DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0444
CHAPTER XVII.
Temples, Shrines, and Sacred Places.
It is well known that the principal seat and great centre
of the cultus of Siva is Benares (Varanasi)1—a city whose
world-wide celebrity has earned for it the title of KasI, 'the
resplendent.' In the Kasl-khanda of the Skanda-purana it is
recorded how the god himself chcse that city for his special
abode, and how after having undergone severe austerities in
the neighbourhood he made it sacred to himself and to his
sons Ganesa and Skanda (p. 211).
Elsewhere Benares is described as a special creation of the
Creator, who formed it of pure unpolluted earth, separated it
from the rest of the world, and caused it to rest on one of the
points of Siva's trident.
No doubt Benares was one of the first cities to acquire a
reputation for sanctity, and is still regarded as the most
sacred spot in all India. It is the Hindu's Jerusalem and
Mecca. Here, temples, shrines, and idols are multiplied
beyond all calculation. Here every inch of ground, every
clod of earth is hallowed, and the very air believed to
be holy.
No wonder, then, that every pious Hindu is ambitious of
accomplishing at least one pilgrimage to what he regards as a
portion of heaven let down upon earth, and if he can happily
manage to die within the magic circle of what is called the
1 The popular name is more properly written Banaras. The name
Varanasi, of which it is a corruption, is said to be derived from two
small rivers outside the city, the Varana or Varna and the Asf.
Temples, Shrines, and Sacred Places.
It is well known that the principal seat and great centre
of the cultus of Siva is Benares (Varanasi)1—a city whose
world-wide celebrity has earned for it the title of KasI, 'the
resplendent.' In the Kasl-khanda of the Skanda-purana it is
recorded how the god himself chcse that city for his special
abode, and how after having undergone severe austerities in
the neighbourhood he made it sacred to himself and to his
sons Ganesa and Skanda (p. 211).
Elsewhere Benares is described as a special creation of the
Creator, who formed it of pure unpolluted earth, separated it
from the rest of the world, and caused it to rest on one of the
points of Siva's trident.
No doubt Benares was one of the first cities to acquire a
reputation for sanctity, and is still regarded as the most
sacred spot in all India. It is the Hindu's Jerusalem and
Mecca. Here, temples, shrines, and idols are multiplied
beyond all calculation. Here every inch of ground, every
clod of earth is hallowed, and the very air believed to
be holy.
No wonder, then, that every pious Hindu is ambitious of
accomplishing at least one pilgrimage to what he regards as a
portion of heaven let down upon earth, and if he can happily
manage to die within the magic circle of what is called the
1 The popular name is more properly written Banaras. The name
Varanasi, of which it is a corruption, is said to be derived from two
small rivers outside the city, the Varana or Varna and the Asf.