329. Day 7 – Varanasi

Today, being the last day of the tour, it was pretty exciting.  From the knowledge that from tonight we can sleep in our own beds back home, to, still there were lots of places to visit in Varanasi itself😊! Last night itself our driver had spoken to one pandit and had confirmed the VIP darshan visit at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.  We were supposed to reach the temple by 730am.

So, we skipped the breakfast, got ready and went to the temple.  The driver stopped some distance away from the temple, as the big vehicles cannot enter the narrow lanes.  The pandit’s representative came to meet us and took us to a shop to keep our things in the locker.  I took my camera with me and deposited other bags in the locker.  We also left our slippers there.  The representative went to purchase the online tickets @ Rs 300 per person.  We also had to buy one basket each for the Kashi Vishwanath deity and the Maa Annapurna deity from the shop😊. 

The representative then took us inside the Kashi Vishwanath complex and made us stand in a short line.  We had a nice darshan.  They have also installed a big TV on the premises where you can see the deity live.  The pandit then joined us and he took us to the Maa Annapurna deity through a side entrance.  The temple pandit here did a special pooja for us and we gave some donation.  We were shown a mosque inside the complex.  It seems the mosque was built on top of the Kashi Vishwanath deity earlier.  I was told by the pandit that by 2025, the mosque will not be there😊!

Kashi Vishwanath Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva. It is located in Vishwanath Gali, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. The temple is a Hindu pilgrimage site and is one of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines. The presiding deity is known by the names Vishwanath and Vishweshwara, literally meaning Lord of the Universe.

The temple had been demolished several times, most recently by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who constructed the Gyanvapi Mosque on its site. The current structure was built on an adjacent site by the Maratha ruler Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore in 1780.

In a major redevelopment of the temple complex, on 13 December 2021, the Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor connecting the Ganga river with the temple was inaugurated, which has led to a many-fold increase in visitors. On 1 January 2023, a record 3.35 lakh pilgrims visited the temple, and in the month of January 2023, the temple saw an average footfall of above 45,000 per day. According to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust, 10 crore tourists have visited the temple since the inauguration of the corridor in December 2021. The total assets of the temple, are estimated to be more than ₹6 crores.

It is believed that Varanasi is the first Jyotirlinga to manifest itself. According to the legend, it was at this place that Shiva (the Hindu god of destruction) manifested as an infinite column of light (Jyotirlinga) in front of Brahma (the Hindu god of creation) and Vishnu (the Hindu god of preservation) when they had an argument about their supremacy.

In order to discover the origin of the luminous column, Vishnu took the form of a boar (Varaha) and tracked the column beneath the ground, while Brahma, who assumed the shape of a swan, scoured the heavens in an attempt to locate the apex of the column. However, both of them were unsuccessful in identifying the source of the luminous column. Yet, Brahma deceitfully asserted that he had discovered the summit of the column, while Vishnu humbly admitted his inability to find the starting point of the radiant column. Due to Brahma's deceit over the discovery of the origin of the luminous column, Shiva penalised him by cutting his fifth head and placing a curse upon him. This curse entailed that Brahma would no longer receive reverence, whereas Vishnu, being truthful, would be equally venerated alongside Shiva and have dedicated temples for eternity.

Hindu scriptures describe Vishweshara as the sacred deity of Varanasi, holding the position of king over all the other deities as well as over all the inhabitants of the city and the extended circuit of the Panchkosi, an area (the sacred boundary of Varanasi) spreading over 50 miles.

The Jyothirlinga is an ancient axis mundi symbol representing the supremely formless (nirguna) reality at the core of creation, out of which the form (saguna) of Shiva appears. The Jyothirlinga shrines are thus places where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of light.

There are twelve 'self manifested' Jyotirlinga sites that take the name of the presiding deity; each is considered a different manifestation of Shiva. At all these sites, the primary image is a lingam representing the beginningless and endless Stambha pillar, symbolising the infinite nature of Shiva. (Source-Wikipedia).

Then the pandit’s representative joined us and took us to Maa Kaasi Vishalakshi temple on foot.  We also had a nice darshan here with a small crowd.  We then came back to the car and the pandit met us here.  We gave some Dakshina to the pandit and left from there.  We finished the entire darshan in about an hour.  We were getting hungry and the driver had told us that we will have breakfast outside.  We went to Chachi Ki Dukaan and had puri-kachaudi and aloo-pumpkin gravy bhaaji.  The shop was established in 1915 and the chachi used to take care of it till her death when she was 100+😊!!  We also had jalebi as that too was famous here.  The food was very nice with down-to-earth prices!

We then went to the Banaras Hindu University.  Because of limited time, we just saw it from outside and left.  Then I had a special lassi from Pehalwan Lassi shop.  That too was very delicious.  Lassi with some milk sweet on top. This too was supposed to be quite famous.  Then we had a Banarasi Sweet Paan from a paan shop.  Mr Narendra Modi had visited this shop and had eaten the paan here😊!  The owner is now 60+ in age and he mentioned that he is doing this work from when he was 17-18 years of age!  He had a picture of himself and Modi in his shop.  I clicked a photo with him😊!

The next stop was the Sankat Mochan mandir, which is a Hanuman mandir.  Next was the Satyanarayana Tulsi Manas Mandir.  Then the Durga Maata Mandir and finally the Bharat Mata Mandir.  We had nice darshan at all these places.  You check out the photographs in the attached file.

Then we headed back to hotel for some rest.  Had lunch here and checked out of the hotel. The hotel was gracious enough to allow us 2 hours extra past the normal check-out time.  We then headed to Sarnath.  We went to the Sarnath museum and had a good time here.  I then went to see the Dhamekh stupa.  Others were tired and not in a mood to walk😊!

Dhamek Stupa is a massive stupa located at the archaeological site of Sarnath in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Dhamek Stupa marks the precise location where the Buddha preached his first discourse to his first five disciples (Kaundinya, Assaji, Bhaddiya, Vappa and Mahanama), and where all five eventually became fully liberated.

After the parinirvana of the Buddha in 544 BCE, his remains were cremated and the ashes were divided and buried under eight stupas, with two further stupas encasing the urn and the embers. Dhamek Stupa was presumably among these eight stupas, and Mauryan King Ashoka may have commissioned its expansion.  But the current Dhamek Stupa, as visible today, was conclusively dated to the Gupta period, in the 5th-6th century CE.

Dhamek Stupa is the most massive structure in Sarnath. In its current shape, the stupa is a solid cylinder of bricks and stone reaching a height of 43.6 meters and having a diameter of 28 meters. The basement seems to have survived from Ashoka's structure, while the stone facing displays delicate floral carvings characteristic of the Gupta era. The wall is covered with exquisitely carved figures of humans and birds, as well as inscriptions in Brahmi script. The stupa was enlarged on six occasions but the upper part is still unfinished.  While visiting Sarnath in 640 CE, Xuanzang recorded that the colony had over 1,500 priests and the main stupa was nearly 300 feet (91 m) high.

After visiting this stupa, I went back to where others were waiting.  We went to the car and left for the airport.  At the airport, we went to the lounge and watched the 1^st half of the CSK vs RCB inaugural match of the IPL 2024😊, before catching the flight back to Hyderabad!

Thus ended our week-long Varanasi tour!

Cheers till next time😊!!