Soul of the dead , heart of the living

Kashi / Banaras / Varanasi

Everything  is synonymous to one another yet every name comes with a significant importance..

It’s an ancient and oldest city on earth.

There are various stories on how it is formed

One is the Lord Shiva himself created a place for him to stay.

Though it holds the most significant history in the humanity of mankind.

The main temple lies in between the thin lanes which are interconnected and maze like.

So, the number ion people visiting it were very less.

When Modi become prime minister , he demolished certain area around the temple and created corridor so that they will be ease of access and even people with wheel chair can get Darshana.

There is a saying you cant go to kashi unless lord shiva calls you.

May be its true, I felt it and so does many.

You will be no more same after your first Kashi visit , why?? Time will tell you.

Once you land in the airport, the moment you walk out , you will be surrounded by Autowala.

Yes you heard it right..

There is a story for that …the government has taken land which belongs to them and in return they gave some compensation and allow them to the airport.

The distance from airport to temple will be 12-15 approximately.

Ideally the auto should charge 200 but considering tourist  they will be asking  more..pretty common.

Next, once you entered the area of the temple, the entry to the autos and tuktuk will be restricted .

If you happen to observe in the centre , there is an idol representing Nandi..

So , naturally its called Nandi chowk , the stories goes this way..

Previously all the milk for temple will be collected from this area and later the milk from the temple collected and reused for sweets.

You haven’t entered the temple yet.

Let me give you an overview of the temple, the temple after the modifications has 4 gates named 1,2, 3,4 . Gate no 1 faces Namo ghat (earlier it has different name but Modi changed it )

Darshans will be happening from morning 5 am to night 12pm ..

The gate closes and the temple will be prepared for the next day pujas.

People from all 4 gates will be in que since morning to night and the lines will be halted during Aartis timing , which happens 4 times a day.

As I said , there will be 4 gates , they will be hotels surrounded the gates. They will be ’n’ number of hotels and homestay..

This is kashi , one need to walk to reach lord Shiva.

There will be mostly good(its a whole topic)

Food will be an issue for South Indias but there is many ashrams which provide free food for whoever comes..

Every few metres you will see a shivling, and everything in Kashi has a story.

Even after staying months and years one couldnt complete explore kashi.

Kashi is vast ,deep and beyond imagination of humans. Even the residents of Kashi didn’t explore it completely even today.

Once you reach kashi and settled down , you shouldnt ideally visit directly Lord shiva , there is a sequence of how on should visit the temple of Kashi,

First one need to go to Kal Bhairav and take his permission and blessings.

Cal Bhairav then removes negative thoughts then you have to go to Dindi Ganapati and take blessings , then one can visit the Mahadev.

Once you visited the main temple , which also has many small temples in and around , Visit Annapurna Devi temple , take blessings of Matha and the rice they give.

There is a strong belief that because of Annapurna Devi in kashi , no one feel hunger.

There are other main temples like Visalakshi (Shati teeth)  , Varahi Matha temple ( specific timings and very strict timing , more like Grama devatha of Kashi)

In both of the temples you cant see the Matha direclty . Visalakshi Matha , the Matha will be beyond the idol ..its like one should see her direclty(as she holds too much power)

Varahi Matha temple will be open in the morning 5 am to 7 pm only for couple of house and strictly and very strictly no one is allowed after that and before 5 they will be very big queue.

Even if people are in line , after 7 people will be sent back.

Here the Matha will be below the ground, and the people are allowed to see her from the angle through a space created. History says she holds lot of powerand aggressive. One cant see her direclty. Durga temple , iskon, Tulsidas temple , Mrutunjay Mahadev, Sankat mocha hanuman temple.Bala Tripura Sundari Devi, Manikanteshwar Mahadev, New Kashi Vishwanath Temple Complex where Gopuram is 253 feet height , it holds a record and I think tata contributed to it.

There are other many many temples , the list goes on and on. it’s never ending.

Glimpse of ghats.

There are total 84ghats, some may be added later on, history had 84.

What are these, ghat is a something with steps which leads to a river.

How they are created and whom. They are created by the kings in the ancient times, who wanted to do their part to serve Lord Shiva.

Every ghat has a temple , which is dedicated to a god, some has kunds, where one takes bath.

Every ghat has rich history but over a period of time only some ghats become famous.

Like the dashwasmedh ghat , which is famous for evening Aarti , there are 9 pandits performing it during evening 6.30 pm (timings may change according to the season) , previously only 5 pandits used to perform , it started approximately 50 years ago later, when the tourism increased and they add more pandits so that everyone can see.

Morning 5.30 Aarti happens at Assi ghat, so most of the crowd in the kashi will be in Assi ghat in the morning and Dashashwamedh ghat in the evening , Aartis happens in others ghats too, but these 2 ghats its something else.

Eateries …there is a list of them.