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Varanasi
Varanasi, the great city is also known as Banaras or Benares. It is better known to the devout as Kashi.
The luminous - the City of Light founded by
Sahiva - Varanasi is one of the oldest
living cities in the world. It has
maintained its religious life since the
sixth century BC. It stands at the center of
the Hindu universe, the focus of a religious
geography that reaches from the Himalayan
cave of Amarnath in Kashmir, to Kanyakumari
in the southern tip of India, Puri to the
east, and Dwarka to the west. Located
next to an ancient trade route, Varanasi is
among the holist of all pilgrim centers that
allow the devotee access to the divine and
enable gods and goddesses to come down to
earth. It has attracted pilgrims, seekers, sanyasins,
and students of the Vedas throughout its
history, including sages such as the Buddha,
Mahavira, the founder of the Jain
faith, and the great Hindu reformer Shankara.
Anyone who dies in Varanasi, on the banks of
the river, attains instant moksha or enlightenment.
Widows and the elderly come here to seek
refuge or to live out their final days,
finding shelter in the temples assisted by
alms given by others
The main Delhi - Calcutta railway line
bypasses Varanasi, but local buses and taxis
regularly make the 17 kilometers trip from
the station at Moghul Sarai. Some
major trains do serve the Varanasi
Cantonment Station, which is convenient for
the more luxurious hotels and the garden
hotels to the north. The old city and the
ghats are 2 kilometers south. Most
buses terminate in the vicinity of the
station: the Cantonment Bus Stand tends to
be used by services from Nepal and
Gaya, while private operators and buses from
Mirzapur and Chunar use the Pilikothi Bus
Stand and another private bus stand is at
Lahar Tara, 1 kilometer west of the railway
station where buses arrive from Allahabad
and Lucknow.
To experience the ghats at sunrise or the
peace of Sarnath, it is better to find the
conducted bus.
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