Kasi Yaathirai - 7

Sankat Mochan Anjaneyar Temple: This temple is one of the sacred temples of Varanasi. It is located near the Banaras Hindu University. The word "Sankat Mochan" means one who helps in removing sufferings i. e. Lord Hanuman. Tulsidas, the author of the famous Hindu epic Ramacharitamanasa, founded the Sankat Mochan temple. According to Hindu mythology, one who visits the Sankat Mochan temple regularly, his wishes get fulfilled.

Every Tuesday and Saturday, thousands of devotees queue up in front of the Sankat Mochan temple to offer prayers to Lord Hanuman. According to Vedic Astrology, Hanuman protects human beings from the anger of planet Saturn and those who have “Sani Dhosham” in their horoscope visit the Sankat Mochan temple to get remedy. People put "Sindoor" on the statue and offer "laddoos" to Lord Hanuman. The "Sindoor", from the statue of Lord Hanuman is put on the foreheads of devotees.

The one interesting thing that we could notice in this temple that there were lot of “Hanuman Sena” available than any other place!!

Kala Bhairavar Temple: This is a “must” visit temple. Kala Bhairavar is considered to be god of security of Varanasi. Though there are around 8 Bhairavar temples around Varanasi, Kala Bhairavar is considered to be “King of security”. It is believed that no one gets an access to entry and exit without visiting/seeking permission from him. That is one must go for His darshan before leaving Varanasi. This is the temple where Kasi thread (Black) is available. Kala (Black) Bhairavar (Form of Lord Shiva) is the significance of the name. The temple of Kala Bhairavar is present in the Kotwalpuri area of Kasi. How apt you see, that King of Security is stationed at Kotwalpuri (Police station)!!!


Varahi Temple: This temple has to be visited only in the morning, for the simple reason that Varahi does not give darshan after 0730 hrs. This temple is opened before sun rise at 0530 hrs and closed by 0730 hrs (Winter) for 2 hours. Probably this temple opens as early as 5 AM in summers and closed by 7 AM. The belief is that Varahi is a ferocious goddess and people cannot bear her darshan after sun rise. We cannot see this Goddess directly. The Goddess is in the underground. We can look down and see her head and feet through specially provided square openings at two different places from the elevated level. There is a proverb exist that “Varahi does not give darshan to those lazy people who cannot get up from their bed to see her in the early mornings.”

Only Pandit is permitted to go down for changing clothes, decorations and for bathing the idol.

These were the temples we visited in Kasi with the time available to us. In the next blog we will come across a beautiful fort & Palace at ……………

Kasi Yaathirai - 6

We hired an auto to start the day’s proceedings to see some more temples. First on the agenda was to see the Sozhi Amman temple.

Sozhi Amman Temple: A visit to is Kasi is considered to be incomplete without paying visit to this temple. This temple is known by various names such as Cowrie (Sozhi) and Gowri Mata Temple. The Amman is considered to be the sister of Lord Shiva. According to history, She had Her temple within old Kasi Viswanathar Temple. She was jealous of Lord Shiva for the fact that thousands of people throng Lord Shiva to offer their prayers, and none turned up to Her. She wanted to stop this practice. Lord Shiva became angry and He offered His curse by banishing Her from His temple. When she realized Her mistake, She pleaded for mercy which Lord Shiva acceded. Though, He could not take curse back and He changed His curse, by saying that those who visit to Kasi, should visit Her too. The holy trip to Kasi, would be ineffective without visiting this temple.

Another interesting aspect about this temple is that we are to buy Sozhi outside the temple to offer the Goddess for seeking blessing. It is also believed that She keeps records of our visit by our Sozhi offering. One must remember to bring back some Sozhi as our Prasadam. (Our copy of document!!)

Vana Durga Temple: Next we visited was Vana Durga Temple, dedicated Goddess Durga. The temple is built in North Indian architecture and the Idol resembles Kolkata Kali. Non Hindus, Foreigners though allowed to visit this temple, are not allowed at inner sanctum sanctorum. It is believed that She protects the Holy city.

Tulsi Manas Mandir: Tulasi Manas Mandir is one of the famous temples of Varansai. This Temple is located near to Durga Temple. It is built in White marble in 1964. The temple has been surrounded by beautiful landscapes. Main Temple is dedicated Lord Shri Ram. Vishnu & Satnarayana can also be seen in this temple. This temple is believed to be constructed at the same place where Tulsidas wrote the famous epic “Ram Charitha Manas” (Hindi version of Ramayana). One can see the complete verses from this epic are engraved on the walls of this temple. Another interesting aspect of this temple that it houses (in the first floor) electrically operated idols of Ram, Shiva, Ganesh, scenes from Ramayana & Mahabharat, depiction of Dandia Celebrations. We have also seen a electrically operated puppet show.

