Varanasi Five

We rode through the campus to our destination, the tallest and one of the most beautiful temples of Varanasi, the marble temple. The top of the structure consisted of carved marble towers while the bottom was made of a pale, rose coloured stone. The gardens were well kept and adorned with statues and small marble pavilions where people were praying or doing yoga. We deposited our shoes and entered the main part of the temple, a large marble hall painted with patterns in vibrant colours. Bells hung from the doorways, which people would jump up and ring. Music drifted through the whole building from a pair of musicians seated on a carpet. We went up a staircase and wandered about the second floor, where the walls were interspersed with carvings of religious scenes and quotations, some actually in English though horribly translated. Several alcoves had elaborate statues of gods and goddesses to which people were praying. The worshippers would touch the steps, or doorways of the rooms they entered, and left the holy places walking respectfully backwards, so as not to show their backs to these centres of devotion. We sat on the balcony for sometime, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere and the beautiful carvings on the central tower. As we left we walked past a man in orange robes, kneeling at the doorway singing the sacred ‘Ohm’ syllable. I realized it was the first time I had heard someone do that in earnest, and not in jest.



It was starting to get hot although it was only nine thirty or so. We took the rickshaw back to Rohit’s house. Rohit led us around the area to meet his neighbours and then we went to sleep for a couple of hours. When we woke up we had some samosas and visited his family for a short while before leaving for our next stop.