• Mystic Rever Movie In Hindi Movie
• Mystic Rever Movie In Hindi 2016

Watch Full movie Mystic River (2003) Online Free.With a childhood tragedy that overshadowed their lives, three men are reunited by circumstance when one loses a daughter.

Summaries

1. Watch Mystic River 2003: In the summer of 1975 in a neighborhood in Boston, 3 kids, Dave Boyle and two of his friends, Jimmy and Sean, are playing on the sidewalk when Dave gets abducted by two men and endures several days of sexual abuse. Eventually, Dave escapes traumatized throughout adulthood. Jimmy is an ex-con and a father of three, whose daughter Katie, is found dead and Dave becomes.
2. Home of Warner Bros. Movies, TV Shows and Video Games including Harry Potter. LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. It’s time to go where no brick has gone before.
3. With a childhood tragedy that overshadowed their lives, three men are reunited by circumstance when one has a family tragedy.

• The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them has a family tragedy.

  Arte mediathek windows 8. The free Product keys from other resources mean that like a robbery. In Meanwhile the Windows 8.1 Product Key is the Best product for your PC and laptops. To avoid obtaining the hotkeys. It is an excellent production of Microsoft, but its excellence can only be enjoying activation.

• In the summer of 1975 in a neighborhood in Boston, 3 kids, Dave Boyle and two of his friends, Jimmy and Sean, are playing on the sidewalk when Dave gets abducted by two men and endures several days of sexual abuse. Eventually, Dave escapes traumatized throughout adulthood. Jimmy is an ex-con and a father of three, whose daughter Katie, is found dead and Dave becomes the number one suspect. Sean is a homicide detective, investigating Katie's murder, ends up finding himself faced with past and present demons as more is uncovered about Katie's murder. Learning Katie had a boyfriend, ballistics later turn up a gun belonging to the father, which then puts her boyfriend as the suspect. Will Sean find out who killed Katie? Will Jimmy make it through the investigation? And will Dave ever find out what really happened when he was abducted?

• In the aftermath of a deeply traumatic incident in a close-knit mid-1970s Boston neighbourhood, three childhood friends--the reformed criminal, Jimmy; the forever scarred blue-collar worker, Dave, and the methodical MSP detective, Sean--are still trying to find their feet, nearly three decades later. Then--as if having to cope with the dark past wasn't enough--Jimmy's innocent nineteen-year-old daughter, Katie, ends up brutally murdered, and, somehow, troubled Dave's name comes first in the list of suspects. Once more--even though he tried so hard to renounce his former self--Jimmy picks up where he left off, bent on unearthing the unknown sadistic killer. However, can more blood appease the pain of a parent?

• Childhood friends Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle reunite following the death of Jimmy's oldest daughter, Katie. Sean's a police detective on the case, gathering difficult and disturbing evidence; he's also tasked with handling Jimmy's rage and need for retribution.

• During a summer in 1975, Dave Boyle and two friends, Jimmy and Sean, are playing on a sidewalk in Boston when Dave is abducted by two men and subjected to sexual abuse over a period of several days. Eventually escaping, but haunted into adulthood by his trauma, Dave becomes a primary suspect when Jimmy's daughter, Katie, is found murdered. Sean, assigned to investigate the crime, finds himself facing both demons from the past and demons in the present as the circumstances surrounding Katie's death are uncovered.

• Summer, 1975: in a tight blue-collar Boston neighborhood, three kids are playing when one is abducted and sexually abused for several days. Jump ahead: the victim, Dave, is haunted by memories and protective of his own son. Jimmy's an ex-con, father of three. Sean is a homicide detective, estranged from his pregnant wife. When Jimmy's teen daughter dies, Sean investigates, Dave's a suspect, and Jimmy vows to find the killer before the cops. The dead girl has a boyfriend whose long-missing father has a history with Jimmy. The boyfriend's a suspect, and when ballistics turns up a link to a gun owned by the young man's father, the case breaks. In the background, wives move events along.

