Banaras

One of the oldest living cities in the world, Banaras is the holy place of the Hindus, as significant to them as Jerusalem is to Jews and Christians and Mecca is to Muslims. Referred to by Hindus as Kashi (the Luminous), the city is visited by pilgrims from all over India, who come to bathe in the Ganges -- many, indeed, to die on its sacred banks. Basing her work on Sanskrit texts and on her experience of the city itself, Diana L. Eck analyzes the art and architecture, geography, history, and anthropology of Banaras and describes its elaborate and thriving rituals, its myths and literature,…