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Banaras : City of Ghats & Gods
One of the most amazing plces i've ever traveled to. This is one city that is worth traveling as many times as you can- “older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together”. A Varanasi trip is considered incomplete if you do not witness the Gange Aarti that is performed each evening at the Ghats by priests.The city merges Hinduism and Shaivism, is home to Buddha’s first sermon in Sarnath, is one of the ancient cities visited by the Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang, and was also the city of the Muslim saint Kabir
ashi / Banaras/ Varanasi (from Varuna river and Assi ghat hence the name Varanasi)/Mahasmashana (The Great Cremation Ground)/ Anandvan (Forest of Bliss) / Avimukta (Never Forsaken) in Uttar Pradesh, India is the most visited pilgrimage destination in all of India & is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities
In the Rigveda, an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, the city is referred to as Kāśī or Kashi, the "luminous city as an eminent seat of learning". One of the seven Holy Cities, one of the twelve Jyotir Linga sites and also a Shakti Pitha site, it is the most favored place for Hindus to die and be cremated.
Hindus believe that a dip in the river Ganga will wash away sins, and that dying and being cremated in Varanasi will grant liberation from the cycle of rebirth.
Myths and hymns speak of the waters of the Ganges River as the fluid medium of Shiva's divine essence and a bath in the river is believed to wash away all of one's sins. The particular river-side location of Banaras is considered especially potent because, in less than six miles (ten kilometers), the Ganges is met by two other rivers, the Asi and the Varana.
Buddha is believed to have founded Buddhism here around 528 BC when he gave his first sermon, "The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dharma", at nearby Sarnath.Goswami Tulsidas wrote his epic poem on Lord Rama's life called Ram Charit Manas in Varanasi. Kabir, Ravidas were born here. Guru Nanak Dev visited Varanasi for Shivratri in 1507, a trip that played a large role in the founding of Sikhism.
ashi / Banaras/ Varanasi (from Varuna river and Assi ghat hence the name Varanasi)/Mahasmashana (The Great Cremation Ground)/ Anandvan (Forest of Bliss) / Avimukta (Never Forsaken) in Uttar Pradesh, India is the most visited pilgrimage destination in all of India & is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities
In the Rigveda, an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, the city is referred to as Kāśī or Kashi, the "luminous city as an eminent seat of learning". One of the seven Holy Cities, one of the twelve Jyotir Linga sites and also a Shakti Pitha site, it is the most favored place for Hindus to die and be cremated.
Hindus believe that a dip in the river Ganga will wash away sins, and that dying and being cremated in Varanasi will grant liberation from the cycle of rebirth.
Myths and hymns speak of the waters of the Ganges River as the fluid medium of Shiva's divine essence and a bath in the river is believed to wash away all of one's sins. The particular river-side location of Banaras is considered especially potent because, in less than six miles (ten kilometers), the Ganges is met by two other rivers, the Asi and the Varana.
Buddha is believed to have founded Buddhism here around 528 BC when he gave his first sermon, "The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dharma", at nearby Sarnath.Goswami Tulsidas wrote his epic poem on Lord Rama's life called Ram Charit Manas in Varanasi. Kabir, Ravidas were born here. Guru Nanak Dev visited Varanasi for Shivratri in 1507, a trip that played a large role in the founding of Sikhism.