New Viswanath Temple: This temple is situated in the campus of Banaras Hindu University. It is also known as Birla Mandir as it built by them. Temple is built in white marbles and was planned by Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya who is also the founder of BHU. A beautiful Shiva Lingam, bigger in size is there in this temple. One can see lot of Hindu scriptures is inscribed on the walls of this temple. This temple is open to all people irrespective of caste and religion. By paying a visit to this temple one can enjoy the ambience and atmosphere of sprawling campus of BHU. We could see lot of handmade greeting cards for New Year, made by students of BHU.

Banaras Hindu University: Since we were passing through this university, a mention about this University is inescapable. The great nationalist leader, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, founded the Banaras Hindu University in the year 1916. Dr Annie Besant also played an important role in the formation of the BHU. The Banaras Hindu University played an important role in the Indian independence movement.

To be continued……

Kasi Yaathirai - 5

I forgot to mention one important thing in my previous blog. Traditionally, the temple tour begins with a visit to the Dhundi Ganapathy temple. This temple is on way to the Viswanathar temple. Though it is a small temple on the road side, is actually an important one.

“Vakra Thunda Mahakaya, Surya Kodi Samaprabhaha
Avignam Gurume Devo Sarva Karyeshu Sarvathaha.”

We paid our respects to Lord Ganesha while standing in queue to enter Viswanathar temple. After our prayers to Lord Viswanathar for more than one hour, we went to Anna Poorani Temple.

Anna Poorani Temple: Food is one of the basic necessities of life and it is no wonder that we treat food as God. It is always mother, who provides food, right from birth and it is no surprise that Lord Parvati is being viewed as Anna Poorani who provides food as she is Jaganmata.

It is believed that Anna Poorani gave alms to Lord Shiva and she is depicted with a bowl in hand and ladle in the other, serving food to Lord Shiva. It is also firmly believed that Anna Poorani has stayed permanently in Kasi after she saw the drought in this place.

Anna Poorani is flanked on the left by Sridevi (Lakshmi) and on the right by Bhuma Devi (Goddess of earth). The specialty of this temple is the food which is prepared, is served first to devotees and then offered to Anna Poorani. The belief is that Amma always serves first the children (Devotees) and then only she takes it.

Visalakshi Temple: If you think about Kanchipuram, you will remember Kamakshi. Of course, Silk sarees can also cross one’s mind. But that is not what I am trying to drive upon. Similarly, when you remember Madurai, you think Meenakshi Amman. On the same lines, Visalakshi is to Kasi. Visalakshi temple is one of 51 Sakthi peedams. Though the temple is small, the idol is quite beautiful. Behind the main idol, there is one more idol which is believed to be prayed to in the ancient times.

As I had mentioned earlier, this temple was also in the receiving end during several invasions. Adi Shankaracharya, during his visit, performed prayers to renew the powers of the temple and the Godess. He had installed a Sri Yantram in this temple for which a daily Pooja is performed even now.

Kasi Viswanathar, Annapoorani and Visalakshi temples are very near to each other and are located in narrow lanes.

More temples to follow…….

Kasi Yaathirai - 4

We have seen Ganga aarti in the previous blog. Now I take you all to the famous temples across Kasi one by one. As you all know Kumbakonam in Tamilnadu has a lot of temples. You see Kumbam (Kalasam / Gopuram / Tower) in every Konam (Angle) and that is why the name Kumbakonam. Similarly, Kasi houses many temples across the city and there is no dearth of it. You will find small, medium and big temples everywhere in the city and each one of them has its story & traditions.

The first we visited was Kasi Viswanathar. As you all might be aware of the fact that Shiva lingam in Kasi Viswanathar temple is one of the 12 Jyothir Lingams. There is an interesting story about Kasi Viswanathar Temple.

The initial location of the temple was in a nearby adjoining mosque, which was destroyed many times. This temple had always been on the receiving end of many invaders, be it Afghans or many Muslim dynasties (like Mughals, Slave) who ruled during that period. Except for Akbar, who donated land, which was over ruled by Aurangazeb later to build a mosque.

