Varanasi History

Varanasi or Kashi is the holiest religious place for Hindus as well as the cultural capital of India. In order to maintain the originality of Kashi, various pilgrimage circuits have been created connecting around 300 important temples in Varanasi with Sri Kashi Vishwanath as the focal point. The circuit aims to highlight the history and significance of these ancient temples and promote the authentic essence of Varanasi and Indian culture. Varanasi is located on the west bank of the river Ganges and has been an important part of India’s culture for more than 3000 years. It is considered an important pilgrimage center and represents India as a whole to visitors from other countries. The traditional evening ceremony of floating lamps on the river Ganga reflects the true essence of Indian culture.

Varanasi is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world and the oldest inhabited city in India. It is a famous city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also called ‘Banaras’ and ‘Kashi’. It is considered one of the most sacred cities in Hinduism and is called Avimukt Kshetra. Apart from this, it is also considered sacred in Buddhism and Jainism. The culture of Varanasi has an unbreakable relation with the river Ganga, Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple and its religious significance. This city has been the cultural and religious center of India, especially North India, for thousands of years.

Varanasi is often addressed with adjectives like ‘City of Temples’, ‘Religious Capital of India’, ‘City of Lord Shiva’, ‘City of Lights’, ‘City of Knowledge’ etc. Famous American writer Mark Twain writes: “Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older than legends and twice as old as all of them put together.

The Banaras Gharana of Hindustani classical music originated and developed in Varanasi itself. Many philosophers, poets, writers, musicians of India have lived in Varanasi, including Kabir, Vallabhacharya, Ravidas, Swami Ramanand, Trailang Swami, Sivananda Goswami, Munshi Premchand, Jaishankar Prasad, Acharya Ramchandra Shukla, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Girija Devi, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Ustad Bismillah Khan etc. are some. Goswami Tulsidas wrote Ramcharitmanas, the most revered book of Hinduism, here and Gautam Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath near here.

Four major universities are located in Varanasi: Banaras Hindu University, Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies and Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. The residents here mainly speak Kashika Bhojpuri, which is a dialect of Hindi.