Mar. 16, 1962 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy paid a visit today to the holy Hindu city of Benares. Later, Mrs. Kennedy received a cheering reception as she arrived in Udaipur, a one-time major capital of princely India. Tens of thousands of Indians surged about the open car that carried the First Lady from the airport to the palace of the Maharana of Bhagwasinghji. At Benares, Mrs. Kennedy rode in a launch up and down the murky green Ganges, the most sacred river in Hindu mythology. Tens of thousands of Indians watched from the north shore of the Ganges as the 32-year-old wife of the President sailed past. “Mrs. Kennedy zindabad.” (long live Mrs. Kennedy!) some of them shouted. The six-mile round trip carried Mrs. Kennedy past a panorama of multi-storied temples, sacred bathing piers, open-air laundries, and smoking funeral pyres at cremation sites.
