Varanasi - City of Enlightenment

 

Hindu temples along the banks of the Ganges at Varanasi

In the pre-dawn light they begin to arrive, shuffling slowly along on foot, pedalled by tireless rickshaw wallahs, pulled along in tongas by mouth-foaming horses, jammed in overcrowded buses or riding leisurely in yellow and black taxis. It matters not their method of transport, all have one objective in mind; the great stepped ghats along the river bank at the end of the grubby, sprawling, narrow streets; for this place is Kashi, and the river is Ganga Mai .

Hindu pilgrims from all over India come to Varanasi at least once in their lives

 

Today ancient Kashi, the place of enlightenment, sacred city of all Hindus, is better known as Varanasi, named after the combination of Varuna and Asi, two minor streams which meet the Ganges here. To the British it was known as Benares, 

As the sunrise devotees immerse themselves in the sacred waters of Ganga Mai

    No one knows how old the city is. That it is very old there is no doubt. Indians say it is the world’s oldest city, and it is certainly mentioned in two of the most famous ancient Hindu epics – the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Although archaeological excavations, both at the ghats and elsewhere in the city, have revealed traces of extremely ancient settlements hardly a building in the present city pre-dates the mid-17^th century. Varanasi suffered centuries of destruction at the hands of the Moslems, beginning with the Turkic Sultan of Delhi, Qutb-ud-Din in the 12^th century and ending with the last great Moghul, Aurangzeb, in the late 17^th century. 

It is an ethereal experience to drift past with bathing ghats on the Ganges in the early morning

Throughout these centuries of destruction and desecration, in which the Hindu temples were destroyed or defiled time and again, the city remained the most important place of Hindu pilgrimage. It is here that the mighty Ganges curves in a huge sweeping bend on its journey from its source, Gomukh (the Cow’s Mouth), an ice-cave in the Gangotri Glacier high in the Himalayas, to its multiple mouths in the Sundabans of Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal. The Hindus have likened this great curve to the crescent moon, a symbol of the great god Shiva, and so the city has become ‘the perpetual abode of Shiva and his consort Parvati: every pebble being equal to Shiva.’

The Ganges curves in a big sweeping arc at Varansi

         To many Hindus, Shiva is the most powerful of the Hindu trimurti, or trinity. Although Brahma is the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer, Shiva can take on the aspects of all three. In this form he is known as Vishwanath, Lord of the Universe, and it is in this form that he is worshipped in Varanasi. As god of death, Shiva is also the conqueror of death. Mrityunjaya, the flame of eternal fire which emanates from Shiva’s third eye, consumes all material bodies and Marnikarnika, the great cremation ground at Varanasi is the living symbol of this process. Bodies which are cremated here on the banks of the Ganges are thus freed from the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

A portrait of the great god Shiva overlooks a ghat at Varanasi

 It is in the grey light of dawn that the city takes on a mystic appearance, epitomising a holy city. Sari and dhoti clad bathers enter the waters as the first rays of Surya, the sun, break through the early morning mists. Sounds of chanting, praying, and the tolling of bells, interspersed with the lowing of cows, the bleating of goats and the barking of dogs, all sound unrealistically loud at this time.  The devout pray; facing the rising sun they immerse themselves, raising the sacred river water in their cupped hands, letting water trickle through their fingers, sparkling in the early sunlight. In this way their prayers achieve maximum spiritual benefit, and they can return home, souls cleansed. The less devout are content to just wash themselves on the ghats or swim in the river, collecting the holy waters in brass pots before returning home. In the morning there is little activity on the cremation ghat. Perhaps three or four bodies are in the process of being cremated. One or two shrouded corpses may be awaiting the ritual dip in the river before being placed upon the pyre. Later in the day activity will increase, reaching a peak in the late afternoon and evening. During the day it is not uncommon to see bodies of the deceased being transported to the river by rickshaw or motorised trishaw, or even by horse-drawn tongas. Many older people come to Varanasi to spend their last days in the hope that by dying in Shiva’s city and having their ashes consigned to the sacred river, they will achieve eternal salvation, the goal of all mankind.

