Banaras

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Benaras is not really visited, Benaras is seen it is experienced. Even for the tourists who are very tightly scheduled to experience the Indian culture and know the meaning of life for the Indians Benares is a must visit.

Benaras, old Kashi, owes its name of Varanasi, by which oneindicates it generally and officially, with the two rivers, Varuna and Assi which are thrown to it in Ganga, in north and the south. The city owes its holiness with the presence of the Shiva god. Indeed, it is in Manikarnika Ghat which Shiva dug a well to find an earring that Goddess Pârvatî, his wife, had lost. The symbol of the creative power of Shiva, the lingam, is present at Bénarès everywhere, in innumerable specimens.

Located on left bank of Ganga, Bénarès occupies a headland dominating the river, vis-a-vis the rising sun. This bank is arranged of ghats, i.e. large staircases which give access at the edge of water. At dawn, a dense crowd pilgrims has patience to bathe there. Because the holiness of the water of Ganga is multiplied by ten in Bénarès, Holy City between all, where each Hindu should come in pilgrimage at least once in his life.

According to the mythological beliefs ,for Hindus ,to die in Bénarès makes it possible to be released from the cycle of birth and rebirths, i.e. reach Salvation ,and a great number of them come here in the hope to reach here the ultimate goal of the life, i.e. the demise.

For Varanasi, it is necessary to go over Ghats, early the morning, with the point of the paddle, whereas any thing bathes in a fuzzy light, slightly misty. One then travels by a boat to go along banks of the river and to attend ritual the daily newspapers of the pilgrims and inhabitants of the city. There is thus an outline of the life of the sadhus, the saints men installed almost with residence on the ghats. One witnesses (by far) the traditional ceremonies of cremation . If one has time, one will walk to foot along the ghats, not all, of course, because one counts of it a hundred, whose name is indicated. The evening, before laying down it sun, another environment reigns on the ghats.

One will stroll in Chowk (bazaar), with continuous animation. The most famous temple, the temple of Vishvanath, popularly known as the Gold temple , is devoted to Shiva.

Among the other visits, one will quote the temple of rather recent Durgâ (18 2nd century). By a side entry, one goes up on a terrace from where the interior of the temple is quite visible. One thus sees a beautiful statue of the Durgâ goddess equipped with white.

Other monuments of Varanasi are as, the observatory of Jaisingh and the temples népalais in edge of the Gangas

Sarnath

Sarnath (10 km from Bénarès), was the cradle of Buddhist teaching. It is here that Buddha "set in motion the Wheel of the Law" (Dharmachakra). He preached his first sermon here, in the Park with the deer.