OveeGore
Varanasi
Some background
Varanasi is the oldest living city in the world. Two rivers, Varuna and Asi, combine and merge into the Ganges river, in this city. The Ganges river starts from the Himalayas and runs throughout India, eventually ending in the Bay of Bengal. On its journey, it is a major water source for roughly 400 million people, making it the most populated river basin in the world. Along with its life-sustaining importance, the Ganges river possesses great religious significance for hindus. The river is known as the Goddess Ganga, and it is considered very holy to bathe in its waters. Hindus travel from everywhere, to rinse their sins away in the waters of Ganga, deliver ashes of a deceased loved one, or even bottle the holy water to take with them. Since this city is known for its religious importance, and home to many hindu mythology stories, and significant temples, millions of hindus travel to Varanasi with the bodies of the dead to cremate them on the ghats of the river. A ghat is a series of stairs that descend to the river bank, and Varanasi has a total of 88. Many ghats are bathing and pooja ceremony ghats, while some are used only for cremations. The river, and the city, despite its beauty and ancient charm, is extremely polluted. The Ganges river is used for a multitude of things, such as washing clothes, bathing, bathing of animals, and is also misused by the dumping of chemical/industrial waste, and religious waste such as cow carcasses and ashes of the dead, along with discarded candles, coconuts, and flowers. Trash is discarded in the river, or ends up there from the city, due to poor waste management systems. Slums are also situated on the river banks of Varuna and Asi, due to the need for a direct water source, and human/animal fecal matter often end up in the river's waters as well. The pollution of this river is a large issue when discussing India’s water pollution, due to the large sum of people that use its water for everyday purposes. I knew that on my trip to India, I had to visit this city, to observe everything it had to offer, for myself. Here, I not only observed lots of valuable things to add to my project, but I felt lots of things that would change me. This is a description of my trip, and what I saw and felt. I was in Varanasi for New Years, an evening and a day, and it was the most life-changing experience I have ever had.
A boat, carrying trash from local residents
Women, sorting religious waste
Cows huddled by the fires
A cow carcass floating in the water
Wooden stretchers discarded in piles
The details of my experience
We stayed in a hotel on the Ganesh Ghat, situated on the banks of the river Ganges. We used a row boat to explore the ghats, and see the city. The evening we were in Varanasi was December 31st. Every night, on the ghats, there is an aarti ( a religious ceremony ), with large diya holders, chants, and bells, facing the water, to worship the river goddess Ganga. The plan was to explore the ghats by boat, eventually making our way to the location of the arthri all the way north of the river.
On the way there, we passed people bathing and praying on the ghats, lots of sinking temples, and old structures that lined the banks. We passed lots of cow carcasses that floated by us in the water, and observed lots of diyas floating by. Diyas are candles lit in paper boats, often filled with flowers, they are set adrift on the water as an offering to the goddess Ganga. Oftentimes, in Varanasi, these diyas are accompanied with a wish. We sat on our lavender row boat, and observed the scenery, silently, as huge boats of tourists motored by us, and fed the seagulls gliding above the water.
As we coasted along, we began to see fires. Around 7 or 8 large sets of flames staggered along a ghat, accompanied with lots, and lots, and lots of people. It was a surreal and calm scene. Surprisingly, the chaos kept to the banks, while we watched from our boat, about 10 feet away. Hundreds of people lined the stairs, with no room to move. They brought down body, after body, covered in orange cloth, and on a wooden stretcher, to the river banks. The body would be dunked in the water, then set aflame, becoming another tall standing fire. Cows and dogs huddled on the stairs close to the fires for warmth, and wooden stretchers piled up on the sides by the hundreds. We sat there for a while, ashes falling all around us, watching, as body after body was brought down, fires ended and started a new, and observed this event.
The creamation ghat
On the way to the aarthi on New Year's Eve
A boat carrying firewood to the cremation ghat
I watched again as we passed the Manikarnika ghat, bodies aflame and smoke surrounding us, I felt more spiritual and connected to my religion than I probably will ever feel in my life. The next morning, the first day of the 2020 year, we had only a few hours left in Varanasi before we had to leave. The last thing we wanted to do was walk through the old city. We visited the holiest temple of hinduism, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. To get there, we had to walk through the narrow alleyways of the city, passing lots of cows blocking our way, and puppies playing on the streets. We passed the oldest standing buildings in the world, and small religious idols placed in every corner. We passed vegetable markets, and low hanging criss-crossed telephone wires until we reached our destination. I was immediately awestruck.Flower garlands and coconuts from ceremonies to bid farewell to the dead floated on the edge of the water, and smoke stung my eyes. I would never be able to explain this experience to anyone who hasn’t felt it. It wasn’t a scene, it was an emotion, the cycle of life and death staring me in the face, I wondered when my own body would end up here, on this very bank. We continued along, to witness the aarthi for new years eve.
Arriving at Dasaswamedh Ghat, we decided to watch from the boat, since the ghat itself was filled with thousands of people. Boats collected slowly and steadily on the river bank, the slight rocking water pushed them close to each other, so little boys carrying giant tin containers would hop from one to another selling chai to tourists , to make a living. By the time the aarthi started, there were thousands and thousands of people here, and hundreds of boats. The songs began to start, and I sat, cross legged, on the end of the boat just living in the most beautiful moment of my life.
The pundit using the fire lamps during the aarthi
My diya, my offering, to the goddess Ganga
This aarthi is known for the movement of giant lamps, in clockwise motion, facing the river. The aarthi continued for around 45 minutes, and the time flew by, before I knew it boats were undocking and pedaling backwards, against the murky black water, back to their origins. Before we left, we each made a wish, with our diyas, and released them on the water. The journey to the hotel, my mind was elsewhere, unable to comprehend what the last 2 hours of my life had caused me to experience.
Making a wish with my diya after the aarthi
The view from our boat for the aarthi
The line to get inside the temple easily held a thousand people. Up and down the markets and narrow streets, people waited in line, patiently, with baskets of offerings such as sugar, coconuts, flowers, and milk to give to the gods. Luckily for us, our guide knew the pundit in charge, and he personally bypassed the entire line for us, and we stood in front of the temple in 60 seconds. I began to think about the meaning of devotion, and how maybe, I was cheating, and missing out on the opportunity to demonstrate my devotion to god, by waiting in this line.In front of the temple entrance there were hundreds of people, maneuvering with no elbow room, holding baskets of offerings, most on their heads to avoid a mess, waiting to push and shove their way into the temple. Holding on to my dad, we made our way as cautiously as possible into this tiny temple, I placed my offerings into the allocated place, prayed, hands clasped together for a moment, took some prashad from the pundit ( sweet from the temple, considered to be scared, that you are to eat, ) and in the blink of an eye I was out.
We walked through the pathways and prayed to the gods, performed a short puja, and left. When we returned to the market we bought our basket from, again, I was in a daze. I cannot put this experience into words. We bought some natural oils, that are said to alleviate certain stresses, aid us in life’s struggles, eliminate our health problems, and bring us peace and tranquility. The priest there explained ancient hindu mythology in marathi and hindi, and I peacefully listened. We walked back through the streets, boated the ghats for the last time, and flew home.
The Sinking Temple
Behind the vegetable market
The old city from the boat
Old city ruins
