Varanasi has three names: Kashi, Benares, and Varanasi, and each one carries its own story. People have lived here for almost 3,000 years, making it one of the oldest living cities on Earth. Kings have come and gone, empires have risen and fallen, but the oil lamps on its steps and the fire at its cremation ground have never once gone dark. This page is a small window into that unbroken flame: its temples, its rivers, its saints, and the quiet spiritual path called Aghor that still lives here today.
Streamed by the temples and Aarti organisers themselves. If a broadcast has ended for the day, the player falls back to that channel's most recent video.
Streams belong to and are hosted by the temples/organisers credited on each card. This page only embeds their public YouTube broadcasts.
If you'd rather see Kashi than just read about it, these films are a good place to start. Made by trusted broadcasters and filmed on location, they capture the city's history, its rituals, and its very unusual relationship with death, far better than words alone can.
A "ghat" is simply a flight of stone steps leading down to the river, but in Kashi, every one of these staircases has its own legend, its own daily ritual, and its own reason for existing. Pick a ghat below to read what it's known for today, and the older story tucked behind it.
Old texts describe Kashi not as a random collection of temples, but as a giant, invisible map (a mandala) with each shrine placed on purpose, like a piece of a puzzle. Below, that map is broken into simple groups: the seats of Shiva, the homes of the Goddess, the fierce guardians who are said to "watch the gates" of the city, and the one shrine dedicated purely to setting restless souls free.
A few real, recent photographs of the ghats, the river, and daily life along the banks. Tap any photo to see it larger.
Every guidebook tells you about the ghats and the aartis. Far fewer mention the tunnels, the rebuilt temples, or the quiet ascetic lineage headquartered in this very city, a spiritual tradition most visitors never learn exists at all. Here are a few of those lesser-known stories.
Aghor has always been passed down mostly through the guru-disciple relationship rather than mass publishing, so trustworthy written sources are few. These four are widely regarded, by practitioners and outside scholars alike, as the most genuine places to start.
Links go to the authors' own sites, the ashrams that keep this lineage, or their official publishers, not resellers.
Centered on Dashashwamedh Ghat, the easiest starting point for a first visit.
Questions, corrections, or want to collaborate on this project? We'd love to hear from you.