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The Old City Varanasi
The old city of Varanasi is a maze of buildings and narrow streets that run along the length of the bathing ghats.
Temples, shrines, dormitory for pilgrims, shops, restaurants and hotels crowd the cramped spaces of the city. All over the city are Shivalingam shrines, nestled in corners here and there. None of these lingams are neglected. Every day a devotee will place a new flower on each lingam and perform a short worship.
Chants of of Om Namashivaya and Hare Rama, Hare Krishna reverberate through this ancient city.
The streets of this city is just wide enough for two people to walk shoulder to shoulder. In the old city of Varanasi a trafffic jam happens when cows block the road!
Window shopping is a fun past time in the old city. There are all sorts of shops selling devotional items to textiles. Indeed apart from being a spiritual hotspot it also used to be part of the ancient silk road where goods from all over India were collected and traded with merchants plying the route.
Varanasi is known for its silk and textiles. Apart from that Hindu religious paraphernalia are abundantly found. There are also plenty of yoga and meditation centers here catering both for the traditional guru-sishya discipleship and Western crowd.
Benares Hindu University
Varanasi has a few names, the most ancient name is Kashi, the City of Lights. After the muslims invaded they renamed the city Banaras. After India's independence the city was renamed Varanasi. Varanasi has always been a center of learning. Guru's organized ashrams and pundits held lectures and talks in buildings in the old city. One of the most famous teaching institutions of ancient times was the Nalanda University, that was a center for Buddisht learning. This place was unfortunately destroyed by the marauding Mughals.
In the early 1900, the Banaras Hindu University was conceived by Pundit Madan Mohan Malaviya. The Maharaja of Varanasi and the famous theosophist Anne Besant were also instrumental in founding the University. The then Maharaja of Varanasi donated large piece of land in the outskirts of Varanasi for the university. Today this university is among the largest in India and is highly reputed. The large campus of the Banaras Hindu University houses the majestic and large (New) Vishwanath Temple and also has the largest campus library in India.
Entering the Benaras Hindu University Campus. A popular mode of transport here and in the rest of Varanasi are cycle rickshaws.
The Sayajirao Gaekwad Library in the Campus has a collection of over 300,000 books and documents.
The Vision of Pundit Madan Mohan Malaviya for the University:
"Spread of Knowledge and the re-establishment of spirituality (Dharma) as the base of social intercourse are the prerequisites for India to gain its lost glory, prosperity and vigour".
The (new) Vishwanath temple in the Banaras Hindu University grounds. This large spacious temple has two stories with large halls. In the middle, under the tall spire or vimana is a large Shiva Lingam. It is called the new Vishwanath Temple to distinguish it from the ancient Kashi Vishwanath temple that is in the old city of Varanasi. Unlike the older Kashi Vishwanath temple that admits only Hindus, this temple is open to all people.
The vimana (spire) of this temple is said to be the tallest in India.
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