Varanasi (Kashi)

Overview

Varanasi (Kashi) is a sacred city on the Ganges River in Uttar Pradesh, northern India. The city is a major Hindu pilgrimage centre, especially for worship of the Hindu god Shiva, ritual bathing in the Ganges, cremation rites, and prayers for liberation from rebirth. Varanasi remains an active religious city, with daily worship at temples, riverfront rituals on the ghats (the stone steps leading down to the river), and continuing pilgrimage from across India.

Present

Varanasi (Kashi) has no single religious authority, because the sacred city includes temples, ghats, cremation grounds, monasteries, ashrams, and neighbourhood shrines. The Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust manages Kashi Vishwanath Temple, the main Shiva temple in the city. The Government of Uttar Pradesh took over the temple in 1983 and entrusted its management to the trust. Current religious activity centres on temple worship, ritual bathing in the Ganges, funeral rites at Manikarnika and Harishchandra ghats, offerings to the river goddess Ganga, and evening Ganga Aarti ceremonies. The Kashi Vishwanath Dham corridor, inaugurated in 2021, created a larger processional and circulation area between the temple and the Ganges. Varanasi is on India's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List as the Iconic Riverfront of the Historic City of Varanasi, but it is not inscribed as a World Heritage Site.

Religious Significance

Hinduism *(from the first millennium BCE)*

Varanasi (Kashi) is one of Hinduism's major sacred cities. Hindu tradition holds that Kashi is especially associated with Shiva, the god worshipped at Kashi Vishwanath Temple as Vishwanath, "Lord of the Universe." Hindus regard the Ganges as a purifying river and goddess. Pilgrims bathe at the ghats, make offerings, perform ancestral rites, and bring ashes for immersion. Many Hindus believe that dying in Kashi, or having funeral rites performed there, helps the soul attain moksha, liberation from the cycle of rebirth.

Jainism *(from the first millennium BCE)*

Jain tradition regards Varanasi as the birthplace of Parshvanatha, the twenty-third tirthankara, a liberated teacher who shows the path to spiritual release.

Buddhism *(from the 5th century BCE)*

Buddhists connect the Varanasi area with Sarnath, where Buddhist tradition holds that the Buddha gave his first teaching after enlightenment.

History & Structure

Varanasi (Kashi) is associated with the ancient kingdom of Kashi in the first millennium BCE. Archaeological evidence at Rajghat shows early settlement and trade on the Ganges. The city grew as a Hindu pilgrimage centre by the early medieval period, and the riverfront ghats became prominent sacred and public spaces. UNESCO's Tentative List description identifies an approximately 6.5 km riverfront with 84 ghats, including Assi, Dashashwamedh, Manikarnika, Panchganga, and Adi Keshava. Stone stepped ghats began to be built from the 14th century, and many palatial buildings above them were built under Maratha patronage in the 18th and 19th centuries. The present Kashi Vishwanath Temple was built in 1780 by Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore. Two of its domes were covered with gold in 1839 through a donation by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The visible sacred landscape is a dense riverfront of stone steps, shrines, temples, palaces, lanes, and cremation grounds facing the Ganges.

Resources

• Official website: Kashi Official Web Portal
• Related: Iconic Riverfront of the Historic City of Varanasi
• Book: Banaras: City of Light by Diana L. Eck (1982)