After completing his ritual bathe in the Ganges, a man completes his morning ablutions

 Although it is mainly the purification of the soul by ritual bathing that draws people to the river, others are drawn for more commercial reasons. Each morning, early, the dhobis come down to the river with their loads of laundry. These are members of the Untouchables, the lowest step in the complex caste system of India. Now called Harijans or ‘Children of God’, a name first coined by Mahatma Gandhi in 1933 who spent much of his life trying to improve their status. These hard working individuals stand for much of the day knee-deep in the brown water furiously beating the day’s allocation of dirty clothes upon flat-stones, specially placed for that purpose. The clean clothes are spread upon the clay banks to dry, before being taken back to town. 

The ghat of the dhobis, or washermen, at Varanasi

Boats are also common on the River, whether just heading downstream, ferrying locals to the flat opposite shore or transporting cords of firewood necessary for the numerous funeral pyres. Silhouetted against the rising sun, afloat on the limpid glass-like waters, these vessels add to the mystique of the early morning river.

The sunrises through the mists of the eastern bank of the Ganges

Vermilion dye salesmen, Varanasi

As the sun rises higher and grows warmer, the pilgrims begin to drift away from the River, into the tangled labyrinth of narrow lanes which make up old Varanasi. Traders open their stores; bureaucrats hurry to their offices, and overloaded rickshaws transport uniformed children to their schools. Throughout the day there is always some activity on the ghats. Sadhus sit beneath cane umbrellas, many deep in meditation but some are available for consultations in the matters of the spirit. Dogs, goats, sacred cows, crows, water buffaloes, chickens, shite hawks and vultures, all fossick and scavenge along the water’s edge. But the devout will be here on the morrow when once again the river will become the spiritually-saving Ganga Mai.

Text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Selected travel photos from these & other blogs are available from my photo gallery

 https://www.picfair.com/users/Antipodeanneil

My paperback books on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.

Canoeing the Whanganui River

 

Canoeists passing Tamatea's Cave on the Whanganui River

 Now listed as one of New Zealand's Great Walk, the Whanganui River is actually a great canoeing experience. The River, New Zealand's 3rd longest, now has the status, with the rights, duties and liabilities, of a legal person, reflecting the importance of the river to the Maori people. 

In the 1990s and early 2000s, we included a 4-night. 5-day canoeing experience in our  New Zealand tours. The canoeing began in the small riverside settlement of Whakahoro, where the Retaruke River meets the mighty Whanganui, and finished in the larger (not much), settlement of Pipiriki on what is known as the River Road.  This river trip was delightful on fine, sunny days but, of course, could be pretty miserable when it rained. Campsites were basic, but had long-drop toilets and a DOC (Department of Conservation) erected shelter, under which we could cook, with a hand basin and a rain-water tank. The Whanganui was regarded as a novices' river and a wilderness experience.

              This photo essay is compiled of photos I have taken over the years.

 First of all the canoes had to be carefully packed. Personal equipment, sleeping bags, cameras, food etc. were stored in waterproof barrels, hopefully with a water-tight latch - if secured properly!

    Once the canoeists have gained confidence, there is time to relax in the sun in the more benign                stretches of the river.

    After a couple of hours paddling it is time to stop for a refreshment and a leg stretch on one of the          many shingle banks on the River.

    

    The first night's camping at Ohauora was always something of an experience. For many of our clients  this was their first taste of real wilderness camping, and a camp fire from the river driftwood was always popular.

            The 'long-drop throne room' was again something that many of our clients had not experienced before. This original 'architectural gem' was situated in a sylvan setting at Ohauora & when you heard someone approaching, you would surreptitiously cough.  DOC upgraded this edifice in later years.

    Some of the formations on the Whanganui has some rather interesting and innovative names. This was Man o' War Bluff, as it bore a resemblance to an early iron-clad battleship. The bow slopes down to the water, just to the right of the red canoe, and a hawsehole can be seen directly above the canoe.

    

   Another interesting feature of the River was the feature known as the Drop Scene. Here the the river disappears around an obscured bend behind the canoes. As one approaches this bend the scenery appears to move, like the 'Drop Scene' of an old vaudeville theatre. It was also the scene of a Maori tribal battle in the early 19th century.

    The Mangapurua Landing had originally been developed as road access to the Mangapurua Farm Settlement, developed from 1917 for World War One veterans. two or three kilometres from the Whanganui.  Groups walk from here to the Bridge to Nowhere.   

    

   The Bridge to Nowhere was a road bridge built in the late 1930s to give motor access to the Whanganui River for the farmers of the Mangapurua Farm Settlement. Very few motor vehicles used the bridge, as weather conditions caused road collapses further up the valley, isolating the Bridge. The Farm settlement was eventually abandoned in the early 1940s, and nature was allowed to take over.

