Located on the bank of River Ganga, Varanasi is known for its holiness as much as the River Ganga itself. Earlier known as ‘Kashi’ and ‘Banaras’, Varanasi is one of seven holy cities of India. The spirituality and religious significance of Varanasi trace back the time period of ancient Vedic period. According to Indian mythology, the city was founded by the Lord Shiva himself. Today, it is widely known as ‘The Abode of Lord Shiva’. Once you have set foot on the holy soil of Varanasi, you would feel a spiritual enlightenment and inner content. There are so many beautiful places to visit in Varanasi. Being one of the oldest cities in India, Varanasi has beaten every tide of time and has been a major pilgrim as well as the cultural capital of Hindus.
The impressive temples, reverent Ganga Ghats, divine saints, never-dying spirituality, and many mysterious stories form Vedas illustrate the celestial and cheerful canvas of Varanasi. Since the long-gone era, Varanasi has been a religious, cultural, educational, musical, and spiritual hub of India. Let’s get imbibed in the spirituality of Varanasi and serenity of Ganga Ghats.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple
Located on the bank of mighty Ganga, Kashi Vishwanath Temple is the soul of Varanasi. The foundation of Varanasi is believed to have had started from this temple only. Means, Kashi Vishwanath Temple is nearly 3500 years old. The temple is one of few most revered Shiva Temple in India and is also one of the 12th Jyotirlingas. What significance a ‘Jyotirlinga’ holds in Hindu religion, only a Hindu can understand this. Shiva Linga is the presiding deity here, so visit the temple and seek the blessings of almighty. Earlier, the temple had golden spires and domes but the foreign invaders had looted it all. They had plundered the metals but couldn’t touch the divinity of our Lord Shiva. The unmatched primeval architecture packed with a heart-touching sanctity leaves every visitor enthralled in every visit. In and around the temple, you’ll definitely get heavenly vibes. Kashi Vishwanath Temple is one of the most important places to visit in Varanasi for Hindus.
Maha Mrityunjaya Temple in Varanasi
Meaning of Maha is huge Mrityu death and jay means victory so the complete meaning of is victory over death. This temple is dedicated to lord Shiv Shankar or Bhole Nath having shrine religious importance. It’s believed that water cascading beside the temple is the fusion of score of underground water streams and goods and one dip in this water eliminates several physical diseases. It is also known as Mrityu Hareshwar and another so called name is Dhanvantri “father of Ayurveda”. Every day of score of people come Mritunjay temple and dips down in cascading water to defend against premature death and their enemies too.
Maha Mritunjay temple is spotted on the route of Kal Bhariav temple and as this temple built in dedication of lord Shiva so it’s has famous as the name Lord Maha Mritunjay Temple. Lord Shiva is worship as the Mritunjay and the story behind it is during the Sagar Manthan several precious ornaments had emerged out that was equally distributing among the (Devats) god and phantom (Asuras). Poison came out in goddess turn and all the goddess were afraid off to accept the pot of poison than Shiva took the pot and drunk the poison. As he drunk his neck turn into blue due to poison effect but his decision saved the human destiny on the earth that why Maha dev Shiva is known as Mahamrityunjay and Varanasi Mritunjay is the place where Shiva drunk the poison.
Every year lot of devotees across the country visit this place and organized Maha Mritunjay path to get rid of their sins for the healthier and longer life. It’s the highly revered Shiva destination that shrines the Varanasi in its pilgrimage. On the occasion of Maha Shivratri a big event organized in which Bhang serve as the Shiva Prasad.
