Varanasi – The Spiritual Capital of India

Varanasi is a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh dating to the 11th century B.C. Regarded as the spiritual capital of India, the city draws Hindu pilgrims who bathe in the Ganges River’s sacred waters and perform funeral rites. Along the city’s winding streets are some 2,000 temples, including Kashi Vishwanath, the “Golden Temple,” dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Ghats in Varanasi are riverfront steps leading to the banks of the River Ganges. The city has 88 ghats. Most of the ghats are bathing and puja ceremony ghats, while a few are used exclusively as cremation sites.

One of the most colourful and fascinating places on earth, surprises abound around every corner. This is one of the world’s oldest continually inhabited cities, and one of the holiest in Hinduism. Pilgrims come to the ghats lining the Ganges to wash away sins in the sacred waters or to cremate their loved ones. It’s a particularly auspicious place to die, since expiring here offers moksha (liberation from the cycle of rebirth).

Most visitors agree Varanasi is magical – but not for the faint-hearted. Intimate rituals of life and death take place in public, and the sights, sounds and smells on the ghats – not to mention almost constant attention from touts – can be intense. Still, the so-called City of Light may turn out to be your favourite. Walking the ghats and alleyways or watching sunrise from a boat can be unforgettable.

Very few cities in the world have such narrow serpentine lanes where sun-light touches the surface for only few minutes. There exist not only one or two such lanes and bye lanes forming labyrinth, one can walk in these lanes from one end of the city to the other end without coming out on the motor able road.

In these lanes you meet famous scholars and craftsmen, artists and artisans, priests and pandas, agents and pageants, aristocrats and commoners, criminals and cleaners and of course a pakka (real) banarasi. You find famous shrines and temples of almost all the religious sects of India. In these lanes almost, transactions of millions are being done of Banarasi sarees and silk products, carpets, metal wares, toys and what not.

Banaras Hindu University, formerly Central Hindu College, is a public central university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Established in 1916 by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, BHU is the largest residential university in Asia, with over 35,000 students. The university comprises all castes, creeds, religions and genders, and is on the list of Institutes of National Importance. The most prominent landmark is the Shri Vishwanath Mandir, located in the centre of the campus. The foundation for this 252 feet (77 m) high complex of seven temples was laid in March 1931, and took almost three decades to complete.