25/06/2017
Avimukti, Anandvana, Rudravas, Mahashmshaan, Jitvari, Sudarshanpuri, Brahmavardhan, Ramnagar, Malini, Pushpavati, Kashi, Banaras, Muhammadabad, Benares, Varanasi, etc. The oldest continuously inhabited city of the world has many names throughout history witnessed by mankind. Mark Twain quoted "Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together".
Contemporary knowledge about naming Kashi alternatively as Varanasi is partially incorrect. The name Varanasi, in ancient times, was to point the capital of the Kingdom of Kashi. The etymology of Varanasi is based on the two rivers - Varuna and Asi flowing through the city. Alternatively, the city's etymology can be derived from two words - Varan and Nasi which means a city that destroys the blasphemies and immoral activities caused by people.
The holy Hindu city of Varanasi (as it is called at present) is located in the northern province of Uttar Pradesh (literally, northern province) neighbouring the districts of Chandauli in the east, Mirzapur in the south, Sant Ravidas Nagar (Bhadohi) in the west, Jaunpur and Ghazipur in the north. Historically, the districts of Sant Ravidas Nagar, Chandauli and Varanasi together comprised the district of Benares and was administrated under the British province of United Provinces of Agra & Oudh or simply United Provinces (1902 - 1921). But the city has its history mentioned in scriptures dating back to the era of Mahabharata (or maybe even before that). The city had always been known as the Kingdom of Kashi, which was one of the 16 great kingdoms of the A***n tribe (between 8th to 6th centuries BC). It was this time when the entire city was known as Anandvana, a region covered with slender kasha grass (the origin of the name Kashi), lushed with silver and groves and gardens filled with bees. Kashi was divided into 5 forest tracts and covered with lakes and streams draining into each other.
Kashi has been the centre of Hinduis and Mahayana Buddhism and it was here where the development of these religions started. It was Kashi where Gautama Buddha delivered his first sermon adter achieving enlightenment (more technically, this place is now called as Sarnath which is in the Varanasi district). During this era, the city was called as Sudarshanpuri or Pushpavati. Kashi has been the place of residence of innumerable famous personalities, among which are the grammarian Patanjali (mid 2nd century BC), the philosopher Shankara (8th century AD), the emperor Ashoka (268 BC - 232 BC) etc. Kashi can be literally chalked out as the birthplace of Buddhism following which ancient empires such as Mauryas, Kushans, Guptas etc. evolved throughout the subcontinent. In the 13th century AD, the epic Hindu poet Tulsidas (1511 - 1623) adapted the Sanskrit version of Ramayana into Ramcharitmanas in Avadhi language in the year 1574.
The first Islamic appearance over Kashi took place in the year 1194, when Qutbuddin Aibak (1150 - 1210, the founder of the Mamluk Dynasty) raided Rajghat Fort and demolished the city's temples. Kashi suffered severe losses following the conquests of the Sharqis (or the Jaunpur Sultanate; 1394 - 1479) and the Lodis (1451 - 1526) who constructed mosques in the city. The emergence of the Mughal Empire during the reign of Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar (1542 - 1605) resorted a temporary phase of peace when his ministers Man Singh and Todar Mal renovated the destroyed temples and restorated their architectures. But after the inheritance of throne by his great grandson Aurangzeb in 1658, the city came again under a tyrannical rule and was renamed as Muhammadabad. Aurangzeb erected mosques amongs after raizing the temples, most famous of which is the Alamgir Mosque or Aurangzeb Mosque (est. 1673), still visible between the Panchganga and Durga Ghats.
The name 'Banaras' came into being during the Islamic rule where the Muslims referred to the city with this name. The origin of the word 'Banaras' could either be the corruption of the original Sanskrit name 'Varanasi' or an incorrect pronounciation by the Bengalis living there (as they use 'B' instead of 'V') who referred the city as Benarasi.
Saadat Ali Khan became the ruler of Awadh in the year 1722 and expanded the province to the eastern territories of Banaras, Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Chunar. Banaras was occupied by feudal lords who, due to the weakening of the Muslim rulers, declared themselves as the Maharajas of Banaras between 1739 to 1760. The province of Awadh was annexed by the English East India Company who recognised the status of Banaras as a family dominion. The city was now spelled as Benares during the British Raj and thus the Kingdom of Banaras was established in the year 1740. The king of Banaras, known as Kashi Naresh, ruled areas such as Chandauli, Gyanpur, Chakia, Latifshah, parts of Mirzapur, Nandeshwar, Mint House and Vindhyachal. These regions are presently part of Sant Ravidas Nagar, Chandauli and Mirzapur districts. The remaining region of Benares was under direct British rule, named as Benares. Thus, the Princely State of Benares was at present the districts of Sant Ravidas Nagar and Chandauli and parts of Mirzapur while the present Varanasi district was ruled by the British. Benares got its statehood in 1911 and continued to remain so till 1948. The capital of State of Benares was at Ramnagar Fort, which continues to be the residence of the royal lineage. The city was officially renamed to its origianal Sanskrit name of Varanasi in 1956.
Innumerable books and articles have been published on Varanasi throughout time immemoriable. The city has ghats (riverfronts on the bank of River Ganga), temples, churches, mosques, forts; its famous for its narrow gullies or lanes; the food which attracts people from the entire world; a tourist destination where one would find a sound number of foreigners adapting the Banarasi style. The city is a different world in itself and one reaches out to Varanasi for salvation and inner peace. It's the holiest city for Hindus in the world, one of the key piligrimage site which is a mandatory visit by Hindus, either during their life or after their death.
Varanasi is also a hub of filmmaking and quite a large number of Indian films have been shot here. Aparajito (1956), Ghatak (1996), Chokher Bali (2003), Banaras (2006), Water (2005), Raanjhanaa (2013), Mukti Bhawan (2016) etc. The city has a lot to offer from its culture and history and an undying connection of mankind to the universe.
