Sights in Varanasi
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The Ganges River
The River Ganges provides millions of Indians with an important link to their spirituality. Every day about 60,000 people go down to the Varanasi ghats to take a holy dip along a 7km stretch of the river. Along this same area, 30 large sewers are continuously discharging into the river.
The Ganges River is so heavily polluted at Varanasi that the water is septic - no dissolved oxygen exists. The statistics get worse. Samples from the river show the water has 1.5 million faecal coliform bacteria per 100mL of water. In water that is safe for bathing this figure should be less than 500!
The problem extends far beyond Varanasi - 400 million people live along the basin of the G…
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Vishwanath Temple
This is the most popular Hindu temple in Varanasi and is dedicated to Vishveswara - Shiva as lord of the universe. The current temple was built in 1776 by Ahalya Bai of Indore, while the 800kg of gold plating on the tower and dome was supplied by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore 50 years later.
There has been a succession of Shiva temples in the vicinity, but they were routinely destroyed by Muslim invaders. Aurangzeb continued this tradition, knocking down the previous temple and building the Gyanvapi Mosque, which still exists inside the temple complex.
The area is full of soldiers because of security issues and communal tensions. Cameras and mobile phones must be deposit…
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Gyan Kupor Well
Gyan Kupor Well. The faithful believe drinking water from the Gyan Kupor Well leads to a higher spiritual plane, though they are prevented from doing so by both tradition and a strong security screen. The well is said to contain the Shiva lingam that was removed from the previous temple and hidden to protect it from Aurangzeb.
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Astronomical Observatory
Man Singh built a palace at Man Mandir Ghat in 1600 and in the next century Jai Singh II added this astronomical observatory. Although vaguely interesting it's not on the scale of the observatories in Delhi and Jaipur and it's hard to justify the entrance fee.
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Bharat Kala Bhavan
On the Benares Hindu University campus is Bharat Kala Bhavan, a roomy museum with a wonderful collection of miniature paintings, as well as 12th-century palm-leaf manuscripts, sculptures and local history displays.
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Tulsi Manas Temple
The modern marble, sikhara -style Tulsi ManasTemple's walls are engraved with verses and scenes from the Ram Charit Manas, the Hindi version of the Ramayana.
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Benares Hindu University
Long regarded as a centre of learning, Varanasi’s tradition of top-quality education continues today at Benares Hindu University, established in 1916.
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New Vishwanath Temple
The attractive New Vishwanath Temple, unlike most temples in Varanasi, is open to all, irrespective of religion.
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Bharat Mata Temple
The Bharat Mata Temple, built in 1918, has an unusual marble relief map of the Indian subcontinent inside.
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Durga Temple
The small Durga Temple was built in the 18th century by a Bengali maharani and is stained red with ochre.
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Ghats
Spiritual life in Varanasi revolves around the ghats, the long string of bathing steps leading down to the water on the western bank of the Ganges. Most are used for bathing but there are also several 'burning ghats' where bodies are cremated in public - the main burning ghat is Manikarnika and you'll often see funeral processions threading their way through the backstreets to this ghat.
The best time to visit the ghats is at dawn when the river is bathed in a mellow light as pilgrims come to perform puja (literally 'respect'; offering or prayers) to the rising sun, and at sunset when the main ganga aarti ceremony takes place at Dasaswamedh Ghat. Around 80 ghats border th…
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Ramnagar Fort & Museum
This crumbling but impressive 17th-century fort and palace, on the eastern bank of the Ganges, is a beautiful place to watch the sun set over the river. It also houses an eccentric museum. There are vintage American cars, jewel-encrusted sedan chairs, a superb weaponry section and an extremely unusual astrological clock. The current maharaja, Anant Narayan Singh – still known in these parts as the Maharaja of Benares despite such royal titles being officially abolished in 1971 – continues his family tradition of attending the annual month-long Ram Lila drama festival held in the streets behind the fort.
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