Mathura Agra Kashi Gaya Trip

Having visited the most sacred places of many religions, the Vatican City, The Dharamshala, Shravanabelagola and the Golden Temple, Amritsar, it was my earnest desire to visit Kashi, the most sacred place for Hindus, the oldest and the biggest religion across human mankind. On account of the notion that Kashi is visited only by elderly ones, many eyebrows were raised when I spoke about my desire.  However, for me the enthusiasm is the same whether its Venice or Kashi.  It’s just a matter of our frame of mind.

I got a call from Vasu, my wife’s cousin that he and other members of the family are planning to visit Kashi, Mathura and Gaya in Oct 2017 through a packaged tour organized by one of our relatives.  Gopi, the tour operator is a veteran in this field and has been doing this services for almost two decades. Our troop comprised around 53 people.  I was the only participant from Bangalore and more importantly the second youngest participant (next to Vasu).  This made me self-proclaim as the teenager of the group (what a feeling!) duly applying the relative-ranking mechanism (thanks to my HR Dept for teaching this methodology) and Vasu became the infant !

On 13 Oct 2017 (Sat), I boarded the Chennai Mail from Bangalore.  It rained quite heavily in Bangalore on that day and many vehicles across parts of Bangalore were half-drowned.  It is worth mentioning that one of my colleague who was supposed to catch the Bangalore Mumbai Train at 9 pm, boarded the local BMTC bus at 5 pm to travel a distance of 15 kms and reach the railway station.  However, he reached the Bangalore Cantonment station only around 9.20 pm and missed his train.   This was a clear indication that I was destined for this trip thus giving my wife an opportunity to modify the famous Janagarj’s comedy in ‘Agni Natchathiram’ wherein he shouts “haiyya en pondati oorukku poitaa” (why do you think only men shout like this?).

Typical of me, I started to pack my baggage 5 days in advance (the previous week-end packing) and gave a chance to my wife to pull my leg about the excitement in me.  Thanks to the Almighty for giving us two ears.  I made use of them quite well by getting the input in one ear and let go the output immediately through the other ear without any processing in between.  Believe me, it’s a global secret for a happy married life.

On 14 Oct 2017 (Sun), my in-laws and myself reached Chennai Central 1 hour 15 minutes in advance before the departure of Train 12615 GT Express to Agra Cantt.  Though the platform number was announced, the train did not arrive at the platform even at 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time. One of the member of our group, a 75+ old gentleman kept on asking me – sir “is the train going to come or not?” I am not sure if I looked like an astrologer or a Railway Station Master to his eyes.  Wondering what to say, I just gave him a broad smile (the way I answer my wife’s queries at times) making him imagine that he is speaking to a deaf person.  I am sure he would have counted on his blessings for not being a deaf & dumb person and thanked the Almighty.  The positive side of this moment is the fact that I have made that gentleman thank God, an apt beginning for the yatra. 

At last the train came.  After loading all the luggage and even before we could settle down in our seats, the train started to move. Ten minutes down the journey lane, my FIL came looking for one of his bag.  I told him that it should be in his coach.  He told me that it was not there. As tension was about to mount on the missing bag, I went to their coach and found that it was tucked under the seat and another bag was covering it.  Having made a ‘Columbus discovery’ of the missing bag, I returned to my seat triumphantly.  By 8 pm, Vasu served Idli/Chappati to all of us.  Thanks Vasu for this kind gesture.  Another group member, Hari, a family friend of Gopi chatted with us non-stop for the next 2 hours (may be he is fond of one-way traffic).  Constant yawning by some of us helped in calling off the day and going to bed.

15 Oct 2017 (Mon) – Practice makes a man perfect (I wonder why only men and not women).  Now, my dear ladies reading this blog – don’t gang up to beat me up.  I am wondering if its time to amend the proverb.  Anyway coming back to my story, got up at 5.30 am on a Sunday morning in the train.  No wonder my wife calls me a ‘strange creature’.  The entire day was spent in the train journey.  I bet, this is the best time to gossip and this time also paves way for building new friendship.  One tends to observe, learn and unlearn many things during long journey hours.

16 Oct 2017 (Tue) – Reached Mathura around 3.30 am and boarded a bus to our accommodation.   Checked into a Jain Temple cottage.  

