Swings from ₹100 to ₹5,000: Kashi's Janmashtami markets fill up ahead of September 4

With Krishna Janmashtami falling on September 4, the old city's lanes have turned over to Laddu Gopal. Chowk, Godaulia, Laksa, Visheshwarganj, Chaukhamba and Tatheri Bazaar are stacked with cradles and swings, crowns, peacock feathers, pearl garlands, tiny footwear and flutes — the whole kit for dressing a household deity. The swings run from roughly ₹100 to ₹5,000, depending on whether you want plain wood, metal, brass or velvet. Clothes for the child god start at about ₹50 for simple cotton and climb to ₹2,500 for embroidered designer sets. Alongside the finery sits the practical shopping — butter and rock sugar, dry fruits, and the rest of what the day's rituals ask for. Rates are up this year. A trader at Kodai Chowki said pieces that sold for ₹1,000 last season are now going for ₹1,200 to ₹1,300, putting it down to manufacturing and transport costs; electric lights and LED garlands are dearer by 20 to 30 per cent. It has not slowed the crowds — business groups expect sales to cross ₹10 crore across the two days of the festival. If a swing or a crown is on your list, the advice that holds every year still holds: go early in the day, and go before the final rush, when Chowk and Godaulia turn into more shuffle than shop.

Compiled by HelloBanaras from public sources: Amar Ujala