Benares, the love of Shiva - India, the towns and cities

How can one not love Benares the saint? Shiva himself succumbed... From morning till night, it captivates the visitors. She swallows them, from dawn on the shores of the "Mother Ganga", till the evening and the ceremony dedicated to Shiva. The days go past like a boat peacefully floating down the sacred river. We are on board and we observe, we admire, we listen to the sounds of the windy streets of this three thousand years old lady. The show begins at the first dawn light by the sacred ablutions provoking waves that seem to propagate to the infinite. It is the city of Shiva by excellence. A gigantic temple, the Vishvanâtha, forbidden to non-Hindu, is dedicated to Shiva. It was built in the 10th century and destroyed many times. The last reconstruction dates back to the 18th century, the Maharajah of Jaïpur offered 32 ounces of gold to cover it, that is why it is called the Gold Temple. On the ghats, there are lingams everywhere, standing stones representing Shiva's phallus that, most of the time, is circled which represents the vulva. It is the whole world, just like Shiva.