Kafe asi ken miyate-With what can Kashi be compared? For cities like Paris, London, Delhi, or New York, alternatives can be sought and even built. But Kashi? Kashi cannot be recreated. Why? Because while cities are built by people, Kashi builds people. Its very founder is none other than Adi Visvesvara (the primordial Lord of the Universe). In the rise and fall of civilizations on Earth, there is one place that has remained constant, living, and ever-awake:our Kashi.
Kashi is the axis of thought, speech, and practice, through which the infinite passes-countless times-and will continue to pass, endlessly. Kashi possesses an intrinsic truth: "So'i janahi jehi dehu jana'i, jänat tumhahi, tumhahi hui ja'i." What Tulsidas wrote about divinity applies just as truly in case of Kashi. Only those whom it reveals itself to, can truly know it; and in knowing it, they become one with it.
Thus, anyone who immerses in Kashi inevitably becomes Kashi-like. And one who becomes Kashi-like belongs to Kashi, and Kashi belongs to them. They are a luminous presence in the courtyard of the Avimukta (the never-forsaken). The author of this book, Killada Satyanarayana, is a living example of this truth.
Kashi exists beyond time, beyond geography, and is an unparalleled realm of knowledge and mystery. This city wears tradition like a mantle and lays out modernity beneath its feet. While everyone may claim to know Kashi, to truly understand its esoteric dimension, only the one's who have pass through its deep traditions of knowledge, learning, and literature truly knows what Kashi is.
Just as Kashi is considered the center of all the unknown threads of creation, so too has it been the 'seed-center' of all genres of Hindi literature. To know a city, it is essential to understand its culture-and culture shines forth through the literature of its time. Literature is the most intimate and foundational expression of culture. In any potent literature, the culture of its society is inherently absorbed. It also expresses the spirit and pulse of the era in which it was created.
From the Vedic age to the present day, the literature of Kashi has continuously reflected both its history and its timeless mysteries. That is why the literary tradition of Kashi illuminates the spirit of its age-one that crowns it as the capital of all knowledge.
The history of Kashi is older than history itself. Typically. history is pieced together through broken earthen pots, coins, skeletons, buildings, and layers of soil. But the antiquity of Kashi is not determined by such remnants. Kashi has been found mentioned in the Atharvaveda. It has been in the Shatapatha Brahmana. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad refers to Kashi as a center of Brahmavidya (the supreme knowledge). In the Mahabharata, there is an episode where the maidens of Kashi are abducted by Bhishma. The Brahma Purana and Shiva Purana describe Kashi as a city that liberates one from sin. The Agni Purana describes the geographical span of Kashi between the rivers Varuna and Assi.
In the Valmiki Ramayana, Puru, the son of Yayati, is mentioned as the ruler of both Pratishthanpuri and Varanasi. In Buddhist literature, Kashi is known by many names; numerous Jataka tales were composed here, and the city has been described under various epithets. Jain literature too offers extensive descriptions of the city-Lord Parshvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara, was born here.
Chinese traveler Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) speaks of the Shaiva literature of this region, while Faxian describes the deer park (Mriga Vana) where sages once resided. Thus, the age of this city cannot be determined merely through Vedic, Puranic, or historical texts. Indian culture is filled with diversity-and Kashi is its ideal model.
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