SLIDESHOW-Varanasi, Holy Smoke

CLICK HERE or on the image to download slideshow

Varanasi…the holy city of shiva, holiest in all of India, sitting along the banks of the Ganges, where life and death coexist harmoniously. It is one of the world’s oldest cities dating back to the 6th century AD. It is a “crossing place” that allow devotees to access the divine and enable Gods and Goddesses to come down to earth. A Hindu who dies here, attains instant (moksha) or escape from the cycle of life and death. Because of this, many sick and elderly come here to live our their final days.
At first arrival, Varanasi seems like a God-forsaken and even God-less city, but if you give it a chance, it will slowly seduce you and reveal its soul to you. It truly is filthy, it is nearly impossible to walk 6 steps without walking in cow shit, and red paan (after-meal tobacco chew) stains cover most of the walls. The smell of the place is quite hard on the nose and you are offered charas (hash) every 5 minutes and silk and saris every 2, not to mention the car horns that incessantly blow all the time in your face. The first couple of days were quite draining but the characters who inhabit this place and those who make the pilgrimage to bathe in the sacred Ganges, make it all worthwhile. Ironically, the Ganges is one of the dirtiest, if not the dirtiest, river in the world, plagued by chemical pollutants, dead bodies, garbage, and poo poo. It is odd that this river that the Indian people revere with such passion, gets physical respect, but that is one of the many “why do they do that” things that are abound in India. Along the 7km stretch in Varansi, where there are over 26 bathing and “burning” ghats, over 30 sewers discharge into the river. The pilgrims and locals are literally washing in their own shit. Water safe for bathing should contain less that 500 faecal coliform bacteria per 100ml (a small glass of water) of water, the Ganges contains over 1.5 million!!! However, by far the worst problem affecting the river is the chemical waste that is discharged into the river.
Yesterday, we visited the burning ghat, where bodies are cremated and then released into the river. It was one of the most intense things I have ever seen as the bodies were very visible on top of these beds of wood and you could see and smell the flesh and organs burning right in front of you. It is the most auspicious place for a a Hindu to be cremated as the fire is supposedly lit from the same fire that Shiva’s wife Parvati made. The wood is carefully measured weighed out as they know exactly how much it will take to incinerate a body. Wood such as sandalwood and mango wood is more expensive and the uppercaste are usually cremated with that in a separate area cordoned off as to be separated from the lower caste Hindi’s.
One of the most fascinating things to watch here are the morning Puja rituals and evening time Ganga Aarti rituals. At dawn, thousands of people come to the river to perform prayers and songs to the river. The mellow morning light gives the river a mystic glow as Sadhus perform elaborate rituals waist deep in the water appearing from a distance to be fantastical creatures from another world. At sunset, Ganga Aarti is performed where thousands of floating candles, flowers, and food are released into the river and young priests oversee the affair with an elaborate ceremony involving lots of fire and incense. To see people with such reverance for ceremony and ritual is truly inspiring to me even though most of the time I understand none of it. I have enjoyed just sitting and watching the parade of people and plays go by me as I try to take it all in.
Seeing that Rishikesh did not live up to our expectations, we will be doing extensive yoga and meditation classes here as well as music lessons as Varanasi is the musical capital of Northern India. Breathe with me...