Table of Contents

Preface to the Columbia Edition Preface Banaras: An Introduction Banaras in Historical Perspective The City of Shiva The Sacred Circle of All the Gods The River Ganges and the Great Ghats Seasons and Times City of All India City of the Good Life City of Death and Liberation Appendix 1: Sanskrit Sources for the Study of Banaras Appendix 2: The Zones of the Sacred City Appendix 3: The Shiva Lingas of Kashi Appendix 4: The Cycles of Kashi Goddesses Appendix 5: Other Deities of Kashi Appendix 6: The Year in Banaras: A Partial Calender Note on Transliteration and Pronunciation Glossary Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Illustrations Index

Promotional Information

This is the acclaimed study and interpretation of Banaras, the holy place of the Hindus.

About the Author

Diana L. Eck is professor of comparative religion and Indian studies and director of The Pluralism Project at Harvard University. She is the author of many books, including Dar'san: Seeing the Divine Image in India and the editor of On Common Ground: World Religions in America, a multimedia CD-ROM, both published by Columbia.

Reviews

In Banaras, Diana Eck... has written a notable book about this greatest of Indian pilgrimage sites... Her brilliant, comprehensive book seems likely to remain for a long time the definitive work on this great Indian city. Washington Post The most beautiful book... on India. Journal of the American Academy of Religion A major event among studies of India. -- John Stratton Hawley Asia Eck is a master of tone here. She begins as dry scholar, allows her personal voice to emerge and then, through judicious use of lyric quotations, advances to a striking level of exaltation and triumph... To take us gently off this high, Eck buttresses us-and her arguments-with a truly amazing display of addenda; glossaries, calendars and appendices. One ends filled with admiration and awe, not just for the vision given us, but for the scholarship and dedication that made it possible. Los Angeles Times