The return from Sarnath
In the first part of the day, we explored Sarnath. The plan after lunch was to head straight to BHU Campus and visit Shree Vishwanath Temple. We would visit Assi Ghat later in the evening.
The post lunch auto ride from Sarnath to Varanasi was punishing as we faced the unbearable heat of the afternoon and busy city traffic. By 3:10 pm we had reached the university gate in Lanka.
Inside BHU, we passed buildings housing different departments though wide well shaded roads and arrived at the New Kashi Vishwanath Temple at 3:20 pm. The greenery of the campus felt soothing.
Shree Vishwanath Temple (Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Campus)
Shree Vishwanath Temple is built on a huge piece of land inside BHU Campus. The first thing that caught our attention was its impressive ‘Shikhar’.
There are many restaurants and cafes as well as shops selling books and handicrafts near the entrance. Being located on campus, the place seems to be a popular hangout for students. In contrast with the thin crowd at Sarnath, we encountered hordes of pilgrims from Andhra region here again.
On the lower floor, is the outer chamber of the temple with a high ceiling. Balconies from the first floor open into it.
At the far end of the hall, and across an intermediate chamber, the entrance to the ‘Garbhagriha’ (the sanctum sanctorum) can be seen. Here, Lord Shiva is worshiped in ‘linga’ form. Stepping into the ‘Garbhagriha’, one can immediately experience the divine blessings of the Lord. We offered our obeisances to Shiva and the priest put tilak on our foreheads.
After darshan, it was time to explore the upper floor. There are three small temples on the upper floor above the main chamber of the temple. Goddess Durga, who is seated on her vehicle, the Tiger, is worshipped in the rightmost temple. In the center, right above the main chamber is dedicated to Shiva and Parvati with the last one dedicated to Sita and Ram.
After the customary circumambulations, it was time to leave for our guest house. In total, we spent around 40 mins there.
The return to our guest house proved to be a bit of a challenge. Exploiting the crowd of pilgrims, the rickshaw drivers were busy fleecing them and showed no interest in ferrying us on a sharing basis to Lanka Chowk (BHU Gate).
After much struggle and taunts from the rickshaw drivers, we finally found a shared rickshaw. From BHU gate we took another one to our guest house.
Assi Ghat, the last ghat of Varanasi
Though staying at 5 mins walking distance from Assi Ghat, we could visit it only in the evening of Day 2. Upon our return from Shree Vishwanath Temple at BHU, we were exhausted and decided to rest for an hour and half before heading out again. Our plan for the evening was to visit Assi Ghat and catch a boat ride for evening Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat. The captivating and magical view of the holy city and its numerous ghats from the river seemed to be the most popular imagery portrayed in films and documentaries. We wanted to experience it with our own eyes.
Finally at Assi Ghat
Reached Assi ghat at around 6 pm and without wasting any time booked seats for the boat ride. Before onboarding we did some photography of the beautiful twilight scene of the river and ghats.
As mentioned earlier in the blog series, evening ‘Ganga Aarti’ takes place at different ghats including Assi Ghat. However, the most popular one is at ‘Dashashwamedh Ghat’ and nobody wants to miss it. In our opinion, Assi Ghat is the place one would want to be at in order to view the meandering river and all the ghats of Varanasi along its curvy bank in one frame. In addition, it has a feeling of openness to it.
The boat ride
Being the last ghat, Assi Ghat serves as a popular starting point for boat rides that take tourists downstream all the way to Manikarnika Ghat . From there, the boats make a turn for the return journey, while stopping at ‘Dashashwamedh Ghat’ for the aarti.
By the time our boat started, it was already twilight and the ghats lit up in different colors.
As the boat passed by the numerous ghats, we could read out their names and appreciate the uniqueness of each of them. The entire riverside appeared surreal.
Finally, the boat reached near Manikarnika Ghat from where it took a turn back. The flames from the numerous pyres could be seen at the ghat.
Ganga Aarti
Our boat moored at “Dashashwamedh Ghat” along with countless others that had gathered there for the aarti. This was going to be our second attendance for the event. The previous day, we had watched the performance from the ghat and the experience had not been great. Reason being a big crowd and people movements that interfered with visuals of aarti.
Experience from the boat was tad better as the performers faced the river for the most part. Had it not been for some undisciplined tourists who desired to view the aarti white standing, it could have been a notch higher.
After the performance got over, all the boats rushed back towards Assi ghat in a racing spirit. Ours had few passengers who needed to get down at different ghats en route so the return journey took longer than average. Two passengers needed to get down at Harishchandra Ghat, which is another burning ghat but comparably smaller than Manikarnika Ghat. Here, the boat came uncomfortably close to the funeral pyres on the river bank. It was a horrifying experience for us.
Back at Assi, it was time to look for a restaurant for dinner. After much exploration around Assi and on Google Maps, finally decided on Angeethee Restaurant, which is located within 5 mins walking distance. The food was good but service was extremely slow and not up to the mark.
Wrapping up the Day
It had been a long and tiring day and we wrapped it up with a good meal. The following would be our last day in Banaras and we had one last place on our bucket list to tick off before saying goodbye to the holy city.