Spoilers

Synopsis

• Three young boys, all the best of friends, are playing stick hockey on a side street in a gritty area of Boston near the port facilities on the Mystic River. As is so often the case with street games like this, the gutter drain finally sucks up the last of their hockey balls and they are suddenly left with nothing to do.
  Wandering around without much purpose, they spy a drying section of concrete and they all decide to write their names in the still wet cement so that their names will be preserved 'forever.' Jimmy Markum and Sean Devine finish their names first. Dave Boyle is just starting to write his name down when a car door opens across the street and a large man steps out with handcuffs and what looks like a badge strapped to his belt. This gives him a presumed air of authority, and he starts badgering the kids about their 'destruction of municipal property.'
  Silent and even a little surly at first, the three kids are soon cowering in fear. The man decides to make an example of one of the boys, so he grabs David Boyle and tells him that he is going to bring him downtown to the police station and then call his mother. Boyle is thrown in the back of the car and their last view of each other is of him gazing poignantly out of the rear window of that sedan. Meanwhile, the other man in the front seat of the car, a quiet man with a large cross prominently displayed on one of his rings suggesting that he might be a member of the clergy, turns around and looks at David Boyle with predatory delight and eager anticipation.
  The parents of the kids, many of whom have had prior brushes with the law, realize that this is not orthodox police procedure and a search party for David is quickly organized. Nothing happens for four long days until Boyle, who had been kept locked in the basement of a deserted house, finally escapes his captors and flees for home.
  All three boys are now grown men as it is now some 25 years later. They have not been close since the sad events of that horrible day.
  Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn) runs a small mini mart on the corner that may or may not be a front for some illegal smuggling activity, untaxed cigarettes, perhaps. Someone had ratted on him sixteen years before and he ended up spending two years in prison. The ratting was not the only thing that made him an angry man though, as his first wife died while he was in prison and he was not able to be there to comfort her. Now he skirts the edges of the law with numerous black tattoos covering his body to remind everyone of his past as a prison inmate.
  He is once again married, this time to Annabeth (Laura Linney), a devoted wife who has born him two more daughters after the one that was left after her mother died. The older daughter is now nineteen while the younger girls are eleven and eight in age. The nineteen year old, Katie (Emmy Rossum), remains his favorite, perhaps because she is older, but also maybe because she is all that he has left of his first wife. Annabeth has to remind him not to dote so much on Katie as the younger girls need their father's love and attention as well. This especially goes for the eleven year old, who will be experiencing her first communion at church tomorrow.
  Katie enters the mart to tell her dad that she is going out with her friends for the evening and won't be home until late. She runs back out to her car, and Brendan surprises her by rising up from the floor of the back seat where he was hiding. They kiss amorously and promise to meet each other later.
  A classmate of his older daughter, Brendan Harris, (Tom Guiry), comes into the mini mart on Sunday morning with his younger brother, a deaf mute. They converse animatedly by signing. Brendan is surprised not to find Katie working there, and he asks for her, but Jimmy curtly dismisses him in spite of his friendly nature.
  A mini mart employee asks Jimmy what he has against Brendan, who seems like a nice kid. Jimmy refuses to talk about it, but it is obvious that there is a history of bad blood there for some unknown reason.
  David Boyle also lives in the old neighborhood not far from the Markum house. He has married a lovely woman, Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden), Annabeth's cousin, who is as devoted to her husband as Annabeth is to Jimmy, but is scared by his frequent bouts of moodiness and depression. She has the nervous look of someone who lives next to a keg of dynamite, never quite knowing when it might blow up. They have one young son and one of Dave's small pleasures is being able to play stickball with his kid in the back yard of their modest home. Celeste is related to Jimmy by way of two street toughs, Val and Nick Savage (Kevin Chapman and Adam Nelson), so they are all considered family as they are all related by blood.
  It is not made clear what David Boyle does for a living, and the same goes for the two Savage brothers, both of whom consider Jimmy to be their godfather of sorts and thus are always available to do his bidding.
  Saturday night comes and goes and Jimmy wakes up at home on a sunny Sunday morning, the morning of his middle daughter's first communion. He goes to Katie's room to make sure that she has left for her work shift at his store, and is disturbed to see that her bed does not look like it has been slept in. Upon inquiry, the mart assistant tells Jimmy that he wishes Katie had been there as he is swamped by all the after church Sunday business.
  Jimmy's concern turns to fear and worry when Katie's car is discovered unoccupied at Pen Park, a nearby park and playground for the area's inhabitants. Blood is discovered on the front seat but Katie is nowhere to be found. Police are quickly called and they cordon off the area. The local television stations are not far behind and suddenly the news is filled with stories about this poor missing young girl.
  Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon), the third member of the trio, has done the most to get away from their shared sordid past and the psychological chains of being associated with Boyle's kidnaping and rape. He does not live in the area, but is now a homicide detective who works the Mystic River beat with his partner, Whitey Powers (Laurence Fishburne).
  Sean has a wife who has either left him or been pushed away by him and is now so damaged that all she can do is call him on his cell phone without ever being able to say anything. Sean goes through the routine as he knows exactly who is always calling him. He loves her and still holds out faint hope that they might somehow be able to reconcile in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
  A police search eventually turns up Katie's body lying half buried in the underbrush of an old well basin in the park. In a blind rage, Jimmy has to be held back by half a dozen policemen. He later demands to see the body of his daughter in the morgue when he brings over a dress for her body for the funeral. He stares in silence at her as her face and her hair are once again beautifully made up. He wants to hug her and smother her in kisses, but he realizes that this is no longer possible. Her body is there, but his Katie isn't.
  Dave Boyle has problems of his own. He is at a local bar with a friend when Katie and two of her friends, obviously drunk and in high spirits, come into the bar late on that Saturday night and surprise the patrons by dancing together on top of the bar. Much later that night he comes home to a very worried Celeste with a bashed hand and sporting a shirt and jacket both soaked in blood.
  He tells her that he was mugged on the way to his car and is afraid that he might have killed the man in self-defense.
  Dave later changes his story as to how his hand got mangled when he is interviewed by Whitey and Sean. Meanwhile, Celeste remains glued to the television set waiting to hear something about that guy who was supposedly killed by her husband, but it is only the circumstances surrounding Katie's death that fills the local newscasts. She loves Dave and wants to believe his story, but without any corroborating evidence she has trouble avoiding the obvious conclusion that there is a link between his suspicious activity and Katie's murder as they both occurred at the same time on the same night.
  Whitey Powers isn't for a moment fooled by Dave's alibi for his mangled hand. He is also convinced that his injury is a possible link to Katie's murder, especially since Boyle was one of the last people to see her alive. His hope is that this link will be discovered upon further investigation.
  Sean Devine, his partner in homicide investigations but his superior as an officer and a college graduate, feels instead that Boyle may be innocent. He knows him too well to believe Boyle to be capable of doing this. Later a link is discovered on a computer check between that bullet in the car seat and a robbery committed many years before at a liquor store. The markings match, but the gun, originally owned by Brendan Harris's dad, is nowhere to be found.
  Furthermore, this link is highly tenuous as Harris's dad had deserted his family more than a decade before and has not been seen since. Whitey voices his suspicions, quickly disclaimed by Sean, that his involvement with all the principles in the case just might be clouding his judgment.
  Then the two homicide detectives find out that Jimmy Markum has sent the Savage brothers out to investigate all the potential suspects in the case, and now the race is on for Sean and Whitey to find the perpetrator before Jimmy finds him and metes out his own brand of street justice. The two obvious leads, Dave Boyle and Brendan Harris, are investigated in a methodical police detective manner. Even the Savage brothers are forced to admit to Jimmy Markum that Sean and Whitey are doing their jobs well in covering all the bases.
  They check out the Harris home and interview Brendan about his relationship with Katie. It is obvious to both detectives that Brendan truly loved Katie and is innocent of her murder. In point of fact, several of the items found in Katie's purse had to do with Las Vegas tourist destinations. It comes out that Brendan and Katie were going to fly to Las Vegas and elope the next day. This explains the funny feeling that Jimmy had when Katie said goodnight to him the day before. His life in prison had given him an extra sensory perception about the way people look when they talk, and it struck him that she was saying more than 'Good Night,' more like 'Goodbye' perhaps.
  All during the interview in the Harris's home Brendan's mother (Jenny O'Hara) is hovering in the background filling the room with a dark cloud of repressed rage and bitterness. Her husband deserted her 14 years before, and she doesn't want to see anyone else succeed at love. Besides, she hates the police as her husband had also been a crook. A curious fact eventually comes out that Brendan believes his father to be still alive as his mother receives a check for $500 every month mailed from a post office in Brooklyn.
  Sean and Whitey go back to their police station and do some background work on Brendan's father in an effort to trace the missing gun. His father was caught smuggling goods across a state line in a stolen auto and thus was picked up by the FBI. Surprisingly enough, however, he was never convicted of anything. They go over to the New York FBI office to find out the background information on this case and all of a sudden the threads start to weave a cloth of closure. Brendan's dad never served any time because he ratted to the FBI on other illegal activities taking place at the same time, in fact, the illegal activities of Jimmy Markum.
  So Jimmy Markum took the fall and went to prison for two years, a stretch that left him in prison during the death of his first wife. Even though Harris's dad gave testimony in confidence to the FBI, he disappeared right after Markum was released from prison. Of course, there was never a provable connection; Harris just disappeared off the face of the earth. The only thing left to give some small evidence as to his still being alive is the monthly arrival of those checks for $500 to Mrs. Harris. But then there is that intense hatred for Harris's son so inexplicably felt by all emanating from Jimmy Markum.
  Their next stop is at the liquor store still owned by the same man (Eli Wallach, uncredited) who had been held up years before. The gun was fired during the robbery and the bullet had lodged in the wall between the bottles of liquor. This bullet was retrieved as part of the investigation and the markings were later added to the police computer files. Now a bullet with the exact same markings is found buried in the seat of Katie's car.
  The aged liquor store owner told the two cops that, Yeah, he knew who did it, but bitterly complains that the proof would never have held up in court. Harris's dad came in three weeks after the robbery and smiled at him with such a knowing smile as if to say, 'Aha, I pulled a fast one on you, didn't I?' And how can you convict a man on a look? Now, all of a sudden, the Harris gun assumes a critical importance in this case. Where is it and who knows about it?
  'Mystic River' takes a final explosive turn into a complex double denouement that involves both the gun as a murder weapon and an explanation of the suspicious activities of Dave Boyle the night of Katie's murder.
  Dave's car had been impounded because of the blood stains in the front seat. While these blood stains turn out to belong to Dave, the shocker is that different blood stains are found in the trunk, blood stains that match the blood type of Katie Markum. Sean and Whitey make another visit to Celeste Boyle and present her with this apparently damning evidence in an effort to break her alibi for her husband. Celeste has always maintained that Dave came home when he said he did, which was shortly before one in the morning. In actuality, he had come home closer to three in the morning. Celeste doesn't change her story to the policemen, but the doubts in her own mind as to her husband's innocence grow ever larger.
  This makes his comments to her about what happened to 'poor Katie' all the more strange. Late one night he walks over past Jimmy's house and finds Jimmy sitting on the front stoop. Jimmy remarks to Dave, 'You know, this is where I used to wait for my Katie to come home.' Once again, Dave offers his sincerest condolences. 'Just terrible,' he says.
  The next day the two appropriately named Savage brothers, who apparently have an in with the police department, report to Jimmy that blood matching Katie's blood type was found in the trunk of Dave's car.
  In Jimmy's mind, this convicts Dave beyond a shadow of a doubt in spite of the fact that the events of the crime do not match this placement. Katie was first shot in her car and she then fled her car into Pen Park in a desperate attempt to escape her murderer. A trail of her blood and torn pieces of her clothing were found leading from her car to the well pit in the park where her body was found. The geographical events of her death are seemingly beyond dispute and they do tend to throw considerable doubt on the possibility of Dave Boyle or his car having anything to do with her death.
  But this is not something that the hotheaded Jimmy Markum is going to examine in a cool analytical light. He goes over to visit Celeste later that evening and finds her crying on her front porch. The two police detectives have just left and Celeste is now convinced that her husband is guilty of this horrible crime. Jimmy holds her and hugs her and comforts her in a successful effort to get her to admit as much. 'You think Dave killed my Katie, don't you?' he asks her, and Celeste sadly and tearfully nods.
  Markum instructs the Savage brothers to pick up Boyle and go through 'the procedure.' The next afternoon they are cruising down the street when they spy Boyle walking along the sidewalk. They invite him into their car to go for a drink, even though it is still early in the afternoon. Dave protests that it is too early to start drinking, but he doesn't want to appear antisocial. He climbs into the back seat of the Savage's sedan and once again, just like 25 years before, he looks wistfully out of the rear window of the car at the old neighborhood that has been his only home for all his life. Perhaps he instinctively realizes that he will never see his home again..
  The Savages bring him to a seedy waterfront bar in an isolated area of town and proceed to get him drunk. Hours later Jimmy Markum joins the three at their booth in this poorly lit bar. Everyone is all smiles and camaraderie but a dark tension lurks just under the surface of their overt affability.
  Dave reaches his limit and confesses that he has to go outside and throw up. They let him leave and then shortly join him as he is puking by the bank of the river. Jimmy then tells Dave Boyle that this is where he killed Harris years before for sending him to prison. And he will do the same to Boyle if he killed his daughter, Katie.
  But Boyle protests his innocence. 'What about the blood in your trunk?' they ask. Boyle slurs his speech as he tells his side of the story. He came out of the bar late that Saturday night and stumbled upon a pedophile raping a young kid in a car in the parking lot of the tavern. He told the kid to get away as he pulled the man out of the car and pounded him into a bloody pulp in a drunken rage. He then put the unconscious, perhaps even dead, body in the trunk of his car and dumped it behind the bar.
  This story is unconvincing to Jimmy Markum as no body has yet been found to verify Boyle's story. He has the Savage brothers beat him up some more and then tells Boyle that he will only let him live if he tells the truth about murdering his daughter. By now, drunk, sick, sore, and nearly unconscious, Boyle decides that the easiest thing for him to do is to accept Markum's offer and live. He says, 'Yeah, I did it,' whereupon Markum knifes him in the stomach and then shoots a bullet into the near dead body as it lies on the ground..
  Back to Sean and Whitey and the still missing Harris gun. They have been pressuring Brendan Harris just as they have been pressuring Boyle for a clue to provide a break in the case. After being hauled down to the police station twice for interrogation, Sean grabs Brendan and breaks the news to the shocked kid that his missing father's gun is the murder weapon of his beloved Katie, the girl with whom he was planning to elope to Las Vegas.
  Brendan doesn't say anything about this to the policemen, but as soon as he gets home he goes to a secret hiding place in the ceiling of his family's kitchen and feels around for the hidden gun. He is shocked to find that the gun is not there.
  All of a sudden everything starts to become clear to this poor, innocent young man. His deaf mute brother, who was aware of his plans to elope with Katie, must have been involved as he was the only one who knew where that gun was hidden and, besides, he hated the thought of losing his beloved brother whom he depended upon so much for protection and friendship.
  Brendan's younger brother shortly comes home with his best friend, and Brendan says, 'Oh, it's you again.' He then accuses his brother of murdering Katie. It wasn't supposed to turn out that way, his brother signs, but everything got out of control. I just meant to scare her. Terrified as Brendan rushes him in a rage and starts to throttle him, he pulls the gun out just as Sean Devine and Whitey Powers rush into the house. Sean acts quickly enough to grab the gun and subdue the young man just as the gun fires a misdirected bullet into the ceiling
  The case of the lovely young girl who was murdered is now solved. Unfortunately, the pathetic victim from a crime from many years before has also paid with his life.
  Sean once again gets a silent call from his ex-wife. 'Look,' he says, 'I am sorry I pushed you away.' 'I'm sorry, too,' she finally speaks. A look of joy spreads over Sean's face. There is hope, after all.
  It is the day of the annual neighborhood parade, but Jimmy is in a morose mood in his bedroom. Annabeth comes in and tells him that the police have solved the case and have caught his daughter's killers. He confesses to her that he has killed an innocent man. 'I killed an innocent man,' he repeats again. 'Look,' Annabeth replies, 'you did your best. What's past is past, and you can't change it. She also despises Celeste for suspecting her own husband and expressing her doubts to Jimmy.
  It is clear that she is going to stand by her man no matter what. 'I am going to take you down here and then we are going to go out and enjoy the parade,' as she drags him down to the bed on top of her. They make love, perhaps for the first time since Katie's murder.
  Sean, who has figured everything out by now, sees Jimmy and asks him, 'Do you know where Dave Boyle is? We found the body of a man behind the bar and we want to talk to him about it.' Jimmy lifts his hands up as if to say that he hasn't seen Boyle and doesn't have a clue as to where he might be. Sean isn't fooled. After a lifetime spent in this neighborhood he knows what the score is. 'Are you now going to be sending $500 to Celeste Boyle every month for the rest of her life?' he asks. Jimmy smiles, but says nothing. He also knows that Sean knows.
  The parade is going down the street with all the hoopla and the noise and the marching bands playing their music. The Markum family minus one beloved daughter sits together on one front stoop watching the parade go by. Sean, once again together with his wife and child, sits across the street all aglow with renewed hope at his new chance for marital happiness. He holds his hand up in the form of a gun and goes 'Kapow!' to his old childhood friend, Jimmy, across the street. Jimmy just smiles.
  The young Boyle child looking strangely uncomfortable and out of place rides by on a float with the other members of his little league team. Meanwhile, Celeste walks up and down the street looking every which way in sheer desperation and a failing hope for her missing husband, a search that she instinctively realizes will be fruitless.
  She knows how the system of street justice works. She didn't mean it, but her lack of marital loyalty betrayed her husband and this action on her part condemned an innocent man to death. Her family blood was not thick enough to save him, not that it ever would have been in a case like this.
  Dave Boyle would still be alive if only she had kept her mouth shut for another 24 hours. His childhood had been stolen from him and now his adulthood was also taken from him. In both instances he was the innocent victim of the illegal machinations of others.

Varanasi (Hindustani pronunciation: [ʋaːˈraːɳəsi](listen)), also known as Benares,^[7]Banaras (Banāras[bəˈnaːrəs](listen)), or Kashi (Kāśī[ˈkaːʃi](listen)), is a city on the banks of the river Ganga in Uttar Pradesh, India, 320 kilometres (200 mi) south-east of the state capital, Lucknow, and 121 kilometres (75 mi) east of Allahabad. A major religious hub in India, it is the holiest of the seven sacred cities (Sapta Puri) in Hinduism and Jainism, and played an important role in the development of Buddhism and Ravidassia. Varanasi lies along National Highway 2, which connects it to Kolkata, Kanpur, Agra, and Delhi, and is served by Varanasi Junction railway station and Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport.

Varanasi grew as an important industrial centre, famous for its muslin and silk fabrics, perfumes, ivory works, and sculpture. Buddha is believed to have founded Buddhism here around 528 BCE when he gave his first sermon, 'The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dharma', at nearby Sarnath. The city's religious importance continued to grow in the 8th century, when Adi Shankara established the worship of Shiva as an official sect of Varanasi. During the Muslim rule through the Middle Ages, the city continued as an important centre of Hindu devotion, pilgrimage, mysticism and poetry which further contributed to its reputation as a centre of cultural importance and religious education. Tulsidas wrote his epic poem on Rama's life called Ram Charit Manas in Varanasi. Several other major figures of the Bhakti movement were born in Varanasi, including Kabir and Ravidas. Guru Nanak visited Varanasi for Maha Shivaratri in 1507, a trip that played a large role in the founding of Sikhism.

Shabana bangladeshi actress. Zee Bangla Andarmahal Serial Cast Craw, Actors, Actress, Character, Original Name, Profile, Age, Bio Data, Andarmahal Serial Review, Result, Watch Monday to Friday Andarmahal Serial Episode Online OZee Full Show Zee Bangla TV Channel Every Monday to Friday Telecast Serial Andarmahal is on Very Diffrent Story Movie on Every Week This Serial Story Start on A woman Loses her Identity in a Family and Remains Virtually Satisfied with Just Being a Wife, Daughter, Sister in Law, Aunt and other Relations.

