BENARES ( Skr. Eu•awThi, from .Varaaa, modern stream Buena-4- asi, rivulet; its ancient Skr. name was Kaci). The holy city of the Hindus, capital of the Benares division, North west Provinces, British Lydia, situated on the left side of the Ganges, which here varies, ac cording to the season; between 50 and 90 feet in depth, and in width between 600 yards and a little more than half a mile (Slap: India, D 3). Since 1887 the river has been spanned at Be nares by the Dufi'erin Railway Bridge, 3518 feet long. The city is in latitude 25° 17' N. and longitude 83° 4' E., 421 miles northwest of Cal cutta, and 466 and 74 miles respectively south east of Delhi and Allahabad. Without reckoning Secrole, which is distant 2 or 3 miles to the westward, and eontain* the official establish ments and European residences, Benares covers an amphitheatre of 3 miles in front and 1 mile in depth on the immediate margin of the river, which is comparatively steep, being chiefly occu pied by 47 flights of steps, or ghats, where crowds of all classes spend the (lay in business, amusement, or devotion. Backed by the minarets of about. 300 mosques, and the pinnacles of about 1000 pagodas, this scene presents a picturesque appearance to spectators on the opposite shore of the Ganges. On closer inspection, however, the city, as a whole, is disappointing. The streets, or rather alleys, impracticable for car riages, barely afford a passage to individual horsemen or single beasts of burden ; and these thoroughfares, besides being shut out from sun and air by buildings of several stories, are shared with the sacred bulls that roam about at will. As the central seat of Hinduism, Benares, on festive occasions, attracts immense crowds of pilgrims—sometimes as many as 100,000.
In the traditions of the country, Benares is believed to have been coeval with creation; and tolerably authentic history assigns to it a high antiquity. In its actual condition, Benares is a
modern city. In extent and in embellishment, it owes much to the influence of Mahratta ascend ency, and it possesses, perhaps, not a single structure that reaches back to the close of the Sixteenth Century.
On the Sanskrit College, instituted in 1792, there was at a later date ingrafted an English department, comprising poetry, history, mathe matics, and political economy, and the institu tion, now known as the Queen's College, oc cupies a modern building of Perpendicular architecture. It is attended by numerous Hindus, and a few Mussulmans and native Christians. Bemires is industrious and wealthy, as well as holy. Besides extensive manufac tures in cotton, wool, silk, and o•nammtal brass-work, its commanding position on the grand line of communication—road, river, and rail alike—renders it the principal emporium of the neighboring regions. It is the great mart for the shawls of the north, the diamonds of the south, and the muslins of the east; while it cir culates the varied productions of Europe and America over Bundelkhand, Gorakhrtr, Nepal, etc. The municipal institutions include a hos pital, dispensaries, uns for lunatics, lepers, and blind people, jail, swinaning-hath, line pub lic gardens. and water-works. Population, in 1891, 219.500: in 1901, 203,100. Benares was ceded to the East India Company in 1775. The fanatical character of the inhabitants added its share of anxiety to the mutiny of 1857, hut a ris ing was promptly suppressed, and the popula tion was kept in check by the frequent passage of troops from Calcutta to the north. Consult: Sherring, Sacred City of the Hindus (London, 1809 ) ; Ralph. "The Sacred City of the II indoos," in Vol. C. Harper's Maga:ice (New York, 1900).