Sarnath
Just a few kilometers away from the main city, Sarnath is a must-visit place in Varanasi. It’s actuallya Buddhist pilgrim place but is worth visiting for the people of all faiths. It is believed that here Gautam Buddha had given his first sermon and preached the concept of Dharma. If you’re a peace seeker and want to learn about the religions in India, visit Sarnath. Flecked by the crumpling Stupas with fascinating inscription & floral carvings, opulent monasteries, and stupefying temples, Sarnath reflects the early Indian architecture. Emperor Ashoka was highly influenced by the Buddhism, so he commissioned many Stupas including Chaukhandi Stupa and Dharmarajika Stupa and made Sarnath a pilgrim place. If you want to gain more insight into Buddhism and Indian history, pay a visit to Sarnath museum which houses a huge range of Buddhist artifacts. Sarnath is one of the most important places to visit in Varanasi.
Assi Ghat
Ganga River is the seal mark of Varanasi. Without Ganga River, there would not have been any Varanasi. The various Ghats of Ganga River are the real grace of this city. They all have their own importance but Assi Ghat has something than that. Located on the southernmost corner and on the confluence of Ganga and Assi River, Assi Ghat is famous for a huge Lord Shiva Lingam which is placed under a Peepal tree. Assi Ghat has also been mentioned in many Hindu Puranas. According to Hindu mythology, Assi Ghat is the place where Goddess Durga had threw her sword after killing the disastrous demons Shumbha- Nishumbha. So take a dip at Assi Ghat and pray the Lord Shiva with all your heart for a moment. You would definitely feel good and refreshed. Another interesting fact about the Assi Gat is that it’s the place where the greatest saint Tulsidas Ji completed the holiest and most famous book of Hindus ‘The Ramcharit Manas’. These are the reasons which make Assi Ghat one of the famous places to visit in Varanasi.
Tulsi Manas Temple
In Indian history Tulsi Manas temple possess its uniform historical value that not only described the Varanasi culture while entire country to. The reason why this place has been ruling the country is it’s the place where legendary Hindu epic Ramayana was composed by the Goswami Tulsi. He composed Ramayana in Hindi named “Ram Charit Manas” earlier it was available only in Sanskrit and a large portion of generation was not able to read it. Ramcharitmanas highlight the incident took place with lord Rama in their whole life and beneath him as a deity before its description Lord Rama was known as king of Ayodhya that was parallel to their dignity. Tulsi das was the great soul who won the heart of Indian emperor’s irrespective of their religion and till the same destination lies on the same where he left. The simplicity of the temple defines how simple & creative was the soul who made it, temple’s wall have the unique petrography subjected with Lord Rama’s life cycle.
Single visit of Tulsi Manas temple fascinate the visitors forever it was made in 1964 and located near the Durga temple. Temple was built by the white marbles possess Shikhara look having splendid landscaping around it. This temple is totally dedicated to the Lord Rama and in the morning 5.30 am Rama’s Aarti takes place every day and open up till the noon later it’s door again open in the evening 4.00pm till the 9pm. Remarkable thing about this temple is display the theme of Rama’s existence on earth through colorful pictorial representation. The historical mythological work can be seen in the structure of upstairs & wall carving. Verse of Hindu’s spiritual book (Vedic Granth) Ramcharitmanas is attraction point of this Tulsi Manas temple and located at only 7km away from the Varanasi railway station. Every year at the time of Vijayadashami the temple is decorated with a memorandum beauty it’s believed that it was the when Lord Rama got the victory over Humanity enemy Ravan. You would not face any problem because score of Hotels, resorts and cheap stay place are magnified in a series.
Ramnagar Fort
Ramnagar is a known place of Varanasi and Ramnagar fort is the residential place of Varanasi king. Kashi Naresh is the name of king who addressed as the king of Kashi and still the same cultural followed by their ancients. Since the 18th century this place has been the home of Kashi Naresh and till today kasha Naresh strongly honored by the Banaras people. He remarked as the religious head and people address him as the incarnation of lord Shiva. Ramnagar fort is most popular for the dramatic celebration of Ramleela and Kashi Naresh is the chief cultural sponsor. Ramlila is the annual festival celebrates annually and local people takes part in the whole event and perform different & different character of Ramayana.
