Banaras Hindu University

BHU

January 28, 2026, Tuesday

The students had a homework/project day today, so we had a free day. We thought it would be interesting to walk around the Banaras Hindu University. It looked like it was about twenty minutes away by auto rickshaw. It was established in 1916. It has over 30,000 students, and is the largest university in Asia.

We ended up getting stuck in a very large traffic jam. We were wedged between other rickshaws and motorcycles and no one could move! Finally some people in rickshaws just got out and walked! It ended up taking us twice as long to get there and everyone of these vehicles was honking the whole time! 

This is the entrance to the art and architecture museum. We had to put our phones and bags in a locker, so we couldn't take any pictures inside. It holds a nice collection of stone and bronze sculptures, Indian miniature paintings in various styles, early coins, terra cotta pieces, and some amazing jewelry pieces. There were art students sitting on the floor in two different galleries sketching. I felt like I was seeing many things I learned about in my Asian Art class in college.

New Vishwanath Temple

We walked over to the new Vishwanath Temple after the museum. It was lunch time, and we were told we could find some food near it. We walked around and didn't trust eating at any of the food stands. The temple is made of white marble and it is dedicated to Shiva. It was built by a wealthy family and consecrated in 1966. A lot of Hindu temples do not allow non-Hindus to go inside. I don't know how they know who is a Hindu. This one was very crowded. You cannot wear your shoes inside, so Karl went in and I sat outside with his shoes.

This is how crowded it was. The man at the back is whispering into the ear of a Nandi bull. All of the Hindu gods have an animal as their vehicle to transport them. Shiva's vehicle is a Nandi bull. The man at the back of the crowd is whispering his prayers and wishes into the ear of the bull. There was a line for men on the left and the women on the right. The woman was whispering into the other ear.

Child ringing bells inside the temple. You are not allowed to take a picture of the central shrine.

Meanwhile, I was sitting out front and a man came and sat down next to me. He kept saying over and over, "where are you from?" I tried to ignore him, but finally answered him. Then he started to wave at the people around me and in Hindi announced that I was from the USA. At least, that is what I thought he said when the only thing I could understand was USA. I was glad to see Karl come walking back. 

Our last stop was to walk around the botanical garden on campus, but it was fenced off and closed. So, we took a rickshaw back to the Assi Ghat and found a new restaurant for lunch. We had hummus, pita, steamed vegetables and lemon soda juice. 

This morning we tried our breakfast at our new hotel. They had two hot dishes, one was a spicy lentil soup called sambar and the other was some turmeric-flavored potatoes and peas called aloo matter. They also served yet another variety of fried bread called poli. It wasn't filled with anything, but they often do have a filling. The waiter asked us if we wanted boiled eggs and we gladly said yes! Almost all of our meals have been vegetarian. He told us it would take twenty minutes and we said OK. After twenty minutes he came back and we learned they had to go buy the eggs first. So, we switched to fried eggs. We are hoping they catch on and have the eggs ready for us. Emily is a big boiled egg fan too.