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23 unusual facts about Varanasi


Annapurneshwari Temple, Cherukunnu

The local folklore says Annapoorneshwari Devi came from Kashi with two other Devis' (Kalarivathukkal Bhagavathy Temple and Madayi Kavu) and a boatman in a golden ship, got down at Azhi Theeram which is now known as Ayirum Thengu.

Baragaon

Baragaon, Varanasi, a town in the Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh, India

Bhakti movement

Ramananda's ashram in Varanasi became a powerful center of religious influence, from which his ideas spread far and wide among all classes of Indians.

Buxar district

Substantial proportion of trade activities are with well connected towns and cities in Uttar Pradesh such as Varanasi, Ballia and Ghazipur.

Chittadhar Hridaya

Jhi Maca ("Our Child"), published in 1947 from Varanasi, India by Dharmodaya Sabha, is a collection of children's stories that provide an intimate sense of what the culturally vibrant and densely settled Newar society looks like from within.

Delhi Durga Puja Samiti

With the help of the late Parmananda Biswas, who happened to be a Christian gentleman, an idol was brought from Varanasi (Kashi).

Edmund Candler

The Kiplingesque image of India as a grandiose and irrational land comes naturally to Candler, and when describing locations significant in Kipling’s own fiction, such as Benares (Varanasi), he applies imaginative treatments and tropes such as the heroic, Romantic or Gothic to some degree pre-fabricated for him by his master.

George Arundale

In 1902 Arundale and his aunt moved to Varanasi where he took a position as history teacher at the Central Hindu College (CHC).

Mansur Hoda

In 1972, he left his higher studies MSc in Nuclear Science, Surrey University and a lucrative career to establish and run the Appropriate Technology unit at the Gandhian Institute in Varanasi, India on request of Jayaprakash Narayan, the leading Gandhian in India.

Matangi

She pleaded Shiva—the Lord of Varanasi—who granted her the boon that no pilgrimage to Varanasi would be deemed complete without her worship.

Another tale is associated with the temple dedicated to Kauri-bai—an aspect of Matangi—who appeared in low caste area of Varanasi.

Prem Bahadur Kansakar

In 1947, he slipped out of the country and went to Varanasi to attend a convention of the Nepal Rastriya Congress, a political party of Nepalese freedom fighters.

Ramananda

However, there is a story about Ramananda which claims he escaped death altogether by entering a Samadhi state, a meditative state and remaining alive, where his Charan paduka is still visible at Srimath in Kashi.

Ramananda spent most of his life in Kashi (Banaras / Varanasi), where, as a mark of respect, people built a memorial that stands there to this day.

Ramananda for the most part of his life lived in the holy city of Varanasi, and was a pioneer of the Bhakti movement, as well as a social reformer in Northern India.

Ramprasad Sen

Another popular story is told of Ramprasad's vision of goddess Annapurna of Varanasi.

Sanmarg

Sanmarg is a well known popular Hindi daily published from Varanasi which was later published from Kolkata, Burdwan, Ranchi, and Bhubaneshwar.

Shamim Karhani

These poems became so influential that his popular revolutionary ‘Nazms’ and ‘Naghmas’ (‘Geets’) were sung in the ‘Prabhat-Pheris’ taken out on the streets of cities like Lucknow and Varanasi during the freedom struggle.

T. Nagi Reddy

He did his schooling from Rishi Valley School India, founded by the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti.He studied at Loyola College in Madras and at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi.

The Secret of the Nagas

Shiva and Sati travel to Kashi, where a community of Brangas inhabit, in order to get more information on the Nagas.

Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche

There he was given a traditional tulku education, supplemented by five years of schooling at Sanskrit University in Varanasi, India.

Vithoba Temple, Pandharpur

Legend holds that people who die in the city of Kashi attain salvation and emancipation from the cycle of birth and death; so, many pious Hindus in the bygone era would relocate to Kashi as their end drew near.

William Lovelock

While stationed in Varanasi in 1945 he sketched the beginning of a concerto for piano, the first of the many concertos to come.


Amethi

It has many direct trains connecting with major cities like Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Dehradun, Haridwar, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kolkata, Puri, Bhopal, Mumbai, Bangalore, Jammu and many more.

