Pictures of Varanasi and Bodhgaya, India.

Varanasi, the holiest Hindu city in the world, is situated on the River Ganges (or the Ganga River, named after the river goddess, Ganga). It's famous for the river and the fact that Hindus come here to cremate the dead (adults only, no children or pregnant women) at one of the two burning ghats, which are the stairs leading to the shore. Although we saw dozens of bodies burning daily (sometimes as many as 6 pyres at once with a lineup of shrouded bodies), it's not acceptable to take pictures of the ceremony. Hence, the total lack of fires in this album. Varanasi was a 14 hr. train journey west from Kolkata, and it sits roughly in the middle of the northern border of India. Interestingly, one of the four holiest Buddhist sites in the world, the temples and ruins of Sarnath, is only 10 km away from Varanasi. Sarnath is known as the place where the Buddha gave his first sermon in the Deer Park. The place was lost and forgotten to the ages (and pillaged regularly by locals) until it was unearthed by British archeologists over 100 years ago.

Bodhgaya, about a 5 hr. train ride from Varanasi north and east, is the holiest Buddhist site in the world (FYI, the other 2 pilgrimage sights for Buddhists are Lumbini in Nepal, where the Buddha was born, and Kushinagar, India, where the Buddha died). Bodhgaya is the place that the Buddha supposedly achieved enlightenment while sitting under a Bodhi tree. The lineage of that tree are quite well known, and its offspring sits in the place of enlightenment behind the Mahabodhi temple.

Enjoy the pics!