Benares – Mirror to the Holy Land of the Hindus

The chilly breeze grazing my cheeks, I walked slowly up the path towards my house thinking of the lovely film I just saw at my friend’s place. Rajiv Upadhyay, my friend is a documentary film maker and he just had shown me a film on Benares – The Holy land of the Hindus. The film showed the city in general and it made me want to have a look at this sacred hub of India.

“Hmmm, so it is Benares this time huh Rossy boy?” I asked myself, smiled at my uncontrollable urge to visit places for any rhyme or reason and set out for my next destination – Benares.

This time was no different. As was normal, last minute bookings made for flight as well as the train from Delhi to Benares. I would then take whichever was confirmed. As the day approached I was toying with going to Babatpur airport near Benares or landing at the Benares railway junction. The train ticket got confirmed so I gave up the flight ticket cancelled it and found myself in Rohan’s car taking me to Delhi from Mussoorie, where I live. The Kashi Vishwanath Express left on time from Delhi station at 11.40 and I was on my way to Benares. My friend, Ajay, a great bike rider said he would come with his fiancée Vidya, by bike. I was aghast at the energy he should have to ride such a long distance from Allahabad which is around 128 km from Benares.

Settling down in the seat, I looked at the child beside me in the train and was amused to see the glee she had on her face as she looked out of the window. After some initial pleasantries, her father (Chandranath Sharma, he said his name was) asked me where I was going. When I said Varanasi, he was as excited as he hailed from that place and said how Benares is considered to be amongst the holiest of Hindu cities. Here is where, he added Buddhism was founded and this is where Guru Nanak founded the reasons to found the Sikh religion. Gautam Buddha apparently gave his first sermon at Benares. Yes I knew about this. I had read about this. I had also read that Annie Besant worked here and was responsible for the creation of the prestigious Benares Hindu University. Chandranath’s wife peered from the “pallu” of her saree and offered me a “muthiya” (an Indian delicacy) and said shyly that Benares was one of the holy bathing regions for Hindus. She and her family were going to Benares to bathe in the Ganges and wash away sins.

Quite intrigued by the faith Indians have in temples, flowers and bathing in the holy river I was quite refreshed with a lot more information from Chandrakant and his wife Kamini. So when I got down at Varanasi junction, and I saw the three wheelers, the auto rickshaws and the cycle rickshaws, I knew I had to bargain well as they had no metre system. This was the training of Chandrakant and his wife!

I was thankful that I had booked myself in a Dharamshala by talking to a common friend in Benares. He met me at the Dharamshala and soon enough in some time Ajay and Vidya also joined in. It was early morning and we decided to go to the Ghats first after a shower.

Ajay and Vidya were looking very much in love and I was very much in love with the surroundings.

“Rossy boy, so off to Assi Ghat, Huh>?” I told myself and never expected that Assi Ghat would hit me in the manner it did. The peace, the calm, the surroundings, the confusion around all seemed to blend and bloom like a beautiful flower. The river across looked like a damsel in waiting. Two small boys came running behind us and made us buy lamps to light in the river. Ajay said, “Ross, you have to say Jai Ganga Mata” and set this afloat. I said “Jai Ganga Mata” and funnily enough felt a kind of peace settling in within me. Wow! The mysteries of Indian culture. It was broken suddenly by the two boys again, who came for their pay. I don’t believe in child labour and gave them a big bar of chocolate and moved on much to the amusement of Ajay and Vidya. We sat on the Ghats looking at Ganges overlooking in the horizon. The pale orange bloom of the dawn was rising up and the scene was like a canvas painting.

As we walked up, I saw a group of people sitting on a platform and performing some breathing exercises. Yoga! The Indian trick to good health. I sat along with them and watched as the Guru was teaching the children and the people sitting there how to breathe. It was a revealing experience.

We then went to a local hotel for filling our rumbling tummies. We had a simple puri sabzi and tea and then went to see the Benares Hindu University. This was very near Assi Ghat. Anyone who would come to this campus would be struck by the lovely gardens and the expanse of space here. Vidya who was from Mumbai said that in Mumbai such an expanse would be like a treasure chest. She said her father who was a professor in the Mumbai University had mentioned that Benares University spread over 2000 acres. We went to the Vishwanath temple which was peace personified. Apparently the Birla family built it. There was also a medical center named Sunderlal Medical Center in the campus. The graceful surroundings and the calmness of the place overwhelmed me.

We also saw the Bharat Kala Bhavan here which was a museum with many paintings, sculptures of Hinduism and Buddhism, an idol of Lord Krishna lifting Mt.Govardhan, and innumerable miniature paintings of the Mughal era.

We came out on to the roads, full of garbage, beggars, urchins, the traffic honking and trying to jostle in with the cows and buffaloes walking on the road. It was mess all around, but the entire noise seemed to have a flow. The bells clanging, the chanting from the temples, the vendors calling out, and the River Ganga fully polluted, yet all of us sensing calm in the chaos. That was Benares.

“Arrey Bhaiya, hat jayiye raastey se.” I am Scottish, yet I understand Hindi well. I knew he said “Mister Move away from the road.” I looked behind and saw a horde of orange clad men coming. It was a procession with them chanting some hymns in Sanskrit. As we were walking down, a man came up to us. We were very amused to see him. He had this board on his chest “I you take Varanasi round.” We laughed at his English and he said he would take us around Varanasi for a nominal amount. We needed someone anyway and agreed, and the glee with which he leapt to get his three wheeler is seen to be believed. Even a chimp would have fallen short in being energetic!!  We left it to him to take us around and reached Nandeshwar Kothi first. He said that this was a building that was designed by a “Videshi Babu” (foreigner) James Prinsep in the Unnnisvi Shatabdi. “Huh?” I said. Ajay and Vidya said Unnisvi Shatabdi means 19th century.

