VARANASI
Varanasi, India Sights › River
The River Ganges provides millions of Indians with an important link to their spirituality. Every day about 60,000 people go down to the Varanasi ghats to take a holy dip along a 7km stretch of the river. Along this same area, 30 large sewers are continuously discharging into the river. The Ganges River is so heavily polluted at Varanasi that the water is septic - no dissolved oxygen exists. The statistics get worse. Samples from the river show the water has 1.5 million faecal coliform bacteria per 100mL of water. In water that is safe for bathing this figure should be less than 500!
Ghats
Varanasi, India Sights › River
Spiritual life in Varanasi revolves around the ghats, the long string of bathing steps leading down to the water on the western bank of the Ganges. Most are used for bathing but there are also several 'burning ghats' where bodies are cremated in public - the main burning ghat is Manikarnika and you'll often see funeral processions threading their way through the backstreets to this ghat.
The best time to visit the ghats is at dawn when the river is bathed in a mellow light as pilgrims come to perform puja (literally 'respect'; offering or prayers) to the rising sun, and at sunset when the main ganga aarti ceremony takes place at Dasaswamedh Ghat. Around 80 ghats ghats border the river, but the main group extends from Assi Ghat, near the university, northwards to Raj Ghat, near the road and rail bridge. A one-hour boat trip from Dasaswamedh Ghat south to Harishchandra Ghat and back provides a good introduction to the river scene. People come to the Ganges not only for a ritual bath but also to wash clothes, do yoga, offer blessings, buy paan (a mixture of betel nut and leaves for chewing), sell flowers, get a massage, play cricket, wash their buffaloes, improve their karma by giving to beggars, or simply hang around. This is traditional India at its most colourful and picturesque and photo opportunities abound.
Assi Ghat, furthest south of the main ghats, is particularly important as the River Asi meets the Ganges near here and pilgrims come to worship a Shiva lingam beneath a pipal tree. The ghats themselves were undergoing much-needed renovation at the time of writing and there are some interesting shops, cafés and excellent hotels here. Boat owners wait to take pilgrims and tourists upstream to Dasaswamedh Ghat.
Harishchandra Ghat is a cremation ghat - smaller and secondary in importance to Manikarnika - and one of the oldest ghats in Varanasi. Above it, Kedar Ghat has a shrine popular with Bengalis and South Indians. Mansarowar Ghat was built by Raja Man Singh of Amber and named after the Tibetan lake at the foot of Mt Kailash, Shiva's Himalayan home. Someswar Ghat (Lord of the Moon Ghat) is said to be able to heal diseases. The Munshi Ghat is very photogenic, while Ahalya Bai's Ghat is named after the female Maratha ruler of Indore. Varanasi's liveliest and most colourful ghat is Dasaswamedh Ghat, easily reached at the end of the main road from Godaulia Crossing. The name indicates that Brahma sacrificed (medh) 10 (das) horses (aswa) here. In spite of the oppressive boat-owners, flower-sellers and touts trying to drag you off to a silk shop, it's a wonderful place to linger and people-watch while soaking up the atmosphere. Note its statues and the shrine of Sitala, goddess of smallpox. Every evening at 19:00 an elaborate ganga aarti ceremony with puja, fire and dance) is staged here. Meer Ghat leads to a Nepali temple, which has erotic sculptures. Manikarnika Ghat is the main burning ghat and the most auspicious place for a Hindu to be cremated. Dead bodies are handled by outcasts known as doms, and they are carried through the alleyways of the old city to the holy Ganges on a bamboo stretcher swathed in cloth. The corpse is doused in the Ganges prior to cremation. Huge piles of firewood are stacked along the top of the ghat, each log carefully weighed on giant scales so that the price of cremation can be calculated. Each type of wood has its own price with sandalwood being the most expensive. There is an art to using just enough wood to completely incinerate a corpse. You can watch cremations but photography is strictly prohibited, and always show reverence by behaving respectfully.
Bharat Kala Bhavan
Varanasi, India Sights › Museum
On-campus at BHU is the Bharat Kala Bhavan, a roomy museum with a wonderful collection of miniature paintings as well as 12th-century palm-leaf manuscripts, sculptures and local history displays. An upstairs gallery is dedicated to Alice Boner, a Swiss sculptor and art historian who spent many years in Varanasi.
Bharat Mata Temple
Varanasi, India Sights › Religious, spiritual
The Bharat Mata Temple, built in 1918, has an unusual marble relief map of the Indian subcontinent inside.
Durga Temple
Varanasi, India Sights › Religious, spiritual
The small Durga Temple was built in the 18th century by a Bengali maharani and is stained red with ochre. Designed in North Indian Nagara style with a multitiered sikhara (spire), it is dedicated to Durga. Non-Hindus can enter the courtyard but not the inner sanctum.
Gyan Kupor Well
Varanasi, India Sights › Religious, spiritual
Gyan Kupor Well. The faithful believe drinking water from the Gyan Kupor Well leads to a higher spiritual plane, though they are prevented from doing so by both tradition and a strong security screen. The well is said to contain the Shiva lingam that was removed from the previous temple and hidden to protect it from Aurangzeb.
New Vishwanath Temple
Varanasi, India Sights › Religious, spiritual
Unlike most temples in Varanasi, the New Vishwanath is open to all, irrespective of religion, but architecturally is nothing special.
Ramnagar Fort Museum
Varanasi, India Sights › Museum
On the eastern bank of the Ganges, inside a crumbling but impressive 17th-century fort and palace is a haphazard museum. Exhibits include palanquins, howdahs, an astrological clock, clothing, weapons and other collectables. The maharaja still patronises the annual month-long Ram Lila drama festival held around here.
Tulsi Manas Temple
Varanasi, India Sights › Religious, spiritual
The modern marble, sikhara-style Tulsi Manas Temple was built in 1964. The two-tier walls are engraved with verses and scenes from the Ram Charit Manas, the Hindi version of the Ramayana. Its author, poet Tulsi Das, lived here while writing it.
Vishwanath Temple
Varanasi, India Sights › Religious, spiritual
This is the most popular Hindu temple in Varanasi and is dedicated to Vishveswara - Shiva as lord of the universe. The current temple was built in 1776 by Ahalya Bai of Indore, while the 800kg of gold plating on the tower and dome was supplied by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore 50 years later. There has been a succession of Shiva temples in the vicinity, but they were routinely destroyed by Muslim invaders. Aurangzeb continued this tradition, knocking down the previous temple and building the Gyanvapi Mosque, which still exists inside the temple complex.