Exploring Varanasi and Sarnath

At the bank of Ganga, the oldest city, the holy city Varanasi is situated. At a first glance, the city will look like struggling with heavy traffic and crowds. But Among these, there is situated Banaras Hindu University in the heart of the city, a capital of knowledge, a place from where great scholars were born. I have gone to attend a conference at Banaras Hindu University and I was totally mesmerised with the natural beauty of the campus. The old buildings, departments hostels have lots of history to say. The students seemed to be very tensed due to their ongoing exams.

The next day we started for the place Dashashwamedh Ghat, situated in the bank of holy river Ganga. It took hardly 30min to reach the place. The holy place was full of thousands of devotees. We took a boat ride on enjoyed the Ganga Aarti which is a rituals ceremony continuing from years.

Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Gant

We enjoyed a lot the boat riding the rituals which are still continuing form very old times. There was a very famous temple Kashi Viswanath temple but due to lack of time, we could not go to that holy place. I expect, if in future again I visit Varanasi I will go to Kashi Viswanath temple. The memory left an imprint over our hearts to come once again the very place.

On the very next day, we started for Sarnath, which is a holy place for the Buddhist. After attaining enlightenment in Bodh Gaya under a tree, Lord Buddha has given his first lecture to the first disciples here in the holy place Sarnath. The place is filled with various types of Buddhist temples such as Chinese Buddhist temple, Japnese Buddhist temple, Thailand Buddhist temple and many other temples depicted the architecture and culture of their countries. The monks are always in the meditation to explore the new dimensions, to attain the path of enlightenment.

A statue of Lord Buddha in Thailand Buddhist temple

A giant statue of Buddha in Thailand Buddhist temple in a pose of giving the blessing to all the devotees.
After seeing each countries temples and their rituals we proceeded for the museum which was a centre of attraction to each tourist which was situated just opposite of Thailand Buddhist temple. After heavy security checkups, we enter inside the museum, where all the antics pieces which were found during the excavation of Sarnath were preserved in a very safe condition. When we just entered the museum suddenly we encounter with a giant statue of the National emblem

The national emblem in the entry point of Museum

The image suddenly reminds the history in school days when we used to study the Maurya period, There was a great ruler Ashoka who explored Buddhism to all around the globe, built various monuments to promote Buddhism. The Museum is filled with various types of statues of Lord Buddha in a different posture. Apart from statues, there were various things such as utensils ornaments used by people during those periods. The Museum has given us an idea about the general file of those people who used to live here during the Ashokan era.

After witnessing the museum, We proceeded for The main tourist place the excavated city Sarnath.

Dhamekh Stup

The place mesmerised me and left a very deep impact on my heart. The natural beauties of the place cannot be described in words. The monks were seen performing their rituals, they were praying to God. While roaming the whole place we came to a point which was the centre of attraction in the place, it was "Ashokan Pillar" over which the national emblem composed of four lions was situated at the top of the pillar (Which is now in the National Museum of Sarnath). The Pillar was wholly covered with glass frame. The pillar is representing  Dhamma, the message of Buddhism. The monks were seen praying in front of the pillar, performing their rituals some monks are seen to be in the state of deep meditation in search for the enlightenment. And in this way, both the place Varanasi and Sarnath were a very beautiful place to visit once in a lifetime.