Feb 222015
 

Varanasi in the Morning

February 2015

Up before dawn to catch the river as it wakes. It was truly amazing to be in an Indian city where it is quiet and the streets, while not deserted, were empty but for the sleeping cow and early worker.

Ganges in the Morning

Once at the river however, it was the beginning of the day. People are out, washing clothes, performing yoga asanas, offering flowers and fire to the river and also going for a swim.

day 5-2

Ganga “supermarkets” are floating along side happy to sell you whatever you may need, playing cards, post cards, malas, and even candy bars.

Ganga Supermarket*

day 5-7

Today we passed many fabulous buildings, several funeral ghats and various religious temples doing morning prayers.

day 5-21

*

Ganges in the Morning

Here is our guide serenading us as we float down the river.

A quick breakfast and onto the bus for a six hour ride to Badh Gaya.

It is harvest time for some type of grain so, at 50 miles an hour, a painting of the process opened before our eyes.

Grain Harvest in India

*

Grain Harvest in India

The straw left from harvest is put to many uses in India included bio-fuel

*

A beautiful form of storage for the straw

A beautiful form of storage for the straw

BODH GAYA

Bodh Gaya

Bodh Gaya is where the Buddha is said to have obtained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree (Ficus religiosa).

For Buddhists, Bodh Gaya is the most important of the main four pilgrimage sites, the other three being Sarnath, Kushinagar, and Lambini.

Bodh Gaya

Next to the Bodhi Tree there is a platform known as Vajrasana, or the Diamond Throne. This was originally installed by Emperor Ashoka to mark the spot where Buddha sat and meditated.

Bodh Gaya

Buddha’s Footprints

In the shrine are the footprints (Padas) of Buddha carved in black stone that date from the 3rd century BC when Ashoka declared Buddhism to be the official religion. He had thousands of these footprint stones installed all over the kingdom.

Bodh Gaya 1

 

Apparently the architecture is a mystery. It appears to have been constructed with the intent of being a monument but later became a receptacle for relics of the Buddha. The temple is one of the few early monumental brick structures to have survived in eastern India.

The base is approximately 50 feet square and the tower, a 19th century construction, rises 170 feet.

Bodh GayaInside the temple there is a huge image of the Buddha in the bhumisparsha mudra “touching the ground pose”. This image is purported to be 1700 years old and is facing east exactly at the place where Buddha obtained enlightenment.

We arrived as the sun was going down and evening prayers began, it was absolutely magical.

Here is a small sample of that magic-