Ganges River – ALL I NEED IS MY PASSPORT

The R.V. Bengal Ganga

Feb 202015

Our first stop in the morning was to the Bihar School of Yoga. The school was established in 1963 and also serves as an Ashram with about 50% western students. We left with a sack of propaganda leaflets and a Rudraksha seed.

The seed is thought to be the eye of Shiva. Some also think that the word Ohm is written in the seed.

We boarded the boat and off down the Ganges. The river has very little or no commercial traffic on it, so sailing is quiet and peaceful.

The R.V. Bengal Ganga is an interesting vessel. The company was started by our river guide Sumit Bhattachryya in 2009. He has had to open doors like no ones business. When he first began there were no ghats to land at in many of our stopovers, and getting parts for the boat should say, the propeller, drop off, was impossible. Today, going to Vikramshila University we were in a caravan of Tata jeeps that he had to form, it is such an interesting venture to hear him discuss. The boat only runs six months of the year and only twice a month, so as we cruise down the river, we are still unique. People come out along the shores and wave, and when we pull into a docking area people come out to greet us and they wave and wave as we go through town. This is a very unique period of time in this area for Indian tourism, and it is interesting to be a part of it. There will be the inevitable discussion of destroying outlying villages with tourism, but that needs to be countered with the influx of dollars to help feed and educate, which is far more rare when you get out into the rural areas than one thinks. I realize that these villages will change with tourism, but that is the nature of life itself.

Our Forward Boat

On the river we are accompanied by two boats, a forward boat that works as essentially a sounding boat for depth, and then our own ferry in case we moor too far away to walk onto shore. The boats do not sail at night, as the Ganges, varies between 43 feet in depth and 6 feet, difficult to navigate even on a good day.

Our personal ferry boat sails with us

Along the way today we passed these two granite rocks. One is crowned with a mosque and the other holds a temple of Ghaibinath Siva. This is a highlight as much of the scenery we pass is farm land.

Floating along the banks we noticed this straw figure or Kumhar. These figures of gods and goddesses, created during festivals, are framed on an armature of sticks, then wrapped with straw, and then covered with clay and painted. “In the clay there is the seed of all creation, a drop of God that springs to life with prayer.” The best of the artists are from the Kumharkalli section of Calcutta.

The R.V. Bengal Ganga and Bateshwarsthan

Ganges River, India, Varanasi

Feb 192015

February 2015Our only stop today was Vikramshila University in the town of Bateshwarsthan. This is the birthplace of Vajrayana Buddhism. Originally established by King Dharampala in the late 8th or 9th century in response to what he saw as a decline in the quality of education at Nalanda. Vikramshila is one of the more important centers of Buddhist learning, along with Nalanda. This center, however, is much smaller with only one hundred teachers and one thousand students. It taught such interesting subjects as theology, philosophy, grammar, meta-physics and logic.

The university was destroyed by the Turks around 1200.

Stupas at Vajaryana

Vajarayana is a branch of Buddhism, related to esoteric ritual practices associated most strongly with a branch of Tibetan Buddhism, Tantrism. Tantrism is found in both Buddhism and Hinduism.

There is a local festival of which I do not know, but the animals have been colored for this festival

Colored Goats

While it is quiet I wanted to go back to a site we saw in Varanasi. We had a quick stop at the Mother India Temple to view a map. Maps are an interesting concept in India. We have used maps throughout time and consider them a vital part of exploration and getting around, but this is not so in India.

Pilgrimage maps were the first maps of India, and these make the most sense. The candles and oil lamps that light the holy rivers drew the body of the Goddess (Bharat Mata) and gave sanctification to what was imagined to be the landscape of the country. So the concept of India can’t really be drawn in a western manner.

The second problem arises with “What is India?”

“There is no such country, and this is the first and most essential fact about India that can be learned. India is a name, which we give to a great region including a multitude of different countries. There is no general Indian term that corresponds to it.” – Sir John Strachey, 1888.

Because maps are such a touchy subject in India the Geographical Survey of India is the only organization that that is authorized to make official maps of India.

In April of 2013 the national surveying and map-making body filed a complaint with the Delhi police accusing Google of violating India’s national map policy. According to India’s 2005 National Map Policy, no department or entity, apart from the Survey of India, has the authority to produce maps of the country.