In the 16th century, Varanasi experienced a cultural revival under the Mughal emperorAkbar who patronised the city, and built two large temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu, though much of modern Varanasi was built during the 18th century, by the Maratha and Brahmin kings. The Kingdom of Benares was given official status by the Mughals in 1737, and continued as a dynasty-governed area until Indian independence in 1947. The city is governed by the Varanasi Nagar Nigam (Municipal Corporation) and is represented in the Parliament of India by the current Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, who won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 by a huge margin. Silk weaving, carpets and crafts and tourism employ a significant number of the local population, as do the Diesel Locomotive Works and Bharat Heavy Electricals. Varanasi Hospital was established in 1964.

Varanasi has been a cultural centre of northern India for several thousand years, and is closely associated with the Ganges. Hindus believe that dying here and getting cremated along the banks of the 'holy' Ganges river allows one to break the cycle of rebirth and attain salvation,^[8] making it a major center for pilgrimage. The city is known worldwide for its many ghats, embankments made in steps of stone slabs along the river bank where pilgrims perform ritual ablutions. Of particular note are the Dashashwamedh Ghat, the Panchganga Ghat, the Manikarnika Ghat and the Harishchandra Ghat, the last two being where Hindus cremate their dead and the Hindu genealogy registers at Varanasi are kept here.

The Ramnagar Fort, near the eastern bank of the Ganges, was built in the 18th century in the Mughal style of architecture with carved balconies, open courtyards, and scenic pavilions. Among the estimated 23,000 temples in Varanasi are Kashi Vishwanath Temple of Shiva, the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, and the Durga Temple. The Kashi Naresh (Maharaja of Kashi) is the chief cultural patron of Varanasi, and an essential part of all religious celebrations. An educational and musical centre, many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers, and musicians live or have lived in the city, and it was the place where the Benares gharana form of Hindustani classical music was developed. One of Asia's largest residential universities is Banaras Hindu University (BHU). The Hindi-language nationalist newspaper, Aj, was first published in 1920.

• 2History
• 3Geography and climate
• 4Administration and politics
  • 4.1Administration
• 7Notable landmarks
• 8Culture
• 11Transport

Etymology

Traditional etymology links 'Varanasi' to the names of two Ganges tributaries forming the city's borders: Varuna, still flowing in northern Varanasi, and Assi, today a small stream in the southern part of the city, near Assi Ghat. The old city is located on the north shores of the Ganges, bounded by Varuna and Assi.^[9]

In the Rigveda, an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, the city is referred to as Kāśī (Kashi) from the Sanskrit verbal root kaś- 'to shine', making Varanasi known as 'City of Light',^[10] the 'luminous city as an eminent seat of learning'.^[11] The name was also used by pilgrims dating from Buddha's days.

Hindu religious texts use many epithets to refer to Varanasi, such as Kāśikā (Sanskrit: 'the shining one'), Avimukta (Sanskrit: 'never forsaken' by Shiva), Ānandavana (Sanskrit: 'the forest of bliss'), and Rudravāsa (Sanskrit: 'the place where Rudra/Śiva resides').^[1]

History

Hindu Mythology

According to Hindu mythology, Varanasi was founded by Shiva,^[12] one of three principal deities along with Brahma and Vishnu. During a fight between Brahma and Shiva, one of Brahma's five heads was torn off by Shiva. As was the custom, the victor carried the slain adversary's head in his hand and let it hang down from his hand as an act of ignominy, and a sign of his own bravery. A bridle was also put into the mouth. Shiva thus dishonored Brahma's head, and kept it with him at all times. When he came to the city of Varanasi in this state, the hanging head of Brahma dropped from Shiva's hand and disappeared in the ground. Varanasi is therefore considered an extremely holy site.^[13]

The Pandavas, the protagonists of the Hindu epicMahabharata, are said to have visited the city in search of Shiva to atone for their sin of fratricide and Brāhmanahatya that they had committed during the climactic Kurukshetra War.^[14] It is regarded as one of seven holy cities (Sapta Puri) which can provide Moksha; Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Kashi, Kanchi, Avanti, and Dvārakā are the seven cities known as the givers of liberation.^[15]

Archaeological evidence

Excavations in 2014 led to the discovery of artefacts dating back to 800 BCE. Further excavations at Aktha and Ramnagar, two sites in the vicinity of the city, unearthed artefacts dating back to 1800 BCE, supporting the view that the area was inhabited by this time.^[16]

Ancient period

Varanasi grew as an important industrial centre, famous for its muslin and silk fabrics, perfumes, ivory works, and sculpture.^[17] During the time of Gautama Buddha, Varanasi was part of the Kingdom of Kashi.^[17] The Buddha is believed to have founded Buddhism here around 528 BCE when he gave his first sermon, 'The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dharma', at nearby Sarnath.^[18][19] The celebrated Chinese traveller Xuanzang, also known as Hiuen Tsiang, who visited the city around 635 CE, attested that the city was a centre of religious and artistic activities, and that it extended for about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) along the western bank of the Ganges.^[17][20] When Xuanzang, visited Varanasi in the 7th century, he named it 'Polonisse' and wrote that the city had some 30 temples with about 30 monks.^[21] The city's religious importance continued to grow in the 8th century, when Adi Shankara established the worship of Shiva as an official sect of Varanasi.^[22]

Medieval period

Chandradeva, founder of the Gahadavala dynasty made Banaras a second capital in 1090.^[23] After fall of Pala Empire, the Chero dynasty ruled Varanasi till Mughal rule.^[24][25]

Varanasi remained a centre of activity for intellectuals and theologians during the Middle Ages, which further contributed to its reputation as a cultural centre of religion and education. Several major figures of the Bhakti movement were born in Varanasi, including Kabir who was born here in 1389,^[26] and Ravidas, a 15th-century socio-religious reformer, mystic, poet, traveller, and spiritual figure, who was born and lived in the city and employed in the tannery industry.^[27]

Early Modern to Modern periods (1500–1949)

Mystic Rever Movie In Hindi Movie

• A lithograph by James Prinsep (1832) of a Brahmin placing a garland on the holiest location in the city.

• A painting by Edwin Lord Weeks (1883) of Varanasi, viewed from the Ganges.

• An illustration (1890) of Bathing Ghat in Varanasi.

Numerous eminent scholars and preachers visited the city from across India and South Asia. Guru Nanak visited Varanasi for Maha Shivaratri in 1507, a trip that played a large role in the founding of Sikhism.^[28]

Varanasi experienced a Hindu cultural revival in the 16th century under the Muslim Mughal emperorAkbar, who invested in the city and built two large temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu.^[20] The Raja of Pune established the Annapurna Mandir, and the 200-metre (660 ft) Akbari Bridge was also completed during this period.^[29] The earliest tourists began arriving in the city during the 16th century.^[30] In 1665, the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier described the architectural beauty of the Vindu Madhava temple on the side of the Ganges. The road infrastructure was also improved during this period. It was extended from Kolkata to Peshawar by Emperor Sher Shah Suri; later during the British Raj it came to be known as the famous Grand Trunk Road. In 1656, Emperor Aurangzeb ordered the destruction of many temples and the building of mosques, causing the city to experience a temporary setback.^[20] However, after Aurangazeb's death, most of India was ruled by a confederacy of pro-Hindu kings. Much of modern Varanasi was built during this time, especially during the 18th century by the Maratha and Bhumihar.^[31] The kings governing Varanasi continued to wield power and importance through much of the British Raj period, including the Maharaja of Benares, or Kashi Naresh.

Mystic Rever Movie In Hindi 2016

The Kingdom of Benares was given official status by the Mughals in 1737, and continued as a dynasty-governed area until Indian independence in 1947, during the reign of Dr. Vibhuti Narayan Singh. In the 18th century, Muhammad Shah ordered the construction of an observatory on the Ganges, attached to Man Mandir Ghat, designed to discover imperfections in the calendar in order to revise existing astronomical tables. Tourism in the city began to flourish in the 18th century.^[30] In 1791, under the rule of the British Governor-GeneralWarren Hastings, Jonathan Duncan founded a Sanskrit College in Varanasi.^[32] In 1867, the establishment of the Varanasi Municipal Board led to significant improvements in the city's infrastructure and basic amenities of health services, drinking water supply and sanitation ^[33]

The British Army committed a massacre of Indian troops and destroyed city residences during the early stages of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.^[34]

Author Mark Twain wrote in 1897 of Varanasi, 'Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.'^[35] In 1910, the British made Varanasi a new Indian state, with Ramnagar as its capital, but with no jurisdiction over the city proper. The religious head, Kashi Naresh, has had his headquarters at the Ramnagar Fort since the 18th century, also a repository of the history of the kings of Varanasi, which is situated to the east of Varanasi, across the Ganges.^[36] The Kashi Naresh is deeply revered by the local people and the chief cultural patron; some devout inhabitants consider him to be the incarnation of Shiva.^[37]

Annie Besant founded the Central Hindu College, which later became a foundation for the creation of Banaras Hindu University in 1916. Besant founded the college because she wanted 'to bring men of all religions together under the ideal of brotherhood in order to promote Indian cultural values and to remove ill-will among different sections of the Indian population.'^[38]

Varanasi was ceded to the Union of India in 1947, becoming part of Uttar Pradesh after Indian independence.^[39]Vibhuti Narayan Singh incorporated his territories into the United Provinces in 1949.^[40]

• Majaraja of Benares, 1870s.

• Map of the city, c. 1914.

• An 1895 photograph of the Varanasi riverfront.

• The lanes of Varanasi are bathed in a plethora of colours.

Geography and climate

Geography

Varanasi is located at an elevation of 80.71 metres (264.8 ft)^[41] in the centre of the Ganges valley of North India, in the Eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, along the left crescent-shaped bank of the Ganges, averaging between 15 metres (50 ft) and 21 metres (70 ft) above the river.^[42] The city is the headquarters of Varanasi district. By road, Varanasi is located 797 kilometres (495 mi) south-east of New Delhi, 320 kilometres (200 mi) south-east of Lucknow, 121 kilometres (75 mi) east of Allahabad, and 63 kilometres (39 mi) south of Jaunpur.^[43] The 'Varanasi Urban Agglomeration' – an agglomeration of seven urban sub-units – covers an area of 112.26 km ² (approximately 43 mi²).^[44] Neighbourhoods of the city include Adampura, Anandbagh, Bachchhaon, Bangali Tola, Bhelpura, Bulanala, Chaitganj, Chaukaghat, Chowk, Dhupchandi, Dumraon, Gandhinagar, Gautam Nagar, Giri Nagar, Gopal Vihar, Guru Nanak Nagar, Jaitpura, Kail Garh, Khanna, Kotwali, Lanka Manduadih, Luxa, Maheshpur, Mahmoorganj, Maulvibagh, Nagwar, Naipokhari, Shivala, Siddhagiribagh, and Sigra.^[43]

Located in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of North India, the land is very fertile because low-level floods in the Ganges continually replenish the soil.^[45] Varanasi is situated between the Ganges confluences with two rivers: the Varuna and the Assi stream. The distance between the two confluences is around 2 miles (4 km), and serves as a sacred journeying route for Hindus, which culminates with a visit to a Sakshi Vinayak Temple.^[46]

Climate

Varanasi experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classificationCwa) with large variations between summer and winter temperatures.^[47][48] The dry summer starts in April and lasts until June, followed by the monsoon season from July to October. The temperature ranges between 22 and 46 °C (72 and 115 °F) in the summers. Winters in Varanasi see very large diurnal variations, with warm days and downright cold nights. Cold waves from the Himalayan region cause temperatures to dip across the city in the winter from December to February and temperatures below 5 °C (41 °F) are not uncommon. The average annual rainfall is 1,110 mm (44 in). Fog is common in the winters, while hot dry winds, called loo, blow in the summers.^[49] In recent years, the water level of the Ganges has decreased significantly; upstream dams, unregulated water extraction, and dwindling glacial sources due to global warming may be to blame.^[50][51]

