History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c75.511
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c75.511
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v5.c75.511.1
*hastas*) in all directions from the shrine of Viśveśvara 628, āyatanas, fourteen named 640, belief that dying in Banaras freed one from saṃsāra, led the old and decrepit to crowd in K. and persons about to die were removed to the banks of the Ganges 626, called Jītvarī by traders 621, construction and endowment of *mathas* at K. highly eulogised 639, conclusions drawn from the stories in the Epic and Purāṇas that Banaras was once a centre of non-Aryan worship criticized 622-623; Daśāśvamedha-ghāṭ famed for centuries 634-635, derivation and significance of the name Kāśī 625; eulogies of greatness and uniqueness of K cover thousands of verses 629, famed for the qualities of its cloth in the second century B. C. 619, first called Ānandakānana and then Avimukta 624; five questions about K. asked by sages to Bhṛgu in the Padmapurāṇa 623; for devotees of Śiva there is no other remedy even in great calamities or incurable diseases than touching the water of the feet of the image of God 641, Gaṇeśas are 56 at K. 638; ghāṭs in Banaras for at least a thousand years 634-637, hardly any other city in the world can claim greater antiquity, greater continuity and greater popular veneration than Banaras 618; hyperbolic descriptions of the results of bathing and dying in Kāśī in the Purāṇas 629-630, in the times of Buddha, Banaras was a great and famous city like Rājagṛha, Sāketa, Śrāvasti 621, individual tīrthas in K. described 632-640;
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it is said that mere residence in K till death not only frees a man from such sins as brāhmaṇa-murder, but also frees him from the cycle of births and deaths 566, is called Ānandakānana because it gives joy to Śiva 626, Jābālopaniṣad gives an esoteric meaning to Avimukta, Varaṇā and Nāśī 625-626; Jain works like the Kalpasūtra say that Arhat Pārśva was born in Banaras 621, Jñānavāpī, origin and importance of 638; Kapālamocana-ghāṭ at K. is ancient 639; Kāśīkhaṇḍa, a part of Skandapurāṇa, devotes 15000 verses to Banaras and subtīrthas 623, known under five names from ancient times viz. Vārāṇasī, Kāśī, Avimukta, Ānandakānana and Śmaśāna or Mahāśmaśāna 624; lauded and described at great length in several Purāṇas 623; liṅgas and tīrthas at K. mentioned in some purāṇas are numerous 639-40; Lolārka is one of the twelve shrines of the Sun in K 633n, 634; Maṇikarṇikā pool is the most holy among tīrthas at K. 635, mantras recited when contemplating Maṇikarṇikā 633, Mlecchas, insects, birds, beasts, worms after death in K. find happiness 630, by identifying Asī and Varaṇā with Iḍā and other nāḍīs mystic flavour is imparted to those names 631;
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name Avimukta, derived and explained in two ways 626, name Śmaśāna or Mahāśmaśāna due to various causes 626-627, name Vārāṇasī is derived from the two rivers Varaṇā (modern Bārnā) and Asī, which are respectively the northern and southern boundaries of the modern city 625, name was spelt as Benares up to recent times, but now it is spelt as Banaras 618, Nāradīyapurāṇa says that Banaras was at first the city of Mādhava, but later on became a Śaiva-kṣetra 622n, Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa says that in the case of Viśveśvara-liṅga there is no blemish due to the touch of the untouchable 633, one should not commit the slightest sin in K. as punishment is relatively far heavier 638, Pañcagaṅgā-ghāṭ, so called because five rivers, Kiraṇā Dhūtapāpā, Gaṅgā, Yamunā and Sarasvatī are supposed to meet there 636, Pañcakrośī pilgrimage by road is held the most meritorious of all and is described in detail 637, Pañcatīrthī (five essential tīrthas) named and described 633-634, present temple of Viśvanātha was built by Ahalyabai Holkar 633, questions about Banaras asked in the Skandapurāṇa 624; residents of K must repair to the river every day, take a bath in Maṇikarṇikā and visit Viśveśvara 640, rules of conduct (particularly moral) for those who dwell in K 638-639, results of sins committed outside K but sinner dying in K, and of sins committed in K by one who dies outside K 640-41, several images of Keśava existed at K.
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636n, śrāddha should be performed at K 639, stotra of Durgā called Vajrapañjara 638, sub-tīrthas at K. are numerous 638, temple of Bhairavanātha, supposed to be *kotwal* of K., who wields a thick stone cudgel 638, temple of Durgā at K very popular and much frequented 638, temple of Sākṣi-Vināyaka 637, temple of Tārakeśvara near Maṇikarṇikā 635, temple of Viśvanātha re-established by Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa about 1585 A. D. was desecrated by Aurangzeb 631-32, there are about 1500 temples in K built during the last 225 years, 632, there is in Kāśī a holy place at every step and there is not even as much space as a sesamum grain which has not a *liṅga* 631, there were one hundred temples in K.
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in Hiouen Thsang's time and in one of them there was a copper image of Mahādeva about 100 feet high 631, though cremation of corpses is continually going on, yet Banaras, owing to the Ganges, is held purest 626, though Kāśī, Vārāṇasī and Avimukta are generally used as synonyms, sometimes a distinction is made in their extent 627-629, traditions of great learning associated with K as vouched for by Kāśīkhaṇḍa, Alberuni and Ain-i-Akbari 641-642, Vācaspati held that Avimukteśvara-liṅga is the same as Viśvanātha, but the Skandapurāṇa treats them as distinct 633, Vanaparva states that by visiting Avimukta and by a bath there pilgrim becomes free from the sin of brāhmaṇa murder and by dying there secures *mokṣa* 629, Vārāṇasī was burnt by Nikumbha, a gaṇa of Śiva and was re-established by Divodāsa 620, Viṣṇu is said by Kāśīkhaṇḍa to have assigned a place called Dharmakṣetra to the north of Kāśī and stayed there in the form of Buddha 641, Viśveśvara or Viśvanātha is the tutelary deity of Banaras and the principal temple in it and every resident is required every day to take a bath in the Gaṅgā and visit Viśveśvara 692, was burnt by Kṛṣṇa with his *cakra* in pursuit of a *kṛtyā* 622, was the capital of Brahmadatta kings according to the Jātakas and Purāṇas 621, was the capital of the Kāśis 619, was the name of a country long before the Sat Br. was composed 619, yātrās of great liṅgas should be celebrated every month from the first *tithi* onwards 640