Langs de boorden van de heilige Ganges staan duizend tempels op een lengte van 7000 meter in Varanasi (vh Benares), de allerheiligste stad. Ruim drieduizend jaar oud. (American writer Mark Twain wrote: "Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.")