Where Buddha gave his first sermon

Part 1 - Poverty’s woes, charred human toes, and slithering foes: Come one, come all, to the Varanasi circus.

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February 27th 2010
“Brace yourself. You’re about to enter one of the most blindingly colorful, unrelentingly chaotic and unapologetically indiscreet places on earth. Hindu pilgrims come to the ghats lining the Ganges River here to wash away a lifetime of sins in the sacred waters or cremate their loved ones. It’s a particularly auspicious place to die, since expiring here offers moshka (liberation from the ... read more

Asia » India » Uttar Pradesh » Varanasi

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The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest invaded about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab in... ... read more