From: gupta@mailhost.aa.cad.slb.com (Sanjay K. Gupta)
Subject: VARANASI : Holiest of the holy cities
Organization: Schlumberger CAD/CAM; Billerica, Mass. (USA)
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 21:50:27 GMT


	
	Varanasi is a city of about 1.2 million people.  It is claimed to be 
   one of the oldest surviving cities of the world. It's old name is Kashi. 
   In all Hindu scriptures this city has been referred as Kashi. Another name 
   by which it is known is Benaras. This name is probably because of a king 
   with the same name.  It is situated on the banks of river Ganga.  Another 
   river which passes through the city is Varuna. The city derives it's name 
   from  this river. It is also famous for the temples at every nook and corner    of the city. Often it is called as city of temples.

   People living in the city are not much westernised(don't read modernised). 
   They still hold some old traditions dear. One of them is carrying 'gamccha' 
   on their shoulders. 'Gamccha' is a towel sized light cotton, red colored 
   cloth. Almost 80-90% of the city population chews 'pan'(betel-leaf). When 
   railway ministry prohibited selling 'pan' at railway stations,  Varanasi 
   was kept an exception to preserve it's old style. Most of the city population
   is highly religious and most of them worship Mahadeva(Shiva). Religious 
   rituals occupy important place in the life of the people. The people here 
   don't consider 'bhaang'(a kind of green intoxicating herb) bad which is 
   supposed to have some mystic links with the God Mahadeva. It is served on 
   important festivals like Holi etc. Not surprisingly Swami Dayanand who 
   wanted to reform Hinduism faced maximum opposition here. The local people 
   speak 'Bhojpuri', a dialect of Hindi and spoken in large part of eastern U.P.
   and Bihar. The city has around 20% percent of muslim population, around 10% 
   of bengali speaking population and a sizeable Tamil population.                       
   This city falls in one of the poorest region of the country.
   But surprisingly has the highest per capita savings in the country. 
   The major industries of Varanasi are tourism and silk sarees. Benarasi silk
   sarees are one of the finest and the most expensive ones. It attracts a
   large number of foreign tourists mostly because of the Hindu temples, 
   magnificent ghats(flight of stairs leading to the river) and also because
   of major centre of Hindu religious traditions. Another big industry is 
   carpet, which earns country much needed foreign exchange and is in news
   because of bonded child laborers. Only modern factory in the area is 
   Deisel Locomotive Works(DLW) for deisel railway engines.

	It is also a centre of learning from times immemorial. People from 
   all parts of India and world used to flock to this city for knowledge. 
   Banaras Hindu University(BHU) is one of the biggest universities of the
   world.  This city has a lot of big personalities to boast of in the field
   of dance, music, sports, education, literature and politics. So the city
   rightly has the status of being the 'Cultural Capital of India'.

	Have I missed something? You guessed it right : Sarnath. The place
   where Gautam Buddha preached for the first time to five of his disciple 
   is also in Varanasi. The symbol of independent India, four lion faced 
   monument and the chakra is still there in the museum there, taken from
   the one of the many Ashok pillars and stupas there.

   Some scriptures say one who dies in Kashi attains 'moksha'. I feel 
   privileged to have born in Varanasi, I don't know where I'll die.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian