While still on the subject of Banaras or Benaras or Varanasi (or Kashi, as devout Hindus would have it - it being the holiest city for millions and millions of Indians), here is something worth buying - though the price is rather high. ** Banaras: The City Revealed; Ed: George Michell and Rana P.B. Singh, photographs by Clare Arni, Marg Publications, Rs. 2500. ** <<<< BANARAS or Varanasi, the city between the rivers Varana and the Assi, inhabited without a break for 3,000 years, has been called the holiest city in India, perhaps in the world. Apart from Hindus, for whom a pilgrimage to it is a religious duty, foreigners have been constantly drawn to its otherworldliness and exoticism. When the British settled here in the 19th century, they introduced a new type of architecture. Bungalows with tiled roofs, each set in a spacious walled garden, came up in the Cantonment. Perhaps, as this reviewer thinks, the style was an expression of European individualism and the obsessive need for privacy, whereas middle-class natives preferred large buildings where several families lived under the same roof, shared open courtyards and rooftop terraces, and took the air in public gardens. A great deal of hard work and scholarship, and nimble legwork too, have gone into the making of this book. Apart from a detailed map there is a historical chart of the growth of the city from the year 1300 onwards and a useful Index, a boon for serious students and visitors alike. One could buy it instead of hiring a guide, an expensive option but far more reliable, and unlike the guide it's there for keeps! >>> Snipped from The Hindu, Sunday, Jul 02, 2006 http://www.hindu.com/mag/2006/07/02/stories/2006070200370700.htm ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India