22 | VERY VARANASI
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OLDER THAN LEGEND: EXPLORING SACRED VARANASI
September/October 2024
By Andrea McVeigh
THE author Robert Louis Stephenson once said: “it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.” But I’m not so sure. Despite what Stephenson might think, our arrival into Varanasi, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, was one of the most unusual, profound and overpowering experiences my husband and I have ever had, far surpassing the tiring long-haul flight to get to India in the first place. With most of my India bucket list complete, I still had to tick off the Ganges River and the Taj Mahal, which I had been looking forward to seeing for years. I am always enamoured of India, and this was my fifth trip in eight years. The
incredible architecture, sights, colours, history, temples and food
(which varies from north to south, east to west) of this vast country of 1.4 billion people overwhelm the senses in the most
powerful of ways. But Varanasi offered something even more enthralling than my previous visits. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it’s situated on the left bank of the Ganges, and is a sacred site of Hinduism. Rituals have been practiced in its temples for more than 1000 years and it has been a holy place for at least 30 centuries. As another author, Mark Twain, put it,
Varanasi is ‘older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend.’ It is regarded as the spiritual capital of
India, and the Ganges as one of the most holy and sacred sites of the Hindu religion. Devotees see the river as the personification
“Varanasi is exceptionally spiritual place and it is believed that those who inhale their final breath here, attains salvation.”
of the Goddess Ganga, and bathing in the sacred waters brings forgiveness of transgressions.
Hindus believe that to die
within the confines of the city, or to have one’s ashes scattered in the river, is to escape the cycle of
rebirth, and
achieve eternal liberation.
This is why
Varanasi (also known as Benares, Banaras or Kashi) is a magnet for Hindu pilgrims (more than one million a year) from India and beyond, to bathe in the river, or to make their final journey to heaven, bypassing reincarnation, on one of the sacred cremation sites along the riverbank.
As non-Hindu observers, rather than participants, my husband and I were keen to respectfully embrace as much of the culture and sights as possible.
After our arrival into Delhi from London,
we took a short internal flight to Varanasi, emerging into the 45 degree heat of the pre-monsoon Indian summer in late May. I wouldn’t particularly recommend a visit at this time of year, as the months between October and February are much more pleasant. Luckily, our driver was waiting with
an air-conditioned car to whisk us to our hotel, the BrijRama Palace, on the bank of the Ganges.
As he regaled us with a condensed history of the city, its traditions and the Hindu religion, the road from the airport gradually got narrower as we entered the city, and our progress slowed as we negotiated motorcyclists, auto-rickshaws and even the occasional cow on the road. Eventually, that streets narrowed to a point where we could go no further and we got out of the car, to be met by liveried porters who took our luggage, handed us sun umbrellas and bottles of ice cold water, and guided us through a tight network of small alleyways, dodging stray cats and craftsmen going about their daily business, eventually emerging atop one of the famous Ghats, the steep steps that go down to the water’s edge, with our motor
boat to the hotel awaiting us. On the short Ganges journey to the hotel
– this is the only way for guests to arrive – we witnessed some of the city’s active cremation sites,
the deceased, who then seeing wrapped
bodies on top of funeral pyres, attended by the male relatives of
disperse the ashes, and any partially-cremated remains, into the holy river.
As many as 100 people are cremated daily in the main burning site, with up to 15 or so at any one time, and it is a profoundly moving experience.
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