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Published: January 30th 2012
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Before ever deciding to go to India, our friend Kendra said this city, Varanasi, was life changing and a must do if we ever traveled to India. Once we decided to go to India we knew we had to see this city.
So what is it about this city that is so crazy? A few facts first: a holy city for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains (3 major religions in India), one of the oldest continously inhabited cities in the world and probably the oldest in India (per Wikipedia). The Hindus believe if they have their funeral here it is a direct road to Heaven and all followers must make a pilgrimage once in their life to dip in the Ganges River.
We witnessed multiple funerals while we stopped at 1 of the 2 burning ghats. What is a burning ghat? In the Hindu religion they cremate all of the dead and they do it on the river banks.
I told Pete if he didn't want to witness this life changing experience he could meet me later as this was something I really wanted to do. Pete joined me in my 30-45 minutes of watching the funeral process. We
witnessed a woman carried down the stairs on a bamboo stretcher covered of course in beautiful fabrics, dipped in the holy river, then burned on a stack of wood. We saw many bodies burn over the 3 days we were in Varanassi but only watched the whole process of a few of those who had passed on. This is the only city in India that has funerals 24 hrs a day.
I noticed it was only men at the funerals and no woman, only the one's passing by along the ghat (river bank walkway). In the Hindu religion, men aren't allowed during the birth of their children and woman are not allowed at the funerals. Also funerals usually only happen between sunrise and sunset, where Hindu weddings only happen after sunset.
Many marriages are still arranged to this day and we got to hear 1st hand about it as our leader Danesh's marriage was arranged by his grandparents. Before he was born his grandparents made a promise to with another family that if they had a boy and the other family had a girl that they would marry one day and that is exactly what happened.
Some other highlights in Varanasi: Open Hands, a coffee shop and bakery, that has crafts, silks and clothing which is must see if you visit; as their prices are amazing and the quality is the best we found in India. Too bad this was our 2nd too last city in India otherwise I would have purchased a lot more here (near Assi Ghat). Sunset boat cruise with the flower ceremony where you say a blessing or make a wish and then set the flower/candle into the river and all your wishes are too come true. Visiting where Buddha gave his 1st sermon after his enlightenment.
We stayed 2 nights at Hotel Divya which had a great location near Assi Ghat but only had hot water for a few hours a day. The food next door at Haifa Hotel was a great value and good.
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Mom
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Varanasi
Very interesting!!! Beautiful pictures !!!