The Mother Goddess drawing the map of India with her body and clothing

We passed another ethereal rock form today with a temple called Khelgaon or Jahngira.

Some sights from our slow, relaxing journey down the Ganges.

The R.V. Bengal Ganga and The Raj Mahal

Ganges River, India

Feb 182015

February 2015 We have been told of the dolphins of the Ganges, and in fact two days ago we sailed through the Vikramshila Ganetic Dolphin Sanctuary, but until today, I have only seen the backs of what I assumed were dolphins.

Today we finally saw them jumping out of the water and I got a full sighting of the animal. They are really small, and I did not even attempt to get a photograph.

Our only stop today was the Raj Mahal along the Ganges, not to be confused with the Raj Mahal in Jaipur.

Raj Man Singh renamed the city of Agmahal to Rajmahal. He then went about building a palace, a fort and the Jama-i-masjid (mosque). The city lost its strategic value when the Ganges receded two miles, leaving the city dry-docked, and then in the 1500s an unknown epidemic wiped out a good portion of the population. Eventually the capital was moved to Dahka and Raj Mahal fell into ruin.

This somewhat recreated structure is stunning in its use of brick.

The mosque, locally called Jamil Masjid consisted of a large prayer hall to the west and a spacious courtyard enclosed by a high compound wall. The wall has arched recesses on the interior side and three gateways on the north, south and east the last being the main entrance with a porch in front. The prayer chamber of the mosque consisted of a large central hall that looks two storied from the outside because of the effect produced by large windows and the continuous parapet below. The western wall of the prayer chamber consists of several niches….Taken from the plaque in front of the building.

The Baradari

After visiting the mosque and the Baradari (living quarters) we strolled into town. Here we were able to actually interact with the people that have been waving at us from the banks. I could truly never decide who was on display, they were as curious about us as we about them, they pulled out their cell phones and took pictures as we snapped back. While we did not share a common language there was still an attempt to interact with waving, hellos and goodbyes, even throwing kisses by the children.

We are in the state of Jharkand, a realtively new state and a rather wealthy one due to its large deposits of coal. Here we see the women move the Sari to their left shoulder, and if they are married they wear a red and white bangle. The married women also put the same red coloring of their bindi into the part of their hair.

The women are also tattooed before marriage to prove they have the right to enter the kitchen. It was hard to interperet between the guide and the villagers, he wasn’t exactly sure what the story was, but essentially these are a sign that the Mother-in-law approves of the daughter-in-law entering the clan. I asked if they had to take a cooking test first, and the guide said “most likely”.

Notice her tattoos and bangles.

The children are given black bindis and black under their eyes to help keep away the evil spirits.

The discussion of tourism and its effects on this area came up, and we were assured that we are very unique and that tourists to this area are extremely rare. India does not make it easy to do what the RV Bengal does. The boat has 4 different liquor licenses for the four Indian states that we pass through. They pay a VAT at BOTH ends of the journey, and the jeeps we needed to get to one site after docking had to come from fifty miles away, through Indian traffic.

Svarga-sopana-sarai “Flowing staircase to Heaven” – The Ganges

The R.V Bengal Ganga and The Farakka Barrage

Ganges River, India

Feb 172015

February 2015

There is a gentleman in the front pulling while this guys punts.

Our third night out was the second night of thunder, lightening and rain. It makes for a rather humid day, and this morning it was raining as well. It was a very quiet day of sailing down the Ganges to the Farraka Barrage. We did have one hour off the boat to walk the town near the barrage.

It is boat repair season, getting ready for the monsoons.

Our personal ferry, notice the safety railing.

Siva and Parvati, notice the falls symbol, this is a Siva Linga.

Siva and Parvati, notice the phallic symbol, this is a Siva Linga.

A linga is the symbolic form most commonly used to represent Siva. They are frequently found in conjunction with a yoni (female element). They are essentially a disc with a drain, out of which waters of ablution flow.

Shiva (Siva in Sanskrit) is regarded as one of the primary forms of God. He is the Supreme God within Shaivism, one of the three most influential denominations in contemporary Hinduism. He is one of the five primary forms of God in the Smarta tradition, and “the Destroyer” or “the Transformer”. Parvati is the female manifestation of Siva. She is almost always depicted together with him, either standing next to him or sitting on his knee while Siva embraces her.

This is pretty typical of school transport in India

The girls riding in the school van.

