World Religions › The Axial Age › Hinduism
Varanasi (Kashi), holiest Hindu city
Settled c. 1000–800 BC; sacred ever since· Holy place· Hindu, Buddhist, Jain & Sikh
Mostly agreed by scholarsMost historians agree; some details uncertain.
An ancient city on the Ganges, Hinduism's holiest, where pilgrims bathe on riverside steps and many hope to die and be cremated.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Hindus call it Kashi, 'city of light', and believe Shiva himself lives there; its Kashi Vishwanath temple is among his most sacred. About 80 ghats, broad stone steps, line the river, where pilgrims bathe at dawn to wash away sins. At Manikarnika ghat cremation fires burn day and night, because tradition teaches that dying in Varanasi brings moksha, release from rebirth. The Buddha preached his first sermon at nearby Sarnath.
Why it matters
It concentrates Hindu ideas of purity, death and liberation in one place, draws millions of pilgrims a year, and is among the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.
Sources and history
Excavations at Rajghat and nearby sites show settlement from about 1000–800 BC; early Buddhist and Jain texts mention Kashi; the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang described it around AD 637.
Questions and debates
How far back settlement goes: digs point to about 1000–800 BC, some argue earlier, while popular claims of 5,000 years outrun the evidence.
Connections (2)
▸Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha first preached near Varanasi (Kashi), holiest Hindu cityMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
After his enlightenment, the Buddha walked about 250 kilometers west from Bodh Gaya to the Deer Park at Sarnath, about 10 kilometers from Varanasi, already a famous holy city. There he gave his first sermon. Sarnath became one of Buddhism's four great pilgrimage sites, a Buddhist landmark beside Hinduism's holiest city.
When and where
Sarnath (ancient Isipatana), near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, about 445 BC by scholarly dating; Ashoka later raised a pillar there.
How do we know?
Ashoka's pillar and lion capital, the Dhamek Stupa and monastery ruins excavated since the 1830s confirm Sarnath's early sacred status.
Questions and debates
Tradition says he chose Sarnath because his former companions were there; what religious role the site had before Buddhism is unclear.
▸Varanasi (Kashi), holiest Hindu city is sacred to ShivaHistorical record
The connection
Hindu tradition teaches that Shiva chose Kashi as his earthly home and never leaves it. The Kashi Vishwanath temple holds one of his twelve jyotirlingas, 'pillars of light'. Shiva is believed to whisper a liberating mantra into the ears of those who die there, which draws many to spend their last days in the city.
When and where
Varanasi, on the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh; praised in the Kashi Khanda of the Skanda Purana, a medieval text. The current Vishwanath temple dates from 1780.
Historical evidence
Puranic texts, pilgrimage records and temples. The temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times, most recently by Queen Ahilyabai Holkar in 1780.
Questions and debates
When Varanasi became chiefly Shiva's city is unclear; the earliest sources describe a royal and trading center, with Shiva's role clearest in later Puranic texts.