Banaras by Diana L. Eck

Author:Diana L. Eck [Eck, Diana L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-83295-5
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2013-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

THE CITY OF VISHNU

The prominence of Vishnu in Kāshī, which is strongly suggested by the great temple sites of Ādi Keshava, Bindu Mādhava, and Bakariā Kund, is also supported by the Purānic and popular mythology of Kāshī. Occasionally, in my interviews in Banāras temples or along the ghāts, I would find a brahmin or a temple pūjārī who would volunteer the view that Kāshī was originally the city of Vishnu, or that Vishnu and Shiva share it equally. Along these lines, the temple pūjārī at Ādi Keshava told me his brief but revealing version of the story of Divodāsa:

Long ago, Divodāsa was King of Kāshī, and he practiced great austerities. Shiva granted him a boon, and the King chose to have Kāshī for his boon. All the gods had to leave Kāshī, and Shiva also left to live on Mt. Mandara. Pilgrims did not come to Kāshī for a long time, because then it was man’s city, and not god’s city. Finally, Vishnu came here and instructed the King. He told him that this city really belonged to Shiva, and he persuaded the King to leave. Divodāsa left Kāshī and went to the South. Shiva was very pleased to have his city back, and he told Vishnu that the city would now belong to both of them. It was really Vishnu who gave the city back to Shiva.

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