A Pilgrimage Special: Legendary Varanasi

Mark Twain the American writer who gave us Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn wrote Benares or Varanasi is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together. Indeed, Varanasi is old! In fact, it is old enough to go through pillage and destruction several times, beginning from 1033 CE when Mahmud of Ghazni destroyed the Hindu temples and used the temple materials to build mosques. Mohammed Ghori followed suit in 1193 CE, Mughal Emperor Akbar during the start of the seventeenth century and another Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb even went to the extent of naming the city Mohammadâbâd. In modern times, on March 7, 2006, four bombs went off in an act of terrorism at a shrine dedicated to Lord Hanuman, while another went off at a platform of the Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station, the main railway station in the city. Nevertheless, Varanasi survived and temples are continuously built.Today, there are old palaces and temples there, along the holy Ganges and when we got out of the ghats, which are steps leading to the River Ganges (Ganga) in this holy city, we had to weave through narrow ancient alleys, passing through ancient little shops selling vegetables, food, Indian bracelets, cloths etc. Occasionally, we came across a sign advertising yoga and dancing lessons and no doubt, just as the celebrated Chinese traveler, Xuanzang, attested in ancient time, today the city still is a center of religious, educational, and artistic activities and Varanasi is appropriately called the city of learning and the culture capital of India.

Ancient palaces...

Narrow alleys...




Varanasi...