Finally, Rani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore started the present temple in 1776, which stands now at Kasi. The interesting thing in this temple is that Nandi does not face Lord Shiva as it is used to be in every temple. Nandi faces the original temple (now Mosque) near a well (Known as Well of knowledge) and it is believed that Nandi was witness to destruction every time. Another interesting belief is that when Rani Ahilyabhai wanted to construct this temple, Lord Shiva came in her dream, to tell her that Shiva lingam is hidden in ‘Well (Kinaru) of knowledge’ . She told her people to carry out the instructions, she received from Almighty. On the contrary, people could not find it from that place. It is firmly believed that original Shiva lingam lies hidden in this ‘well of knowledge’.

Since this temple and Mosque co-exist (separated by high wired fencing) the security was very tight and one had to undergo proper security screening. People are advised, NOT to carry mobile phones inside the temple.

I must add here, the two most interesting things associated with this temple. One is Mangala aarti and the other one is Saptha Rishi Pooja. Though there are many other aartis & poojas taking place in this temple, these two things need special mention.

Mangala aarti: This aarti is performed at Viswanathar sannathi every day at 3 AM for about one hour. A baba who is very old, goes to Mani Karnika Ghat at 2 AM daily (one of the cremating ghats) to collect ashes from any “remains” out of so many cremations take place in a day and brings it to temple. The ashes could be of anybody who may be rich or poor. The same ash is applied to Viswanathar and if one gets an opportunity to attend this aarti, it is highly significant. It is the same case with the dying person that if the baba collects his / her ashes, it is believed that person reaches directly heaven abode. Though, we did not attend this, I thought I will share this with all, for, one may consider attending this aarti.

Saptha Rishi Pooja: This Pooja is performed at Viswanathar Sannathi at 7 PM daily. As the name suggests, it is performed by 7 Pundits. The chanting of mantra is in Sama Vedham. You may all be aware that discourse of Sama Vedham sounds like a song. People throng temple from every nook and corner at this time and we were no exception. There are 4 small entrances to the sannathi and we were to watch the entire proceedings by continuous pradakshanams as we were not to stop at a particular place or entrance. Pooja started with various Abhishekams such as by Honey, Vibhuti, Milk followed by decorations with flowers, Sandal powder. After the pooja, the maha aarti followed with giant bells ringing and resonating the entire temple complex. Sama Vedha Ghosham reached its crescendo with chants of "Har har Mahadev" & "Jai Bholenath" by devotees. The entire temple complex reverberated and the feeling in our hearts was something like that we have surrendered to GOD and forgot that we existed. We did not realize how many pradakshanams we must have made in that one hour grandeur. We were overwhelmed by the occasion and atmosphere……

Kasi Yaathirai - 3

We have seen River Ganga yesterday. There is a famous event connected with this river. In a way, it is an event in which reverence, respect is displayed to the river. I have not come across such an event for a river on a daily basis in the evening just after sunset.

Can we draw a parallel between Colour (Flag) lowering ceremony by every Defence unit / Formation?

Can we connect the specific event which takes place at Wagah Border (Indo – Pak border), 22 km away from Amritsar?

Above events are one and the same with a minor difference being the flag in each case. In the former case, it would be the flag of the unit / formation and in the case of latter, it is Indian Tricolour. The similarity is in treatment of flag. With the tunes of last post in the background, the flag is lowered at a slow pace to match the composition of bugle music, then folded with great care and carried off with escorts in a most respectable way.

You will all agree to relate Ganga aarti to a Colour lowering ceremony after reading this blog.

“Ganga Aarti” started only in the mid 90s as a daily routine to pay respects to the river after sunset. People say Ganga Aarti is performed at Kasi & Haridwar daily in the evening after sun set.

Ganga aarti is performed at three ghats namely Dashaswamedha Ghat, Raja & Kedar. The number of pundits perform aarti in these ghats are 7, 3 & 3 respectively. Since the number of Pundits is more and the because of the bigger area of Dashaswamedha Ghat, huge crowd throng this particular ghat, though people gather in other two ghats as well. We watched this aarti from Dashaswamedha Ghat from a vantage point.

There are seven platforms erected, draped with Red Carpet for keeping all things related to Puja. All the pundits stand erect on the left side of Platform. There were some assistants positioned to help these pundits.

The aarti started with shank played by all 7 pundits facing the river, followed by Agarbathi, Sambirani, Adukku deepam, Karpooram and finally samaram. Entire sequence of activities were performed by all 7 pundits and the synchronization between these pundits was flawless, with a reverberating sound of udukkai, Jaalra, drum beats and chanting of mantras in the back ground. During entire sequence, the pundit turned at right angles to do aarti in all four directions (for each activity such as agarbathi, sambirani etc), and the timing of turn was impeccable. People also watched the aarti from river by positioning themselves in Boats. Everyone offered flowers, ghee with a wick, milk to river at the end of aarti, which were bought before the start of aarti from vendors. Whole atmosphere was charged up and reached its crescendo with the chants of Ganga Maiya ki Jai & Har Har Mahadev at the end.

