जगहें

The Varanasi ghatsतीर्थVaranasi

Around eighty-four stepped ghats along a five-kilometre crescent where the Ganga flows north. Dashashwamedh for the evening aarti, Manikarnika and Harishchandra for cremation, Assi at the southern end — and the best way to see them is from a boat at dawn.

सबसे अच्छा समय: October–March.

Kashi Vishwanath Templeतीर्थVaranasi

One of the twelve jyotirlingas, rebuilt in 1780 by Ahilyabai Holkar, and since 2021 approached through a broad corridor cut from the ghats to the temple — a change that transformed the old city's fabric and remains contested locally.

SarnathविरासतVaranasi

Where the Buddha gave his first sermon. The Dhamek stupa, the excavated monastery, and in the museum the Ashokan lion capital that became the emblem of the Republic of India.

Ramnagar Fort and the RamlilaविरासतVaranasi

The Kashi Naresh's eighteenth-century fort across the river, and the town whose thirty-one-night Ramlila turns its streets and ponds into the sites of the epic, with audiences walking between them each evening.

Sher Shah Suri's tomb, SasaramविरासतRohtas

An octagonal sandstone mausoleum standing on a plinth in the middle of an artificial lake, completed around 1545. Among the finest pre-Mughal buildings in India, and startlingly little visited.

Rohtasgarh FortविरासतRohtas

A vast hill fort on the Kaimur plateau above the Sone, with a circuit of several kilometres, reached on foot. Held in turn by local chiefs, Sher Shah and the Mughals.

Mundeshwari Templeतीर्थKaimur

An octagonal stone temple on a hill, with an inscription read as fourth or fifth century, and claimed locally as the oldest continuously functioning Hindu temple in India. Goats are offered here and released alive.

JagdishpurविरासतBhojpur

The seat of Kunwar Singh, the eighty-year-old zamindar who led the 1857 revolt in this region and won his last engagement after crossing the Ganga under fire.

Vindhyachalतीर्थMirzapur

A Shakti peetha on the Ganga, with the Vindhyavasini temple and a triangular circuit taking in Ashtabhuja and Kali Khoh. Enormous crowds during Navratri.

Chunar FortविरासतMirzapur

A fort on a sandstone spur above the Ganga, beside the quarries that supplied the Ashokan pillars — held by Sher Shah, Akbar and the Company in turn.

Gorakhnath Templeतीर्थGorakhpur

The principal seat of the Nath sampraday, the yogic order founded by Gorakhnath, with a large Makar Sankranti khichdi mela and a monastic lineage that reaches across north India and into Nepal.

Kushinagarतीर्थKushinagar

Where the Buddha died. A reclining Buddha of the fifth century in the Parinirvana temple, the Ramabhar stupa over the cremation site, and monasteries built by half a dozen Buddhist countries.

MagharविरासतSant Kabir Nagar

Where Kabir chose to die, because popular belief held that dying at Kashi guaranteed liberation and dying at Maghar denied it. His samadhi and his mazar stand side by side in one compound, maintained by Hindus and Muslims respectively.

ChirandविरासतSaran

A Neolithic mound on the Ghaghara, occupied from around 2500 BCE, with bone tools and a long unbroken stratigraphy — one of the earliest settled sites in eastern India.

Kesariya and Lauria NandangarhविरासतEast Champaran, West Champaran

On the northern fringe — a colossal brick stupa at Kesariya, among the tallest in India, and an Ashokan pillar with a lion capital still standing in place at Lauria Nandangarh.