The rooms were quite clean.   We were told to come down by 7.30 am for breakfast.  After having a refreshing bath, we had hot breakfast.  By 8.30 am, we were all ready to commence our sight-seeing. The first place of visit was Prem Mandir.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOmAxJUgeQ5Jd8OHC1jRr25TtfeLP0obX2dcFGV

Prem Mandir is a newly constructed temple and is the most beautiful in the Brij area. The complex is on a 54-acre site on the outskirts of Vrindavan. Made out of white marble and adorned with very intricate carvings, this temple is famous for its architectural beauty.  Statues of Shri Krishna and his admirers portraying important occasions surrounding the Lord's life cover the main temple. Various scenes from Krishna's life, like raising the Govardhan Mountain, have been depicted on the periphery of the temple.

Prem Mandir video (the video will open in a new tab.  You may close the tab after watching the video)

The temple and its  architecture left us awestruck and we moved on due to paucity of time.  The second place of visit was Krishna Janmbhoomi Mandir, Mathura. The temple is built around the prison cell where Krishna is said to have been born.  The temple is said to have been destroyed and rebuilt 17 times in its history. Today the temple is one of the most frequently visited temples in India. 

After visiting these two places, we headed towards Agra (56 kms approx.) and halted for lunch.  Post-lunch, we went to see one of the new 7 Wonders of the World – The Taj Mahal.  The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–1658), to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. I am not planning to write much about Taj as most of you know about the same.  There are numerous photographers who haunt the visitors and coerce them to take a snap. My FIL became a victim of this tactic.  They took a couple of snaps and ordered some copies.  The photographer took an advance of Rs 50/- and told them to come to a particular store and collect the photos.  After finishing the sightseeing, when they approached the store, they were told that there was no such photographer from their end and their photos were not available.  Imagine what a terrible feeling one would have at that moment.  It is not a question of money that was cheated, it’s the ‘cherished moment’ that has been shattered.  Luckily, I had taken a couple of snaps in my mobile and that saved the ‘cherished moments’ of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz of our group!.

Swamy Narayan Temple at Allahabad

As we were running late, we had to skip visiting Agra Fort, which was originally in the plan.  We then headed to Allahabad, around 480 kms from Agra.  It was a tedious and arduous night journey. 

17 Oct 2017 (Tue) - Reached Allahabad around 4.30 am.  Checked in at Swamy Narayan Mandir cottage.  The rooms were very tidy.  After having a quick hot water bath, got ready and went to Triveni Sangamam  where the Holy Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati meet together in one particular point.  We were told that clear differentiation of water is visible in the months of Jan and Feb.  We had to take rowing boats (10 members per boat) to reach the Triveni Sangamam.  At the Sangamam bamboos are erected and people are requested to dip 3 times inside the enclosure where the depth of the river is only around 3 feet.  Once we were back on the river bed, we were served hot breakfast.  Thereafter, we visited the 3 storied Shri Aadi Shankar Viman Mandir.  This is the modern and famous temple situated near the bank of the Ganga. It is the only temple built by the Kanchi Kamkoti Peeth, in south Indian style of architecture. At every floor of this temple adobe of different Gods and Goddesses have been constructed. The temple's idols of Kumaril Bhatta & Jagat Guru Shankaracharya, Kamakshi Devi (with 51 Shaktipeetha around), Tirupati Balaji (with 108 Vishnu around), Yogshashtra Sahasrayoga Linga (having 108 Shivas around) are installed in the temple.  Our next visit was to Sri Bade Hanuman of Prayagraj. Here, the statue of Lord Hanuman is in a reclining position.  It is also said that efforts to put the statue in standing position or moving it to some other safe place were futile. 

The next sight-seeing spot was Anand Bhavan, a historic house museum in Allahabad focussing on the Nehru family.  It was constructed by Motilal Nehru in the 1930s to serve as the residence of the Nehru family.

We then continued our journey from Allahabad to Varanasi (120 kms).  Traffic jam in Allahabad reminded me of Bangalore.  In fact, we were stuck in one bridge for almost 30 minutes. By the time we reached Varanasi, it was around 9 pm.  Our accommodation was booked in Tamilnadu Guest House -  a private hotel and nothing to do with TN government.  The 3 sharing room that we got was a good one with very recent renovation and refurbishing. The hotel is situated very near to the ghats.  The roads near the ghats are very narrow and buses are not allowed to ply.  Hence, we were asked to de-board the bus near the central place and had to catch the battery-operated rickshaw to reach the hotel.  The luggage was then transported in hand-carts by Gopi and his team.  I must admit that this is a highly responsible job to ensure that all the luggage reach the hotel safely without any loss-in-transit and kudos to Gopi and his team.  