Administration and politics

Administration

General Administration

Varanasi division which consists of four districts, and is headed by the Divisional Commissioner of Varanasi, who is an IAS officer of high seniority, the Commissioner is the head of local government institutions (including Municipal Corporations) in the division, is in charge of infrastructure development in his division, and is also responsible for maintaining law and order in the division.^{[54][55][56][57][58]} The District Magistrate of Varanasi reports to the Divisional Commissioner. The current Commissioner is Nitin Ramesh Gokarn.^[59][60][61]

Varanasi district administration is headed by the District Magistrate of Varanasi, who is an IAS officer. The DM is in charge of property records and revenue collection for the central government and oversees the elections held in the city. The DM is also responsible for maintaining law and order in the city, hence the SSP of Varanasi also reports to the DM of Varanasi.^{[54][62][63][64][65]} The DM is assisted by a Chief Development Officer (CDO), four Additional District Magistrates (ADM) (Finance/Revenue, City, Protocol, Executive), one Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), one City Magistrate (CM), and four Additional City Magistrates (ACM). The district has three tehsils, each headed by a Sub-Divisional magistrate. The current DM is Yogeshwar Ram Mishra.^[59][60][61]

Police Administration

Varanasi district comes under the Varanasi Police Zone and Varanasi Police Range, Varanasi Zone is headed by an Additional Director General ranked IPS officer, and the Varanasi Range is headed Inspector General ranked IPS officer. The current ADG, Varanasi Zone is Biswajit Mahapatra,^[66] and IG, Varanasi Range is Deepak Ratan.^[67]

The district police is headed by a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), who is an IPS officer, and is assisted by six Superintendents of Police (SP)/Additional Superintendents of Police (Addl. SP) (City, Rural Area, Crime, Traffic, Protocol and Protocol), who are either IPS officers or PPS officers.^[68] Each of the several police circles is headed by a Circle Officer (CO) in the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.^[68] The current SSP is Ram Krishna Bharadwaj.^[68]

Infrastructure and Civic Administration

The development of infrastructure in the city is overseen by Varanasi Development Authority (VDA), which comes under the Housing Department of Uttar Pradesh government. The Divisional Commissioner of Varanasi acts as the ex-officio Chairman of VDA, whereas a Vice Chairman, a government-appointed IAS officer, looks after the daily matters of the authority.^[69] The current Vice-Chairman of Varanasi Development Authority is Pulkit Khare.^[70]

The Varanasi Municipal Corporation oversees civic activities in the city, the head of the corporation is the Mayor, but the executive and administration of the corporation is the responsibility of the Municipal Commissioner, who is a Uttar Pradesh government-appointed either an IAS officer or Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officer of high seniority. The current Mayor of Varanasi is Mridula Jaiswal, whereas the Municipal Commissioner is Nitin Bansal.^[71]

Water supply and sewage system is operated by the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam.^[72]

Politics

Varanasi is represented in the Parliament of India by the current Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi who won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 by a huge margin.^[73]

Healthcare

Hospitals in the city include the Sir Sunderlal Hospital, a teaching hospital in the Banaras Hindu University, Heritage Hospital, Marwari Hospital, Pitambari Hopspital, Mata Anand Mai Hospital, Rajkiya Hospital, Ram Krishna Mission Hospital, Shiv Prasad Gupta Hospital, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital (managed by the state government), and Varanasi Hospital and Medical Research Centre. The urban parts of the Varanasi district had an infant mortality rate of 70 per 1,000 live births in 2010–2011.^[74]

The Railway Cancer Hospital is now being run by the Tata Memorial Centre after intervention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who represents Varanasi.^[75]

Sushruta, an ancient Indian physician known as the primary author of the treatise Sushruta Samhita, the Sanskrit text of surgery, lived in Varanasi and practised medicine and surgery sometime during the 5th century BCE. Since 1922, ayurveda has been a subject of training in the Banaras Hindu University, and in 1927 a separate Ayurvedic College was established.^[76][77] There are many ayurvedic centres in Varanasi providing treatments such as Panchakarma as well as other treatments.^[78]

Public maintenance

Because of the high population density of Varanasi and the increasing number of tourists, the Uttar Pradesh government and international non-governmental organisations and institutions have expressed grave concern for the pollution and pressures on infrastructure in the city, mainly the sewage, sanitation, and drainage components.^[79]Pollution of the Ganges is a particular source of worry because of the religious significance of the river, the dependence of people on it as a source of drinking water, and its prominence as a symbol of Varanasi and the city itself.^[80] The sewage problem is exacerbated by the role of the Ganges in bathing and in river traffic, which is very difficult to control.^[79] Because of the sewage, people using local untreated water have higher risk of contracting a range of water-borne stomach diseases.^[81]

Parts of Varanasi are contaminated with industrial chemicals including toxic heavy metal. Studies of wastewater from Varanasi's sewage treatment plants identify that water's contamination with metals and the reuse of this water for irrigation as a way that the toxic metals come to be in the plants that people grow for food.^[82][83] One studied example is palak, a popular leafy vegetable which takes up heavy metal when it is in the soil, and which people then eat.^[84] Some of the polluting sludge contains minerals which are fertiliser, which could make polluted water attractive to use.^[85] Pesticides used in local farming are persistent enough to be spread through the water, to sewer treatment, then back to the farms as wastewater.^[85]

Varanasi's water supply and sewage system is maintained by Jal Nigam, a subsidiary of Varanasi Nagar Nigam. Power supply is by the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited. The city produces about 350,000,000 litres (77,000,000 imp gal; 92,000,000 US gal) per day^[86] of sewage and 425 tonnes (418 long tons; 468 short tons) per day of solid waste.^[87] The solid wastes are disposed in one landfill site.^[88]

Demographics

According to provisional data from the 2011 census, the Varanasi urban agglomeration had a population of 1,435,113, with 761,060 men and 674,053 women.^[89]

The population of the Varanasi urban agglomeration in 2001 was 1,371,749 with a ratio of 879 females every 1,000 males.^[90] However, the area under Varanasi Nagar Nigam has a population of 1,100,748^[91] with a ratio of 883 females for every 1,000 males.^[91] The literacy rate in the urban agglomeration is 77% while that in the municipal corporation area is 78%.^[91] Approximately 138,000 people in the municipal area live in slums.^[92]

Economy

According to the 2006 City Development Plan for Varanasi, approximately 29% of Varanasi's population is employed.^[93] Approximately 40% are employed in manufacturing, 26% work in trade and commerce, 19% work in other services, 8% work in transport and communication, 4% work in agriculture, 2% work in construction, and 2% are marginal workers (working for less than half of the year).^[94]

Among manufacturing workers, 51% work in spinning and weaving, 15% work in metal, 6% work in printing and publishing, 5% work in electrical machinery, and the rest work in a wide variety of industry sectors.^[95] Varanasi's manufacturing industry is not well developed and is dominated by small-scale industries and household production.^[93]

Silk weaving is the dominant industry in Varanasi.^[96] Muslims are the influential community in this industry with nearly half a million of them working as weavers, dyers, sari finishers, and salespersons.^[97] Weaving is typically done within the household, and most weavers are Momin Ansari Muslims.^[98] Varanasi is known throughout India for its production of very fine silk and Banarasi saris, brocades with gold and silver thread work, which are often used for weddings and special occasions. The production of silk often uses bonded child labour, though perhaps not at a higher rate than elsewhere in India.^[99] The silk weaving industry has recently been threatened by the rise of power looms and computer-generated designs and by competition from Chinese silk imports.^[93]

In the metal manufacturing sector, Diesel Locomotive Works is a major employer.^[95]Bharat Heavy Electricals, a large power equipment manufacturer, also operates a heavy equipment maintenance plant.^[100] Other major commodities manufactured and traded in Varanasi include hand-knotted Mirzapur carpets, rugs, dhurries, brassware, copperware, wooden and clay toys, handicrafts, gold jewellery, and musical instruments.^[96] Important agricultural products include betel leaves (for paan), langra mangoes and khoa (solidified milk).^[95][101]

Tourism is Varanasi's second most important industry.^[102] Nearly 6.3 million domestic tourists and 690,472 foreign tourists visited Varanasi in 2015. Domestic tourist most commonly visit for religious purposes while foreign tourist visit for ghats along River Ganges and Sarnath. Most domestic tourists are from Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, while the majority of foreign tourists are from Sri Lanka and Japan.^[103] The peak tourist season falls between October and March.^[103] In total, there are around 12,000 beds available in the city, of which about one half are in inexpensive budget hotels and one third in dharamsalas.^[104] Overall, Varanasi's tourist infrastructure is not well developed.^[104]Prominent hotel chains include Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza.^[105]

Trade Facilitation Centre is a modern and integrated facility to support the handloom and handicraft sector in Varanasi; providing trade enhancement and facilitation to both domestic & international buyers. Hence, carrying forward the rich traditions of handlooms and handicrafts.

The prominent malls and multiplexes in Varanasi are JHV Mall in the Cantonment area, IP Mall in Sigra, IP Vijaya Mall in Bhelupur, Vinayak Plaza in Maldhaiya and PDR Mall in Luxa. The city has several banks, including the Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, and State Bank of India.^[106]

• DLW manufactured locomotives hauling load across the nation

Notable landmarks

Apart from the 19 archaeological sites identified by the Archaeological Survey of India,^[107] some of the prominent places of interest are the Aghor Peeth, the Alamgir Mosque, the Ashoka Pillar, the Bharat Kala Bhavan (Art Museum), the Bharat Mata Mandir, the Central University for Tibetan Studies, the Dhanvantari Temple, the Durga Temple, the Jantar Mantar, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, the Shri Vishwanath Temple on the BHU campus, the Ramnagar Fort, the Riverfront Ghats, the Tulsi Manas Temple.^[108]

Jantar Mantar

The Jantar Mantar observatory, constructed in 1737, is located above the ghats along the Ganges, and is adjacent to the Manmandir and Dasaswamedh Ghats and near the palace of Jai Singh II of Jaipur. While less equipped than the observatories at Jaipur and Delhi, the Jantar Mantar has a unique equatorial sundial which is functional and allows measurements to be monitored and recorded by one person.^[109]

Ramnagar Fort

The Ramnagar Fort, located near the Ganges on its eastern bank and opposite the Tulsi Ghat, was built in the 18th century by Kashi Naresh Raja Balwant Singh with cream-coloured chunarsandstone. The fort is a typical example of the Mughal architecture with carved balconies, open courtyards, and scenic pavilions. At present, the fort is in disrepair. The fort and its museum are the repository of the history of the kings of Benares. Cited as an 'eccentric' museum, it contains a rare collection of American vintage cars, bejeweled sedan chairs, an impressive weaponry hall, and a rare astrological clock.^[110] In addition, manuscripts, especially religious writings, are housed in the Saraswati Bhawan which is a part of a museum within the fort. Many books illustrated in the Mughal miniature style are also part of the collections. Because of its scenic location on the banks of the Ganges, it is frequently used as an outdoor shooting location for films.^[110][111]

Ghats

The Ghats in Varanasi are world-renowned embankments made in steps of stone slabs along the river bank where pilgrims perform ritual ablutions. The ghats are an integral complement to the Hindu concept of divinity represented in physical, metaphysical, and supernatural elements.^[112] Varanasi has at least 84 ghats, most of which are used for bathing by pilgrims and spiritually significant Hindu puja ceremony, while a few are used exclusively as Hindu cremation sites.^{[113][114][115]} Steps in the ghats lead to the banks of Ganges, including the Dashashwamedh Ghat, the Manikarnika Ghat, the Panchganga Ghat, and the Harishchandra Ghat, where Hindus cremate their dead. Many ghats are associated with Hindu legends and several are now privately owned.^[116]

Many of the ghats were constructed under the patronage of the Marathas, Shindes (Scindias), Holkars, Bhonsles, and Peshwas. Most are bathing ghats, while others are used as cremation sites. A morning boat ride on the Ganges across the ghats is a popular tourist attraction. The extensive stretches of ghats in Varanasi enhance the riverfront with a multitude of shrines, temples, and palaces built 'tier on the tier above the water's edge'.^[17]

The Dashashwamedh Ghat is the main and probably the oldest ghat of Varanasi located on the Ganges, close to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. It is believed that Brahma created this ghat to welcome Shiva and sacrificed ten horses during the Dasa-Ashwamedhayajna performed there. Above and adjacent to this ghat, there are also temples dedicated to Sulatankesvara, Brahmesvara, Varahesvara, Abhaya Vinayaka, Ganga (the Ganges), and Bandi Devi, which are all important pilgrimage sites. A group of priests performs 'Agni Pooja' (Sanskrit: 'Worship of Fire') daily in the evening at this ghat as a dedication to Shiva, Ganga, Surya (Sun), Agni (Fire), and the entire universe. Special aartis are held on Tuesdays and on religious festivals.^[114]

The Manikarnika Ghat is the Mahasmasana, the primary site for Hindu cremation in the city. Adjoining the ghat, there are raised platforms that are used for death anniversary rituals. According to a myth, it is said that an earring of Shiva or his wife Sati fell here. Fourth-century Gupta period inscriptions mention this ghat. However, the current ghat as a permanent riverside embankment was built in 1302 and has been renovated at least three times throughout its existence.^[114]

The Jain Ghat is believed to birthplace of Suparshvanatha (7th Tirthankara) and Parshvanatha (23rd tirthankara). The Jain Ghat or Bachraj Ghat is a Jain Ghat and has three Jain Temples located on the banks of the River. It is believed that the Jain Maharajas used to own these ghats. Bachraj Ghat has three Jain temples near the river's banks, and one them is a very ancient temple of Tirthankara Suparswanath.

