RIVER CRUISING
century BC and the Mughal period of the 1500s to the British era from the 1700s.
Stupa, Sarnath SACRED CITIES
Any visit to this area should include a pre or post-cruise visit to VARANASI. The city, once known as Benares, is India’s holiest and the sanctuary of Hinduism’s mightiest God, The Lord Shiva. It is considered the centre of birth and re-birth.
It is also the world’s oldest living city. The stepped waterfront is crammed with temples where Hindu ceremonies are shared with all comers. At sunrise, devotees wash away their sins while, at sunset, priests perform the Aarti. Some 10km away is SARNATH with its
huge Stupa where Buddha preached his first sermons in the 5th century BC. Two of India’s greatest treasures are displayed in the museum – the four- headed Lion capitol from Ashoka’s Pillar of 300BC (India’s national symbol) and an exquisite statue of Buddha with the smile of ‘enlightenment’ – likened to the Mona Lisa. Go 100 miles further and visit BODH
GAYA with its temple adjacent to the Bodhi tree (a Ficus), believed to be the fourth since Buddha meditated beneath its branches.
74 WORLD OF CRUISING I Winter 2012-13
n Mungyr, a fortress town captured by the British and made into a regional garrison in the 1800s, a nearby cem- etery bore the graves of British administra- tors and military families, including Major General Murray, who was at the Siege of Lucknow. There was always something to surprise us, like the brick ruins of Nalanada of the 1st
I century AD, a Buddhist retreat-cum-uni-
versity covering 10sq km. It housed some 10,000 students from all over south-east Asia until its destruction in the Moslem invasion in the 1200s. Other eye openers were visits to temples – some moated, oth- ers on islands – and ruinous mosques. At the politically sensitive Farakka bar-
rage (completed in 1975), Sukapha sailed south on the much narrower Hooghli river. Here, the banks are closer and the stream slower, with farmlands and villages sur-
INDIA FACTFILE
A tourist visa is mandatory for all non-Indian nationals. Do allow 5 days. Costs vary. You should consult your GP for necessary inoculations. Take: Sunhat, insect repellant and binoculars. Mobile/Internet communications can be a problem. Assam Bengal Navigation: in the UK, call 01572 821121 or visit
www.assambengalnavigation.com.
ITINERARIES: 6 nights downstream, 8 upstream, from late Sept to early March; 7 Nights Farakka to Kolkata and vice versa and 7 Nights to Hugli from late July to April, which can be combined.
Independent voyagers can arrange 2-3 night tours for Varanasi, Sarnath and
Bodh Gaya via Jatak Travel,
www.jataktravel.com. MORE INFO: India Tourist Office: call 020 7437 3677 or visit
www.incredibleindia.org.
Ashoka celebrated his new faith by building monasteries, universities and mon- uments that would resist Father Time. This region of the Ganges was also the epicentre of Buddha’s life some two centuries earlier. Our days were spent part cruising and part touring, with the guides covering a wide spectrum of India’s history, from Buddha in the 5th
rounded by clusters of fruit trees, all within clear view. There was much waving from villagers, and one fellow cruiser suggested we formed a rota to wave back! Again, many of the highlights were
provided by the shore excursions, some by vehicles, others on rickshaws. The small town of Matahari specialised in brass and copper, with primitive smelters and forges, while at Nabadaweep, an awesome Banyan tree ‘housed’ two temples and a market between its downward roots! At the battlefield of Plassey, now covered
by maize, we learned of Clive’s incredulous victory over an army 10 times its size, thanks to a combination of tactics and intelligence. At Magapur, we saw the first Europeans
since Patna in a modern village incongruous- ly resembling an airport terminal. This was the base of the Hare Krishna sect that once captivated John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The much-needed contrast was at Kalna with its ornamented and embellished ter- racotta temples set in enchanting gardens, one of which was a circular collation of more than 100 shrines. Then it was on to Kolkata, passing many colonial-styled properties, before realising we were com- ing back to the shock of city life. For a week, though, we had been living in the past aboard Sukapha. And we were much the better for it.
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