The great Hindu city of VARANASI , also known as Banaras or Benares , stretches along the crescent of the River Ganges, its waterfront dominated by long flights of stone steps known as ghats , literally "landings", where thousands of pilgrims and residents come for their daily ritual ablutions. Known to the devout as Kashi , the Luminous - the City of Light, founded by Shiva - Varanasi is one of the oldest living cities in the world. It has maintained its religious life since the sixth century BC in one continuous tradition, in part by remaining outside the mainstream of political activity and historical development of the subcontinent, and stands at the centre of the Hindu universe, the focus of a religious geography that reaches from the Himalayan cave of Amarnath in Kashmir, to Kanyakumari, the southern tip of India, Puri to the east, and Dwarka to the west. Located next to a ford on an ancient trade route, Varanasi is among the holiest of all tirthas - "crossing places", that allow the devotee access to the divine and enable gods and goddesses to come down to earth. It has attracted pilgrims, seekers, sanyasins , and students of the Vedas throughout its history, including sages such as the Buddha, Mahavira, the founder of the Jain faith, and the great Hindu reformer Shankara.

Anyone who dies in Varanasi attains instant moksha or enlightenment. Widows and the elderly come here to seek refuge or to live out their final days, finding shelter in the temples and assisted by alms given by the faithful. Western visitors since the Middle Ages have marvelled at the strangeness of this most alien of Indian cities - at the tight mesh of alleys, the accoutrements of religion, the host of deities, and at the proximity of death.