Banaras: city of light

Description

The sacred city of Banāras on the River Ganges is one of the oldest living cities in the world--as old as Jerusalem, Athens, and Peking. It is the place where Shiva, the Lord of All, is said to have made his permanent home since the dawn of creation. There are few cities in India as traditionally Hindu and as symbolic of the whole of Hindu culture as Banāras. In this eloquent, finely observed study, Diana Eck shows how the city over the centuries has become a lens through which the Hindu vision of the world is precisely focused. She reveals the spiritual and historical resonance of this holy place where great sages such as the Buddha and Shankara were taught, where ashrams, palaces, and universities were built, where God has been imagined and imagined in a thousand ways. She describes the rites of its temples, the busy life of its riverfront, and the exuberance of its festivals. She tells how people travel from all over India to Banāras for the privilege... Preface to the Columbia Edition Preface Banaras: An Introduction Banaras in Historical Perspective The City of Shiva The Sacred Circle of All the Gods The River Ganges and the Great Ghats Seasons and Times City of All India City of the Good Life City of Death and Liberation Appendix 1: Sanskrit Sources for the Study of Banaras Appendix 2: The Zones of the Sacred City Appendix 3: The Shiva Lingas of Kashi Appendix 4: The Cycles of Kashi Goddesses Appendix 5: Other Deities of Kashi Appendix 6: The Year in Banaras: A Partial Calender Note on Transliteration and Pronunciation Glossary Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Illustrations Index