• Bachraj Ghat

Temples

• The Kashi Vishwanath Temple, the most important temple in Varanasi.

• Shri Vishwanath Mandir has the tallest temple tower in the world.^[117]

• The 18th century Durga Kund Temple, also known as the 'Monkey temple'.

Among the estimated 23,000 temples in Varanasi,^[14] the temples most popular for worship are: the Kashi Vishwanath Temple of Shiva; the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple; and the Durga Temple, known for monkeys that reside in the large trees nearby.^[39][118][9]

• The Kashi Vishwanath Temple, on the Ganges, is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Shiva temples in Varanasi.^[118] The temple has been destroyed and rebuilt several times throughout its existence. The Gyanvapi Mosque, which is adjacent to the temple, is the original site of the temple.^[119] The temple, which is also known as the Golden Temple,^[120] was built in 1780 by Queen Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore. The two pinnacles of the temple are covered in gold and were donated in 1839 by Ranjit Singh, the ruler of Punjab. The dome is scheduled to receive gold plating through a proposed initiative of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs of Uttar Pradesh. Numerous rituals, prayers, and aartis are held daily at the temple between 02:30 and 23:00.^[121]
• The Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, which is situated by the Asi River, is one of the sacred temples of the Hindu god Hanuman.^[122] The present temple was built in the early 1900s by the educationist and Indian independence figure, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, the founder of Banaras Hindu University.^[123] According to Hindu legend the temple was built on the spot where the medieval Hindu saint Tulsidas had a vision of Hanuman.^[124] During a 7 March 2006 terrorist attack, one of three explosions hit the temple while a wedding was in progress, and resulted in injuries to 30 people apart from 23 deaths.^[123] Following the attack, a permanent police post was installed inside the temple.^[125]
• There are two temples dedicated to the goddess Durga in Varanasi: Durga Mandir built in the 16th century (exact date not known), and Durga Kund (Sanskrit 'kund' meaning 'pond or pool') built in the 18th century. A large number of Hindu devotees visit Durga Kund during Navratri to worship the goddess Durga. The temple, built in the Nagara architectural style, has multi-tiered spires^[120] and is stained red with ochre, representing the red colour of Durga. The building has a rectangular tank of water called the Durga Kund ('Kund' meaning a pond or pool). During annual celebrations of Nag Panchami, the act of depicting the god Vishnu reclining on the serpent Shesha is recreated in the Kund.^[126] While the Annapurna Temple, located nearby to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, is dedicated to Annapoorna devi, the goddess of food,^[118] the Sankatha Temple adjacent to the Sindhia Ghat is dedicated to Sankatha, the goddess of remedy. The Sankatha Temple has a large sculpture of a lion and a cluster of nine smaller temples dedicated to the nine planets.^[118]
• Parshvanath Jain temple is the temple of Jain religion dedicated to Parshvanath, the 23rd Thirthankara who was born at Bhelpur in Varanasi. The idol deified in the temple is of black colour and 75 centimetres (30 inches) in height. It is located in Bhelapur about 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) from the centre of Varanasi city and 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) from the Benares Hindu University. It belongs to the Digambar sect of Jainism and is a holy tirtha or pilgrimage centre for Jains.
• Other temples of note are: the Bharat Mata Mandir, dedicated to the national personification of India, which was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1936, the Kalabhairav Temple, the Mrithyunjay Mahadev Temple, and the New Vishwanath Temple located in the campus of BHU, the Tulsi Manas Mandir.^[118]

Mosques

There are 15 mosques of significant historical value in Varanasi. Of particular note are the Abdul Razzaq, Alamgir, Bibi Razia, Chaukhambha, Dhai Nim Kangore, Fatman, Ganje Shahada, Gyanavapi, and Hazrat Sayyed Salar Masud Dargah. Many of these mosques were constructed from the components of the Hindu shrines which were destroyed under the auspices of subsequent Muslim invaders or rulers. The two well known mosques are the Gyanvapi Mosque and the Alamgir Mosque.^[127]

The Gyanvapi Mosque was built by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1664 CE, after destroying a Hindu temple.^[128]Gyan Vapi (Sanskrit: 'the well of knowledge'), the name of the mosque, is derived from a well of the same name located within the precincts of the mosque.^[129] The remains of an erstwhile temple can be seen in the foundation, the columns and at the rear part of the mosque ^[130] The façade of the mosque is modelled partially on the Taj Mahal's entrance.^[131] The mosque is administered by the Anjuman Inthazamiya Masajid (AIM).^[132]

The Alamgiri Mosque was built in the 17th century by Aurangzeb over the ruins of a Hindu temple.^[133] The Hindu temple that was destroyed was dedicated to Vishnu, and had been built by Beni Madhur Rao Scindia, a Maratha chieftain. When emperor Aurangzeb had captured Banaras, he had ordered total destruction of all Hindu temples there. Aurangzeb then built a mosque over the ruins of this temple in 1669^[134] and named it as Alamagir Mosque in the name of his own honorific title 'Alamgir' which he had adopted after becoming the emperor of Mughal empire.^[135][136] The mosque is located at a prominent site above the Panchganga Ghat, which is a funerary ghat facing the Ganges.^[137] The mosque is architecturally a blend of Islamic and Hindu architecture, particularly because of the lower part of the walls of the mosque having been built fully with the remains of the Hindu temple.^[135] The mosque has high domes and minarets.^[138][136] Two of its minarets had been damaged; one minaret crashed killing a few people and the other minaret was officially brought down because of stability concerns.^[136] Non-Muslims are not allowed to enter the mosque.^[139] The mosque has a security cordon of a police force.^[140]

Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan

Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan, at Sir Gobardhan is the ultimate place of pilgrimage or religious headquarters for followers of the Ravidassia religion.^[141] The foundation stone was laid on 14 June 1965 on Ashad Sankranti day at the birthplace of Ravidas. The temple was completed in 1994.^[142]

Sarnath

Sarnath is located 10 kilometres north-east of Varanasi near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers in Uttar Pradesh, India. The deer park in Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna.^[143]

The city is mentioned by the Buddha as one of the four places of pilgrimage to which his devout followers should visit. It was also the site of the Buddha's Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which was his first teaching after attaining enlightenment, in which he taught the four noble truths and the teachings associated with it.^[143]

Culture

Literature

Renowned Indian writers who have resided in the city were Kabir, Ravidas, and Tulsidas, who wrote much of his Ram Charit Manas here. Kulluka Bhatt wrote the best known account of Manusmriti in Varanasi in the 15th century,^{[144][dubious]} Later writers of the city have included Acharya Shukla, Baldev Upadhyaya, Bharatendu Harishchandra, Devaki Nandan Khatri, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Jaishankar Prasad, Kshetresa Chandra Chattopadhyaya, Sudama Pandey (Dhoomil), Vagish Shastri, and Vidya Niwas Mishra.^{[145][dubious]}

Several newspapers and journals are or were published in Varanasi such as Varanasi Chandroday and its successor Kashivartaprakashika, which became a weekly journal, first published on 1 June 1851.^[146] The main newspaper is Aj, a Hindi-language nationalist newspaper first published in 1920.^[147] The newspaper was the bulwark of the Indian National Congress and is a major newspaper of Hindi northern India.^[147]

Art

Varanasi is a major centre of arts and designs. It is a producer of silks and brocades with gold and silver thread work, carpet weaving, wooden toys, bangles made of glass, ivory work, perfumes, artistic brass and copper ware and a variety of handicrafts.^[148][149] The cantonment graveyard of the British Raj is now the location of Varanasi's Arts and Crafts.^{[150][clarification needed]}

Notable artists (musicians and dancers) and historians who are connected with the city include Bismillah Khan, Ravi Shankar, Girija Devi, Gopal Shankar Misra, Gopi Krishna, Kishan Maharaj, Lalmani Misra, N. Rajam, Siddheshwari Devi, Samta Prasad, and Sitara Devi.^[151]

Music

Varanasi's music tradition is traced to the Pauranic days. According to ancient legend, Shiva is credited with evolving music and dance forms. During the medieval era, Vaishnavism, a Bhakti movement, grew in popularity, and Varanasi became a thriving center for musicians such as Surdas, Kabir, Ravidas, Meera and Tulsidas. During the monarchic rule of Govind Chandra in the 16th century, the Dhrupad style of singing received royal patronage and led to other related forms of music such as Dhamar, Hori, and Chaturang. Presently the Dhrupad maestro Pandit Ritwik Sanyal from Varanasi is working for the revival of this art-music.^[152]

In recent times, Girija Devi, the native famous classical singer of thumris, was widely appreciated and respected for her musical renderings.^[153] Varanasi is also associated with many great instrumentalists such as Bismillah Khan^[152] and Ravi Shankar, the famous sitar player and musicologist who was given the highest civilian award of the country, the Bharat Ratna.^[154] Varanasi has joined the global bandwagon of UNESCO 'Cities of Music' under the Creative Cities Network.^[155]

Festivals

On Maha Shivaratri (February), a procession of Shiva proceeds from the Mahamrityunjaya Temple to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.^[39]Dhrupad Mela is a five-day musical festival devoted to dhrupad style held at Tulsi Ghat in February–March.^[156] The Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple celebrates Hanuman Jayanti (March–April), the birthday of Hanuman. A special puja, aarti, and a public procession is organised.^[157][158] Since 1923, the temple has organised a five-day classical music and dance concert festival named Sankat Mochan Sangeet Samaroh, wherein iconic artists from all parts of India are invited to perform.^[39]

The Ramlila of Ramnagar is a dramatic enactment of Rama's legend, as told in Ramacharitamanasa.^[37] The plays, sponsored by Kashi Naresh, are performed in Ramnagar every evening for 31 days.^[37] On the last day, the festivities reach a crescendo as Rama vanquishes the demon king Ravana.^[37] Kashi Naresh Udit Narayan Singh started this tradition around 1830.^[37]

Nag Nathaiya is celebrated on the fourth lunar day of the dark fortnight of the Hindu month of Kartik (October–November). It commemorates the victory of Krishna over the serpent Kaliya. On this occasion, a large Kadamba tree (Neolamarckia cadamba) branch is planted on the banks of the Ganges so that a boy, playing the role of Krishna, can jump into the river on to the effigy representing Kaliya. He stands over the effigy in a dancing pose playing the flute, while an audience watches from the banks of the river or from boats.^[159]Bharat Milap celebrates the meeting of Rama and his younger brother Bharata after the return of the former after 14 years of exile.^[39] It is celebrated during October–November, a day after the festival of Vijayadashami. Kashi Naresh attends this festival in his regal attire. The festival attracts a large number of devotees.^[160]

Ganga Mahotsav is a five-day music festival organised by the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department, held in November–December. It culminates a day before Kartik Purnima, also called the Ganges festival. On this occasion the Ganges is attended by thousands of pilgrims, release lighted lamps to float in the river from the ghats.^[39][156]

The primary Muslim festivals celebrated annually in the city are the ld-ul-fitr' (Ramzan), Bakrid, Mid-Sha'ban, Bara Wafat and Muharram. Additional festivals include Alvida and Chehlum. A non-religious festival observed by Muslims is Ghazi-miyan-ka-byaha ('the marriage of Ghazi Miyan').^[161][162]

Education

Historically, Varanasi has been a centre for education in India, attracting students and scholars from across the country.^[163][164] Varanasi has an overall literacy rate of 80% (male literacy: 85%, female literacy: 75%).^[89] It is home to a number of colleges and universities. Most notably, it is the site of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), which is one of the largest residential universities in Asia with over 20,000 students.^[165] The Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi is designated an Institute of National Importance and is one of 16 Indian Institutes of Technology. Other colleges and universities in Varanasi include Jamia-e-Imania, the Institute of Integrated Management and Technology, Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, Nav Sadhana Kala Kendra, Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Sri Agrasen Kanya P.G. College, and Udai Pratap Autonomous College. Various engineering colleges have been established in the outskirts of the city.Varanasi is also has 3 Kendriya Vidyalaya. Among them Kendriya Vidyalaya BHU holds the regional office of Varanasi Region of KVS and is seat of Deputy Commissioner. Kendriya Vidyalaya BHU is also accredited by the British Council. Other KVs are Kendriya Vidyalaya 39 GTC and Kendriya Vidyalaya DLW.