The moment the aarti was over, the whole Ganga was lit up with floating deepams, and when we watched all deepams together, it was appearing like candle march. It was a magnificent sight to watch. The interesting thing was that we could see the Ganga aarti performed at two other Ghats. Another significant thing was that they ended at same time.....

The whole process of aarti lasted for one hour and we were left with a feeling of watching a ceremonial parade with precision, flawless timing, outstretched hands showing aarti. Ganga Aarti started at 6 PM and ended at 7 PM for about one hour

The grandeur, the tantalizing atmosphere, the breathtaking scenes, reverberations of this event made us to attend once more on next day evening…..

Kasi Yaathirai - 2

I hope my first issue on Kasi yesterday must have rekindled the memories for those who have visited the place and for those who have not visited must have started planning......

Here we go.......

We reached Kasi late in the late evening on 25 Dec 2005 we rested for the day.

A river is an important thing for any country and we in India associate it traditionally with our culture. We have been taught to treat the river as Goddess and mother. We address all our rivers by female names barring Brahma Putra being an exception.

A perennial river with its tradition and history dates back to Mahabharata and its name associated with name of the film, film songs, film dialogues and in every other possible way. No other river has claimed such popularity I believe. Yes…..I am referring to Ganga… Though I had the privilege of seeing Ganga at Kanpur, Ganga at Kasi has its own specialty in many ways.

I must mention here that Kasi is not a modern city. It is an old city still retaining century old buildings in every angle and shape, very narrow alleys with width being approximately 4 feet. Human beings in two wheelers or by walk share & congest these narrow alleys with cattle is a common site. Yet Kasi is inundated with tourists.

It is also believed that lakhs and lakhs of Shivalingams got buried underneath the surface of Kasi. Probably, for this reason the old local people do not use footwear to walk on the roads. Kasi is also known as Punya Karma bhoomi where even deaths are taken casually as any normal event and they consider it a big thing to get cremated in designated Ghats.

We started at 8 in the morning (in heavy foggy conditions) to Kedar Ghat which is very nearby from Vaishali’s Grandparents. We were dumbstruck at the sight of magnificent Ganga with its huge water mass flowing serenely, doing its duty day in and day out without expecting any benefits. We were ecstatic and thrilled to watch Ganga.

Initially we were hesitating to venture in water fearing it would be too cold because of winter. By seeing the crowd who were taking dips very casually, we got some confidence. After shedding clothes we were chattering literally. But the moment we took our first holy dip, we felt no cold at all even with temperature around 9 deg C . At this point I reasoned out that why river is being treated as mother. Everybody would have experienced in the childhood by being in the hands and lap of mother with her warm hugs. I had a similar experience and cannot describe beyond this in words. One has to experience this feeling. Though we never wanted to come out of the river as we were having an enchanting experience, we were to visit many places which forced us to come out of the river….

Some of the facts associated with Kasi are:

There are 64 Ghats. Out of these 64 ghats, cremation takes place only at Hari Chandra & Mani Karnika Ghats (“Mani” refers to bell and “Karnika” refers to the neck of Lord Shiva)

The alias name for Kasi is Varanasi which is derived from two rivers namely Varuna and Asi

The names of some of the notable Ghats are Kedar, Hari Chandra, Mani Karnika, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Asi, Dashaswamedha, Prayag & Raja

The famous “Ganga Aarthi” takes place at three Ghats namely, Dashaswamedha, Raja & Kedar


I leave you all at this point to ponder with the thoughts of Ganga..….… Ganga Maiya (Amma) ki Jai

Kasi Yaathirai

It was a long pending wish. It was less than 24 hrs journey. Many times we had been invited to visit, since 2001. Yet it took close to 5 full years for us to finally fulfil the wishes. This one is for real and not like every bridegroom set out on a short trip as in our marriages.

I am making an attempt to cover our trip to Kasi, which will be purely my perception as the way we have seen it. Many in our family / friends have visited earlier or later. By going through the narration, they can associate themselves and jog their lovely memories and experiences. If they can do so, I shall treat it as a small success. Similarly, for those who have not been to Kasi, if they can visualise, I may take small happiness that I created an urge in them to visit Kasi.