18 Oct 2017 (Wed) - Diwali Day. We got up early by 3.00 am and reached Kedar Ghat (5 minute walk from our hotel).  Our group of 50 people were the only one at the Ghat on that day at that point in time.  We had the true ‘Ganga Snanam’ around 3.30 am and reached the hotel.

After a dress change, we boarded the rickshaw and reached Kashi Viswanath Mandir around 4.15 am (about 2 kms from our hotel).  There was already a serpentine queue and we stood there patiently. The queue started to move faster than expected.  We first had  the darshan of Goddess Annapurni.  It is only during Diwali time, one is fortunate enough to have the darshan of Goddess Annapurni in pure gold (referred as ‘Thanga Annapurni’).  There was a heavy crowd to have this darshan.  Thereafter, we had the darshan of Goddess Visalakshi.  In fact, there was absolutely no crowd here at all and it was quite easy to enter and exit the temple.  We then marched towards Lord Kashi Viswanathar.  There was a bit of rush.  However, we did manage to have a good darshan.  The immense satisfaction and the feeling that one gets after having darshan of Lord Siva as Kashi Viswanathar is beyond description. 

   

By 7.00 am we were out.  We heard that my in-laws and their 4 companions (MSR mama, mami, Mogana athai and Indrakka) could not have darshan due to some communication gap.  They treaded in the wrong path, got lost in the crowd, became very tired and returned to the hotel.  I wonder whether any family song that is normally sung in movies would have helped reunion with our group.  However, the reality is very different.   3 Wheel chairs were then arranged so that all the 6 of them could go through in a short cut to have darshan and return back faster.  Lady Luck did not smile upon them and they managed to see only Kashi Viswanathar.  In the evening, we set out to see Birla Mandir (BHU Vishwanath Mandir), Sankat Mocha Hanuman Mandir, Tulsi Manas Bhavan, Durga Mandir and Chozhi Maatha Mandir. Mechanized dolls are an attraction in the Tulsi Manas Bhavan (see some videos below). 

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Video 4

Video 5

Video 6

We were dropped in one of the ghats to visit the famous Ganga Aarti.  After witnessing the aarti, we moved on to see the golden Siva Lingam and the golden Visalakshi Amman kept in the Nagarkot choultry.  Nagarathar community is a Tamilnadu based community having their choultries in many parts of India. 

About Kashi - The temple stands on the western bank of the holy river Ganga and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the holiest of Shiva temples.  A visit to the temple and a bath in the river Ganges is one of many methods believed to lead one on a path to Moksha (liberation). Thus, Hindus from all over the world try to visit the place at least once in their lifetime. There is also a tradition that one should give up at least one desire after a pilgrimage the temple, and the pilgrimage would also include a visit to the temple at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu in Southern India, where people take water samples of the Ganges to perform prayer at the temple and bring back sand from near that temple. Because of the immense popularity and holiness of Kashi Vishwanath temple, hundreds of temples across India have been built in the same architectural style.

Many legends record that the true devotee achieves freedom from death and saṃsāra by the worship of Shiva, Shiva's devotees on death being directly taken to his abode on Mount Kailash by his messengers and not to Yama. The superiority of Shiva and his victory over his own nature—Shiva is himself identified with death—is also stated. There is a popular belief that Shiva himself blows the mantra of salvation into the ears of people who die naturally at the Vishwanath temple.  Kashi, Banaras, Varanasi are all one and the same.  It is also said that there are no crows in Kashi, the cows do not attack anyone, there will be no fragrance on the flowers and Eagles will not fly (despite heaps of dead bodies).

19 Oct 2017 (Thu) – Diwali Day for North Indians:  In the morning around 8.30 am, all the 50 people boarded a big boat and had Panch Ganga Snanam at Hassi Ghat, Kedar Ghat Dasa-asvamedh Ghat,Mani Karnika Ghat (Chakra Theertham) and Pancha Ganga (Bindu Madhavar Trilinga Swamy Mandir).   To give a bit of history on the ghats – Ghats in Varanasi are riverfront steps leading to the banks of the River Gangas.  There are 88 ghats and most of them were rebuilt after 1700 AD, when the city was part of Maratha Empire.  

For pictures on these ghats, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghats_in_Varanasi

As my in-laws and their 4 companions could not visit the key temples the previous day, Gopi obliged to take them for an evening darshan accompanied by Vasu and myself.  This time, it was quite an  easy darshan and we were able to see all the 3 Gods & Goddess within an hour.  In fact I had darshan of Lord Kasi Vishwanathar thrice within 5 minutes (enter, exit, re-enter).   We then retired for the day.

