UP Trip last leg: Sangam and Varanasi

 

We left the Prayagraj hotel early in the morning and headed to the Sangam, where the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati (the invisible or underground river) meet. Only my son and I went and took a boat ride—it was extremely cold. We did not take a dip in the Sangam; instead, we cupped the water in our hands and sprinkled it on ourselves. This was partly because of the cold and partly because we didn’t want the hassle of changing out of our clothes and wearing them again. This was just a week before the Maha Kumbh. The crowds would have been overwhelming once the Maha Kumbh began.

The boat ride itself was pleasant, with good views all around, though it began to feel a bit monotonous towards the end. I asked the boatman and then dipped my leg into the water for part of the journey and the water felt warmer than the air.

After Prayagraj, we headed to Kashi (Varanasi). We were quite apprehensive about the hotel, but it turned out to be good. It was located at Assi Ghat, one of the nearly fifty ghats that line the river and can be seen during a boat ride.

We took a boat ride from Assi Ghat to NaMo (Narendra Modi) Ghat and back Picture below.

It was a pleasant and novel experience, going by the boat, especially during sunset, passing by the various ghats. In reality, it is the same riverbank throughout, but each stretch with its adjacent buildings is identified by a different ghat name. We did not stay back for the Ganga Aarti, as it would have been similar to the Sarayu Aarti we had already witnessed in Ayodhya.

After the ride, we had steaming hot tea served in small clay cups at a few places. In the cold weather, this felt especially soothing and comforting.

The next day, we set out to visit the temples. Kashi was extremely crowded, particularly around the temple areas. Traditionally, one is supposed to visit the Kal Bhairav temple first—the guardian deity of Kashi—before visiting the Kashi Vishwanath temple. However, we went to Kashi Vishwanath first since it is the most important shrine. The crowd was overwhelming, and when our turn for darshan finally came, it was not very clear which exact deity or linga we were meant to focus on. Unlike many temples where the deity is at a slight distance within an enclosure, here we saw a small linga very close to the viewing point.

We also visited the Annapoorani temple and the Kashi Visalakshi temple. The Visalakshi temple, built by Tamilians, had predominantly South Indian devotees. My son told me that there were a million Shiva lingas at the Jangamwadi Mutt. I didn’t quite believe him, but we decided to visit the mutt anyway. The place had a serene, almost homely atmosphere, with a few families staying there and children playing around. We couldn’t initially see the million lingas, so we asked a flower vendor for directions. She pointed us to take a turn after one of the buildings within the mutt premises—and indeed, there they were!

Later, my son and I explored a few more places on our own. We visited the famous and historic Manikarnika Ghat and Harishchandra Ghat, as well as another ghat that houses a Tamil temple. Despite the dense crowds, we managed to make our way to the Kal Bhairav temple and had a good darshan there. We also collected Ganga water in a bottle, which I am carefully preserving as it is to be poured on the lingam when we visit Rameswaram.

The next day, we flew from Varanasi to Mumbai and then took a cab from Mumbai to Pune. The picture below was taken at Varanasi airport.