As far every Hindu, it is told that one has to visit Kasi and Rameswaram once in their life time. Thus, I have visited Kasi and yet to explore Rameswaram.I am covering the trip in parts so that one does not get bored and does not lose interest. I have read travelogues and more specifically by Mr. Bharanidharan. I think, he used to write in Ananda Vikatan. I have taken inspiration from him to make an attempt. So we move on......

On 24 Dec 2005, we set out on a journey to Kasi from "City Beautiful". Vaishali made arrangements for food and other things after coming from school at 1330 hrs. Idli, chutney, tamarind rice, curd rice, Fried rice, potato chips were ready and packed to last the entire journey.We had our reservations by Himalayan Queen Exp at 1735 hrs from Chandigarh to Ambala. We reached Ambala at 1825 hrs.

Our next train from Amabala to Varanasi was at 2300 hrs (Amritsar – Varanasi mail). So we had to wait for almost 5 ½ hrs in waiting hall. While I and Vishnu were walking length and breadth of the platform, watching trains come and go, Vaishali was relaxing in the waiting room. We had our dinner at 2030 hrs. The train was late by 30 min and it departed Ambala at 2330 hrs.

We reached Kasi at 1830 hrs, late by 2 hrs. Vaishali's Cousin and his friend came to railway station to receive us. We had our dinner and rested for the day after a tiring journey. The only surprising thing that the winter was very less compared to Chandigarh.............

To be continued.......

Tryst with Tech Fest

I had the opportunity of visiting a Tech Fest after a long time. The last one dates back to 1985.. during my Diploma days. Tech Fest is held in IIT Bombay every January. This year it was held from 24 - 26 Jan 2009. Students from all over India, participated in this event.

IIT is very near to our house. But, I never had an opportunity to survey the entire campus, though I have been there for walking and restrict myself either to Guest House, which is bordering Powai Lake on one side or up to Kendriya Vidyalaya, where Vishnu & Jayakrishna go for playing cricket in their school ground.

On 24 Jan 2009, Vishnu was insisting me that we should come to IIT to see all the events on 25 Jan (Sunday). He took charge of the situation and told us that he knew the Campus very well and he would guide us to all those places and explain it to us!! Such was his enthusiasm that he wanted to show his parents everything that he enjoyed on the previous day (24 Jan 2009) after his last unit Test.

He managed to get a nice brochure on the previous day indicating the program, timing, venue with a three dimensional topography of IIT and decided the route so that we make a circle in clockwise direction. We must have walked atleast 4 km to cover all these areas.

We started with Exhibition displayed at his KV School Ground, where many engineering models were on display. On one corner of the ground, racing track was set up for the miniature car race. These cars were designed and developed by students. Everyone was carrying their car like they carry a skate board. It was of that size only, with all features present in a normal car. We saw the miniature racing. These cars were controlled by remote for their direction and speed.

Next on the main road adjoining KV school ground, was the display of DRDO!!. We saw the huge Arjun BLT (a combination of Battle tank with a folding overlap bridge on its head) which was so majestic and the persons from DRDO displayed it by extending the bridge. The bridge extends to about a length of 25 meters with width being 3 meters. I had a pride that we have our family member served this organisation for many years with distinction.

In the same area, models of missiles like Agni, Akash, Prithvi, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were also on display. For a change, Vishnu was explaining us the significance of those items, as the leading particulars were on display.

Next we went to see the stall “How Aero Plane works”. In this area, 8 lap tops were kept to see for ourselves about the topic we want to see. Mainly they have concentrated on Boeing 747 & 757. There was a small workshop for visitors to make Aero Planes out of paper and a Volunteer was there to explain all of us about the significance of Rudder, Flaps, Elevators and Ailerons, by making folds and cuts in paper itself. The principle was explained in such a simple manner, where a kid can even understand.

We then went to IIT Gymkhana ground, where students were making their aero models to fly which was a competition for them. Thereafter we came to auditorium to see robots fighting. These robots were controlled electronically by remote. I was amazed to see that, there were weight categories for this fight aptly termed as “Robot Boxing”.

By the side of the auditorium, there was a program called “Concreate”, in which students were given a photograph of a bridge resembling like new Howrah bridge. The students used huge amount of ice-cream sticks, Thread to construct these bridges. This was also a category of competition, wherein different entries existed for different load class.

After seeing all these with Vishnu we spent quality time, which gave him immense satisfaction and he proudly claimed that he has taken us through a festival of this magnitude. I was very happy for the fact that it took me back to 1982 - 85.