20 Oct 2017 (Fri) – By 4.00 am, we headed to Goddess Annapurna Mandir to see Annakut (similar to Annabhishikam in Tamilnadu). During the Annakoot festival, the temples like Kashi Vishwanath, Maa Annapurna and Bara Ganesh are decorated with the replicas made of sweets, especially laddoos. It is a tradition to have 56 different types of sweets to offer the deities.  Annapurna Devi Mandir was constructed in 1729 AD by Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao.  Popular beliefs behind the origin of this temple is once Mata Parvati closed all three eyes of Lord Shiva. Due to this, condition of dissolution (pralaya) arose since entire world was under darkness. Mata Parvati too lost her Gauri Rupa (white color) and asked Lord Shiva for his help in attaining the Gauri Rupa again. She was asked by Lord Shiva to donate anna (food) in Kashi. She hence came in form of Annapurna Devi Rupa with a golden pot and ladle and made anna daan in Varanasi. Mata Parvati thus attained the Gauri Rupa again.

After the morning darshan, we returned to our hotel, had breakfast and by 11.30 am, we vacated the room, dumped all our luggage into one room at the ground floor, and took only one bag for our Gaya trip.  We then headed to Bodhgaya (255 kms) by bus.  We stopped at a dhaba and had lunch prepared by Gopi’s team.  We reached Bodhgaya by 4.30 pm and headed for sight-seeing.  We saw the Great Buddha statue measuring 80 feet. 

The Giant Buddha statue is one of the many stops in the Buddhist pilgrimage and tourist routes in Bodhgaya.   The next places of sight-seeing were the Buddha monastery built by Japan, China and Thailand.

Finally, we went to the Mahabodhi temple, also referred as Main Temple.  The Mahabodhi Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an ancient, but much rebuilt and restored, Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, marking the location where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. The site contains a descendant of the Bodhi Tree under which Buddha gained enlightenment, and has been a major pilgrimage destination for Buddhists for well over two thousand years, and some elements probably date to the period of Asoka (died c.232 BCE). What is now visible on the ground essentially dates from the 7th century CE, or perhaps somewhat earlier, as well as several major restorations since the 19th century.

All of these Buddhist temples are maintained very well.  We then checked in one of the hotels in Bodhgaya. We were put up in the 3^rd floor and the dining hall was in the basement.  It was quite amusing to note that only 3 people were allowed to travel at a time in the lift and more importantly, one could climb up/down the stairs much faster than the one taking the lift.

21 Oct 2017 (Sat) -  We vacated our room in Bodhgaya and headed to Gaya (11 kms distance).  Gaya is an ancient city with historical and mythological significance. It is one of the major tourist attractions of Bihar.  Gaya derives its name from the mythological demon Gayasur.   According to Vayu Purana, Gaya was the name of a demon (Asura) whose body was pious after he performed rigid penance and secured blessings from Vishnu. It was said that the body of Gayasura was transformed into the series of rocky hills that make up the landscape of Gaya.

Phalgu - It is the first holy site visited by the pilgrims and first offerings are made to the souls of ancestors. According to Hindu belief, the soul wanders after death until pindadan, or religious service seeking salvation for the dead from the cycle of rebirth, is performed. The fortnight-long pitrapaksh period is considered auspicious to offer pindadan.  Pindadan is traditionally offered on the banks of the Phalgu at Gaya.

There is an interesting story and the mythology states that on account of this curse, the Phalgu lost its water, and the river is simply a vast stretch of sand dunes. The story goes that Rama, along with his brothers and Sita, came to Gaya to perform the sacred rites for his father, Dasaratha. When the brothers were bathing in the river, Sita was sitting on the banks, playing with the sand. Suddenly, Dasaratha appeared out of the sand, and asked for the Pindam, saying he was hungry. Sita asked him to wait till his sons returned, so that she could give him the traditional Pindam of rice and til. He refused to wait, asking her to give him pindams made of the sand in her hand.

Having no other option, she gave him the Pindam he desired with five witnesses – the Akshaya Vatam, the Phalguni River, a cow, a Tulsi plant and a Brahmin.  Soon, Rama returned and started the rituals. In those days apparently, the ancestors would arrive in person to collect their share, and when Dasaratha did not appear, they wondered why.  Sita then told them what had happened, but Rama could not believe that his father would accept pindams made of sand. Sita now mentioned her witnesses, and asked them to tell Rama the truth.

