Day 3 -
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| Janaki Ghat Temple, Ayodhya |
The distance from Prayagraj to Faizabad is about 160 kms. It took us nearly 5 hours to reach with a couple of breaks in between. The drive was peaceful with farm lands on both side and a few small villages / towns in between. We were told that there aren't many good lodgings at Ayodhya and hence, we stayed at the twin city of Faizabad which is about 12 kms away.. We stayed at Hotel Shane Awadh in Faizabad for the night of Day 2. It was a decent hotel but there were simply too many mosquitoes. I purchased 'Hit' from a general store and had a decent night sleep without any further disturbance from the mosquitoes.
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| Bade Hanuman Mandir, Ayodhya |
In the evening, after Sandhya prayers, we went by cycle rickshaw to a place called chowk and had a nice Marwadi thali that night. Later I realised that this was probably a mistake as we had done tarpanam etc. in the morning and normally one is not allowed to have a full meal on that night.
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| Ram Temple, Ayodhya |
We then returned to Kashi a drive of about 210 kms which we covered in about 5 hours. By the time we reached Kashi, it was evening. We went around some local temples in the evening. The first was the famous Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple temple. Then, we went to a Shakti Peeth called the Shree Durga Mata Mandir - a beautiful red temple which stands out as unique.,We then went to a nearby Chozhi Devi temple known here as the Kaudi Mata temple. She is considered as a sister of Shiva Bhagavan. Many South Indian pilgrims believe that Kashi yatra is incomplete without visiting this temple.
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| Inside Bade Hanuman Mandir |
Later, we checked in again into the hotel Sunshine and met our Vadhyar here who briefed us about next day rituals. That evening, we had tiffin from the local lady at Kashi which comprised Upma, chutney and buttermilk. It was excellent as usual and very filling. We had a good sleep that night as we were very tired after all the wanderings during the day.
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Day 4 -
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| Walk in the Kashi ghats |
Day 4 started with morning bath and regular Sandhya prayers at the hotel room. After this, the vadhyar came and guided us in doing the snanam Sankalpam. We then went for a plunge bath in river Ganga at Shivala ghat which was less than 100 meters from our hotel. Post the bath, we went to Vadhyar's house which was very close to the ghat. Here we changed into fresh dry clothes and performed full fledged Shradhham including homam, tarpanam, pinda danam (17 pindams), lunch for 3 brahmanas, danam of Veshti-Angavastram and dakshina etc. to them.
Later, we partook in the Pitru Sesham which concluded around 3 pm. This was all arranged by the vadhyar and we didn't have any preparatory work to be done. All we did was be present and repeated the mantras & did the rituals as guided by our vadhyar.
In the evening, we took a stroll along the ghats. The weather was cool as it was late March. It was pleasant and after walking some distance, we took a boat to Dashaswamedh Ghat where the Ganga Aarti is held each evening. It is a elaborate ritual witnessed by a huge crowd both at the banks and along the banks on boats. The boat view is better. We stayed in the boat by which we went and returned via the same boat after the Aarti.
That night we virtually fasted as we had performed Shraddham in the morning. Also, the late lunch was very heavy and we didn't feel like eating that night.
To be continued....
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