The city of spiritual light . . . and yes you can have our autograph

It was the right time to leave Delhi early on Monday morning. The pollution was high as post Diwali firework smog settled over the city and the inhabitants prayed for rain to clear it. Being English we holiday to escape the rain! The one positive was that the sun was turned into a sparkling ball of deep orange as it tried to burn it away.

It was only a short eighty minute flight to Varanasi and we were settled in our hotel by 13:30 for a quick rest before being picked up at 16:30 for our evening Aarti ceremony at the Ganges. More importantly it gave us time to “get ready” for this trip. Usually this means the camera equipment, but this time it means the camera equipment and the insect repellent! This was going to be man v mosquito round 1. As you can see from the photo, we came more than well prepared.

We had the option of going on a boat to see the ceremony, or sitting on a front row chair high up in a building opposite. All the guide books say go for the boat, but we went with the advice of the guide and went for the balcony chair. It was the right choice. Whilst originally you think you’ve made the wrong decision as the priests originally face the water away from you, they bless all four directions equally so you see as much of the ceremony as those on the water. The place is literally jam packed. The walkway was full, the steps, or Ghats, down to the Ganges were heaving. The river was full of boats jostling against each other for the best and closest space. Whilst the ceremony is unchanged for millennia, it is now sponsored by charities which has made it more of an “attraction” and we were very grateful that our guide had bought and reserved our seats accordingly.

See video of some of the ceremony here

We didn’t miss the evening boat trip as our alarm was set for 04:30 to meet our guides an hour later for our sunrise boat trip on the river Ganges. Whilst the city was quieter at this early hour, it was anything but quiet! Apart from all the tourists like us, there were hoards of early morning bathers and pilgrims and then everyone else such as priests, food vendors, market stall holders and boat men. Whilst the Ganges is a holy river some parts are more holy than others. Varansi is the holiest part and it’s only the left bank that the city is on, not the opposite side. The holiest of holies is the bit in the middle where the aarti ceremony is, the Dashashwamedh Ghat. So this is the holiest place to submerge yourself. Apparently around Diwali is a really busy time and since Covid they have had up to 50,000 people a day wanting to go in to the river. The internet tells us how unhygienic it is, and trust me I believe what I’ve read. Whilst I understand that it’s not as detrimental to them as it is to foreigners, I am still very impressed by their willingness to submerge themselves so totally in such murky water.

Varansi is also famous for being the Hindu holy place to be cremated. The bodies are cremated either by wood fire at one end at the Manikarnika Ghat, or by an electric furnace at the other end. The electric furnace is government run and cheaper. When walking through the market we had to stop a couple of times to allow funeral processions past us on their way to the Manikarnika Ghat. Whilst it’s not respectful to take photos of the bodies on the fires, I can’t believe that it’s respectful to allow the cows to roam around the area either, even if they are sacred animals.

Silk weaving is the dominant industry in Varanasi and almost next door to the hotel was one of the oldest family run factory. This was the most ornate, hand woven fine silk brocade. It was even more impressive when you consider that the looms are operated by foot +/- hand to move the strings for the intricate patterns and the way that the pattern is set is either by hand punched cards, which takes approximately two and a half to three months to set up, or by tying bundles of string together at various intervals which has the same effect i.e lifting certain weft threads at different times to create the pattern. The amazing thing is that someone knows how to work this out in their head as this is the way it was done hundreds of years ago.

The afternoon was spent in Sarnath where Buddha delivered his first lessons, learning the history of the origin of Buddhism and visiting the ancient site and museum. Given that this site is ~2500 years old, we were surprised to be held up going round because they were filming a Bollywood movie. Eventually they waved us through and we moved onto the next part of the site. What we hadn’t realised was that we were supposed to clear the whole area so when we eventually moved on we walked directly behind the main stars, albeit at a distance, whilst the cameras were rolling. Steven’s the one in the bright blue polo shirt, I’m in a pink shirt and our excellent guide was in a yellow shirt so please look out for us in the film.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering through the old city and we also went to the main Hindu temple complex where people can queue for over three hours for just a few seconds at the shrine. Before Diwali the queue was closer to six hours. These people aren’t fanatics, they are just devoted. I saw that in the way they entered the Ganges and their willingness to accept queuing for so long. Not only that many of these people are very poor and yet they’ve come on a pilgrimage in huge family groups. They live outside in the temple grounds or in very poor quality “hotels” which are essentially just large communal rooms with mattresses on the floor. They save to hire a van for the whole extended family and bring huge gas hobs and cooking equipment with them to save money on food. And yet they are happy. That is real dedication.

Varanasi is the city I was looking forward to most on this trip. Yes I’m sure our next stop of Agra and the Taj Mahal will be magnificent, but the world is full of magnificent iconic buildings. It is about understanding what makes India tick as a Hindu country. It was the city that I thought was going to be essence and spirit of India’s Hindu culture. It exceeded expectations and much of that was down to our invaluable guide, Sapan. Without him we’d have seen but not experienced, witnessed but not understood the magic of Kashi (Varanasi’s original name) – we would not have felt the “spiritual light”