St. Joseph's Convent School, in Shivpur, Varanasi, was established by the Sisters of Our Lady of Providence of France as a Catholic (Christian) minority institution with the approval of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. It is an autonomous organisation under the diocese of the Bishop of Varanasi. It provides education not only to the Catholic Christian children, but also to others who abide by its rules.^[166]

Another important institution is the Central Hindu School in Kamachha. This was established by Annie Besant in July 1898 with the objective of imparting secular education. It is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education and is open to students of all cultures.^[167][168]

Schools in Varanasi are affiliated with the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the CBSE, or the Uttar Pradesh Board of Technical Education (U.P Board). The overall 'state of education in Varanasi is .. not good.'^[169] Schools in Varanasi vary widely in quality, with private schools outperforming government schools.^[169] In government schools, many teachers fail to come to class or to teach children.^[169] Some government schools lack basic equipment, such as blackboards and sufficient desks and chairs for all students.^[169] Private schools vary in quality, with the most expensive conducting lessons in English (seen as a key to children's success) and having computers in classrooms.^[169] Pupils attending the more expensive private schools, tended to come from upper-class families.^[169] Lower-cost private schools attracted children from lower-income families or those lower-income families with higher education aspirations.^[169] Government schools tend to serve lower-class children with lower education aspirations.^[169]

Sport

Basketball, cricket, and field hockey are popular sports in Varanasi.^[170] The main stadium in the city is the Dr Sampurnanda Stadium (Sigra Stadium), where first-class cricket matches are held.^[171]

The Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Arts of BHU offers diploma courses in Sports Management, Sports Physiotherapy, Sports Psychology and Sports Journalism.^[172]

Gymnastics is also popular in Varanasi, and many Indian girls practice outdoors at the ghats in the mornings which hosts akhadas, where 'morning exercise, a dip in the Ganges and a visit to Lord Hanuman' forms a daily ritual.^[173] Despite concerns regarding water quality, two swimming clubs offer swimming lessons in the Ganges.^[174]

The Varanasi District Chess Sports Association (VDCSA) is based in Varanasi, affiliated to the regional Uttar Pradesh Chess Sports Association (UPCSA).^[175]

Transport

Varanasi is well-connected by air, rail, and road. One of the major factors in Varanasi's is its access to all parts of the country. Within the city mobility is provided by taxis, rickshaws, cycle rickshaws, and three-wheelers, but with certain restrictions in the old town area of the city.^[176]

Air transport

Varanasi is served by Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, which is approximately 26 km (16 mi) from the city centre in Babatpur.^[177] The airport inaugurated a new terminal in 2010, and it was granted international airport status on 4 October 2012.^{[178][circular reference][179]}Air India, Buddha Air, IndiGo, Thai Smile, SriLankan Airlines and SpiceJet operate flights from Varanasi to Bangkok, Colombo, Delhi, Gaya, Kathmandu, Khajuraho, Sharjah, Yangon, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Goa and Kolkata.^[180] Over 1,916,454 passengers passed through the airport in 2016–17, making it the 21st busiest airport in India.

Railways

Varanasi Junction, commonly known as Varanasi Cantt Railway Station, is the city's largest train station. More than 360,000 passengers and 240 trains pass through each day.^[181]Manduadih railway station is also a Terminal station of Varanasi. Because of huge rush at Varanasi Junction the railway developed the station as a high facilitated terminal.Varanasi City railway station is also one of the railway stations in Varanasi district. It is 4 km North-East of Varanasi Junction railway station. It serves as Terminal station because of heavy rush at Varanasi Junction. Mughalsarai Junction railway station is also the important station in Varanasi suburban. Some of the important express trains operating from the Varanasi Junction railway station and Manduadih railway station are: Shiv Ganga Express runs between New Delhi Junction and Manduadih station while Mahamana Express runs between Varanasi junction and New Delhi Junction; the Udhna Varanasi Express that runs between Udhna (Surat) junction and Varanasi, a distance of 1,398 kilometres (869 mi);^[182] the Kashi Vishwanath Express that runs between Varanasi and New Delhi railway station;^[183] the Kanpur Varanasi InterCity express, also called Varuna express, which runs over a distance of 355 kilometres (221 mi) and connects with Lucknow (the capital city of Uttar Pradesh) and Varanasi;^[184] and the Sabarmati Express which runs between Varanasi and Ahmedabad.

Roads

• Road in Varanasi Cantonment

Varanasi lies along National Highway 19 (old number: NH 2), which connects it to Kolkata, Kanpur, Agra, and Delhi.^[43]National Highway 28 connects Varanasi to the Nepal-India border. National Highway 31 connects Varanasi to Unnao.^[43]

The Government is executing seven road projects connecting Varanasi, the total project cost being Rs 7,100 crore and the total length of the project being 524 km.Some of the important projects are:

• Six laning of Varanasi-Aurangabad NH-2
• Varanasi Bypass (Ring Road) Phase – I
• Ghagra Bridge-Varanasi NH-233
• Four laning of Varanasi-Sultanpur NH-56^[185]
• Ring Road Phase – II

Auto rickshaws are the most widely available forms of public transport in old city.^[186] In the outer regions of the city, buses are common, and taxis are available.^[186]

Varanasi Metro

The Varanasi Metro is a rapid transit proposed for Varanasi. The proposed system consists of two lines, spanning from BHEL to Banaras Hindu University (19.35 km) and Benia Bagh to Sarnath (9.885 km). The feasibility study of the project was done by RITES and was completed in June 2015. Metro Rail is likely to be completed around 2020. There will be 26 stations, including 20 underground and six elevated on the two lines, which includes total length of 29.235 km consisting of 23.467 km underground, while 5.768 km will be elevated.^{[187][188][189][190]}

The total estimated completion cost for construction of Varanasi Metro is estimated to be Rs. 17,227 Crores, including taxes and duties. The project is envisaged to be undertaken as a joint venture (JV) project between the Government of India (GoI) and the Government of Uttar Pradesh (GoUP) with 50:50 equity partnerships. To maintain the financial viability of the project, additional grants have been proposed from the two governments in addition to their equity contribution.

Twin towns – sister cities

Varanasi is twinned with:

• Kyoto, Japan^[191]

