Varanasi through the ages

ANSHUMAN JAISWAL, PALLAVI NAGAR

KASHI: The name can be traced back to the times of Atharva Veda. This is the land of Shiva. The name could have also come from   the Kasha king, the earliest dynasty to have ruled the land.

BANARAS: Buddhist literature referres to it as the land were juice of life flows.

AVIMUKTA: According to Puranic literature as Shiva never left this place,thus the name meaning never to be forsaken.

ANANDVANA: The land of  supreme bliss. A garden paradise sprinkled with the holy waters of Ganga.

RUDRAVASA: This is a land where every man is Shiva. Those who believe this attain the benefits of worshiping the lord.

MAHASHAMSHANA: 'Maha' the great, ' Sma' a corpse, Shana 'final rest'  - As Shiva is the destroyer thus the whole city is a cremation ground.