Varanasi - Land of Shiva

Varanasi is the city of unearthly religiousness and holiness. Located at the western side on bank of the Ganga in east Uttar Pradesh, it is surrounded by the small tributary Varuna and Asi, which give it its name “ Varanasi”. It is also named  as Kashi, the city of light and liberation. This name is derived from the same Sanskrit word prakasha, which means light. This is the story of the eternal abode of Lord Vishwanatha, the Lord of the Universe, the presiding deity of the city, a place of pilgrimage. Another name of this city is Banaras, or Pali ‘Baranasi’ the city of sages and scholars. Banaras, the city of Lord Vishwanatha, is matchless in more than one way. It has rarely been an main political center, and the rise and fall of its rulers throughout its long history has little impact on the story of the city’s holiness. Kashi, on a large extent, has maintain an age-old and ancient living tradition right up today, and is so the cumulative face of the Sanatana tradition. Varanasi has around 100 ghats where pilgrims do their bathing and worshipping. Most of them were built after 1700 AD.