A City Older Than History

BENARAS is the ‘Ras’ (taste or essence) of 'Bena' (all things mixed together). Benaras, Kasi (The City of Light), Avimukta (Never Abandoned), or what is now called Varanasi (between the Varuna and the Assi Rivers) is the oldest, still living city in the world. It was a fabulously rich, educated, cultured and flourishing city when what we know as civilization in the West was just being born.