    

    On later river trips we stayed a night at the Bridge to Nowhere Lodge at Ramanui. Evenings were particularly restful and beautiful.

    

    I was always fascinated by the natural rock girdle along the river banks, especially when the water was crystal-clear and mirror-like. It was difficult to see where the water actually began.

 

    

    On the last day, when everyone thought they were accomplished canoeists and complacency had taken over, we had to pass through the Autapu Rapid. If the river level was low, the rapid could be demanding and exciting. Here the author, with a nervous client up front, enters the Rapid.

   

    Some clients had taken notice, and remembered, instructions on how to tackle the Autapu Rapid successfully.

    

    For others, things didn't quite go according to plan, and the Autapu claimed other victim. Fortunately this rapid was short and the bedraggled casualties could haul their upended or swamped canoe ashore on a shingle bank to dry out.

 

    On the lower reaches of the River there were side creeks to investigate such as the Mangaeao River.

  

    As we neared Pipiriki, the River wound through farmland. 

    

    Finally, journey's end was reached. The canoes are hauled ashore at the Pipiriki Landing and unloaded for the road journey to Whanganui City. 

Text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Selected travel photos from these & other blogs are available from my photo gallery

 https://www.picfair.com/users/Antipodeanneil

My paperback books on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.

Hiking on Fox Glacier - a photographic record.

 

Tumbling down from the vast névés of New Zealand's Southern Alps, flow great rivers of ice, dropping over a short distance from the snowfields of over 10,000 feet into the temperate rain forest of the South Island of New Zealand's West Coast. The two mightiest of these remaining glaciers are the Franz Josef and the Fox. 

  

During the 1990s and the early 2000s, contrary to what was happening elsewhere in the world, these two glaciers were, in the main, advancing, at times quite rapidly. I was leading adventures in New Zealand at the time, and we included a Glacier hike on the Fox Glacier as part of our tour itinerary. It was an exciting time, as each tour would see changes to the Glacier and the access route to the ice would have changed. On one tour we would climb up the snout of the glacier and on the next, we would scramble over the rocky, rubble-strewn lateral moraine. At the height of the advance, we would hike up through the temperate rain forest before dropping down onto the ice.  It was always a great experience. 

      Over the years I took many photos and have included a few of these in this photographic essay. 

    A warning sign denoted the beginning of the access tracks to the ice, which many individuals seemed to ignore.

    It was a unique experience to walk through rain forest to access this great river of ice. 

    The access point was where the glacial ice came close to the crumbling rocks of the lateral glacial moraine. Due to the fragile nature of the terrain caused by the movement of the glacier, this would change each time I brought a group here.

    Groups members pause, having just accessed the ice, at the edge of the Fox Glacier.

     Once on the Glacier the route would change each time. There were ice pinnacles known as seracs, to pass around.

  Sometimes we could get quite close to the ice pinnacles, but we always had to beware of falling ice.

    The Glacier guides would cut steps into the hard glacial ice on the steeper section of the route, making access for groups easier, and lessening the risk of slipping. A guide would always be on the ice, surveying the new days route, and maintaining the previous day's stairs if they were to be used.

    The hike over the ice to a high point with views of the peaks of the Southern Alps    

    The tracks through the ice would often take us close to crevasses which opened as the Glacier moved.

    If we were lucky we would find an ice cave to walk through. These ice caves were not that common on the area of glaciers that we walked.  

Near the edge of the ice, curious denizens of the rain forest, such as the friendly little South Island tomtit, would watch us.

As we walked over the ice, low clouds, on most days, would wreath the mountain peaks above Fox Glacier.

    On some hikes, our route would take us to an icy high point which overlooked the Valley of the Fox River, carved out of the mountains by successive ice ages.

    Small ice pinnacles and shattered rock will soon tumble down into the Fox River.

    The waters of the Fox River emerge from a ice cave at the snout of the Glacier. Occasionally, an ice collapse would cause a blockage in the Cave, and after pressure built up, usually after heavy rain, the ice would blow out down the valley, a good reason not to go near the ice cave. 

    In December 2007, the Fox Glacier still looked spectacular, even from the access track, but from this time the Glacier began retreating rapidly, as the effects of global warming take effect. 

Text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Selected travel photos from these & other blogs are available from my photo gallery

 https://www.picfair.com/users/Antipodeanneil

My paperback books on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.