I was happy to finally capture a woman pumping water. This is woman’s work, and while I saw it everywhere, this was the first chance I had to grab a photo.

The Farakka Barrage regulates the Ganges water between Bangladesh and India. Essentially they turn the spigot on for 10 days for each country so that water distribution is “fair”.

Fishing boats

The highlight of the day was our evening cocktail hour in teak chairs around a fire with Bix Beiderbecke in the background and the chance to let off lanterns and sparklers.

Dropping anchor

We sent at least 10 of these off across the Ganges Plains, it was truly magical

When we moored, we were in sight of the Farraka Barrage, by morning we had moved to the locks. The boat travels through 24 miles of Canal to get to the river.

The Farakka Barrage

The barrage was constructed by Hindustan Construction Company. It has 109 gates. The Barrage serves water to the Farakka Super Thermal Power Station. There are also sixty canals which can divert the water to other destinations.

Farakka Barrage is located in the Indian state of West Bengal, roughly 10.3 miles from the border with Bangladesh. Construction was started in 1961 and completed in 1975 at a cost of $25 million. Operations began on April 21, 1975. The barrage is about 7,350 feet long. The feeder canal from the barrage to the Bhagirathi-Hooghly River is about 25 miles long. We are going to be taking the Bhagirathi River from here to Calcutta.

The purpose of the barrage is to divert 1,100 cubic feet per second of water from the Ganges to the Hooghly River for flushing out the sediment deposition from the Kolkata harbour without the need of regular mechanical dredging. After commissioning the project, unfortunately they found that the diverted water flow from the Farakka barrage is not adequate to flush the sediment from the river satisfactorily.

Waiting to go through the lock in the early morning.

The locks belong to the Indian Army so no photography was allowed, and I know why, they don’t open the doors quite enough so our side tires had quite a job to do making sure the boat wasn’t damaged, its nuts.

The fun thing about moving into Bengal is that you hear TaTa from the children, it is a way of getting your attention and sort of means hello, and hey there, all in one.

We have had two really amazing lectures, one by our accompanying archeologist Nancy Wilkie, on the looting of the treasures of India. It was really an excellent overall look into the shady side of the art world, and had us all on the edges of our seats.

The second was by our Indian guide Sumit about the Caste system, the subject engendered quite a lively conversation.

The R.V. Bengal motoring in West Bengal

Bengal, Ganges River, India

Feb 162015

February 2015

Bengal is proving to be horribly hot and humid, it is lovely on the boat as the breezes blow but we have been off for a few excursions.

The first to the town of Baranagar for a visit to the Jor Banla Shiva temple. Constructed between 1716 and 1795 by the tax collector Rani Bhabani. The temple has a triple arched entrance and is completely decorated with small ornamental terracotta plaques. The plaques tell the story of Ramayana, the life of Krishna and the various incarnations of Devi.

Bishnapur was the capital of the Mallabhumi kingdom between the 17th and 18th century. The town is renowned for is many elaborately adorned terracotta temples made of the local red clay, Shama Raya being the most imposing.

Garden of Delight,

The next day started with an early morning walk to the Khusbagh (Garden of Happiness) the burial grounds of the Nawabs of Bengal. Nawabs is an honorific title bestowed by the reigning Mughal Emperor to semi-autonomous Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia.

Then a Tonga (horse driven carriage) ride to the Katra Mosque. The mosque was built by the first Nawab of Murshidabad, Quli Kahn in 1724 using materials from Hindu temples that were destroyed in order to build it. The mosque was damaged severely in 1897 by an earthquake.

A horse ride back to the Hazarduari (a thousand doors) Palace which is now the historic Museum of Murshidabad. The palace was built during the reign of Nawab Nazim Humayun (1824-1838) by Scottish architect McLeod Duncan. This Greek palace is a great representation of Indo-Saracenic architecture, and one-upmanship. There are over one thousand doors (some false), large corridors and a magnificent domed receiving room. Sadly no pictures were allowed inside.

The Indo-Saracenic Revival (also known as Indo-Gothic, Hindoo or Hindu-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal) was an architectural style movement by British architects in the late 19th century in British India. It drew elements from native Indo-Islamic and Indian architecture, and combined it with the Gothic revival and Neo-Classical styles favored in Victorian Britain. Saracenic was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs.

Dung-Ka-Bobs

Our Tonga’s horse was named Miss Julie