Episode 1: Sacred Vibes at Varanasi's Ghats- The Heart of Indian Spirituality|| Walk Along the Ghats

#varanasighats #indiatravel #gangaaartibanaras #varanasidiaries #varanasi #placestovisit

The ghats of Varanasi, nestled along the sacred Ganga River, hold profound spiritual significance. These steps leading to the river are not just physical landmarks but sacred sites where life and death converge. Ghats like Dashashwamedh, known for the grand Ganga Aarti, symbolize devotion and reverence. Manikarnika, the cremation ghat, embodies the belief in liberation (moksha) from the cycle of rebirth. Each ghat, with its rituals, temples, and bustling energy, reflects Varanasi's essence as a spiritual epicenter. Through cleansing dips in the Ganga and heartfelt prayers, visitors experience a transformative journey of faith, making the ghats an enduring symbol of India’s spiritual essence.

We visited Kashi in November as we wanted to spend our Diwali/Kalipujo vacation soaked in the spiritual capital of India. While there are various modes of reaching Varanasi, the most convenient is by train. However, due to the huge demand for tickets, train tickets have to be booked out well in advance. You can either reach directly till Varanasi or reach DDU (Mughal Sarai station) and take an auto to Varanasi city.
We stayed in Varanasi for a week as we wanted to soak in the spiritual vibes, explore the innumerable corners of the city, and enjoy the delicious foods to our hearts' content! There will be multiple episodes coming up in the Varanasi series where we will take you along with us on our enriching experience of this holy city!
There are 84 ghats in Varanasi along the banks of river Ganga; today we covered some of the key ghats that hold major spiritual significance in Kashi.
1. Dashashwamedh Ghat: Widely known for the biggest Ganga Aarti, this ghat is the closest to Kashi Vishwanath Mandir.
2. Manikarnika Ghat: This ghat owes its name to the story about Parvati's earrings as it is believed that the earrings fell down in this area.
3. Scindia Ghat
4. Man-Mandir Ghat
5. Lalita Ghat
6. Nepali Temple (Pashupatinath Mahadev Temple)
7. Tarkeshwar Mahadev Mandir.
8. Kashi Karvat temple/Manikarnika Kund
9. Meer Ghat

After having our lunch at Akshay Bhojanalaya in Godowlia Chowk, we headed back to our hotel to get some rest before getting ready for the evening aarti at Dashashwamedh ghat. The Ganga Aarti Darshan was arranged entirely by our hotel, Guleria Kothi, which we will be covering in our next episode. Stay tuned and let us hear about your ghat experiences as well in the comments! :D

ABOUT US:
Hello! We identify as Swati and Shreshtha, a Bengali mother-daughter duo, with our interests scattered across a wide canvas of hobbies. Amongst many, our priority has always been travel. Even though we have been traveling together for more than a decade, we finally overcame our shyness and decided to share our stories with the world! We like traveling in our own style, staying off the mainstream track, with a magical blend of leisure and adventure, learning and unlearning lessons of the world and witnessing our beautiful world with eyes filled with unbridled passion! We start this journey as a storybook of our explorations, and document these memories with a heart full of joy and soul filled with peace.
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With lots of love,
Swati and Shreshtha!

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