Varanasi Travel Guide

If you want to witness a cremation first hand its pretty easy to do, just take a boat ride up towards the Manikarnika Ghat just after sunrise. (Note the huge stacks of firewood around the Ghat in this picture....) Just be prepared for some reality here. You may see body parts floating in the river along with the ashes. During our boat ride aroudn here, we saw a full body washed up on the steps of one of the Ghats with some stray dogs picking at it... (a pretty disturbing image...) The name of the Ganges is known all throughout the land of India. This river that runs for 1,560 miles from the Himalayas all the way to the Bay of Bengal is more than just flowing water. This river is life, purity, and a goddess to the people of India. The river is Ganga Ma, "Mother Ganges." Her name and her story is known all throughout the land. It is the story of how she poured herself down from heaven upon the ashes of King Sarga's sons. Her waters would raise them up again to dwell in peace in heaven. Not only that, but anyone who touches these purifying waters even today are said to be cleansed of all sins. The Ganges is a place of death and life. Hindus from all over will bring their dead. Whether a body or just ashes, the waters of the Ganga are needed to reach Pitriloka, the World of the Ancestors. Just as in the myth with King Sargas' 60,000 sons who attained heaven by Ganga pouring down her water upon their ashes, so the same waters of Ganga are needed for the dead in the Hindu belief today. Without this, the dead will exist only in a limbo of suffering, and would be troublesome spirits to those still living on earth. The waters of the Ganges are called amrita, the "nectar of immoratality".

The first thing you need to know about Varanasi is to be vigilant in getting from the train station to your hotel as the rickshaw men double as hotel touts, but not the kind who want to talk you into going to their hotel, the kind you trick you into it.  If you say you want to go to, say Yogi Lodge (a guesthouse that refuses to pay touts) then they'll take you to New Yogi Lodge, a guesthouse named after the original that does pay touts.  If you pull them up on it, they'll tell you that the original burnt down or that it's moved.  You're likely to notice that you've been collecting a group of stragglers the closer you get to the wrong guesthouse at which point you'll know you're being dupped as the real Yogi Lodge doesn't send people out to get tourists in (they don't need to).  Try to get a cycle rickshaw from the train station, they're not all upright citizens but your chances are better with them.  Most importantly study the map before you get there are keep a close eye on street, lane names and be vocal and insistant with the driver, that you know where you want to go and this isn't it!  Also, avoid petting the dogs, or puppys, and don't stay in the lanes if you're afraid of cows as it's a tight squeeze getting around them.

Ganges is known all throughout the land of India. This river that runs for 1,560 miles from the Himalayas all the way to the Bay of Bengal is more than just flowing water. This river is life, purity, and a goddess to the people of India. The river is Ganga Ma, "Mother Ganges." Her name and her story is known all throughout the land. It is the story of how she poured herself down from heaven upon the ashes of King Sarga's sons. Her waters would raise them up again to dwell in peace in heaven. Not only that, but anyone who touches these purifying waters even today are said to be cleansed of all sins. The Ganges is a place of death and life. Hindus from all over will bring their dead. Whether a body or just ashes, the waters of the Ganga are needed to reach Pitriloka, the World of the Ancestors. Just as in the myth with King Sargas' 60,000 sons who attained heaven by Ganga pouring down her water upon their ashes, so the same waters of Ganga are needed for the dead in the Hindu belief today. Without this, the dead will exist only in a limbo of suffering, and would be troublesome spirits to those still living on earth. The waters of the Ganges are called amrita, the "nectar of immoratality".