About Book
This Anthology of twenty essays represent the framework of Hindus holiest city, Banaras (varanasi) with respect to survey of Sanskrit sources, early mythology, nomenclature of various names, the geomantic outline of pilgrimage mandala and sacred journeys, the ganga ghats and the associated deities, death and cosmogony, symbol of death and related functionaries, death and digestion and related rituals, sivas universe and the cosmic order, Bhairava as the controlling lord, death rituals, ghosts, greed and sins, secret parlance of the ghatias (pandas), Hindu calendrical system and festivities, the five popular melas, cultural history and tourist attraction in sarnath, the celebration of Ramnagar Ramlila, use and practices of milk bovines, demographic profile in 1820s, awakening Hindu nationalism and role of educational institutions, Banaras as a world Heritage city and historical accounts. At the end a selected bibliography of 494 sources from Sanskrit, Hindi, English, German, French and Japanese is also given.
About Author
Dr. Rana P.B. Singh is Reader in Geography, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India