It was as if the Sun God heard the calling of the sweet chant of morning ragas at Assi Ghat followed by music recital at dawn, that made it burst into a sunrise so spectacular that I stood there paused for a moment. The smoke from the chai from the tea pot from the stall next to me broke the rhythm and I realized how wonderful life is - when I got a chai in hand - a breathtaking sunrise in front - friends for company and stroll along the Ghats for keeping me entertained & occupied.




It was at that moment when I watched local Banarasis wash their clothes in the Ganges – although a daily chore for the people there – it felt like a piece of moving art with the backdrop. It was a moment of reflection for me - that if there is one place where you can find peace in ultimate chaos that’s Banaras. According to Hindu Mythology the city was founded by Lord Shiva.

No wonder it is known as the "soul city" of India.

The name Banaras or Varanasi comes from confluence of the River Asi in the south and the Varuna in the north. The city has 87 ghats. Many of the Ghats were built after 1700 AD, when the city was part of Maratha Empire. Banaras can be best viewed during the Dev Deepawali festival. During Dev Deepawali, houses are decorated with oil lamps and colored designs on their front doors. Firecrackers are burnt at night, processions of decorated deities are taken out into the streets of Varanasi, and oil lamps are set afloat on the river.

Then and Now Banaras

Then and Now of Banaras is my own inner discovery on what I believed Banaras to be and what Banaras is. Since it is one of the oldest living cities (more than 3000 years old) in the world, change cannot come overnight. But I have heard some good things about Banaras over the last few years - that Ghats are significantly cleaner, that they are trying to find methods to clean Ganga which I am sure with so much activity not so easy to do, they are introducing new programs to attract more visitors and spreading the word etc etc. So Banaras today is clean ghats but rather unclean river!




The Then and Now Tool of Expedia

Expedia has come up with a very interesting tool called "Then and Now" of many cities in India. It explores India's famous landmarks, and how have they changed over years such as Howrah Bridge, Golden Temple Amritsar and many others. Once you click on the tab, they have sections on History, How to get there, Explore a place, Hotel and Flight Information etc.

This is the picture from Banaras in 1983 from the Expedia Tool:



So, this is how Dashashwamedam Ghat in Banaras used to look like in 1983. It is till date, the most popular ghat in Banaras where residents and pilgrims perform their ablutions, Brahmin priests sit on wooden platforms under bamboo umbrellas to offer prayers for their clients, masseurs ply their trade and boatmen jostle for custom. The name of the Ghat is derived from the legend that this was the site where Lord Brahma performed the "Dasashvamedha" (10 horse) sacrifice for King Divodasa.

And this is the picture of Banaras today from Expedia tool:



Why Banaras isn't just a regular fare!

I ain’t a very religious person and hence every time I thought of visiting Banaras, something pulled me back inside because before this I never knew Benares can provide me with such new Experiences. I have heard from my parents or friends about the Dashashwamedam Ghat Arti and the boat ride but I hadn’t heard of Tomato Chat at Kashi Chat Bhandar near walking distance from the Kashi Vishwanath temple. I knew Banarasi Sarees are popular in India but I never knew stories by the weavers who weave them. I knew Aartis are meant to offer prayers to God which in this case is to offer to Shiva, to the Ganges and the universe but the presentation was Magnanimous and the experience out of the world.

The infamous arti at Dashadhwamedam was so spectacular that we couldn’t resist watching it twice - once from the ghat itself and another time by boat. I even skipped a few boats in front, to gain a better view.






 Manikarnika Burning Ghat is another ghat much written about - this is a place where last rites are performed and the fire never ends. It is said that if the last rites are performed here you achieve moksha or nirvana.



Of course, I knew that Sadhus constantly arouse the curiosity and awe among the public in Banaras. But there was more than that.







So here are the some of the new experiences one can have in the city:

1. Subah Banaras at Assi Ghat: For those , who have seen the Dashawamedham Ghat Aarti, the act of Subah Benares might come as a little repetitive. However, that did not stop us from wanting to get up early, reach at the Ghat by the auto by 5am and watch Subah Banaras. Subah Banaras started a few years back where they have Aarti but along with that some musical recitals that are performed by artists and there is no repetition of artists - so each day it’s a different music by a different artist. What we liked about the performance was, it was less crowded, there was morning breeze in the air and the sunrise was beautiful.










We walked down from Assi to Dashawamedham and it was a pleasant experience!

2. Take the boat ride or try rowing in Ganges : One of the best ways to enjoy Banaras is by taking the boat ride in the Ganges and everyone who come to the city does that once. Many a times, we don’t be-friend a boat man but once you do and are keen enough to listen to their stories on how they survived rising water levels in rain etc, you’ll find a friend for time being. And for us, that turned out to be a very sweet journey. We had haggled for the boat price and there we were in the boat sitting and listening to his stories, sipping more tea and finally trying our own hand at rowing for a short while! It was an act of Balance movement by both hands and the rows were little heavy to lift but the excitement of wading through Ganges was very satisfying. When we asked the boatman on how could he do it so easily, he said he is born here, we learn as a child. It is in our blood.







