Written on October 5, 2008 at 11:44 am by Christine Ka'aloa

Varanasi’s Holy & Humorous Underbelly Tour

Filed under Religious, SOLO TRAVEL, Varanasi {no comments}

Sunday, Oct 5, 2008. Varanasi

As an ancient Holy City, Varanasi (formerly called Benares) is devoted to the hindu god, Lord Shiva.

Temples range from large to small, community to household and Shiva lingams (ovular rock eggs held by a shallow rock bowl/plate shown in the photos below) make common public altarpieces where one can pray.

Aside from larger-known temples (ie Vishwanath, Shiva, Durga, etc… ) there are thousands of temples, home and public altars within the small radius of each neighborhood.

Rakesh & his sister’s home altar

Devotees bring Ganga water in tiny cup bowls for worship, using it to anoint statues of their gods, while offering anything from flower garlands, thrown petals and sweets. Thousands of devotees throughout the day trek in and out of the temples with Varanasi “street feet”. (Street feet mixed ganga water is enough to make a slightly gross watery mud which you will put back into your sock or shoes) Most of the temples like the homes here are dark – lit either by candlelight and daylight- making the god’s statues barely visible. Here, in Varanasi, apparently even the gods live in darkness.

There is a humor to Varanasi which takes a while to find…

Baba is lovingly known as Father, but here in photo of the sign, it also refers to a well-known guru saint.

sometimes you just have to laugh with this city…

Meet Mr. Uday Singh and The Underbelly Tour

NOT having a patience for touristy things, I come upon Uday Singh, a “palmist” who tries to read my palm…badly! We go to his friend’s store and from the surprised looks I am getting from the people who know him, I know he’s trying to play a fiddle with an invisible banjo! But Uday is a harmless storytelling (aka ‘liar’) type whom I quickly realize can fill my day with theatrically unique experiences. I decide to let Uday sing for his 100 Rs ($2) and tell Uday that while he doesn’t have to be accurate, he DOES have to be entertaining. With that, he proceeds to show me the “unofficial” sights of Varanasi.

Aside from my palm reading, Uday takes me on a tour of his friends’ house temples, some larger community ones, the Monkey Temple, explanations of temple rituals and regaling stories of random fact-fiction-or-fantasy. …And sorry Mom, NOT letting the Ganges water touch me was unavoidable.

Bare feet: a normal hindu temple practice

When entering temples, …

YOU HAVE TO TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF

Believe me, with all the cow poo and pissing that goes on in the streets, removing footwear is the last thing you’ll want to do. What did I do? I walked with cupped feet.

An explanation of How Indians perform their temple ritual | from the Uday Singh Tour

(unfortunately, you will not have the pleasure of seeing how he performed this for me, but I will put his added dialogue and acting in parenthesis):
Leading me through a Shiva temple, Uday begins…

After you enter the temple…

1) “You ring bell as if ringing the doorbell of a house you wish to enter. Here, you are calling on God’s house”

( knock-knock, ring bell- “Hello God- are you home?”) ;

2) “Stand in front of altar and make your offering of flowers-food-money”

(“God- I bring you a housewarming gift “);

3) “Touch statue & then lightly touch between your brows and then to heart. This is prayer for the spirit of god to enter you.”

(‘God, you are in my heart & spirit”);

4) “Make your prayer and tell god what you want”

5) Take Prasad from the priest. (Prasad is like an exchange “gift” in the form of a red tikka or dot between the eyebrows, a sweet or a rope tie)

(God says “Thank you, please come again”)

With this, Uday Singh touches a dripping Ganga altar with both his hands and roughly smears the Ganga all over my face and then takes prassad and force feeds it into my pursed lips.

The Rising Ganges and it’s water height

An interesting fact in Varanasi is that the water height changes. On the ghats, you see temples and guesthouses/hotels, etc… raised high and with steps leading up to it answering the call of a really challenging Step-Aerobics class. This is because during monsoon season the water levels can get pretty high and half of the original ghats in Varanasi are submerged under water.

Tonight I am off to attend the evening Aarti at the main ghat with Lee. The performance starts at 7P ; I hear it’s beautiful and not to be missed. I shall take dinner and then get dressed and go. Have to run now.