Kashi Naresh Raja Balwant Singh was the founder of Ramnagar Fort and it is typically designed according to the Mughal architecture like open courtyards, pictography on wall, carved balcony and marble surface. On Dussehra Kashi Naresh rides on elephant as the cultural head and then by resplendent silk and brocade the month long inaugurates at Ramnagar fort. Ramlila is the play cycle based on the Lord Ram life incidents as the complete story stored in Ram Charit Manas wrote by Tulsidas. As the cultural head Kashi Naresh sponsor the whole in which the local artist take part and play the Ramayana character. Lord Ram, Laxman, Sita, Raja Dashrath, Bharat, Meghnad and Ravana are some important character of the ramyana among these the whole story revolves. On the last of event the climax scene performs in which Lord Rama vanquishes the devil king Ravan and gets victory. Ramlila first time performed in Ramnagar fort in mid nineteenth and since then the play has become tradition of Varanasi. Cultural chief co-ordinates the whole event every year and crowd encourage the artist to get victory.
Bharat Mata Temple
Bharat Mata temple is the nationalized epitome of India as mother of country or goddess mother. She frequently depict as a woman fully clad saffron sari and holding a flag and sometime escorted by a lion. The picture intended Aryavarta or motherland of Hinduism and Bharat Mata always revealed as the symbol of “integrated vision of motherland” as per Hindu conviction.
In Varanasi Bharat Mata temple is positioned in Mahatma Gandhi kashi-Vidyapeeth campus. Her idol is built by white marble that signify the model of entire India depicts the Indian Ocean, mountain and plain and engraved three-dimensional Indian Map before the partition that remarks the perfect longitude and latitude also housed in the temple. The temple was inaugurated by nation father Mahatma Gandhi in 26 October 1936 it believed that it was gifted by great nationalist Babu Shivprasad (who later awarded by Bharat Ratna). During the inauguration Mahatma Gandhi had said that Bharat Mata temple would be a platform of creed for the people of all race, religion and caste including Harijans and will serve the religious unity, love, peace and cohesiveness of the nation. Along with other Varanasi temple this temple asserts the deep sentiments of Indians not an individual it doesn’t matter with which race or caste he/she belongs. Bharat Mata stay in every Indian heart that why there is no spiritual restriction in this temple specifically this temple in India reveals the human manifestation of the entire nation.
The utter most feature of Bharat Mata Temple is it stands on five strengthen pillars and each one symbolize the water, earth, air, fire and sky and these are the five consecutive elements with which universe is made. These pillars congregate the top that gives the message that this universe is emerge by the blend of five extreme elements. Regularly the temple opens at 9.30 am in morning and close at 9 pm in the evening. Considerable point is UNESCO has enlisted this temple in world heritage list (October 2005) reason it execute the cultural criteria of for getting enlisted in world heritage series.
Gyan Vapi Well
Gyan Vapi well has great religious as well as historic significance. The term Gyan Vapi well stands for ‘well of wisdom’. This well lies in the premises of the Alamgir mosque. As per common tale, it is from the depths of this well that the original Shiva lingam of the Kashi Vishwanath temple was retrieved.
Bharat Kala Bhavan
Situated within the premises of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Bharat Mata Temple in Varanasi is one of few of its kind. Constructed in 1936 and inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi, Bharat Mata Temple is a memorial of all those martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for the nation. So, every Indian must visit this temple and pay homage to our heroes. The very interesting fact about the temple is that there is no statue or presiding deity here, rather a relief map of India has been carved out in white marble. Apart from its significance, the temple also boasts an exquisite architectural style. It is also one of the religious places to visit in Varanasi.
Nepali Temple
Nepali temple also called Kathwala temple is a beautiful pagoda style temple standing on Lalita Ghat of Varanasi. The exquisite wood carvings on this temple grab all attention. The temple is believed to have been constructed by Nepal’s king who had spent years of exile in Varanasi.
