factory were probably higher than at the other locations. Our group bought scarves, cushion covers, wall hangings etc.
After a short stop at the hotel for a quick freshen up, we boarded the bus for our second visit to the Ganges alighting at the Raj Ghat Bridge. We boarded a small boat with outboard motor, unlike the morning boat which was powered by a human rower! On our way to our destination, we passed the biggest crematorium on the world, located on the banks of the Ganges. The crematorium, which is owned by a Dalit [untouchable in the Hindu caste system], has 11 pyres operating 24/7. Each service costs ₹1270 or US$200. The body of the deceased is first washed in water that contains at least some Ganges water, then wrapped before being taken to the crematorium by male family members. After the body is consumed, some of the ashes are scattered in the Ganges. Varanasi is also called the City of Death. Hindus believe that Varanasi is the most auspicious place die. They believe that having their dead bodies washed and cremated on the Ganges and their ashes thrown in the river will liberate them from the cycle of life and death (reincarnation) and allow them to move to a higher plane of being.
Moving further downstream, we came to the Dasaswamedh Ghat where there are nightly ceremonies. Aarti is a Hindu fire ceremony performed by Brahmin disciples to honour the holy river, Gods and deities. It takes place every night at around 7 pm rain or shire. The ritual is a highly choreographed ceremony and includes blowing of conch shells, waiving lamps filled with incense, dancing with fire and chanting. When we arrived the ceremonies were just starting at the Dasaswamedh Ghat; however about 15 minutes later the same ceremony started at Dr Rajendra Prasad Ghat. The result was two identical ceremonies taking place in adjacent ghats, both using significant amplification, but not in synch! If you want to see the entire ritual you can see it here.
When we got back to our hotel, there was another wedding celebration!