banaras

The holy Banaras as described on wiki:-
Varanasi (Sanskrit: वाराणसी Vārāṇasī, pronunciation [ʋaːɾaːɳəsiː] (help·info)), also commonly known as Benares ([bə.naː.rəs]) or Banaras (Hindi: बनारस, Urdu: بنارس, Banāras pronunciation [bənɑːɾəs] (info)) and Kashi (Hindi: काशी Kāśī [kaː.ʃiː] (info)), is a city situated on the left (west) bank of the River Ganga (Ganges) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, regarded as holy by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, and one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world.[3][4]

The culture of Varanasi is closely associated with the River Ganges and the river's religious importance. The city has been a cultural and religious centre in northern India for several thousand years. The Benares Gharana form Indian classical music developed in Varanasi, and many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers, and musicians resided or reside in Varanasi, which includes Kabir, Ravi Das, Munshi Premchand, Jaishankar Prasad, Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Ustad Bismillah Khan. Tulsidas wrote his Ramacharitamanas there, and Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath near Kashi.[citation needed] Ayurveda is said to have originated at Varanasi.
for furthur details read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banaras

I was born brought up and studied in Varanasi. I never realised the greatness of this old city till I moved out and started feeling the air when ever i go back to visit my parents who still continue to live there .
When I was in my college i use to frequent the ghats of river ganga very often. That was our peaceful smoke up arena.. it was beautiful, you can never get bored sitting on the bank and watching the public performing various rituals . it is really amazing to see the complete cycle of life happening on this very ghat.. the new born babies are brought to ghats to get them blessed by the sadhus( i will talk abt sadhus in seperate episode) you see newly married couples coming too on the bank followed by herd of family members preferrably ladies and a small band ( locally known as naggada players, or duug duugi players, along with shehnahi) singing some local floklore.. ( i will also talk abt the hindu way of marriage rituals and traditions in seperate episodes) and you can see dead bodies being brought to the ghat to be burned .

the story will continue..

As seen today in the leading newspaper Varanasi temple Duttatreya submerged under water.

india discovered

I had this great desire of writing on india its art and fashion for long.