Exploring India 2009 – Varanasi (Benares)
Oct 24
As I was getting nearer to the end of my journey, I thought I have seen it all until I reached Varanasi. Where else can you see dead people burning around the clock on a river bank and human cleaning themselves in the same river. Dead bodies aside, the sacred Ganga is indeed a very spiritual place for the Hindu. Life and death seem to revolves around the river. The river sustain the life of people living around it and when they die, their body is return to the river. Even though I dare not touch the water, but millions of people believe that bathing in the river will cleansed their body and wash away all their sins or something like that. The river bank is always full of life and activities. The best way to witness it is to take an early morning or late evening stroll along the river bank or by human powered boat ride. Before I left, I did a quick excursion to Sarnath via a local bus. This is where Buddha gave his famous first sermon to a handful of followers in a deer park.
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- Big black buffaloes bathing in Ganges river (Ganga)
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- The river bank of Ganga
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- It is full of life along the river bank. India's favorite past time is not missed here.
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- Bathing in Ganga is very common
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- Boy peddling candle float. It is suppose to bring good luck. When I refused to buy it, he cursed me bad luck -____-"
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- Candle float
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- Surprise to see fish in the river
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- It is not easy as it seems
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- The burning ghat; a place where dead bodies are cremated daily.
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- Dusk
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- Dawn
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- Morning prayer
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- My boat has arrived
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- Hindu priest performing morning ritual
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- Human powered washing machines
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- "Fortunate are the people who reside on the banks of Ganga"
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- Man brushing his teeth in the river. Behind him is the burning ghat; a place where dead bodies are cremated every hours.
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- Holy men
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- A intensely spiritual place for Hindu
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- Colorful sarees are laid to dry along the bank of Ganga
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- Linga and linda stands. I saw a lot of these in Angkor Wat
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- Sarnath. Buddha gave his famous first sermon here to a handful of followers in a deer park
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- Dhamekh Stupa in Sarnath
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- Ruins of monastery in Sarnath
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- At the train station in Varanasi
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Dear Sir,
No religious books of Hindus says that goddess river Ganga meant for cleansing “the body”.
Ganga means for cleansing the soul by washing away the sins who take holy dip in this sacred water.
It is simply the matter of FAITH! We can’t judge faith in any science laboratory.
Because science doesn’t believe in the existence of “Life-Force” or the Soul inside the human body!
Hi Rajesh. Thanks for your opinion.