varanasi

VARANASI: At around 5 pm, as the sun sets for early winter twilight, melodious hymns from Ramacharit Manas play on the ramp and footsteps of this 8th century ghat near Malviya Bridge, overlooked by bold, textured Gabion walls and quiet Ganga on either side. The newly set-up Gabion walls are a metal mesh cage filled with stones. Architects across the […]

I bow to the eternally sacred abodes, Whose deity is Hara, Whose activities are worthy of Hara, And whose breath of life is dedicated Only to Hara. –    The Shivastotravali by Utpaladeva (#20) The eternally sacred abodes of Shiva are innumerable. For that matter, it is the entire Universe and creation; and eventually one […]

VARANASI: The Bharatiya Janata Party is putting up a show of unity and togetherness, just following a bit of template of its own campaign Mera Parivar BJP Parivar, an axiom that it has banked upon since 2017  to win hearts of Hindi heartland states. Twelve visiting chief ministers of BJP ruled states — Assam, Haryana, […]

VARANASI: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended the 500-year wait to repair the Kashi Vishwanath Temple site with inauguration of a sprawling 50,000 square metre site amid fanfare, the Varanasi MP took an acerbic swipe at Mughal emperor Aurangzeb for his demolition of the sacred site hundreds of years ago. Kashi Vishwanath Temple, that stands […]

VARANASI:  The frenzied rush to the centuries-old Kashi Vishwanath Temple is just getting bigger during the last few days. Outside Kashi Chaat Bhandaar, on the stretch between Gadaulia to Dashsavamedha Ghat,  that sells city’s firm favourite – Tamatar chaat, Palak Patta chaat and Chura Matar — visitors with smeared foreheads arrive in scores.  They laugh, […]