Kashi Yatra - Part 3

Hope you enjoyed reading the first two parts of this series – this is the third and final part covering the last two days of my stay at Varanasi during which for the most part I roamed around alone.

7^th April

The official yatra wound up at around 9 AM. My roommate for the past four days had his return flight in the evening and had a few hours to kill. In-spite of the heat, we decided to make a quick trip to the southern part of the city. First we headed off to the famous Sankat Mochan temple which is situated a couple of kilometers away from Assi ghat.

The temple was not crowded and though the sun was unbearably hot, thanks to the trees in the complex, the temple was comfortable. We just managed to get darshan before the temple closed for the afternoon.

Then we decided to go to the Birla mandir (also known as the new Kashi Vishwanath temple) which is located inside the BHU (Banaras Hindu University) campus.

View of the BHU gate

BHU has a sprawling well planned campus. Inside it looked like a different world all together. The various departments buildings were interspersed with living quarters of various types.  The major mode of transport inside the campus (the campus area is over 5 square kilometers) seemed to be battery operated share rickshaws.

Soon we reached Birla mandir. 

This turned out to be a ‘new’ temple, quite spacious and we had good darshan before we were ushered out by the guards as it was closing time here too. Just outside the temple were a few eateries and we had a couple of snacks and lassi to cool us down.

We headed back to the hotel and whilst my friend headed off to the airport, I relaxed for a couple of hours.

After recharging my batteries, in the evening I started for Assi ghat. This is the southernmost ghat and the most spacious (crowded as well for good measure).

Assi ghat

This picture was taken just before it got crowded

There was a mela like atmosphere and I noticed that this ghat had a fair share of the local folks visiting in the evening. While one would find more tourists at the other ghats, here one could see local families coming here to have a good time.

The time for aarti (which was one of the reasons why I came here this evening) was about an hour away. So I decided to walk northwards and explore the nearby ghats as well. Though I had to be back quickly, during the brisk walk I made mental notes on which ghats to spend more time at the next day.

Just before the aarti, I grabbed a quick bite at the interestingly named Assi food street. They had an even more interesting byline – ‘Hygienic food at ghats’ and indeed the outlets in the ‘food court’ were more hygienic than those outside. 

‘Hygienic food at the ghats’

Then it was time for the evening aarti – though I had a glimpse from afar a couple of days back (from the boat) at Dashwashemedh ghat, today I could get a close up view. As I mentioned in the earlier post, this is an experience difficult to put into words. Suffice to say, the heady mix of sounds from the bells and mantras, light from the lamps, smells of the camphor-mix, synchronicity of the performers/ pandits and the cool breeze from Ganga was hypnotizing. The only jarring note were the artificial lights which seemed vulgar and out of place in a holy setting such as this! 

Evening ganga aarti at the Assi

I managed to get a rickshaw a few hundred meters away from the ghat and returned to the hotel to retire for the night.

8^th April

Waking up early was like second nature by now! I headed off to Godowlia square while it was still dark. The idea was to witness the sunrise from a quiet place. To do that, first I had to navigate my way past the crowds from Godowlia onto Dashashwamedh ghat where there was a larger crowd waiting to greet me. I have mentioned the early morning atmosphere at this ghat in the first part of this series. I slowly walked south passing Ahilyabai ghat and a few other ghats till I found some space that was suitably quiet! I parked myself there on  the steps awaiting the arrival of the Sun.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I have nothing more to add.

I only got a few precious minutes on my own. A tea seller wandered into my ‘kingdom’. The spell was broken.

I could not say no to his offer of masala tea. After walking further south by the side of a few other ghats, I doubled back to Dashashwamedh and further on to Kashi Vishwanath Dwar on the way to Godowlia square.

My next stop was the Kashi Karvat mandir. On the map, it looked very close to the Vishwanath temple. However I had to walk through a few narrow galis (and ask a few locals for directions) to get there.

Kashi Karvat is an ancient and powerfully consecrated temple that finds mention even in the puranas. Today it is temple hidden away in the by-lanes behind Kashi Vishwanath Dwar and visited by few.

