Varanasi · Kashi · Banaras
The city of light.
Set on the northern bank of the Ganga, Varanasi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world — cited in the Rigveda, mentioned by the Buddha, walked by Mark Twain, painted by Tagore. To Hindus it is Kashi, the city Shiva himself is said to have chosen.
Its rhythm is measured in bells, aartis and the slow arc of morning boats — a rhythm that has not changed for three thousand years, and that the ghats still keep tonight.
Every dawn the Subah-e-Banaras begins at Assi Ghat; every dusk the Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh lights the water. Somewhere in between, in Bhagwanpur, sits Devraj Palace — five floors of quiet refuge, five minutes from the water.