3. Bharat Mata Mandir: Instead of traditional statues of God and Goddesses, we have a statue of Bharat Mata symbolizing undivided India carved in Marble at this one of its kind of unique temple. The map depicts the mountains, plains and oceans up to scale. Bharat Mata Mandir was constructed in 1936 by freedom fighter Babu Shiv Prasad Gupta and was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi. The temple is built on the campus of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith.



4. Ghat Sandhya at Reva Ghat: Aimed at bringing unfocused Ghats of Banaras into Focus, recently started Ghat Sandhya at Reva Ghat is an initiative that celebrates Classic Music and Dance along the ghat.



5. The Bananas Sari Weavers of Lallapura: Walk on the narrow lanes of Lallapura to understand how weaving and preloom, handloom and post loom is done for Benarasi Silk Sarees. Usually they are small family home-setups with office in the basement and on top of that “homes” and weavers work their magic through something which is called Tana - Bana. Tana Bana is a weaving term meaning 'the warp and the weft.' They use the punch graph which has the design and the designs are set according to the punches or holes in the pattern graph which felt to us similar to how ancient computers would work.




 In the next post we would discuss how State Govt division of Handloom and Textile works hand in hand with the weavers, how does weaving happen and what are the challenges they are facing at the moment. Also do not forget to check out some fabric shops in Chowk area that sells Fabric where they say big brands gets there Fabric from. They are pretty reasonable and designs are quite good to buy from.



6. The Doors, The Akhara & The Sanskrit: A few of the remaining old doors of Banaras also known as "Pathar ka Darwaja" can be seen in Pucca Mohal (that is stone houses in old parts of the city) as well as in localities like Machhodari, Dashaswamedh, Bengali Tola, Shivala, Kedarghat etc. The doors were carved out of single log of wood and the frames of the doors were made of stone. Even if you don't go to these localities, the galiyan or lanes leading to Kashi Vishwanath temple has a few colorful doors.





Akhara is a very old tradition of Banaras. Visit the Tulsi Akhara of Banaras where Kushti wrestlers fight.

Sanskrit language is perhaps the oldest language in the world and here in Banaras we saw some places where they were teaching Sanskrit. There are also institutes such as Sampurnanand Sanskrit University that's keeping the Sanskrit culture of Varanasi alive.






7. The Food and The Bhang: The popular breakfast in Banaras is Poori with Aloo Rassa at Ram Bhandar (Chowk) and Madhur Milan(Dashashwamedh). Lassi topped with loads of Malai can be had at Blue Lassi. Tamatar Chaat is a must try at Dashashwamedh, in fact they have a great menu and we picked 3 items and all were super good. Laxmi Chai Wale serves Makhani Toast. There are plenty of places where you can find this special lassi called "Bhang Lassi or Thandai". Badal Thandai on chowk is a great place to have it - they have Bhang Lassi, Bhang(weed) Thandai etc. Blue Lassi is famous with the foreigners but it’s expensive (Rs 350). We had one glass of Bhang Lassi in chowk and although we were waiting for the effect to strike us, nothing happened. We took an auto and went back to our beds. May be taking two would have shown us significant effect but the Thandai was yummy!




Finally, I was left impressed with Banares. It gave me all I needed from my 2-day vacation plus a short detour to Sarnath. Have you been to Banaras before? How has your experience been?

The beauty of extensive hand made painting is commendable. “My mother would take thread out of Sari, dip in the paint and draw a Madhubani art. She could flawlessly paint on everything with anything but mainly on paper with Bamboo pen. She was widely known in the village for her calibre and was respected and invited to marriages to paint Kohbar and paint other marriage rituals.





As we entered the home of Padmashree Awardee Smt. Mahasundari Devi in Ranti Village, we saw the home lined with Awards on the front wall of the entrance room .








He continues “My mother got 42 awards - 4 of which were presidential awards and they are one National award, one Tulsi Samman (a prestigious award by Madhya Pradesh Government and Government of India) given by President Shankar Dayal Sharma on occasion of Tulsi Das’s 500th Birthday, Shilp Guru Award where got gold medal and a Padmashree award. We don’t have many of her work to showcase it to you only 4-5 which we have saved. Most of her paintings was on order.

Today, the tradition is carried forward by her daughter-in-law Bibha Das, who is a national awardee herself. “Till now It has taken me 3 months of 3 hours work everyday to paint it on silk sari which I am making it for my son’s to be daughter in law (she shyly says they are still searching for a suitable daughter in law but the work on the sari has started), and it requires applying the same kind of pressure every time we use the brush and paint and intense concentration.  - says Bibha.

What stunned us was, there was no raw sketch prior to the painting. It was drawn free hand but the symmetry was impeccable.



They have even preserved the Madhubani painted Mud Home, the kind of what used to exist earlier in the village as part of their home compound. The theme on which the mud home was painted was “Shehnai” and “Dhol”.