Among the five, only the Akshaya Vatam took her side and told the truth, while the others lied, trying to take Rama’s side. In her anger, Sita cursed all of them thus: the Falguni river henceforth would have no water at Gaya; the Cow would no longer be worshipped from the front as all others are’ only its backside would be worshipped; there would be no more Tulsi plants at Gaya and the Gaya Brahmins would never be satisfied, they would always be hungry and crave more and more. She then blessed the Akshaya Vatam saying that all who came to Gaya would perform the Pinda pradaanam at this place too.

There were 14 couples in our troop who did the ‘pinda pradaanam’ at this place.  The rituals for the non-brahmins commenced around 10.00 am lasted an hour and those of us who visited the place as tourists were made to wait at the nearby Vishnupadh temple. This temple in Gaya contains footprints of Lord Vishnu.

Once a demon known as Gayasura, did a heavy penance and sought a boon that whoever see him should attain salvation (Moksham). Since salvation is achieved through being righteous in one's lifetime, people started obtaining it easily. To prevent immoral people from attaining salvation Lord Vishnu asked Gayasura to go beneath the earth and did so by placing his right foot on asura's head. After pushing Gayasura below the surface of earth, Lord Vishnu's foot print remained on the surface that we see even today.  Gayasura now pushed into earth pleaded for food. Lord Vishnu gave him a boon that every day, someone will offer him food. Whoever does so, their souls will reach heaven. 

By 11.30 am, we were joined by the small group who completed their rituals. We then left for Kashi.  After a couple of stop-overs for lunch and coffee breaks, we reached Kashi around 8.00 pm and checked into the same hotel.  The rituals for the brahmin community got over around 4.30 pm at Gaya and they reached Kashi in the night around 11.30 pm.

22 Oct 2017 (Sun) – We left for the famous Kaal Bhairav Mandir, Varanasi.  The temple is dedicated to one of the fiercest forms of Lord Shiva and wears a garland of skulls and carries a club of peacock feathers. The word "Kaal" means both "death" and "fate". It is believed that even death is afraid of "Kaal Bhairava".  As per mythology it is said that the Brahma Hatya vanished as soon as Kaal Bhairav entered Kashi. The Lord Brahma’s head (held by Kaal Bhairav) fell at the ground known as Kapal Mochan and the place famed as the Kapal Mochan Teerth. From that day onwards, Kaal Bhairav stayed at Kashi forever and protects devotees from their problems.  There was big serpentine queue for darshan.  I understand the crowd is more on Sundays and In fact, it took over 2 hours for darshan.  Kasi thread (black threads) which is believed to act as a protection against evil forced are a must buy from this temple.  

Post darshan, we returned back to the hotel and started to pack things for our return journey to Chennai.  By 2 pm, we were all ready to go to Varanasi Rail Station.  Upon reaching the station, I transported our luggage to the platform through a porter.  We boarded Train 19046 Tapti Ganga Express around 6 pm (train was running an hour late) and got off at Itarsi Junction the next day (Mon) around 7 am. 

23 Oct 2017 (Mon) – Our next train 12622 Tamilnadu Express was at 9.45 am.  This reached Chennai on 24 Oct (Tue) around 7 am thus ending our tourist/yathra trip.

Some unforgettable moments:

- On all the days (excepting train journeys), we were served hot breakfast, lunch and dinner.   Stop gap arrangements made at Dhabas/hotels/temple halls to serve the lunch/dinner during our bus journeys were commendable.\

- In Varanasi, everyone riding a vehicle believe that ‘honking’ is their birth right and they follow it very religiously to the extent that I saw a guy honking his Pulsar Bike in front of a parked scooter.  I was wondering whether the scooter will give way on its own thereby creating a miracle!

- Thrice in the trip, MSR mama had health issues raising concerns amongst all of us.  By God’s grace and Vasu’s first aid techniques, he was able to withstand the ordeal and reached Chennai safely.

- At the Varanasi station, the old gentleman who kept asking me questions in Chennai, told me that he was feeling uncomfortable and was finding difficult to breathe as he carried his own luggage from the parking lot to the platform through an overhead bridge.  Got down to act as ‘first aider’ and within 15 minutes he was back to normal.

- At the Itarsi junction, we had to transport all the luggage from Platform 4 to Platform 2.  Vasu and myself got down the tracks and shifted over 60 baggage for the entire group constantly keeping an eye on any oncoming train and also balancing on the tracks without stamping on the human/animal shit (engalakku risk edukaradhu rusk saapidara maadri).

- Sakalai Ragalais – There were 4 sakalais (co-brothers) in our group.  There were many lighter moments as the in-laws were the soft targets.

- 3 Cheers to Sujana Tours, Chennai

Thus my 10 day trip ended in a memorable note.  Your comments are solicited.