Spirituality, Science And Sustainability

The history of Kashi (Current name is Varanasi, also known as Benares or Banaras) is very old, it is as old as the existence of human beings.

- Prashant Kumar Srivastava

Kashi is one of the world's oldest continually inhabited cities and associated with a kingdom of the same name 2,500 years ago. The Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have given his first sermon, "The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dharma", at nearby Sarnath in 528 BCE. The city has long been an educational and musical centre: many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers, and musicians live or have lived in the city. Kashi is one of the holiest places in Hinduism. Kashi is also known as the city of Shiva. Kashi is also considered a very sacred place for Jainism. It is believed to be the birthplace of Suparshvanatha (7th Tirthankara) and Parshvanatha (23rd tirthankara).

Author Mark Twain wrote in 1897 of Varanasi, Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together. I was born and grew up in such a religious place, its great influence is visible on my behaviour, my thinking and intellectual development. Kashi is the city of saints where festivals are celebrated throughout the year. Here you will find different types of sadhus, saints whose colours, clothes and different methods of worshipping, rituals can be found. I had a lot of curiosity from the very beginning.