Benares is a land of the Hindus, of Jains, of Buddhists, but it is also a land of urchins and beggars. It saddened me to see the poverty around and the dirt and muck completely destroying the beauty of the surrounding. Yet as we reached the Jantar Mantar, the mental agony was replaced with awe and appreciation. This monument was, Pappu, our hero, mentioned, and built by Jaisingh as an observatory. We went in and had a look at all the instruments that were there to record the speed, motion and the various properties of the planets and the stars. Pappu said it was built in the Solahvi Shatabdi. I looked perplexed at him before Vidya chipped in “16th century, Ross”. This was actually constructed to measure the local time, the declination of the Sun, stars and the planets.

A late lunch at a local shanty with biryani, and a dash of salad. Vidya was on a fast so she just had some milk. After this, Pappu said we could go for the boat ride in the Ganges.

All the tiredness and the irritation of the daytime just melted when we sat on the boat. We watched the sun set in the background with the entire sky paling into a pink colour. Men stood in the Ganges and performed their rituals. We saw the marigolds dancing in the water, after being dropped by the holy men. The perfumed incense, the bells clanging, the musical chants in the air and the lovely candle light lamps floating in the Ganges made the entire place get ready to settle down for the night. Benares looked like a small infant who after a day’s mischief was quietly being lulled to sleep.

From the time I got down from the train at Varanasi till now, I felt as if an eternity had passed. So the Dharamshala’s uncomfortable mattress and the humming of the mosquitoes didn’t seem to disturb me. I had gone to a dreamland with monks singing hymns and Pappu in saffron robes!

Early next morning we to see the sunrise in the Ganges, on the boats. The same scenes as the evening before only this time we saw the sun rising royally like a king of the horizon. Believe it or not, as we walked down to the local inn to have our breakfast, who did we bounce into? You guessed it right. Pappu!!! This time he was armed with some books and started reading out in Hindi about how Benares is a hub of musical works and how it has a Benares Gharana.He told us about how Varanasi is also known as the City of temples.

“In fact” Ajay added that the name Varanasi came from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi. I was wondering why it was also called Kashi. Pappu said that the city was known as such in the Rigveda. I remembered having read somewhere that this was the place where a very funny incident of a sleeping tiger being seized by an Indian crocodile had occurred.

Thereafter, we went in our chauffeur driven vehicle – the three wheeler, Pappu being our chauffeur! We went to Sarnath which is around 13 kms from Varanasi. Here is where the oldest archaeological museum in the whole country lies. Pappu drove as fast as he could and I saw the innumerable cows and buffaloes walking along and slowly receding behind as we saw the green expanse leading us to Sarnath. This is the place where Lord Buddha gave his first sermon. It is a holy place for the Buddhists. All the antiquities from 3BC to 12AD are stored here and it is a beautiful place to visit. In fact this was actually a monastery converted into a museum. So part of the monastery was still visible.

After a nice tour of the museum, we snacked on some fruits sold by a local vendor, and then went for a longer drive to the Ramnagar Fort. Lassi or whipped curd at a roadside stall, some sugarcane juice and we went further to the fort. The Ramnagar Fort lying on the banks of the River Ganges is said to be the ancestral home of the Rajas of Benares.

Pappu excitedly guided us towards this fort palace built of sandstone. Vidya captured a lot of our nostalgic moments in the camera and Ajay just walked around strumming his guitar. He carried it everywhere. Here at the fort, we saw a temple built for Sage Vyas who is supposed to have written the Indian epic Mahabharata. We saw a lot of swords, ivory work, antique clocks, and vintage cars collection in the museum in the fort. We saw the Durga temple and the Dakshin Mukhi and Chhinamastika temple. Palanquins, howdahs, weapons, historical artifacts! Phew! It was never ending.

With all the knowledge of a history text book and laden with memories of a beautiful past we sat in our luxurious vehicle – the three seater!

We decided to have an early dinner and settled to watch the Ramlila. It is a play showcasing the Indian epic Ramayana and we didn’t understand a thing though Pappu enjoyed it to the fullest. But the whole show was very vibrant, colourful and I was amused to see the crowd going berserk seeing their “God” on stage!

We stayed back at Ramnagar at Pappu’s sister’s house. A small house but very welcoming and full of love and care. A peaceful but mosquito filled night again but I was tired to care. I slept on the mat in open air and that was a wonderful experience.

Early morning back to Benares, sunrise, noise, clatter and a hot glass of steaming tea and bhajiyas. We visited the Tilbhandeshwar temple, and also then went to Chunargarh a good 40 kms from Benares. The fort here was majestic enough to set our pulse racing and asking for more history.

We actually wanted to go to Jaunpur, Vindhyachal the Shakti peeth, Kaushambi the Buddhist center, the Chandra Prabha Sanctuary, and the Kaimoor Wildlife Sanctuary but we decided to go there the next trip.

Totally enriched, and completely enlightened, we were a content lot who travelled the flight back to Delhi. Ajay and Vidya bid goodbye and I reached Mussoorie, all laden with history, and more tales to write on my travelogue.

Ross Saying: Get Enlightened at Benares, get glowing for life.