Varanasi

John and Adelaide visited Varanasi, February 27 – March 2, while Fran and Owen attended to business in Delhi. Varanasi (or Benares) is as central to Hinduism as Jerusalem is to Judaism, due largely to its position on the Ganges River. It is one of the oldest cities of continuous habitation in the world. For millennia people have come to bathe in the river at its ghats and worship at its temples. Shiva is the preeminent aspect of God worshipped here. Pilgrims to Benares have included Gautama the Buddha and Mahavira, the founder of Jainism.

On the evening of our first day, we took a boat ride at sunset to see the celebration of the river. People put lighted candles with flowers in cups made of leaves and set them drifting with their prayers. We went again the next morning to watch the sun rise as people engaged in their devotions.

One of the most memorable of the ghats is Manikarneka, which is pictured here. It is one of the two used for cremations. To be cremated in Varanasi and to have one’s ashes scattered on the Ganges is an especially auspicious end to a Hindu’s life. We did not take pictures of a cremation out of respect, but the wood for the fires is clearly visible. Most Hindus are cremated but not all. Holy men, lepers, those who died of small pox, and children under the age of 10 among others, are weighted down with rocks and dropped in the middle of the river.

Holy men come to the cremation ghats to meditate on the impermanence of life, much as St. Jerome is portrayed in Christian iconography contemplating a skull. Some of the worshippers of Shiva, called Nagas, do not wear clothes and cover themselves with ash to indicate their renunciation of worldly concerns. Most do not go to this extreme, of course; but worship and meditation are the essence of life on the ghats. The follower of Shiva whose photograph is here had washed the stone lingam with water, yogurt, and honey before garlanding it with flowers. To the left of the lingam is Nandi, Shiva’s faithful bull.

On the third day, we visited Sarnath, where Buddha preached his first sermon after enlightenment, setting in motion the wheel of Dharma and outlining the eight-fold path by which suffering can be overcome. On the morning of our last day in Benares, we walked along the river and took the opportunity to visit the Shiva temple at Kedar ghat. Non-Hindus are not permitted in some temples, but we were graciously shown around Kedareshwar temple. We watched devotees worship and pray and the priests perform ceremonies honoring God.