Kabir Math
Kabir math is steeped in immense religious as well as historical significance. The math is located in Varanasi’s Lahartara, Kabir Chaura and has been named after saint poet Kabir. Those who visit Kabir math are definitely moved by the peaceful ambience and serenity of the math. On the occasion of Kabir Jayanti the math is dressed up in all grandeur.
Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple
Sankat Mochan hanuman temple is an ancient and significant temple of Varanasi. The temple belongs to Lord Hanuman who is also called Sankat Mochan or remover of troubles. The temple lies in vicinity to Assi Ghat and is heavily thronged by devotees each Tuesday. This temple is believed to have some great divine power and one who can pray sincerely at this place can get all the wishes fulfilled.
Durga Mandir
Durga Mandir of Varanasi is indeed a must-visit place. This temple was set up by a queen of Bengal around the 18th century. The temple features a typical Nagara style architecture and comes with a wonderful multi-tiered spire. The temple’s presiding deity is Goddess Durga and as per common belief her idol was not installed by anyone but appeared on its own. A holy water tank called Durga Kund lies within the temple premises and is believed to come with miraculous powers. During Navratri festivals, the temple sees record crowd. The other name for Durga temple is monkey temple. The name has been given due to the abundance of monkeys in the area.
Chunar Fort
Chunar Fort has always been a matter of curiosity among the visitors not for its grandiosity, rather for the history and the haunted stories that can thrill anybody from inside. You must have heard many spooky and paranormal scoops of Chunar Fort. If not, please google it once. Anyways, located on the bank of Ganga River and spreading in an area of 34000 square feet, Chunar Fort was built by Ujjain ruler Vikramaditya in the 16th century. The fort accounts a happening history of changing rulers of different dynasties, so the place is worth visiting. Visit Chunar Fort if you want to explore something thrilling in Varanasi. I would you give a piece of advice- don’t stay within the premises of fort after dusk, don’t respond to any voice you hear from the back and please don’t explore the fort alone.
Dashashwamedh Ghat
Every Ghat of Ganga River deserves a visit in Varanasi but you can’t afford to miss a visit in Dashashwamedh Ghat because here you’ll get to see the real beauty of Ganga River and the piety of devotees for it. Washing the feet of Kashi Vishwanath Temple and reckoned to be the oldest Ghat of Ganga, Dashashwamedh Ghat is the gist of Ganga River in Varanasi. It is the place where all rituals & Aarti ceremony take place and you can feel the utter spiritual transcendence. The Evening Aarti unfolds the grandeur of Ganga River in front of your eyes. Devotees float the lit Diyas in Ganga and temple’s priests take the lit brass lamp of huge size in their hands and pray the almighty lord. At that time, there is only the echo of Mantras in the surrounding and the radiance of gleaming light in the sky. Attending the Aarti ceremony in Dashashwamedh Ghat is definitely an experience for a lifetime which you can’t witness anywhere else. It is among top 10 places to visit in Varanasi.
Alamgir Mosque
Abdul Muzaffar Muhi Ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb more popularly known as brutal emperor Aurangzeb by his chosen designate Alamgir. He was sixth Mughal Emperor who lasted in India for 49 years from 1658 to his death. Alamgir mosque constructed by the order of Aurangzeb and on the same place where the Hindu temple was constructed. The temple destroyed and the statue of god has broken into piece and distributed to the butchers for weighing the meat. The present structure of mosque gives picturesque view that is bordered by the river shore of Ganga on one side. The infrastructure of the Alamgir Mosque designed according to the Persian and Hindu construction format. The inner sides of the mosque have carved pillars, marvelous domes and turrets. Aurangzeb was the wealthiest Mughal emperor and notable expansionist who collected the great amount in their robbery across the wealth part of country. He spend good worthy amount in constructing the Alamgir mosque however he had constructed more mosque across the country but the Varanasi located Mosque has the best infrastructure among all.
