Visit Varanasi (Banaras), India (HD), Varanasi - India Tourism Travel Videos HD, World Travel Guide http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=World1Tube Varanasi is an Indian city on the banks of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh, 320 kilometres (200 mi) southeast of the state capital, Lucknow. It is the holiest of the seven sacred cities (Sapta Puri) in Hinduism, Ravidassia religion and Jainism, and played an important role in the development of Buddhism. Some Hindus believe that death at Varanasi brings salvation.[4] It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Varanasi is also known as the favourite city of the Hindu deity Lord Shiva as it has been mentioned in the Rigveda that this city at older times was known as Kashi or "Shiv ki Nagri". The temples and religious institutions in the city now are dated to the 18th century. The Kashi Naresh (Maharaja of Kashi) is the chief cultural patron of Varanasi, and an essential part of all religious celebrations. The culture of Varanasi is closely associated with the Ganges. The city has been a cultural center of North India for several thousand years, and has a history that is older than most of the major world religions. The Benares Gharana form of Hindustani classical music was developed in Varanasi, and many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers, and musicians live or have lived in Varanasi. Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath located near Varanasi. Varanasi is the spiritual capital of India. Scholarly books have been written in the city, including the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas. Today there is a temple of his namesake in the city, the Tulsi Manas Mandir. One of the largest residential universities of Asia the Banaras Hindu University is located here. Varanasi is often referred to as "the holy city of India", "the religious capital of India", "the city of shiva", and "the city of learning". Varanasi, India Culture ================ Varanasi has an own culture of fine art and literature. Renowned Indian writers have lived in the city: Kabir, Ravidas and Tulsidas, who wrote much of his Ram Charit Manas here, Kulluka Bhatt, who wrote the best known commentary of Manusmṛti here in the 15th century,[96] and Bharatendu Harishchandra. Later writers have included Jaishankar Prasad, Acharya Shukla, Munshi Premchand, Jagannath Prasad Ratnakar, Devaki Nandan Khatri, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Tegh Ali, Kshetresa Chandra Chattopadhyaya, Vagish Shastri, Baldev Upadhyaya, Sudama Pandey (Dhoomil) and Vidya Niwas Mishra. Several newspapers and journals are or were published in Varanasi such as Varanasi Chandroday and its successor Kashivartaprakashika, initially a fortnightly, which later became a weekly journal, first published on 1 June 1851. The main newspaper is Aj, a Hindi-language nationalist newspaper first published in 1920.[98] The newspaper was the bulwark of the Indian National Congress and today is still a major newspaper of Hindi northern India.[98] Art lovers and historians like Rai Krishnadasa, his son Anand Krishna, musicians Omkarnath Thakur, Ravi Shankar, Bismillah Khan, Girija Devi, Siddheshwari Devi, Lalmani Misra and his son Gopal Shankar Misra,Thakur Rajbhan Singh, N. Rajam, Anokhelal Mishra, Samta Prasad, Kanthe Maharaj, Sitara Devi, Gopi Krishna, Kishan Maharaj, Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Chhannulal Mishra and numerous others have kept the city alive to the spiritual aspect of fine arts in addition to their ability to entertain. Numerous festivals are celebrated that preserve traditional styles of classical and folk culture. All night, open music concerts like those organised at Sankat Mochan Temple, Hori, Kajari, Chaiti Mela, and Budwa Mangal, are annual features that draw connoisseurs from near and far. Varanasi is the hub of arts and crafts, particularly silks and brocades with gold and silver thread work, carpet weaving (with a carpet-weaving centre at Bhadoi), wooden toys, bangles made of glass, ivory work, perfumes, artistic brass and copper ware and a variety of handicrafts. The former cantonment graveyard during British Raj is now the location of Varanasi's Arts and Crafts.

• published: 27 Jun 2014
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