The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: August thirteenth, visiting the city of sacred death.

The holy city of Varanasi, on the banks of India's River Ganges, has been a center of commerce and piety since before Babylon was built. Tradition holds Varanasi sacred to the Hindu god, Shiva, perpetual destroyer and creator of the universe. True to that role, Varanasi has always been an unvarnished, indescribable reflection of human life, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health.

Millions of faithful pilgrims cross the hot, arid plains of northern India each year. They seek understanding and salvation by completing a sacred 50-mile circle of the old city. Then, after bathing in the Ganges' holy waters, they climb the Ghats, a ladder of broad stone platforms that line the river's edge for three miles and rise to the temples above. Here, monkeys and cattle mingle with people young and old. Beggars and charlatans swirl among religious Hindus. Pungent odors from the river mix with the sweet, acrid smell of jasmine, wood smoke and burning flesh. For those whose mortal remains are burned here, Lord Shiva offers escape from the eternal cycle of birth and death. Funeral pyres have burned here non-stop for over 3000 years.

A visit to Varanasi can be overwhelming, especially for the uninitiated. A spiritual hothouse, a vast temple where humankind's deepest yearnings, fears and spiritual ecstasies, naked realities Westerners have airbrushed from life, are on parade for all to see. A visit to Varanasi strips away the flesh of civilization to expose humanity's bare bones. But for travelers seeking understanding of another kind, it is a destination like no where else on earth. 

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