The Ganges, Ayodhya And Sarnath

Our second day in Varanasi is full of adventure. We get up early and leave the hotel; by 6:30 AM to see the sun rise on the Ganges. We get to the Ganges and take an old wooden boat powered by a rower whose oars look cobbled together from bamboo poles and orange crate wood. The oarlocks are old ropes. We head upstream past many people doing their morning bath rituals and past several Ghats (steps going down to the river).  Monkeys run up and down and all around the edifices.

Gnat

We come up to one Ghat and observe a cremation.  Our guide explains the rituals: the priest says blessings but the untouchables do the work of making the pyre, carrying the dead and hours later gathering the ashes and placing them in the river. We row back to our starting point and Frank gets to assist the man rowing. He will have to report that to his kayak club in California. The sun rises and the city comes to life. We walk back through impossible narrow streets. Our destination is the Ayodhya temple which is in a disputed area between the Hindus and Muslims, remarkably similar to the issue with the Temple Mount in Israel. It is the mythical/historic place where the god Ram lives. The site of a Hindu temple for thousands of years but some 400 years ago the Muslim invaders/kings built a mosque on the site. Much blood has been shed on this site. The area is heavily policed, as hard to get through as airport security. No camera either and Susan & I cannot go in the center part of the temple. But we can see the heavily gilded temple tower. Right outside the temple entrance is a shop where we buy sacred necklaces and home made masala spices that we plan to share when we get back from this most sacred Hindu site.
After lunch we visit a completely different kind of place, Sarnath. This is one of the most important sites in Buddhism. After his enlightenment the Buddha gave his first lecture here on the nature of suffering, attachment and the way out of this dilemma. For me it is the most important place since this represents the teaching or transmission of his enlightenment. There are only ruins of a large monastery and a museum but the place is peaceful and quiet in contrast to the noise and hurry of Hindu India. In the museum are statues from 300 BC, the oldest in existence.