Many names, many historical layers

Varanasi is the modern official name; Banaras and the older English spelling Benares remain widely used, while Kashi is an ancient name with especially strong religious associations. The coexistence of these names reflects the city’s long linguistic, political and devotional history rather than a single fixed identity.

Ancient settlement and trade

Archaeology and historical traditions point to settlement in the Varanasi area deep in the first millennium BCE. Its position on the Ganges and on long-distance routes helped support trade, craft production, learning and religious life. Claims that Varanasi is the single “oldest city in the world” are difficult to prove, so this archive uses the more cautious description that it is among the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities.

Sacred city and centre of learning

By the early centuries CE and increasingly through the medieval period, Varanasi had become a major centre of Hindu pilgrimage, Sanskrit learning and religious scholarship. The city is especially associated with Shiva, while the nearby site of Sarnath gives the wider Varanasi region exceptional importance in Buddhist history. Jain traditions also connect the city with several Tirthankaras.

Change, conflict and rebuilding

Varanasi has passed through many political regimes. Religious buildings and neighbourhoods were affected by periods of conflict, patronage and reconstruction under different rulers. The riverfront visible today is therefore not an untouched survival from antiquity: much of its monumental stone architecture was built or rebuilt over later centuries, including major patronage from Maratha and other regional rulers.

The modern city

Colonial administration, new educational institutions, transport links and modern urban growth changed the city again. Today Varanasi is simultaneously a pilgrimage centre, a major urban community, a centre of craft and music, and a place where sacred practice and day-to-day work occupy the same streets and riverfront.

How the archive uses history

Everyday Lives treats history as context rather than as a script imposed on every photograph. A photograph made in 2014 or 2019 records a particular moment. Historical interpretation is supplied separately and sourced so that what was observed, what is traditionally believed and what historians can document remain distinguishable.