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Varanasi
The old Benares, the holiest city of the Hindus at the ganga river was for us an extraordinary and very extreme adventure. It began early in the morning with boat trip at the ganga, accompanied by the sound of the mystic music from the Gats. The greatly atmosphere from morning dust and sunrise took us nearly our senses.
At the banks of the river, many terraces, called Gats (bath places), collected a lot of pilgrims which do their ritual washing, holy men in different kind of meditation an yoga positions welcomed the new day by this way.
The fire of the burning places began to smoke and the dead bodies covered in white clothes, were prepared for the funeral pile to be burned. This special funeral is for European people unthinkable. This ceremony was accompanied by the foreign melodies of the Indian instruments. It was fascinating and at the same time shocking for us, too.
The city with more than 1 million inhabitants, is the goal in life of all religious Hindus. Do die at the holy Ganga is the gate to a better live after the dead. Therefore the city is full of pilgrim houses with old, ill people, which went daily to the Gats with the only hope to die here, be burned and as ash be strewn into the Ganga. For us it was big traumatically experience, because also the streets of the city were full of old an leprosy people, crippled patient, holy cows, beggars, poor children, Sadus (Holy men) and so on.
Who wants to understand India and the Hinduism, for that is Varanasi an absolute highlight. But also for Buddhism is Varanasi a centre of their religion and a most important place. Pilgrims from all over the world come to Sarnath 10 km far from Varanasi.
Here is the place where Buddha prays his first lectures. A big Stupa made by stone marks the place. Here we met a pilgrim group from Sri Lanka.
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