There are many Temples and a Mosque in this area. The Hanuman Temple also is famous and very blissful.
Since so much time had lapsed between the actual travel and this post of mine, some details are lost in time. I trusted my memory and did not make notes. Still, I need to write whatever I can recall.
Rao and Umamaheswaran were very much engrossed in performing the sraadha rituals for all those relatives that left this Earth. We went to the Gaya area for that. Rao did perform all this during our previous visit. But now one of his maternal uncles, who was very close to all of us passed away. As we were doing it for him anyway, he wanted to repeat it for all others, including Nirmala's family. The priest Sivakumar in Varanasi handed the contract and the cost was 20,000 rupees for Rao and another 20,000 for Uma. I thought that the amount included the three locations that they performed. But, we had to 'tip' the local priests again. Approximately three to five thousand rupees in each place. I wasn't prepared for that. Fortunately, Nirmala brought her ATM card and we could withdraw our money sitting in her account. We had the Taxi with us all the time. So, that was additional expense. My point is that we should be prepared with extra cash always.
Oops!!! I deviated myself into money matters. Whole idea of this passage being, be prepared for such surprises. Sanjeev was with me all along, great support and adopted me as his mother :):):).
Kasi Viswanath, Durgakund, Sankat Mochan Hanuman and Tilbhandeswar, Visalakshi, Vyasa, Tulsimanas, Annapoorna, Kalabhairava, Mrithyunjaya, Bharata MathaTemples to name a few.
Sri Viswanatha Temple
Varanasi is mostly remembered for Sri Viswanath Temple, which is also called Golden Temple. It is a Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva and is located on the outskirts of the sacred Ganga river. It was built in 1780 by Maharani Ahilabai Holkar of Indore. As recently as 1983, the Temple was taken over by the government of Uttar Pradesh.
Durga Temple was built in the 18th century. It is a Swayambhu Idol meaning self manifested
and that no human being had sculptured it. In India, many Temples we visited claimed this concept. Thousands of devotees visit the Durga temple during Navratri .
For some reason, Uma decided to separate from us and do his own local tour. He was conversing in Tamil with the staff in the choultry and was getting some special attention. He was very happy with the new friends he made. This was his first visit to this area. I was happy that he was managing his life so well.
Since so much time had lapsed between the actual travel and this post of mine, some details are lost in time. I trusted my memory and did not make notes. Still, I need to write whatever I can recall.
Rao and Umamaheswaran were very much engrossed in performing the sraadha rituals for all those relatives that left this Earth. We went to the Gaya area for that. Rao did perform all this during our previous visit. But now one of his maternal uncles, who was very close to all of us passed away. As we were doing it for him anyway, he wanted to repeat it for all others, including Nirmala's family. The priest Sivakumar in Varanasi handed the contract and the cost was 20,000 rupees for Rao and another 20,000 for Uma. I thought that the amount included the three locations that they performed. But, we had to 'tip' the local priests again. Approximately three to five thousand rupees in each place. I wasn't prepared for that. Fortunately, Nirmala brought her ATM card and we could withdraw our money sitting in her account. We had the Taxi with us all the time. So, that was additional expense. My point is that we should be prepared with extra cash always.
Oops!!! I deviated myself into money matters. Whole idea of this passage being, be prepared for such surprises. Sanjeev was with me all along, great support and adopted me as his mother :):):).
Kasi Viswanath, Durgakund, Sankat Mochan Hanuman and Tilbhandeswar, Visalakshi, Vyasa, Tulsimanas, Annapoorna, Kalabhairava, Mrithyunjaya, Bharata MathaTemples to name a few.
Sri Viswanatha Temple
Varanasi is mostly remembered for Sri Viswanath Temple, which is also called Golden Temple. It is a Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva and is located on the outskirts of the sacred Ganga river. It was built in 1780 by Maharani Ahilabai Holkar of Indore. As recently as 1983, the Temple was taken over by the government of Uttar Pradesh.
Durga Temple was built in the 18th century. It is a Swayambhu Idol meaning self manifested
and that no human being had sculptured it. In India, many Temples we visited claimed this concept. Thousands of devotees visit the Durga temple during Navratri .
This Temple has a rectangular tank of water called the Durga Kund meaning a pond or pool of Durga. The Kund was initially connected directly to the river thus the water was automatically replenished. This channel was later closed, locking off the water supply, which is replenished only by rain or drainage from the Temple. During this trip, I also took dip in many holy waters (rivers and ponds).
We had wonderful darsans in each Temple. The procedure for touching the Siva lingam in Sri Visweswara Temple changed a little bit since our previous trip. Since we went to the Temple with Sivakumar's family, we had special darsan.For some reason, Uma decided to separate from us and do his own local tour. He was conversing in Tamil with the staff in the choultry and was getting some special attention. He was very happy with the new friends he made. This was his first visit to this area. I was happy that he was managing his life so well.
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