From Bandhavgarh National Park to our next destination Varanasi we again had to detour and stayed the night in what many people feel is the home of Indian politics, or at least the home of the Nehru family, Allahabad. After a few days out in the wilderness tiger-spotting we’d almost forgotten some of the more unpleasant sides of travel in India, until we reached Allahabad that is. We won’t list too many negatives but the dirtiness and dinginess of some hotel rooms never ceases to amaze...
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| Varanasi and the Ganges |
Varanasi, Benares or Kashi – whatever you want to call it is an experience you will not forget. One of the world’s oldest inhabited cities, Varanasi is also one of the holiest places for Hindus to visit during their lives with thousands of pilgrims arriving every day with either elderly or ill relatives or with the ashes of the already deceased. As tourists, Varanasi is very much on “the trail” so we were dubious of how authentic the city would feel. Any preconceived doubts we may have had were well and truly pushed aside as we found ourselves down at the riverbank on our first evening watching body after body going through the religious death rites before being stacked high onto the furnaces of bonfires. It really is a surreal place – there is so much life with people, cows, dogs, goats and monkeys all residing in the tiny alleyways contrasted with the burning ghats and death by the Ganges.
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| Cows are everywhere in Varanasi. Apparently Hindus believe that killing a cow (a sacred animal) in Varanasi (a sacred city) will condemn the perpetrator to a reincarnated life as a dung beetle for a few thousand years. Needless to say getting a good beef burger here can be a bit tricky... |
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| Elizabeth making friends with the locals |
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| Sunrise on the ganges |
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| Varanasi attracts thousands of devout Hindus and pilgirms each day. Many Indian people come here to spend their last days believing it to be a holy place in which to pass on to the next life |
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| We took a morning boat ride on the Ganges at sunrise |
As a breather from Varanasi we spent a day strolling around Sarnath, also an important religious site but this time for Buddhists, as the newly enlightened Buddha delivered his first teaching here. Serene Sarnath and Buddhism felt a world away from the colourful mass of Varanasi and Hinduism.
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| Elizabeth at the site where Buddha gave his first sermon |
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