Namaste!: Sarnath and Silk Weaving

This morning, after my workout and breakfast, we all met at 9:00 for a short bus ride to Sarnath. So glad, by the way, that I have been working out as often as I can because I’ve also been eating very often, and usually a lot! For instance, this morning I vowed that I would only have cereal and hard-boiled eggs for breakfast and then when I reached the buffet, all my promise went out the window—I want to try everything! The hotel buffets always have a combination of Western and Indian food. I saw Charlie in the gym; he told me Diane is pretty sick with “Delhi Belly.” Ugh, right before we leave, too. ☹️ She didn’t join us for our morning activities.

We were accompanied during the morning by a man named Krishna, who told us a bit about the history of Varanasi. It’s a couple thousand years old, and even older than that under different names. It feels cleaner and more modern here than other places we’ve seen. We’re staying at the Taj Hotel, which is beautiful! https://www.tajhotels.com/en-in/taj/taj-ganges/?utm_source=Google&utm_campaign=taj-ganges&utm_medium=Local

Sarnath is considered the cradle of Buddhism. Buddha actually gave his first sermon here. We visited a temple and an archaeological museum that houses Buddhist art (and some Hindu and Jain art)—mostly sculptures that are dated as old as the 3rd century. I liked the museum but thought it was comical that pigeons were flying in and out of it! Two were up on a light fixture, squawking during one of Krishna’s explanations. I think they were mating haha. And one was building a nest at the top of one of the sculptures.

The Buddhist temple we visited
(on a Buddhist “campus”)

Temple from a different angle; the bell
was donated by Richard Gere

This new standing Buddha was built in
“retaliation” to the Taliban destroying Buddhist works of art

A memorial to where Buddha gave his first sermon

Next we went to a family-owned silk weaving shop that creates and sells absolutely gorgeous brocade saris, scarves, tablecloths, wall hangings, etc. The shop has been around for generations. The

owner first showed us how the silk was woven, and then took us to a showroom to show us all the beautiful things we could buy. (I only bought three things, don’t worry!) Just as the other artisan shop owners told us, this owner was saying that this type of handiwork is a dying art form. His youngest master weaver, for instance, is 62 years old.

There are four or five looms in the room he showed us, but he has over 100 more. Only one of the looms is the “original” type of loom, where the weaver has to memorize the design and can only work on one design. The rest were all jacquard looms, which use cards as a code to tell the weavers which colors to use, etc. He said only six of his weavers can operate the original loom, and he says

they are creating art. The rest all use the jacquard looms, and he says those weavers are not creating art, but doing their jobs. Very interesting concept! He also employs many women, who work from looms in their home as they have time. So they’re freelance weavers! All the weavers get payed for the number of centimeters they complete in a 5-hour day. One day of work from the jacquard loom will produce about 40cm; one day of work from the original loom will only produce about 3cm!