Varanasi: the best of times/the worst of times

Varanasi-also known as Benares (Banaras). A town I've been hearing about from Jo since we first started dating. Hearing Jo tell it, it sounded like simultaneous heaven and hell. While for many, that couplet may describe India in general, Jo kept indicating that it was unique. She has spent extensive periods of time here, first coming in 2001 for a few weeks, and then 9 months in 2004-5, and again for some time while leading a study abroad program in 2006. This is her home-town Indian city, and it's really amazing, the three days we spent there provided such a window into understanding her, her life, and her relationship with India that I'm still flabbergasted. After just three days there, I'd have to agree, Benares is a place unlike any other in India, and while for some it is a complete hell, for me it was hands down my favorite place in India.

For those who know nothing about Benares, it is the holiest of Indian cities, located on the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh. It is so holy that if one dies there they are believed to go directly to liberation, and as a result many people come here specifically to die (more on that later). Life in Benares revolves around the river. The old city itself, which is believed to have existed for approximately 3000 years in some form or another, is strung out over several kilometers of the river bank.

Getting to Benares' old city was for some of our companions the entrance to hell. The traffic from the airport was character-building if nothing else...




However, once we got to Benares' old city we had to abandon the taxi and carry our bags through the labyrinth of gulleys (small alleys) that comprise the old city (this was actually one of my favorite parts of the city...the absolutely endless jumble of narrow gulleys).



Dave Weaver looking out over the Ganges with Benares in the background



Benares is a tourism mecca. Tourism in a broad sense. The overwhelming majority of tourists are domestic religious tourists. There are thousands of small temples in Benares. Next to our hotel was one in which a local friend recommended we do an early morning pooja (prayer) for the health of our new baby...


View of temple from our room



Circumambulating....



Sending a little prayer out to the Ganga





However, there are a fair number of foreign tourists as well. Particularly the annoying stoned hippie tourists on spiritual quests, whom you sometimes spy sitting at feet of Sadhus (Hindu holy men) along the banks of the river.



Aside from its wandering gurus, another thing Benares is famous for is its river sunrises. They are simply magical, and given that most hotels face the river, one often wakes up with the morning light(more on taking advantage of the river sunrise with a river cruise in a later post).




Yet another things that Benares is famous for is the burning ghats. Ghats are essentially steps down to a water body, such as a river or lake. In Benares, the entire border of the city with the river is lined with Ghats. There are 80 something in total. There are ghats specifically for washing.








And ghats specifically for cremation.


Scale for weighing wood used in cremation (200 kg are needed per body; costs for cremation vary widely depending on quality of wood used)



A common site along the ghats is people having their heads shaved; these are usually members of funeral parties.



A common site in Benares, bodies being carried towards the river shrouded in white cotton funeral shroud and assorted religious adornments


And the burning which goes on at all hours in an effort to slake the demand (approximately 800 bodies/day).



However, not all are burned at the ghats: holy men, pregnant women, people with leprosy/smallpox, people who die from snakebite, people who commit suicide, and children under 5 are not cremated at the ghats but are placed directly in the holy river, usually weighted down by a stone. They are not burned because they are either too young to have accrued much bad karma, which cremation helps eliminate, or they are believed to have suffered enough in life to burn off their bad karma without the necessity of cremation.

So what is there to do in Benares? Well, witness and participate in the incredible spectacle of everyday life. For us, this included long (hot) walks along the ghats. At this time of year (pre-monsoon) the river is low and the ghats are continuous, providing a river-walk of sorts. As the rains come in a few months, the continuity of the ghats is broken and one would be required to traverse the gulleys in order to make it to the neighboring ghat.



Other fun events included getting a haircut/shave/head massage at one of the local riverside barber chairs


Dave Weaver blissed out while getting a head massage


A sadhu appreciating Dave's shave and contemplating the deeper repercussions of getting one himself...




Buying postcards from a young girl


Watching the building of the boats using amazing joinery




And of course...shopping!

Everyone doing some bangle shopping


Gail and her new Ganesh statue



Watching the evening Aarthi, a religious ceremony when the Mother Ganga is put to sleep



And eating a slice of phenomenal apple pie (yes, apple pie) while watching the moon rise...






So as you can tell from this longest of long blog posts, Benares was incredibly captivating. True, the street traffic was bewildering at times, the burning of bodies pretty profound, the alleyways a jumble of ordered insanity, but this is everyday life in India simultaneously glorious and miserable, disgusting and enticing. And now I understand what it is that captivated Jo's interest all those years ago, and keeps on bringing her back...