Banaras: City of light

The sacred city of Banaras (Varanasi, or Kashi) on the River Ganges is one of the oldest living cities in the world. There are few cities in India as symbolic of the whole of Hindu culture as Banaras. In this eloquent, finely observed study Diana L. Eck gives an account of the sacred history, geography, and art of the city, its elaborate and thriving rituals, its myths and literature, and its significance to pilgrims and spiritual seekers.