See also

References

Citations

1. ^ ^ab'Varanasi: About the city'. Official website of Uttar Pradesh Tourism. Archived from the original on 8 July 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
2. ^'Urban Agglomerations/Cities having population 1 lakh and above'(PDF). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived(PDF) from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
3. ^ ^ab'52nd REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER FOR LINGUISTIC MINORITIES IN INDIA'(PDF). nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
4. ^'Uttar Pradesh District Factbook Varanasi District'(PDF). 2017. Archived(PDF) from the original on 1 December 2017.
5. ^'Varanasi City Census 2011 data'. census2011.co.in. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
6. ^http://ssca.org.in/media/4_2016_HDI_t1hcMZm.pdf
7. ^The name that appears on the 1909 version official map of India
8. ^Romita Saluja (18 June 2019). 'India's City Where People Come to Die'. BBC.
9. ^ ^abCunningham & Sastri 2002, pp. 131–140.
10. ^Eck 1982, p. 10, 58, refers to 'Banares – which Hindus call Kashi, the City of Light' (p. 10) and 'Hindus call it Kashi, the luminous City of Light' (p. 58).
11. ^Talageri, Shrikant G. 'The Geography of the Rigveda'. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2007.
12. ^Melton 2007, p. 29.
13. ^Edward Sachau, 1910, Alberuni's IndiaArchived 3 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, p. 147, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd.
14. ^ ^abBansal 2008, pp. 48–49.
15. ^'Garuḍa Purāṇa XVI 114'. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
16. ^'Banaras (Inde): new archaeological excavations are going on to determine the age of Varanasi'. Archived from the original on 25 July 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
17. ^ ^abcdPletcher 2010, pp. 159–160.
18. ^Herman 1999, p. 153.
19. ^Melton & Baumann 2010, p. 2536.
20. ^ ^abcBerwick 1986, p. 121.
21. ^Eck 1982, p. 57.
22. ^Bindloss, Brown & Elliott 2007, p. 278.
23. ^Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. pp. 32–33. ISBN978-9-38060-734-4.
24. ^Indian History. Allied Publishers. 2010. p. A-304. ISBN978-81-8424-568-4.
25. ^Bihar General Knowledge Digest. books.google.co.in.
26. ^Das 1991, p. 17.
27. ^Merriam-Webster 1999, p. 910.
28. ^Gandhi 2007, p. 90.
29. ^Mitra 2002, p. 182.
30. ^ ^abPrakash 1981, p. 170.
31. ^Schreitmüller 2012, p. 284.
32. ^Corp 2007, p. 1.
33. ^Kochhar 2015, p. 247.
34. ^Misra 2007, p. 6.
35. ^Twain 1897, p. Chapter L.
36. ^'A review of Varanasi'. Blonnet.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
37. ^ ^abcdeMitra 2002, p. 216.
38. ^Sharma & Sharma 2001, p. 197.
39. ^ ^abcdef'Varanasi'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
40. ^Buyers, Christopher (August 2008). 'Benares'. Royal Ark. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
41. ^'DEO Varanasi'. Tourist Information: General Information. Varanasi District Administration by National Informatics center. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011.
42. ^Mohanty 1993, p. 316.
43. ^ ^abcdMaps (Map). Google Maps.
44. ^Singh, Rana P.B. 'Varanasi as Heritage City (India) on the scale the UNESCO World Heritage List: From Contestation to Conservation'(PDF). EASAS papers. Swedish South Asian Studies Network. Archived from the original(PDF) on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2006.
45. ^'Indo-Gangetic Plain'. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
46. ^Kishore 2008, p. 65.
47. ^Singh 1975, p. 4.
48. ^Pandey 1989, p. 13.
49. ^Singh & Rana 2002, p. 27.
50. ^'Is River Ganges drying in Varanasi'. Aninews.in. Archived from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
51. ^'Ganges receding despite rainfall'. The Australian. 1 June 2011.
52. ^'Varanasi Climatological Table Period: 1971–2000'. India Meteorological Department. Archived from the original on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
53. ^'Ever recorded Maximum and minimum temperatures up to 2010'(PDF). India Meteorological Department. Archived from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2015.CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)
54. ^ ^ab'CONSTITUTIONAL SETUP'. Government of Uttar Pradesh. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
55. ^Maheshwari, S.R. (2000). Indian Administration (6th Edition). New Delhi: Orient Blackswan Private Ltd. pp. 563–572. ISBN9788125019886.
56. ^Singh, G.P. (1993). Revenue administration in India: A case study of Bihar. Delhi: Mittal Publications. pp. 26–129. ISBN978-8170993810.
57. ^Laxmikanth, M. (2014). Governance in India (2nd Edition). Noida: McGraw Hill Education. pp. 5.1–5.2. ISBN978-9339204785.
58. ^'Role and Functions of Divisional Commissioner'. Your Article Library. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
59. ^ ^ab'Contact Details Of Commissioners and District Magistrates Of U.P.'Department of Home and Confidential, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
60. ^ ^abजिलाधिकारी/मंडलायुक्त की सूची [List of District Magistrates and Divisional Commissioners]. Department of Appointments and Personnel, Government of Uttar Pradesh (in Hindi). Archived from the original on 11 July 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
61. ^ ^ab'Contact us'(PDF). Varanasi District website. Archived(PDF) from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
62. ^Maheshwari, S.R. (2000). Indian Administration (6th Edition). New Delhi: Orient Blackswan Private Ltd. pp. 573–597. ISBN9788125019886.
63. ^Laxmikanth, M. (2014). Governance in India (2nd Edition). Noida: McGraw Hill Education. pp. 6.1–6.6. ISBN978-9339204785.
64. ^Singh, G.P. (1993). Revenue administration in India: A case study of Bihar. Delhi: Mittal Publications. pp. 50–124. ISBN978-8170993810.
65. ^'Powers Of District Magistrate in India'. Important India. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
66. ^'Officers posted at Varanasi Zone'. Uttar Pradesh Police. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
67. ^'Officers posted at Varanasi Range'. Uttar Pradesh Police. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
68. ^ ^abc'Officers posted at VARANASI'. Uttar Pradesh Police. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
69. ^'VDA Board Members'. Varanasi Development Authority (in Hindi). Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
70. ^'List of IAS officers who are Vice Chairman of Development Authorities'. Department of Appointment and Personnel, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
71. ^'PCS OFFICERS (Posted as HOD)'. Department of Appointment and Personnel, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
72. ^Academy, p. 21.
73. ^'Elections 2014: Narendra Modi wins Varanasi by a massive margin of 3.37 lakh votes'. The Economic Times. 16 March 2014.
74. ^'Annual Health Survey 2010–2011'Archived 7 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine (11 mb PDF). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India (2011).
75. ^https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/cover-story/tata-memorial-will-run-railways-cancer-hospital-in-varanasi/articleshow/61095336.cms
76. ^SusrutaArchived 9 April 2008 at the Wayback MachineThe Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909, v. 2, p. 570.
77. ^'faculty of Ayurveda'. Banaras Hindu University. Archived from the original on 2 March 2015.
78. ^'Sparsa Ayurvedic Centre'. ayurveda.in. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015.
79. ^ ^abMohanty 1993, p. 316-7.
80. ^Mohiuddin, Yasmeen (2010). 'News The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale'. fore.yale.edu. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
81. ^Hamner, Steve; Tripathi, Anshuman; Mishra, Rajesh Kumar; Bouskill, Nik; Broadaway, Susan C.; Pyle, Barry H.; Ford, Timothy E. (2006). 'The role of water use patterns and sewage pollution in incidence of water-borne/enteric diseases along the Ganges river in Varanasi, India'. International Journal of Environmental Health Research. 16 (2): 113–132. doi:10.1080/09603120500538226. ISSN0960-3123. PMID16546805.
82. ^Sharma, Rajesh Kumar; Agrawal, Madhoolika; Marshall, Fiona M. (2008). 'Heavy metal (Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb) contamination of vegetables in urban India: A case study in Varanasi'. Environmental Pollution. 154 (2): 254–263. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2007.10.010. ISSN0269-7491.
83. ^Sharma, R. K.; Agrawal, M.; Marshall, F. (2006). 'Heavy Metal Contamination in Vegetables Grown in Wastewater Irrigated Areas of Varanasi, India'. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 77 (2): 312–318. doi:10.1007/s00128-006-1065-0. ISSN0007-4861.
84. ^Kumar Sharma, Rajesh; Agrawal, Madhoolika; Marshall, Fiona (2007). 'Heavy metal contamination of soil and vegetables in suburban areas of Varanasi, India'. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. 66 (2): 258–266. doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2005.11.007. ISSN0147-6513.
85. ^ ^abSingh, Kunwar P; Mohan, Dinesh; Sinha, Sarita; Dalwani, R (2004). 'Impact assessment of treated/untreated wastewater toxicants discharged by sewage treatment plants on health, agricultural, and environmental quality in the wastewater disposal area'. Chemosphere. 55 (2): 227–255. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2003.10.050. ISSN0045-6535. PMID14761695.
86. ^Bhargava, Gopal (25 October 2000). 'Scheme for Varanasi'. The Tribune. India. Archived from the original on 12 September 2006.
87. ^'Waste Generation and Composition'. Management of municipal solid wastes. Planning Division, Central Pollution Control Board. Archived from the original on 17 July 2006. Retrieved 18 August 2006.
88. ^'Status of landfill sites in 59 cities'. Management of municipal solid wastes. Planning Division, Central Pollution Control Board. Archived from the original on 17 July 2006. Retrieved 18 August 2006.
89. ^ ^ab'Urban Agglomerations/Cities having population 1 lakh and above'(PDF). Provisional Population Totals, Census of India 2011. Archived(PDF) from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
90. ^'Urban Agglomerations/Cities having population of more than one million in 2001'. Census of India 2001 (Provisional). Office of the Registrar General, India. 25 July 2001. Archived from the original on 23 December 2006. Retrieved 18 August 2006.
91. ^ ^abc'Population, Population in the age group 0–6 and literates by sex – Urban Agglomeration/Town: 2001'(PDF). Census of India 2001 (Provisional). Office of the Registrar General, India. pp. 53–54. Archived from the original on 23 December 2006. Retrieved 17 August 2006.
92. ^'Slum Population in Million Plus Cities (Municipal Corporations): Part A'. Census of India 2001 (Provisional). Office of the Registrar General, India. 22 January 2002. Archived from the original on 23 December 2006. Retrieved 18 August 2006.
93. ^ ^abcJNNURM 2006, p. 29.
94. ^JNNURM 2006, p. 28.
95. ^ ^abcJNNURM 2006, p. 31.
96. ^ ^abJNNURM 2006, p. 29-31.
97. ^Warikoo 2010, p. 192.
98. ^Wood 2011, p. 113.
99. ^Human Rights Watch 1996, p. 82.
100. ^'About Bharat'. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited. Archived from the original on 11 June 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
101. ^Mitra 2002, p. 117, 169.
102. ^JNNURM 2006, p. 57.
103. ^ ^abJNNURM 2006, p. 56.
104. ^ ^abJNNURM 2006, p. 58.
105. ^'IHG debuts in Varanasi with Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels'. The Economic Times.
106. ^'Bank, Post & Telegraph'. Uttar Pradesh Tourism. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
107. ^'Alphabetical List of Monuments – Uttar Pradesh'. Archaeological Survey of India. Archived from the original on 8 May 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
108. ^'DEO Varanasi'. Tourist Information:Places of Interest. Varanasi District Administration by National Informatics center. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011.
109. ^'18th Century Observatories of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II'. Hardwick University. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
110. ^ ^ab'Lonely Planet review for Ramnagar Fort & Museum'. Lonely Planet. Archived from the original on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
111. ^Mitra 2002, pp. 124–127.
112. ^'Ganga & ghats'. National Informatics Centre. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
113. ^'Ghats of Benares, 1–20'. National Informatics Centre. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
114. ^ ^abc'Ghats of Varanasi, 41 to 60'. National Informatics Centre. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
115. ^'Ghats of Benares, 61 to 84'. National Informatics Centre. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
116. ^Bansal 2008, pp. 34–35.
117. ^'Brief description'. Benaras Hindu University website. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
118. ^ ^abcde'Important temples of Varanasi'. National Informatics Centre. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
119. ^Shrikala Warrier (December 2014). Kamandalu: The Seven Sacred Rivers of Hinduism. MAYUR University. pp. 57–. ISBN978-0-9535679-7-3. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018.
120. ^ ^ab'The religious route'. The Times of India. 3 April 2003. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
121. ^'Shri Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Varanasi'. National Informatics Centre, Government of India. Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 4 February 2007.
122. ^'Temples of Varnasi'. Varanasi Official website. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010.
123. ^ ^ab'Blasts in Sankatmochan temple and railway station kill dozen, several injured'. The Indian Express. 8 March 2006.
124. ^Callewaert 2000, p. 90.
125. ^'Varanasi temple gets permanent police post'. The Indian Express. 14 March 2006.
126. ^'Nag Panchami celebrated with religious fervour'. The Times of India. 24 July 2012. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
127. ^Out 2010, p. 259.
128. ^Desai 2003, p. 23.
129. ^Limited 2002, p. 95.
130. ^Betts & McCulloch 2013, p. 108.
131. ^Asher 1992, p. 278.
132. ^'VHP game in Benares, with official blessings'. Frontline. S. Rangarajan for Kasturi & Sons. 12 (14–19): 14. 1995. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014.
133. ^Crowther, Raj & Wheeler 1984.
134. ^Dunlop, Sykes & Jackson 2001, p. 135.
135. ^ ^abKumar 2003, p. 90.
136. ^ ^abcBetts & McCulloch 2013, p. 213.
137. ^Hussain 1999, p. 342.
138. ^Shetty 2014, p. 73.
139. ^Fodor's essential India : with Delhi, Rajasthan, Mumbai & Kerala. New York: Fodor's. 2015. ISBN978-1-101-87868-2.
140. ^Vit-Suzan 2014, p. 11.
141. ^'Mayawati fails to pay visit to Ravidas' birth place — Feb 21,2008'. outlookindia.com. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
142. ^'Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir Seer Govardhanpur, Varanasi (U.P.)'. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015.
143. ^ ^ab'Sarnath – The First Teachings'. Buddhist studies. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
144. ^The Indian EmpireArchived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback MachineThe Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909, v. 2, p. 262.
145. ^Sruti. P. N. Sundaresan. 1999.
146. ^Medhasananda 2002, p. 653.
147. ^ ^abKasbekar 2006, p. 126.
148. ^'Varanasi'. Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 November 2012. Archived from the original on 27 March 2015.
149. ^'Benares, the Eternal City'. Banaras Hindu University. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
150. ^Tiwari 2010, p. 9.
151. ^Uttar Pradesh, Govt. 'DEO Portal Varanasi'. District Varanasi. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014.
152. ^ ^ab'Varanasi Music'. Varanasi City.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
153. ^Broughton & Ellingham2000, p. 91.
154. ^Bruyn, Bain & Allardice 2010, p. 470.
155. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
156. ^ ^abUttar Pradesh Tourism. 'Fair and Festivals of Varanasi'. Uttar Pradesh Tourism. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
157. ^'Sankat Mochan Sangeet Samaroh from April 13'. The Times of India. 8 April 2009.
158. ^'Jasraj, Birju Maharaj enthral on first night'. The Times of India. 14 April 2009.
159. ^Pintchman 2005, pp. 69–70.
160. ^'Fairs and festivals'. National Informatics Centre. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
161. ^(India) 1965, p. 98.
162. ^Sukul1974, p. 262.
163. ^Sharma 1995, p. 191.
164. ^Gupta 2006, p. 41.
165. ^Kumar Yadav, Mithilesh (14 June 2011). 'From ancient to modern'. Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
166. ^'About US'. St. Joseph's Convent School organization. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
167. ^Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Correspondence and Select Documents: Volume Seventeen. Presidency Period January 1954 to December 1955. Allied Publishers. 1984. pp. 1–. ISBN978-81-7023-002-1.
168. ^'CHS Varanasi'. varanasi.org.in. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
169. ^ ^abcdefghHiroshi Sasaki. 'School Choice and Divided Primary Education: Case Study of Varanasi, UP State, India'Archived 15 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine (PDF). Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies no. 16 (October 2004): 17–39.
170. ^'Varanasi team scores big win'. The Hindu. Chennai, India. 9 November 2005. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
171. ^'Dr Sampurnanda Stadium, Varanasi'. The Cricketer. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
172. ^'Department of Physical Education'. Banaras Hindu University. Archived from the original on 7 June 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
173. ^Tiwari 2010, p. 47.
174. ^Naskar, Sudhiti (4 July 2014). 'The river where swimming lessons can be a health hazard'. BBC News. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
175. ^'Varanasi District Chess Sports Association'. Varanasi District Chess Sports Association. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
176. ^'DEO Varanasi'. Tourist Information How to Reach page. Varanasi District Administration by National Informatics center. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011.
177. ^Mitra 2002, p. 195.
178. ^'Varanasi airport'. Archived from the original on 29 March 2017.
179. ^'Cabinet Grants International Status to Five Airports'. Outlook India. 4 October 2012. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
180. ^'Varanasi Airport'. Flight Stats. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
181. ^'With mercury soaring, Kashi is still 'hot' destination'. The Times of India. 11 May 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
182. ^'19057/Udhna(Surat) – Varanasi Bholenagari Express'. Indian Railways. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
183. ^'Kashi V Express (14258) Running Train Status'. Indian Railways. Archived from the original on 16 August 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
184. ^'24228/Varuna Express'. Indian Railways. Archived from the original on 8 September 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
185. ^'Varanasi: Big budget projects galore in PM Narendra Modi's constituency'. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017.
186. ^ ^abBruyn, Bain & Allardice 2010, p. 467.
187. ^'DPR of Varanasi Metro Rail Project approved – Times of India'. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
188. ^'Varanasi Metro Rail Project — Metro Rail News'. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
189. ^Kanpur, Varanasi metro rail projects could start by December 2016Archived 20 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine
190. ^'Varanasi Metro — Centre approves Varanasi Metro Rail Project plan — Metro Rail News'. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
191. ^Som, Vishnu (30 August 2014). 'To Rejuvenate Indian Cities, PM Modi Takes First Step With Japan'. NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014.

