Banaras: CITY OF LIGHTKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2013 M06 5 - 432 pages The sacred city of Banāras on the River Ganges is one of the oldest living cities in the world—as old as Jerusalem, Athens, and Peking. It is the place where Shiva, the Lord of All, is said to have made his permanent home since the dawn of creation. There are few cities in India as traditionally Hindu and as symbolic of the whole of Hindu culture as Banāras. In this eloquent, finely observed study, Diana Eck shows how the city over the centuries has become a lens through which the Hindu vision of the world is precisely focused. She reveals the spiritual and historical resonance of this holy place where great sages such as the Buddha and Shankara were taught, where ashrams, palaces, and universities were built, where God has been imagined and imagined in a thousand ways. She describes the rites of its temples, the busy life of its riverfront, and the exuberance of its festivals. She tells how people travel from all over India to Banāras for the privilege of dying a good death here, for they believe that on the banks of the River Ganges where “the atmosphere of devotion is improbable in its strength,” it is possible to be released from the earthly round forever. In her account of the sacred history, geography, and art of the city, its elaborate and thriving rituals, its myths and literature, and its importance to pilgrims and seekers, Diana Eck uses her wealth of scholarship to make the Hindu tradition come powerfully alive so that we come to understand the meaning of this sacred city to the millions of believers who have been coming here for over 2,500 years. |
From inside the book
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... Himalayas, the home of the gods, in the North, to Cape Comorin or Kanya Kumari, where the Goddess dwells at the southernmost tip of the subcontinent. The land that stretches out between is a land of sacred hills, rivers, and cities ...
... Himalayas, the home of the gods, in the North, to Cape Comorin or Kanya Kumari, where the Goddess dwells at the southernmost tip of the subcontinent. The land that stretches out between is a land of sacred hills, rivers, and cities ...
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... Himalayan cave at Amarnath in Kashmir, Lord Shiva appeared as a linga of ice. In a dozen places from the Himalayas to the tip of Southern India, Shiva split the earth as a linga of fire. A number of places claim the glorious victory of ...
... Himalayan cave at Amarnath in Kashmir, Lord Shiva appeared as a linga of ice. In a dozen places from the Himalayas to the tip of Southern India, Shiva split the earth as a linga of fire. A number of places claim the glorious victory of ...
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... Himalayan North, Puri in the East, Rameshvaram in the South, and Dvaraka in the West. There are 108 “benches” or “seats” (pithas) of the Goddess, associated with the various parts of the body of the Goddess, each a manifestation of the ...
... Himalayan North, Puri in the East, Rameshvaram in the South, and Dvaraka in the West. There are 108 “benches” or “seats” (pithas) of the Goddess, associated with the various parts of the body of the Goddess, each a manifestation of the ...
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... Himalayas, the abode of the gods, and watered by the Ganges and the other rivers of heaven. In Banaras there is a modern temple called Bharat Mata, “Mother India,” containing no ordinary image in its sanctum, but rather a large relief ...
... Himalayas, the abode of the gods, and watered by the Ganges and the other rivers of heaven. In Banaras there is a modern temple called Bharat Mata, “Mother India,” containing no ordinary image in its sanctum, but rather a large relief ...
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... Himalayas at Kedara—right here in Kashi. And one may travel to the far South to Rarneshvaram on the island that stretches toward Shri Lanka—right here in Kashi. And even if one does not visit the sites of these transposed tirthas in ...
... Himalayas at Kedara—right here in Kashi. And one may travel to the far South to Rarneshvaram on the island that stretches toward Shri Lanka—right here in Kashi. And even if one does not visit the sites of these transposed tirthas in ...
Contents
AN INTRODUCTION | |
3 | |
6 | |
CITY OF ALL INDIA | |
CITY OF THE GOOD LIFE | |
APPENDIX I | |
The Shiva Lingas of Kdshi | |
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Common terms and phrases
Adi Keshava ancient Annapfirna ascetic auspicious Avimukta Avimukteshvara Banaras bathing Bhairava Bindu Bindu Madhava Brahma brahmin Buddha Buddhist called century city’s confluence cremation ground Dandapani darshana Dashashvamedha death deities Devi dharma divine Divodasa Durga earth famous festival flood flowers flowing Forest of Bliss Gahadavala ganas Ganesha Ganga Ganges Gauri ghdts goddess gods Gupta heaven Himalayas Hindu holy honored Jataka Jnana Vapi Kala Bhairava Kali Kashi Kashi Khanda Kcishi Kdshi Kedara Khanda King Krishna Kund liberation linga of light live located Lolarka Mahabharata Mahatmya Manikarnika Matsya Matsyodari moksha mosque Muslim myth Nikumbha North India Omkara one’s Panchakroshi Road Panchatirthi Parvati pilgrimage pilgrims popular Prayaga Purana Purcina Rama religious rites ritual river riverfront sacred city Sankata Sanskrit Shakti shrine sins Skanda story symbol tirthas tradition Tulsi Tulsi Das Varana Varanasi Vedas Vinayaka Vishnu Vishvanatha Temple Vishveshvara waters waxing fortnight worship yakshas yoginis