Banaras: The City Revealed

This volume of Marg is dedicated to the physical environment of Banaras as embodied in an extremely diverse series of historical monuments that overlook the ghats lining the river Ganga or are tucked away in the crowded streets and lanes of the city. Dating from the last eight hundred years or so, these buildings were erected by the Delhi sultans and their successor, the Mughal emperors, as well as by Rajput princes and Maratha kings and queens, and rulers of a local dynasty based at nearby Ramnagar. Wealthy merchants of the city and even officials of the British government also contributed to the city’s architectural legacy. Such intense constructed to the city’s architectural legacy. Such intense constructional activity testifies to the sustained prestige of Banaras as the pre-eminent holy city of India, a reputation that it maintains to the resent day. The volume opens with an account of the growth of Banaras over a span of more than 2,000 years, and provides a detailed account of the city in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the majority of the city’s noteworthy structures were erected. The following chapters concentrate on different architectural categories: mosques and tombs; ghats and riverside palaces; temples and shrines; houses and mansions; wells, tanks, and gardens; churches and civic monuments. The authors describe representative architectural examples, many of which are illustrated here for the first time. Their chapters are accompanied by a historical chart and a set of city maps locating all the buildings. The volume concludes with a plea for an effective conservation master-plan to preserve this unique architectural heritage for future generations.