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Varanasi, one of India’s holiest cities, is located on the western banks of the sacred Ganges River in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi was already ancient when Buddha preached here in 530 BC and is currently home to over three million people. Varanasi is a major cultural and linguistic centre of India. Known as the city of Lord Shiva, the God of creation and destruction, it is believed that anyone who dies here is liberated from the cycle of rebirths. Even a bath in the Ganges River is said to cleanse away all sins.This mystical city’s stunning rituals are openly revealed along the many riverside Ghats (stairways), which are used for everything from bathing to the cremation of the dead. 

Varanasi has always been an education centre, drawing students and scholars from everywhere. Varanasi has an overall literacy rate of 80% and is home to a number of colleges, universities, cultural manifestations and activities. It is considered one of India’s best places to learn Standard Hindi.

October to March are the best months to visit Varanasi, when the weather is at its coolest. Winters are refreshingly pleasant. The temperature gets uncomfortably hot from April onwards, easily reaching 35 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), followed by monsoon rains from July to September.

Varanasi has an international airport and is connected by direct flights to major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Khajuraho, Bangkok, Colombo and the United Arab Emirates. Train travel is very popular and takes a minimum of 8 hours from Kolkata, 8-12 hours from Delhi, and around 30 hours from Mumbai. Most trains conveniently run overnight. Bus service is very slow and is best avoided.

Now located within metropolitan Varanasi, approximately 10 kms from the downtown core, Sarnath is a major holy Buddhist site: the Buddha taught his first sermon here, marking the birth of Buddhism as a community (around the mid- 5th century BC). A large archaeological site as well as numerous modern stupas and temples built by Buddhist communities from around the world are spread around Sarnath. It is a much visited and revered place within the Buddhist world and beyond.

Founded in 2017 by a number of concerned Indian and foreign citizens, The Kopal Foundation is a non-profit organization whose main goal is to improve the overall quality of life for India’s marginalized populations, most importantly women and girls. In its short existence, The Kopal Foundation has already opened the E&M Women’s Training Centre in greater Varanasi, where upwards of 150 women and girls have been trained free of charge in 4 skills areas: beautician, sewing, mehandi (ceremonial henna body painting), arts and crafts. In order to secure funding, The Kopal Foundation has opened a small variety store and beauty Parlour adjacent to the Women’s Training Centre. Future plans include building a “one stop” educational centre where the particular reality and needs of marginalized children are recognized and addressed: free of charge, shorter curriculum, life skills training, meal delivery, hygiene and environment, basic health care. The Target Hindi Cultural Language Institute is run by The Kopal Foundation as a further source of income. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any further questions. A new website is currently under construction for The Kopal Foundation.

Founded in 2010, The River Foundation is an Indian Non-Government Organization (NGO) which focuses on educating women in order to improve their quality of life. Here in Varanasi, there are innumerable NGOs, of which very few focus on women who for many reasons are blatantly overlooked in most parts of the country. In some cases, they are culturally considered a burden on their families. Boys and young men are seen as the family's only potential bread winners, whereas women are expected to remain at home and tend to the house. Parents are therefore very partial in the treatment of their children and are often only willing to send their sons to school. In many households, young women are physically beaten, traded by their husbands or thrown to the streets because of their families’ incapacity to pay dowries. Marriage of underage girls is still widely practiced in order to relieve families of what is considered a “burden”. Women in traditional families rarely have the opportunity to discover and develop their strengths, potential and true value. As children, they are submissive to their parents, and as women, they are ruled by their husband and his family. Some girls are given the opportunity to go to school, but unfortunately, the standard education offered by most schools does not prepare them adequately for the working world. This problem is one of India’s most critical challenges which in our view can best be addressed by the Indian women themselves. They need not be pitied or offered money; what they truly need is an education which is adequate, with skills that enable them to free themselves from an overly restrictive social system.

The River Foundation believes that in giving women an opportunity to master a relevant skill, they then are able to support themselves financially by becoming self-sufficient and contributing to their families’ well-being; on the longer term, they become able to play a more active role in their family’s decision-making process and overall development. For this reason, we offer a skill-based education program that in one year’s time provides our female students with the necessary skills to earn a regular and decent income. The women we help are those who have little or no education.

The River Foundation thus works to relieve women’s parents of the financial burden they are believed to represent by helping them to gain financial independence. We would like to specify that at The River Foundation, there are no age limitations. Girls and older women alike are offered an opportunity to learn a trade which helps to improve their standard of living. Classes in sewing, henna application, cooking, painting, handicrafts, beauty treatments, traditional Indian instrument as well as basic Math and English are offered. These lessons allow our female students not only to work gainfully, but to also transmit their knowledge to others in schools and hobby groups.

The River Foundation” thought of a different way of educating boys, one that would guarantee proper livelihood and support for their poor families. Given very difficult financial challenges, one has to find the best way to help them become active and positive members of society. The River Foundation thus founded GURUKUL, a hostel and Sanskrit educational school for very poor male students. GURUKUL provides free education, room and board, study materials and all the essentials needed to develop one’s own personality both as an individual and as a Sanskrit scholar. Along with Sanskrit education, the children also receive primary instruction in English, Basic Math and Computer.

A child stays in GURUKUL for a period of 6 to 8 years in order to complete proper Sanskrit education. Hundreds of students have already completed their studies in GURUKUL since 2010 and have successfully found valuable employment as Sanskrit teachers, Translators, Karmkandi (ritual officiant) and priests in different temples throughout the country. Some of the students also obtained government jobs as a direct result of the Sanskrit education received in GURUKUL.