Anand Krishna

He grew up with the distinguished art collection of Bharat Kala Bhavan the renowned Indian Art Museum in Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, which was founded by Rai Krishnadasa ji and under the shadow of top Hindi littérateurs, painters, musicians et al., a solid base which he later enriched with his own experience.

Baba Siddharth Gautam Ram

Baba Siddharth Gautam Ram is the Peethadheeshwar / Mahant (Abbot), since 1978, of Baba Keenaram Sthal Krim-Kund (regarded as Headquarter and World fame Pilgrim of Aghora,across world, at Varanasi ).

Balwantrai Bhatt

In 1950, he moved to Varanasi with his mentor setting up a music institution named Kala Sangeet Bharati at the Banaras Hindu University.

Banarasi saris

Most importantly this means that no sari or brocade made outside the six identified districts of Uttar Pradesh, that is Varanasi, Mirzapur, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Jaunpur and Azamgarh districts, can be legally sold under the name of Banaras sari and brocade.

The sari making is more of a cottage industry for about 12 lakh people associated directly or indirectly with the handloom silk industry of the region around Varanasi encompassing Gorakhpur, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Jaunpur and Azamgarh districts.

Chetaka

Chetaka, called King Chetaka or President Chetaka was the representative of the Licchavi clan who ruled as a Republican President in Vaishali (India) reputed to have organised the Vajjian confederation of republics comprising the 9 Mallakis, 18 Gana Rajas of Kashi/Kosala and 9 Licchavi Republics.

Dakshineswar Kali Temple

In the year 1847, Rashmoni, prepared to go upon a long pilgrimage to the sacred Hindu city of Kashi to express her devotions to the Divine Mother.

Daltonganj

It is connected to Bhopal and Jabalpur of Central India (Madhya Pradesh) by Jabalpur - Howrah Shaktipunj Express (Daily) and Bhopal - Howrah Bhopal Express (Weekly/Monday), Varanasi by the Intercity Express and Patna by the Palamau Express.

Dildarnagar Fatehpur Bazar

The city of Dildarnagar is located in the border of uttar pradesh India, in the eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, along the left is bank of the karamnasa river.Its neighbouring cities are Varanasi, Jaunpur, Buxar in Bihar, Ballia, Mau, Chandauli and Azamgarh.

Godaan Express

The name Godaan is tribute to a legendary novel by Premchand, who belonged to Varanasi.

Govardhana sila

The only other God who shows a twig with a gunja seed on his upturned right hand palm to indicate the divya ksehtra’s superiority over Kashi (Varanasi) is Lord Narasimha, in the Gunja Narasimha Swamy temple locaterd at T.Narsipur in Mysore district in Karnataka on the bank of the Kaveri - Kapila - Spatika Sarovar sangam (confluence).

High-speed rail in India

Six corridors have already been identified for technical studies on setting-up of high-speed rail corridors: DelhiChandigarhAmritsar, Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Hyderabad-Kazipet-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai, HowrahHaldia, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna.

Hindu temples in Varanasi

This is one of the oldest temples in Varanasi, located near Bengal Tola Inter College and next to the famous weavers colony of Madanpura.

Hindustan Dainik

They are spread across Delhi, Bihar (Patna, Muzaffarpur, Gaya and Bhagalpur), Jharkhand (Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Varanasi, Meerut, Agra, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Moradabad, Aligarh, and Kanpur) and Uttarakhand (Dehradun, Haridwar, Haldwani).

History of Shaivism

In the 7th century the great Chinese traveller Xuanzang (Huen Tsang) toured India and wrote in Chinese about the prevalence of Shiva worship at that time, describing Shiva temples at Kanoj, Karachi, Malwa, Gandhar (Kandahar), and especially at Varanasi (Benares) where he saw twenty large temples dedicated to Shiva.

Howrah–Delhi main line

From Rajmahal, construction progressed rapidly, moving westward along the banks of the Ganges, reaching Bhagalpur in 1861, Munger in February 1862, and opposite Varanasi (across the Ganges) in December 1862 and then on to Naini on the bank of the Yamuna.

