Varanasi is a city which is sacred to Hindus and also one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Varanasi is located on the Delhi - Kolkata route on the banks of the great River Ganges. The city is based on the banks of tributaries of the Ganges, the Varuna and Asi rivers that is why its name is Varanasi.
Varanasi also known as Benares or Banaras and Kashi.
Its original name Kashi comes from Kasha meaning the place of sacred light. The other name Benares might have been either a corruption of Varanasi by the British or from the Pali version of the word Varanasi to Baranasi to Benares. It is one of the seven sacred cities of the Hindus and home to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, the holiest of the Hindu shrines.Varanasi, the city of shiva, is one of the holiest cities in India. Hindu pilgrims come wash here to wash away their sins in Ganges. Life in the city of Varanasi revolves around its over one hundred Ghats (river landings). The River Ganga flows from north to south, and the city forms a circular shape from the Asi ghat in the south up to the confluence of the Varuna river with the Ganga.
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