Bibliography

• Academy, Students'. Banaras (Varanasi) – The City of Gods. Lulu.com. ISBN978-0-557-91475-3.
• Asher, Catherine Blanshard (24 September 1992). Architecture of Mughal India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-26728-1.
• Betts, Vanessa; McCulloch, Victoria (27 September 2013). India – The North: Forts, Palaces, the Himalaya Dream Trip. Footprint Travel Guides. ISBN978-1-907263-74-3.
• Broughton, Simon; Ellingham, Mark (2000). World Music: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific. Rough Guides. ISBN978-1-85828-636-5.
• Corp, Real (2007). CORP 007 Proceedings. Lulu.com. ISBN978-3-9502139-3-5.
• Bansal, Sunita Pant (2008). Hindu Pilgrimage. Teertha. Pustak Mahal. pp. 6–9, 34–35. ISBN9788122309973.
• Berwick, Dennison (1986). A Walk Along The Ganges. Dennison Berwick. ISBN978-0-7137-1968-0.
• Betts, Vanessa; McCulloch, Victoria (30 October 2013). Delhi to Kolkata Footprint Focus Guide. Footprint Travel Guides. ISBN978-1-909268-40-1.
• Bindloss, Joe; Brown, Lindsay; Elliott, Mark (2007). Northeast India. Lonely Planet. ISBN978-1-74179-095-5.
• Bruyn, Pippa de; Bain, Keith; Allardice, David (18 February 2010). Frommer's India. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN978-0-470-64580-2.
• City Development Plan for Varanasi(PDF). Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. 2006. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 February 2014.
• Callewaert, Winand M. (2000). Banaras: vision of a living ancient tradition. Hemkunt Press. p. 90. ISBN81-7010-302-9.
• Cunningham, Alexander; Sastri, Surendranath Majumdar (2002) [1924]. Ancient Geography of India. Munshiram Manoharlal. ISBN81-215-1064-3.
• Crowther, Geoff; Raj, Prakash A.; Wheeler, Tony (1984). India, a Travel Survival Kit. Lonely Planet.
• Das, G. N. (1991). Couplets from Kabīr. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN978-81-208-0935-2.
• Desai, Madhuri (2003). 'Mosques, Temples, and Orientalists: Hegemonic Imaginations in Banaras'(PDF). Traditional Dwellings and Settlements. XV (1).
• Dunlop, Fiona; Sykes, Carol; Jackson, Felicity (2001). Fodor's Exploring India. Fodor's Travel Publications. ISBN978-0-679-00707-4.
• Eck, Diana L. (1982). Banaras, City of Light. Columbia University Press. ISBN978-0-231-11447-9.
• Gandhi, Surjit Singh (2007). History of Sikh Gurus Retold: 1469–1606 C.E. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN978-81-269-0857-8.
• Gupta, Amita (2006). Early Childhood Education, Postcolonial Theory, and Teaching Practices in India: Balancing Vygotsky and the Veda. Macmillan. ISBN978-1-4039-7114-2.
• Gupta, Shobhna (2003). Monuments of India. Har-Anand Publications. p. 11. ISBN978-81-241-0926-7.
• Herman, A. L. (1999). Community, Violence, and Peace: Aldo Leopold, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Gautama the Buddha in the Twenty-First Century. SUNY Press. p. 153. ISBN978-0-7914-3983-8.
• Hussain, Ansar (1 January 1999). Rediscovery of India, The: A New Subcontinent. Orient Blackswan. ISBN978-81-250-1595-6.
• (India), Uttar Pradesh (1965). Uttar Pradesh district gazetteers. Govt. of Uttar Pradesh.
• Jayaswal, Vidula (2009). Ancient Varanasi: an archaeological perspective (excavations at Aktha). Aryan Books International. ISBN978-81-7305-355-9.
• Kasbekar, Asha (2006). Pop Culture India!: Media, Arts, And Lifestyle. ABC-CLIO. ISBN978-1-85109-636-7.
• Kishore, Kaushal (2008). Holy Ganga. Rupa Publications. ISBN978-81-291-3328-1.
• Kochhar, Atul (4 June 2015). Benares: Michelin Starred Cooking. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN978-1-4729-2078-2.
• Kramrisch, Stella (1946). The Hindu Temple. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN978-81-208-0223-0.
• Kumar, Brajesh (2003). Pilgrimage Centres of India. Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd. ISBN978-81-7182-185-3.
• Limited, Eicher Goodearth (2002). Good Earth Varanasi City Guide. Eicher Goodearth Limited. ISBN978-81-87780-04-5.
• Medhasananda (2002). Varanasi at the crossroads: a panoramic view of early modern Varanasi and the story of its transition. Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture. ISBN978-81-87332-18-3.
• Mellor, Ronald; Podany, Amanda H. (2005). The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources and Reference Volume. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-522220-3.
• Melton, J. Gordon (1 January 2007). The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena. Visible Ink Press. ISBN978-1-57859-209-8.
• Melton, J. Gordon; Baumann, Martin (2010). Religions of the World, Second Edition: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices. ABC-CLIO. ISBN978-1-59884-204-3.
• Merriam-Webster (1999). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Merriam-Webster. ISBN978-0-87779-044-0.
• Misra, Jaishree (2007). Rani. Penguin Books India. ISBN978-0-14-310210-6.
• Mitra, Swati (2002). Good Earth Varanasi City Guide. Eicher Goodearth Limited. ISBN978-81-87780-04-5.
• Mohanty, Bidyut (1993). Urbanisation in Developing Countries: Basic Services and Community Participation. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN978-81-7022-475-4.
• Out, Time (2010). Time Out India: Perfect Places to Stay, Eat and Explore. Time Out Guides Ltd. ISBN978-1-84670-164-1.
• Pandey, K. N. (1989). Adoption of Agricultural Innovations: A Study of Small and Marginal Farmers of Varanasi, U.P. Northern Book Centre. ISBN978-81-85119-68-7.
• Pintchman, Tracy (2005). Guests at God's Wedding: Celebrating Kartik among the Women of Benares. SUNY Press. ISBN978-0-7914-8256-8.
• Pletcher, Kenneth (2010). The Geography of India: Sacred and Historic Places. The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN978-1-61530-142-3.
• Prakash, Satya (1981). Cultural Contours of India: Dr. Satya Prakash Felicitation Volume. Abhinav Publications. ISBN978-0-391-02358-1.
• Ray, Satyajit (2003). Adventures of Feluda : Mystery of the El. Penguin Books India. ISBN978-0-14-333574-0.
• Schreitmüller, Karen (2012). Baedeker India. Baedeker. ISBN978-3-8297-6622-7.
• Shackley, Myra (2001). Managing Sacred Sites: Service Provision and Visitor Experience. Cengage Learning EMEA. ISBN978-1-84480-107-7.
• Sharma, Urmila; Sharma, S.K. (2001). Indian Political Thought. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN978-81-7156-678-5.
• Sharma, Virendra Nath (1995). Sawai Jai Singh And His Astronomy. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN978-81-208-1256-7.
• Singh, Ram Bali (1975). Rajput Clan-settlements in Varanasi District. National Geographical Society of India. OCLC4702795.
• Singh, Rana (2 October 2009). Banaras: Making of India’s Heritage City. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN978-1-4438-1579-6.
• Singh; Rana, Pravin S. (2002). Banaras region: a spiritual & cultural guide. Indica Books. ISBN9788186569245.
• Singh, Sarina (2009). India. Lonely Planet. ISBN978-1-74179-151-8.
• The Small Hands of Slavery: Bonded Child Labor in India. Human Rights Watch. 1996. ISBN978-1-56432-172-5.
• Tiwari, Reena (2010). Space-Body-Ritual: Performativity in the City. Lexington Books. ISBN978-0-7391-2857-2.
• Twain, Mark (1897). 'L'. Following the Equator: A journey around the world. Hartford, Connecticut, American Pub. Co. ISBN0-404-01577-8. OCLC577051. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
• Vera, Zak (2010). Invisible River: Sir Richard's Last Mission. AuthorHouse. ISBN978-1-4389-0020-9.
• Wilder-Smith, Annelies; Shaw, Marc; Schwartz, Eli (2012). Travel Medicine: Tales Behind the Science. Routledge. ISBN978-0-08-045359-0.
• Sukul, Kuber Nath (1974). Varanasi Down The Ages. Kameshwar Nath Sukul.
• Warikoo, K. (1 November 2010). Religion and Security in South and Central Asia. Routledge. ISBN978-1-136-89020-8.
• Wood, Jolie M.F. (2011). 'Contentious politics and civil society in Varanasi'. In Ajay Gudavarthy (ed.). Re-framing Democracy and Agency at India: Interrogating Political Society. Anthem Press. ISBN978-0-85728-350-4.
• Vit-Suzan, Dr Ilan (28 March 2014). Architectural Heritage Revisited: A Holistic Engagement of its Tangible and Intangible Constituents. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN978-1-4724-2064-0.

Further reading

• Banks, Marcus; Morphy, Howard (1999). Rethinking Visual Anthropology. Yale University Press. ISBN978-0-300-07854-1.
• Kara, Siddharth (2010). Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. Columbia University Press. ISBN978-0-231-13961-8.
• Mukherjee, Neela (2002). Alternative Perspectives on Livelihood, Agriculture and Air Pollution. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN978-81-7022-986-5.
• Partridge, Christopher Hugh (2005). Introduction to World Religions. Fortress Press. ISBN978-0-8006-3714-9.
• Shetty, Rekha (1 May 2014). Innovation Sutra: The Secret of Good Business and a Good Life. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN978-93-5118-696-0.
• Singh (2007). Longman Panorama History 7. Pearson Education India. ISBN978-81-317-1175-0.
• Trayler, Richard (2010). Life Is Short..Compared to Eternity. Xulon Press. ISBN978-1-61215-343-8.

External links

• Varanasi at Curlie
• Banaras Bibliography at the Südasien-Institut, Heidelberg University