Kalanderpur

A sufi saint Shah Qualander to whom this village was dedicated rescued Dara's army from Cholera epidemic during returning from one of his expedition.The culture of this village is mix.The village is situated in between Jaunpur-Azamgarh and Varanasi-Azamgarh main road.Both main road is two km away from this village.

Lalmani Misra

After his death in 1979 his son Dr. Gopal Shankar Misra, internationally renowned Vichitra Veena artiste and Professor, Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, B.H.U., Varanasi was working on the remaining volumes, aided by hand-written notes by Lalmani Misra when on 13 August 1999 he succumbed to heart-attack at a five day function organised in memory of his father at Bhopal.

Lobsang Tenzin

Between 1965 and 1970 he was the Principal of Dalhousie Tibetan School and between 1971 and 1988 he was the Principal of Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS) at Varanasi (Benares), and from 1988 to 2001 he was the Director.

Malviya Bridge

Malviya Bridge, inaugurated in 1887 (originally called The Dufferin Bridge) is a double decker bridge over the Ganges at Varanasi.

Mughalsarai

The Malviya Bridge (Lord Duffrin Bridge Double Deck Rail cum Road, built in 1888), in Kashi (Varanasi) is situated between Mughalsarai and Varanasi on the river Ganges.

Munna Bajrangi

In 1996, Mukhtar was elected from Mau, and the gang, with its arsenal of AK-47 and other weapons, became a household name in the districts of Mau, Ghazipur, Varanasi and Jaunpur.

Padma Kant Shukla

He held a Ph.D. in Physics from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, India and a second doctorate in Theoretical Plasma Physics from Umeå University (UmU) in Sweden.

Panchacharyas

It is believed that the Panchacharyas arose out of five great Sthavaralingas located in Balehonnur in Karnataka, Ujjini in Karnataka, Kedar in Uttarakhand, Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, and Kashi or Banaras in Uttar Pradesh under different names in different Yugas.

Pilgrims Publishing

Paul Brunton, A message from Arunachala, Pilgrims Publishing, Varanasi, ISBN 978-81-7769-785-8

Ramlila

According to a 2008 UNESCO report, the most representative Ramlilas are those of Ayodhya, Ramnagar and Varanasi, Vrindavan, Almora, Satna and Madhubani.

Samikshavad

Prof. Ram Chandra Shukla, Professor and Head of the department, of Painting at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, at that time, was the initiator and the main source of inspiration for this movement.

Shakti

A commonly accepted list of Shakti peethas and their famous temple complexes includes: Jwalaji (Himachal), Tara Tarini (Berhampur, Orissa), Katyayani (Chattarpur, Delhi), Kamakhya (Assam), Kali at Kalighat (Kolkata, West Bengal), Naina Devi (Himachal), Guhyeshwari Temple Devi (Kathmandu, Nepal), Vishalakshi Temple (Varanasi).

Sikarwar

Chandi Azamgarh:Tehsil-Lalganj Villages-Chakidih, Ramgarh, Acchiya and Mirawa Kanpur: Mathura: Hathakauli, Kiloni, Angai, Kasimpur, Gharotha Varanasi: Babhanpura & Ramchandipur (DHAB), Chandi Sarai Sambhal Tehsil: Belthara Road, Bodhi Sah is the first man in Chandi From Gahamar

Tirumakudal Narsipur

When the washerman expressed his wish to visit (Kashi) Varanasi on a pilgrimage, god told him that the construction of a temple for him, had earned the washerman an additional punya (Merit) of about a coral beed vine seed (Abrus precatorius)) than that which accrues by visiting Kashi.

Varanasi Junction railway station

It is partly under the administrative control of Lucknow Division of the Northern Railway Zone, and partly under the administrative control of Varanasi Division of the North Eastern Railway Zone of the Indian Railways.

Varanasi–Lucknow line

Subsequently, with technology transfer from GM EMD, it produces advanced diesel locomtives with high efficiency and low maintenance costs.

Vinodini Terway

This was a natural choice, due to the rail link between Gaya and Varanasi, both on the Grand Chord section of the Indian Railways.

Vish

Vishwanath, the presiding Hindu deity of Varanasi, India, representing Shiva.