The enviable location adds some ecstasy in Alamgir mosque; it has impressive manifest architectural skills. It can be say what could be achieved by the Hindu and Mughal architecture formats and in Alamgir Hindu effects is more dominant in the lower part while the outer part constructed in Mughal style.
Gadauliya Market
Gadauliya market is thickly crowded bustling bazaar situated in old Varanasi. The market forms the most happening hub of old Varanasi. There are several shops in the market selling sundry items that tourists find highly fascinating. There are many shops in this market where an extensive merchandise of Banarasi Silk Sarees are available and at a reasonable price. Dina Chaat shop of Gadauliya market enjoys special place among the tourists for offering them with lip-smacking chaats.
Banaras Hindu University
Banaras Hindu University or BHU is one of the country’s most important universities. All fields of studies are taught excellently at this pretty ancient institute of studies. The university has a sprawling green campus and a very serene ambiance. The university ranks as No 1 in terms of its students residential. The university campus houses a fascinating replica of the Kashi Vishwanath temple too.
Museums in Varanasi
Number of eye-catching destination located in Varanasi and among all places Banaras museum display the perfect combination of art and science. One of them is Sarnath museum whose archaeology creates the curiosity and question in mind like it was constructed and motive behind the creation of this wonderful place. Gautam Buddha statue and their knowledge addressing pictography sticks at their front and the best one among all goods is Ashoka pillar that is example of Ashoka art love and widespread kingdom across the country. Four lions directing in four directions placed on the top of pillar and Indian government took the emblem from this pillar. This museum is placed at the north-east nearby Sarnath District Park and one can also have the look of other excavated assets.
Ramnagar fort is the traditional museum where every year local artist gives the live view of Hindus spiritual book Ramcharitmanas through their dramatic role. Cultural head Kashi Naresh sponsor the event and on this occasion he rides on the elephant. In Ramnagar museum can have the look of highly decorated traditional Indian weapons, decorated howdahs, astrological clock, traditional paintings, intricate ivory carve and colorful textiles.
Bharat Kala museum can be refer as the extensive array of Indian terracotta pieces and one should the visit of this museum reason it resides with the Banaras Hindu University campus. The majority of art exhibition are organized time to time in which great collection of Indian and global art display and visitors come across the globe. All the impressive historical and antique collection of traditional art placed in government museum. It founded in 1874 in the collection you may find number of archaeological relics that brought from the Mathura, terracotta bowls, ancient coins, bronze pieces and pottery vases. Mathura collection of stone sculptures is too old meaning while as back as 3rd BC.
Best Time to Visit Varanasi
You can visit Varanasi throughout the year. In Varanasi, summer is not very sweltering, so unlike other tourist destinations, you can visit Varanasi even in summers. But if you ask the ideal time to explore the spiritual beauty of Varanasi thoroughly, I would suggest visiting during October or November. In November, a five-day festival named ‘Ganga Mahotsav’ takes place in Varanasi. During this time span, Varanasi is draped in the colors of exuberance and cheerfulness. The second reason to visit Varanasi during this time is that just after rainy season River Ganga comes in its full swing. I’m telling you, you can’t fathom the splendor of this fathomless river during this time.
How to Reach Varanasi
Varanasi is the cultural capital and tourism hub of India. Do you still think getting there would be a tough task? Then, you’re absolutely wrong. Varanasi is well-linked to the major cities of India. The city offers state-run buses that join Varanasi with neighboring cities as well as states. If road network doesn’t connect you directly to the city, you can go by train. Varanasi Railway Station is well-connected throughout the county by the rail network. And if you’re a far-off tourist, prefer the airways. Lal Bahadur Shashtri International Airport is the most approachable airport for the Indians as well as the foreigners.
Varanasi is known for the spirituality and the placidity but the city has a beating heart of its own. Intertwined with divinity and holiness in every speck of its soil, Varanasi leaves the visitors mesmerized in every single step. So, take a break from the hubbub of life and plan a trip to Varanasi. I swear your approach towards life won’t be same after visiting the Varanasi.