Varanasi stands on the west bank of the river Ganga as it flows through the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is at a distance of 764kms from Delhi, 678kms from Calcutta, and Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal is a 12 hour drive away. Varanasi is connected by good metalled roads to the pilgrim site of Sarnath which is only 10kms away, as well as to Lumbini, Kapilavastu, Kushinagar and Sravasti. Over twenty five centuries ago, a sage travelled 200kms from Bodh Gaya, where he had attained Nirvana to reach the ghats of Varanasi of Kashi as it was then called. The city had seen saffron clad spiritual teachers before him, who came here, drawn by its magnetic, inexplicable spiritual power. The Sage was looking for five Hindu ascetics, old companions from whom he had parted, because they had insisted that the only path to salvation was through self-mortification. The Buddha found them at Rishipattana, the Deer park near Kashi, and gave them the gift of the spiritual knowledge which he had attained since he parted with them, and they became his first followers, and the first members of the Sangha.

A time would come when the Buddha's teachings would travel to lands he had never seen, his image worshipped in temples and his name chanted in monasteries. However for Kashi, that summer two thousand five hundred years ago, he was just another pilgrim.

Varanasi, Benares, Kashi, they have called this city by many names. Placed between the Varuna and the Assi rivers it is Varanasi. It is the spiritual pilgrimage that is like a luminous beacon to Hindus and for them it has always been Kashi, the city of light. They believe bathing in the river Ganga here washes away their sins. It is also Avimukta, the city that is never forsaken by Lord Shiva, its ruling deity. It is Shiva's favourite city, his Anandavana of Garden of Bliss. And finally, it is also the Mahashmashana, the great cremation ground.

One of the oldest cities in the world
Living with the great questions of birth and death, Varanasi has never bothered to record its history. Its beginning are lost in the mists of time, no one cares to remember when this city began. It was there when Jerusalem, Beijing and Athens rose and it has watched great cities like Nineveh and Babylon get swallowed by the sand. It is one of the oldest living cities in the world.

On the banks of the Holy river
The best introduction to Varanasi is from the river. The city stands by a curve of the Ganga river, with the stone steps of the numerous Ghats sweeping down to the water. At dawn, hire a boat and drift past the Ghats and the city will float past like a hand operated bioscope. Begin from Dasashawamedha, one of the holiest Ghats, where the gods are said to have performed the ten-horse sacrifice. The river will be thronged with early morning bathers standing chest deep in the water as they raise their faces to the rising sun and recite the sacred mantra. One can see the perpetual movement of the pilgrims on the steps, the vivid colours of their clothes glistening against the pale gold water, the triangular flags fluttering atop the temple spires.

A view of the ghats
The panorama of the ghats is one of the most arresting images of Varanasi. As you float down the river some will be crowded with bathers, at others a solitary, ash-smeared sadhu with matted hair will be communing with the sun. Another ghat will be full of washermen slapping clothes on flat stones in a synchronised swinging of arms.

A blue grey have of drifting smoke covers the most fascinating ghat of all, Manikarnika. Only those fortunate to have died in Varanasi have the privilege to be cremated here. To die here is to be freed from the cycle of life and death. And with the city's usual penchant for myth making they named this ghat Manikarnika, after the Goddess Parvati's earring which fell down while bathing. On top of the steps is a large tank, the manikarnika kund that Lord Vishnu is supposed to have dug with his perspiration. Vishnu's feet are set in a marble pedestal beside it, called the Charanapaduka.

At the heart of this city is the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, the holiest shrine of Lord Shiva. Here he is also called Vishweshwara, the lord of the world and the city is said to sit atop his trishul (trident).