Varanasi
Varanasi
Varanasi, one of the world’s oldest living cities. Enjoy a morning and evening boat ride on the Ganges River and marvel at the Ghats, stone steps leading to the riverbank used for centuries by devotees as bathing and cremation sites. You’ll learn about India’s three ancient religious traditions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism – as […]
Varanasi, one of the world’s oldest living cities. Enjoy a morning and evening boat ride on the Ganges River and marvel at the Ghats, stone steps leading to the riverbank used for centuries by devotees as bathing and cremation sites. You’ll learn about India’s three ancient religious traditions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism – as you walk through Varanasi’s old city with an expert guide.
t is believed that a person may take his bath anywhere, but at the time of bathing if he utters the words “Ganga, Ganga”, he derives the benefit of bathing in Holy Ganga. River Ganga destroys the devotee’s sins committed knowingly or unknowingly. A devotee who always thinks about Holy Ganga while walking, sitting, praying, concentrating, eating or sleeping attains freedom from bondage. A devotee who religiously performs the rituals for his forefathers in Holy Ganga makes his forefathers very happy and they remain satisfied for many decades. Just as worshipping one Shiv Ling gives the benefit of worshiping the entire world, taking bath in River Ganga gives the benefit of bathing in all the Sacred Ponds in the world. A devotee, who bathes in River Ganga and worships Shiv Ling, derives much more benefits than undergoing various rituals like religious fasting, donation, intense penance and austerity, Havans (rituals with fire etc). It is even said if a dieing person is given few drops of Gangajal or Ganges water drops in his/her mouth, he gets all his/her sins forgiven and goes straight to heaven for a beautiful after life as a soul and can even get chance to unify with the creator God himself as a part of his huge energy. Knowingly or unknowingly, if a person touches fire, he will get burnt; similarly whether it is known by a person or not, if a devotee bathes in Holy Ganga, the river swallows all his sins. In Varanasi, one side of her bank is made up of Ghats. Ghat is a series of steps leading down to a water body, usually a holy river, lake or pond. Varanasi has nearly 84 ghats; steps leading down to Ganga. Most of the ghats were built when the city was under Maratha control. Marathas, Shindes (Scindias), Holkars, Bhonsles, and Peshwes (Peshwas) stand out as patrons of present day Kashi. Many present day Hindu temples, monuments and ghats were made by the Maratha rulers only as the Kashi city earlier was repeatedly attacked, vandalized and destroyed by Muslim rulers just because of their blind and irrational hate towards Hindus and Sanatan dharma. Most of the ghats are bathing ghats, while two are used as cremation sites. Most of the ghats are associated with legends or mythologies while some ghats are privately owned. Boat ride, especially in morning, on the Ganges across the ghats is very famous and popular visitor’s attraction.
Known as India’s most sacred city, Varanasi is situated on the western bank of the holy river Ganga. It is also the oldest living city in the world. As a place for devotion and worship, with hundreds of temples dotting the city, sunrise on the river front as seen from a boat can be a spiritually uplifting sight. It has a fascination uniquely its own, a quality of sublime beauty, a timeless eternal appeal.
Varanasi is the easily reachable city by all the means and well connected by all the cities through the airplane, train, bus and car.
See Varanasi, one of the world’s oldest living cities, on a 2-night trip from New Delhi! Enjoy a morning and evening boat ride on the Ganges River and marvel at the Ghats, stone steps leading to the riverbank used for centuries by devotees as bathing and cremation sites. You’ll learn about India’s three ancient religious traditions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism – as you walk through Varanasi’s old city with an expert guide.
Varanasi Holiday / Tour Packages
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Bharat Kala Bhavan is an art and architecture museum situated inside the BHU campus. Here, one can find a large number of Buddhist and Hindu sculptures, paintings and other materials of archaeological relevance.
The history of Vishwanath Temple that is also called Golden Temple at times is full of ups and downs. The temple and city has always been on the receiving end of the invaders be it Afghans, Turks, Rohila or Marathas. The temple has been built and razed to the ground several times in the history. It was first destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji in the 13th century and was later rebuild. Emperor Akbar donated several acres of villages to the trust that was later cut down substantially by Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb was a fundamentalist who hated every possible religion and sects in India including Sufi and Shiite order among the Muslims. Rani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore built the present temple that stands in Varanasi, in the year 1776. Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore donated the 800-kilogram Gold-plating of the towers that gives the temple its colloquial name.
Durga-temple The Durga temple is considered one of the most important temples in Varanasi. Built in 18th century the Durga temple is stained in Red with ochre. Though the temple might have Bangla influence spiritually, it is built exclusively on the North Indian pattern called Nagara. Multi-tired spires that decrease in diameter in horizontal pattern mark this style. Actually separate spires are clubbed together one over another to give this feel. Though this style looks less attractive than the South-Indian Gopuram pattern, it has a feel of its own. Lately, people have started calling it Monkey Temple due to the menace created by the monkeys that inhabit the campus of this Temple.
Sankat Mochan Mandir do not have much historical significance but is a good place to visit at least once. No body knows who established this temple. It was actually very small in its early phase. In the due course various ‘Mahants’ collected funds to upgrade the structure and today it boasts off a fairly large complex. The temple has every possible facility for the devotees. There is an inn too where devotees can stay overnight. The must attend religious function of this temple is the famous “Pratah Aarti” or dawn offering that takes place at 5 AM in the morning. The “Sandhya Aarti” or the evening offering is performed to Lord Sankat Mochan at around 8:30 in the night. “The Rathri Aarti” is performed at around 10 PM after which the gates are closed.
Tulsi Manas Temple has a very historical as well as cultural importance for not only Varanasi but also for the whole of India. This is precisely because the place is connected to an event that still rules the Indian Psyche. The famous Hindu Epic of Ramayana was composed at this very place. Goswami Tulsi Das was the man who composed Ramayana in Hindi in the form of “Ram Charit Manas”. Prior to that, Ramayana was only available in Sanskrit and that is why it was out of the reach of general masses.
About 56 temples dedicated to Lord Ganesha, spread all over the city; some of them are Sakshi Vinayaka Temple, Sidda Vinayaka, Manikarnika Ghat, Kark Vinayaka, Lalak Kund, Bhadeni, Durga Vinayaka, Abhayapad Vinayaka, Sakchhi Vinayaka. Ganesha – the elephant-deity riding a mouse – has become one of the commonest mnemonics for anything associated with Hinduism. This not only suggests the importance of Ganesha, but also shows how popular and pervasive this deity is in the minds of the masses.
s a model of undivided India, depicting the mountains, plains and oceans. The most peculiar thing about the Bhcustomary gods and goddesses, it houses a relief map of India, carved out of marble.arat Mata Temple is that instead of the