Myth has it that there was a karvat (wood cutting instrument) hanging from the roof of the temple and this would fall on those that the Lord had blessed. They would die a gory death on the floor of the temple with their skulls cut open but would attain moksha. When the British came, they banned this practice and rumor has it that the karvat was carted off to a museum in the UK.

Whatever the stories behind the temple, today access to the main linga is restricted (they say that the consecrated energy is too strong). One can view the linga from about 25 feet above. The main temple is in the basement and access is limited to the priest. When I visited, there was no one around neither in the temple area above (with a modern tiled flooring) nor in the basement where the linga could be seen. 

 View of the Kashi Karvat linga from above

After that it was time to return to the hotel before the sun got any stronger.

In the evening, I took a rickshaw and got off at a place from where I could walk to Harischandra ghat. There are two ghats at Varanasi where cremations take place. One is the Manikarnika ghat which is one of the oldest ghats here. The fire for the cremations there have to be mandatorily taken from an ‘eternal flame’ which is said to be around 4000 years old.

A picture of Manikarnika taken on 4^th April from the boat

The second ghat is the Harischandra ghat where both normal and electric cremations are conducted.  Legend has it that it was here that Raja Harishchandra worked in the crematorium. There was a small temple there. After spending a few minutes at Harischandra ghat,  I slowly started walking by the banks of the ganga moving from one ghat to the next observing people along the way.

Very close to Harischandra ghat, I chanced upon an Aghori baba and his disciple. They were in the middle of some puja. The baba looked very ferocious and I could not bring myself to take a snap without permission.

This baba I met a bit further on was more docile and did not object.

A few meters ahead I found a quiet little ghat where I could relax and watch the goings on. There was a quaint little Shiva ‘temple’ no larger than the kitchen in my flat. I was followed around by a dog – the pandit told me (unsolicited) that it was harmless. Soon, I got used to it and it nestled against my leg as I settled down on a bench a couple of meters away from the linga.

From this vantage point I could observe the evening life in Varanasi as dusk fast approached. The boatmen who had not yet found fares (for the ride to Dashashwamedh ghat for the aarti) were still at it soliciting potential customers.

A couple of teenagers were playing badminton on a makeshift ‘court’ dangerously close to the river. A swamiji was slowly trudging along observing everything but not stopping anywhere. He was finally stopped by a foreign lady who wanted his photograph. She was walking away from me but still took around half an hour to move out of sight – she stopped every few meters and took snaps of just about everything.

A youngish looking couple (college going kids probably) found a quiet little spot behind a tree close by. Their privacy was disturbed a while later by a family rushing down the ghat steps in a hurry to get somewhere. The parents were upset by a balloon seller who weaned away the attention of their two kids.

As I was sipping a cup of lemon tea (I was getting to like this by now), ‘my’ dog got into a territorial fight with two others and successfully warded off the ‘invaders’.

As it got darker, the crowds thinned and and soon it was time for me also to say good bye to the Ganga. I had to drag myself away promising myself that I would visit again to relive this experience soon.

I walked back to the Godowlia area to search for a ride back to the hotel but not before visiting the famous Kashi chat bhandar for some tasty snacks.

9^th April

After breakfast it was time to check out. During the journey back I had a lot of time (the layover in Delhi was for 6 hours) to go over the whole experience in my mind. 

I have tried put down on paper what I experienced during the week. However some if it was difficult to put into words – for instance the mangal aarti experience at Kashi Vishwanath, the ganga aartis at the two ghats, the meditative state you fall into when you spend some time by the banks of the river and many others.. I would hope (irrespective of whether you are of a spiritual bent of mind or not) that you are inspired to make a trip to the oldest city in India and live and breath the atmosphere there for a few days. 

The Varanasi of today might on the outside look no different from any other north Indian city – but spend a few days there and it leaves a deep imprint on you. One leaves yearning to come back for more. Return I will, someday…but for now it is back to 'normal' life.