“Madhubani was part of our tradition but it was because of my mother that the demand extended to the external market. It so happened that my mother was painting in one of the weddings of the relatives and while she was making the painting, Bhaskar Kulkarni saw her making the art and then he described this form of art in his diary. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay read the diary and she immediately sent one of her designers at our home”

He randomly came to our home and that time my Mother was making the art, he was very pleased and he came again after a year. That time the Pardah System in Bihar was so prevalent that my mother said “Kaun Asabhya Admi Ghar me chala aya hai - Who is that rude guy who has come to our courtyard”, that time men in the Aangal (courtyard) was considered a big deal. The designer said, I had come last year, can you give me one of the painting. So my uncle(chacha) gave one, this painting that went after a year became the medium for more supply of paintings - and opened more doors. Thereafter, once she was asked to give 4 paintings and Rs 40 was given to her to buy sweets. She refused but later accepted. After that we came into Business and taught the whole village.

To read more about Bhaskar Kulkarni and how we discovered Madhubani in Bihar, read more in my previous posts here

He continues that although my Mrs Bibha Das is from Leheriya Village, it was only under the guidance of my mother and me that she excelled the art. Initially she was showing less interest in the art, then she started learning after there was a training by the Indian Government under supervision of my mother. In that training, one or two family members could join and thats when she joined and started picking up the art.

Bibha Das says that in her village, her grandmother used to make the art with Bamboo sticks and as a child she would paint here and there. Today she paints on literally everything - Dupattas, Paper, T-Shirts or Saree.. The training that she gives to students, she keeps the best of them and sells to the market - that ways even the students benefit for their efforts. They sell from home.

Since it is time-taking and labour intensive, he says that his interest in this art is slowly losing patience but we continue to the best we can.

Difference between Madhubani art form of Ranti Village and Jitwarpur Village

The difference between the work of Ranti and Jitwarpur is similar to the difference between Classical Music and Drums. Ranti has more of Line work whereas Jitwarpur has more filling work.

Traditionally, there are 4 types of paintings which holds different meanings and they are:

1) Aripan (also known as Alpana or Rangoli) : Ari means earth and Pan means Puja. It comes from the word Alepan which means Smearing and is a Puja to appease the god for earth purification. Here, they make Pithar, a paste of Arwa rice with which we make Aripan. Since rice is white and white is the color of widow they mix Sindoor or Vermillion and make it suhagan or married.

Arwa rice is called the spiritual fuel of this place - it is the rice that provides peace and energy to the earth and hence they use it during Puja.  To know more about Aripan, click here

2) Phus(Hay) Home: Earlier there used to be homes made of hay because the village used to witness floods. Bamboo was plenty here and so was hay and so when these two were freely and readily available, people would help in making each others home or easily build their own. Mud was used to paste the home. Mud, however, stays for only a few months. After 3 months of pasting it with mud, it loses its strength and in 6 months falls off as a powder and a new paste was again used.

Why was mud used in homes?

Mud was freely available everywhere but mud came with insects. Mud mixed with Pachi ka Gobar ( as in cowdung of a cow which has recently given birth to a calf) was used because that cowdung has power to kill insects. Over that natural color was used to paint, so that the remaining insects gets killed with the natural color. The mud also provides strength to the Hay and the Bamboo.

3) Tradition: A majority of people here are of Karn Kayastha caste although now people from everywhere stay here. Traditionally they are Brahmins and marry Brahmins, however it is said for centuries that our dynasties have derived from Karnataka. And it could be possible that they gained the wisdom of painting when they migrated , or it could also be that they gained the art of Madhubani by the kingdoms who ruled here. Madhubani is also mentioned years back in Ramayana. That time whatever was available whether its on leaves etc, painting was done.

4) Marriage: There are 4 types of painting they do in Marriages -2 Kohbar , Baans, Dashavtar and Ashtal.

There is a special mold in which sindoor or vermillion is filled and then a small pudiya (fold) is made. The pudiya is made in such a way that nothing falls down because falling of a Sindoor is considered inauspicious. This pudiya is opened time to time during Marriages. And the Kohbar sindoor is then used into girl’s maang (forehead).

He says that in our marriage, the shadi is not completed on the day of marriage. 4 days after marriage there is a chaturthi process, then the shadi is completed.

The process that gives women the power of consent and rejection after marriage

These 4 days is when the women had the right to reject the marriage if she does not like the guy. As there was no second marriages earlier, this was said to be for the choice a women can make in the 4 days. In those 4 days there would be no physical contact and there would always be another woman along with to testimony that till the chaturthi. There are 3 feras in the marriage, rest 4 feras are only completed 4 days after marriage in the form of mantras.We even got to see the Kohbar room where the bride stays for 4 days.







When a women gets married, the yellow sari with Madhubani painting comes from Sasural (in-laws home). During the Baraati, the bride wears the yellow sari and goes to Sasural. Earlier the paintings were done on Sari with Sindoor, now it is done with Fabric colors.

He continues "In fact when my mother made Saree for all three of her daughter in law that was with Fabric Paint"

The exterior and the interior of the home including the courtyard was Madhubani painted with Enamel paint! Let's take a look at this intense form of art in the photoessay and we'll have vlog on my next post: