Banaras : city of light
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Banaras : city of light
Penguin books, 1993
- : pbk.
Available at 2 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
-
Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto Universityグローバル専攻
: pbk.AQEEL||A||305||7200027598561
Note
Bibliography: p. 399-406
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The author reveals the spiritual and historical resonance of this holy place where great sages such as the Buddha and Shankara taught, where ashrams, palaces, and universities were built, where God has been imagined and imaged in a thousand ways. Eck describes the rites of its temples, the busy life of its riverfront, and the exuberance of its festivals. She narrates how people travel from all over India to Banaras for the privilege of dying a good death here, for they believe that on the banks of the River Ganges where 'the atmosphere of devotion is improbable in its strength', it is possible to be released from this earthly round forever. In her account of the sacred history, geography, and art of the city, its elaborate and thriving rituals, its myths and literature, and its importance to pilgrims and seekers, Diana Eck uses her wealth of scholarship to make the Hindu tradition come powerfully alive so that we come to understand the meaning that this sacred city holds for the millions of believers who have been coming here for over 2,500 years. 'A luminous work, as befits this City of Light.
I know of few books that capture the soul of a sacred city to the degree that this one does.' --Huston Smith, Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion, Syracuse University 'This book is attractively printed and illustrated with photographs and nineteenth century views...an admirable and lucid work.' --Andrew Topsfield, TLS
by "Nielsen BookData"