Varanasi

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Dag 5-6-7 Varanasi

Varanasi er en meget hellig by for hinduerne. Varanasi ligger ved Ganges floden. Langs floden er der trapper ned til floden kaldet Ghats. Disse Ghats er inddelt i forskellige områder. Ved nogle af dem foregår der ligbrændinger og ved andre bades der i floden, hvilket siges at være rensende, helbredende eller vaske synder væk. Der brændes ca 400 lig pr. dag og der drukner ca 50000 personer om året i Ganges. I dag gik vi ad disse trapper langs floden, og senere var vi på bådtur på floden. Vi så 2 lig blive bragt ned til brænding, jeg synes det var et rigtigt sørgeligt og barskt syn.

Hver aften ved solnedgang er der en hellig ceremoni kaldet “Ganga Aarti” med 5 + 7 hellige mænd, med bimlende klokker, trommer og ild.

Den 6. om morgenen var vi igen på bådtur langs de mange Ghats, hvor vi så alle de badende hinduer. Vi holdt et lille stop ved af de vigtige Ghats, Assi Ghat, hvor der hver morgen er fælles yoga, et imponerende syn. Michael var inde i et tempel imens jeg nød en kop te serveret i en lerpotte. For at komme ned til floden, skal man igennem en hel labyrint af smalle stræder, nogle steder kunne vi næsten ikke komme igennem for køer og andre steder kom er motorcykler kørende – alt i alt en spændende oplevelse.

I dag den 7. var vi ude og se Sarnath, stedet hvor Buddha begynde at undervise hans disciple. Vi mødte en familie fra Bihar som vi fulgtes med rundt i tempel komplekset, og tog nogle billeder med. Der var også et meget interessant arkæologisk museum, hvor jeg følte mig som et dyr i zoo. Der var en skoleklasse på museet og de unge piger var mere interesserede i at kigge på mig og snakke med mig, end at se på de udstillede genstande.

Højdepunktet i dag var næsten den fantastiske Lassi ( indisk smoothie) vi fik serveret i en lerskål – himmelsk.

En del af vores tid her i Varanasi er blevet brugt på at planlægge vores rute de næste 5 til 6 dage af turen.                                

  Cycle rickshaw still very much used here. - Cykel rickshaw er stadgvæk i brug her i Varanasi.

                                                         Narrow lanes - smalle stæder

Varanasi from 18th to 21st May

Varanasi takes no prisoners. It is one of the most colourfull, chaotic, noisy, enchanting, indiscreet place on earth. This is regarded as one of Hinduisms most holy cities, pilgrims come to the Ghats to wash away a lifetime of sins ( like me) or to cremate their loved ones. This is also magical but not for the faint hearted.

We spend the first afternoon with a walk along Ghats and a guide first took us to the cremation ghat called Manikarnika Ghat, this will live long in my memory ( barbeque nation) we then hired a boat and sailed down the Ganges. Our boat trip provided the perfect introduction to what the Ghats were all about.

The next morning at the crack of dawn we left the hotel at 4.30 am and went down to the Ghats again. We sailed past the most important Ghats being Assi Ghat, ( Varanasi gets it name from it) the Tulsi Ghat, the Kedar Ghat, popular with south Indians and many more. We had a pit stop at the Assi Ghat and was surrounded by Yoga freaks all doing their own things in different poses. Some of them did look healthy. We sailed back to the main Manikarnika Ghat which is the most auspicious place for a Hindu to be cremated. We then walked up to a temple called Vishwanath temple, this is dedicated to Shiva as lord of the universe, non Hindus are not allowed so Susanne stayed outside and drank chai. Since being barefoot in the temple, and having a guide with me, I just could not take standing in queue for over an hour so I pushed my way out and breathed a sign of relief.

Back to our hotel and I was relieved to get a shower and later have breakfast, all this is part of the Varanasi shakedown.

The next day we went for a drive to Sarnath. Buddha came to Sarnath to preach his message of the way to Nirvana and gave his first sermon here. Sadly Muslim invaders sacked the city in the 12^th century and Sarnath disappeared all together, it was rediscovered by a British archaeologist in 1935. We first went to the Dhameks Stupa where Buddha preached his first sermon and then to the archaeological museum, this was the cleanest and best museum I have ever been to in India, the highlights were the Ashoka pillar which has been adopted as Indians national emblem, and beautiful ancient treasures from the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries AD. The other highlight of the day was drinking the best lassi (out of clay pot) en route to the Benares University, where we saw the new Vishwanath temple (built by the Birlas).

Another highlight Susanne experinced in the museum, everybody wanted to talk to her, try out their English, take pictures, discuss her hometown and still did not believe that she lives in India. It became annoying after some time, so I left Susanne with all her fans and enjoyed the otherwise peaceful museum.

Back at the hotel the people working here are pretty impressed with a car from Bangalore and they are going out of their way to help us find places to stay in the next cities we are going to.