India Varanasi: Visit Banaras University, Temples and Ramnagar Fort Varanasi , Travel to India 5 (1)After our morning boat ride On the banks of the Ganges, we had planned to go to Banaras University, its full name Banaras Hindu University or BHU for short.It is one of the most renowned in terms of level and quality of teaching. It is also one of the largest university residences in Asia with its capacity to accommodate 20 students.Then we planned to take a tuk tuk to tour the main temples of the city, before reaching the Ramnagar fort, the former seat of a forgotten mini kingdom. A big day awaited us!It was after having quickly returned to the hotel to rest from this morning walk and once changed (we were sweating a lot) that we set off again for this day of sightseeing. Summary hide Banaras Hindu University and its temple Monkey Temples or Durga Temple Visit to a silk fabric factory Ramnagar Fort Banaras Hindu University and its templeIf the university is visited, it is among other things to see the buildings of the 14 faculties that compose it, in a colonial style. Quite a few are in poor condition, but others had just been renovated and certainly the rest is to come. Another important point of the place is the new temple of Kashi Vishwanath, new, because a temple of the same name already exists in Varanasi.The original temple, also known as the Golden Temple because of its 3 domes made of pure gold, is the most sacred temple for any self-respecting Hindu. We will not go to see it, because we knew that access was restricted or even forbidden to foreigners. Dedicated to the god Shiva, the temple is located near the Manikarnika Ghat, the most sacred in terms of cremation (because of its proximity to the temple) where we were this very morning.The area is nice, probably the cleanest in all of Varanasi, we understand why students like to stay and revise in the area, besides the obvious reason of having access to the faculties if necessary.The entrance to the main temple of the university.It's very green and clean above all, what a contrast with the rest!One of the faculties of Banaras University.The new one is of recent construction. Completed in 1965, it was nevertheless planned since the creation of the university in 1916, needless to say that it dragged on a bit… Also known as the Birla Temple (named after the group behind the construction) it is open to everyone. In the central part is a Shiva lingam, a standing stone which is a form of representation of the Hindu deity, Shiva.In the room where the lingam is located, photos are prohibited and men and women must queue separately (men on the left, women on the right).This new temple is an exact reproduction of the old one, and is also the most popular among students who have the choice between 9 temples spread throughout the campus. It just so happens that it opened while we were in the area, so we'll go take a look.As mentioned at the beginning of the article, we then planned to visit several temples thanks to our tuk tuk taxi of the day (rented 800 Rs).Using the paper guide to locate the (too) many temples in the city, we thought we would be able to make some choices. In the end, we more or less let our driver choose with the only instruction to stay in the area where we were, because we wanted to end the day by visiting the Ramnagar Fort, on the other side of the river.Monkey Temples or Durga TempleNote that in most temples photos are forbidden, it was a little frustrating, but you have to get used to it. We had first gone to a first temple whose premises are shared between men and women praying and monkeys wandering around the area with impunity.Because of this, I thought we were in the "monkey temple", but no, the monkey temple is also called the Durga temple and is completely different.On the street leading to the first temple.Lively atmosphere in the street.Located in front of a sacred pool, the temple, all dressed in red, was forbidden to non-Hindus until some time ago (this dated back to the period when there were attacks in the city of Varanasi in 2006, targeting places of prayer), do not pay attention if you see a sign telling you otherwise, in any case the people there will be able to tell you whether or not you can enter.A guy will take care of your shoes for 20 Rupees. Inside another person will offer us to make an offering, after the episode of Bodhgaya, we have become quite suspicious of this kind of proposal and we will politely decline. The temple dates from the XNUMXth century and is dedicated to the goddess Durga, sometimes considered as the mother goddess or the wife of Shiva.She would be the protector of Varanasi (which would explain her longevity) A statue in the center of the sanctuary would in fact be natural and not made by the hand of man despite its appearance. As I could not take a photo and did not know this point at the time of the visit, I admit not having paid particular attention to it.Arrival at the Durga temple in Varanasi.Don't pay attention to the sign, we're still fine.The shoe "guardian" in front of the temple.The sacred pool in front of the Durga temple.Rickshaws are parked there next to the pond.Visit to a silk fabric factoryAfter these temple visits, our driver suggested that we go see a silk fabric factory. Although we suspected that this would end with a visit to the shop and that we would be pushed to possibly buy, we had all the ingredients to refuse.But we simply accepted because Jitima was in the mood to buy some anyway, so it was actually quite good timing, because we thought we might get a good price, because we were getting it directly from the source.The owner then showed us around, the factory, which he said had hundreds of employees, was not at all a factory-like place as one might have imagined... Instead, it was several buildings in the neighborhood housing weavers, everything was very disparate and very homemade. The opportunity to stroll through some nice little streets.After the visit, he took us to his shop as planned. We stayed there for about half an hour to make our choices. Along the way, Jitima tried to wear the Sari, which is actually a long piece of silk wrapped around the body to make a garment.The sari is made of a fabric generally 1m20 wide and 5 to 6m long! Knowing that it is the daily clothing of most women in India.Little girls laughing as they saw us passing by in the small street near the factory.Trying on sari in the shop.So? It makes me hot…Ramnagar FortTo end the day, we headed to the Ramnagar fort. We will cross the temporary floating bridge that is only used during the dry season. The iron plates that compose it, besides making the journey particularly noisy, are more annoying in terms of comfort than anything else…Next to it, a bridge is under construction, at least it seems so, because it also looks like it is a bit abandoned (when you see the leaning faces of the pillars in particular...).Arriving in front of the entrance, I would be accosted again to take photos, but also, for once, to have my photo taken (this is rare enough to be underlined 😉)Not sure if their bridge is reliable...Built in 1750 shortly before the territory of Benares was ceded to the British, Ramnagar Fort is the seat of the descendants of Kashi Naresh, also called Maharaja of Kashi although they lost their title of nobility in 1971. The Kingdom of Kashi was a small independent kingdom until 1194, but the family tradition of running the place has continued to this day.The least we can say is that the former royal family must be broke or greedy, because the fort is in a bad state, almost semi-abandoned even if there were some signs of recent renovations made such as on the upper part of the imposing entrance gate as well as the facade on the inner courtyard part.We will not visit further than the inner courtyard, we wanted to limit our budget a little and did not feel this visit was essential. So we returned to our tuk tuk and asked it to take us directly to the Assi Ghat where we wanted to eat again at our favorite restaurant, the Pizzeria Vaatika Cafe.We will not go further than this door, on the other side of the courtyard, because we do not feel like paying the entrance fee (which includes a visit to a museum.Indians are paying a visit.Back to the “city center”. Did you like the article? 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