Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.
— Mark Twain
Varanasi is the world’s oldest continually inhabited city. Archaeological evidence suggests that settlement around Varanasi began as early as 11th century BC. It’s a city that has been mentioned in the Rigveda, Mahabharata, and even the Jataka tales. These facts alone were quite intimidating for me when I thought about visually documenting Varanasi. However, just before I landed in Varanasi, I saw a sunset that seemed to turn on some switch in my brain. A sense of calm prevailed and nothing seemed impossible.
The beauty of Varanasi began to unfold during my early morning walks, along the ghats of the river goddess, accompanied by the golden glow of the sun, a cool breeze on my face, and a hymn of Pandava Gita on my lips.
Twameva mata cha pita twameva Twameva bandhuscha sakha twameva Twameva vidya dravinam twameva Twameva sarvam mama dev deva. You’re my mother and you’re my father, You’re my relative and you’re my friend, You’re my knowledge, you’re my wealth, You’re my everything, my god of gods.As the hymn flowed through my neural networks and time flowed along the banks of the Ganga, I surrendered myself to beautiful Varanasi. There were no expectations of finding anything or going anywhere specific … just being there was enough.
Amazing pictures, Anirban!! Did you capture all of this in one evening? The frames and exposure are so perfect!!
Thank you. 🙂 All of the photos were taken early morning between 5:30 AM and 7:30 AM. Most were taken a day after Dev Deepavali with a few a day before.