The eternal city on the Ganges — dawn ghats, sacred fires, kachori-sabzi at sunrise, and thandai poured in earthen cups for 3,000 years
Varanasi (also known as Banaras or Kashi) is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities — scholars estimate settlement since at least the 11th century BCE, making it older than Rome, Athens, or Jerusalem. It is the spiritual capital of Hinduism: Hindus believe that dying in Varanasi guarantees moksha (liberation from the cycle of rebirth), and the city's burning ghats (Manikarnika and Harishchandra) have operated continuously for thousands of years. The ghats — 84 stone staircases descending to the Ganges along a 6.5-km riverfront arc — are the heart of daily life: pilgrims bathe…
Varanasi has been a centre of learning and philosophy for 3,000 years — the Buddha delivered his first sermon after his enlightenment at Sarnath, just 10 km northeast of the city, around 528 BCE. The city was sacked and its temples demolished repeatedly by Mughal forces, most devastatingly by Aurangzeb in 1669, who built a mosque (the Gyanvapi Mosque) directly atop the demolished Vishwanath temple — still a contested site. The current Kashi Vishwanath Temple was rebuilt in 1780 by Maratha Queen Ahilyabai Holkar. Varanasi is also the home of classical Hindustani music (the Banaras gharana) and…