Gangaputra Pandas of Varanasi - A Study of their Social and Economic Conditions

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The Pandas constitute a distinct community within the Brahman caste and are traditionally charged with the duty of supervising ritual observances at the holy places. Visit to holy places is one of the foremost duties of the orthodox Hindu, because pilgrimages are undertaken for the completion of vows and to gain prosperity and good fortune.

Dr. Ravindra Bahadur Singh, Department of Sociology, Gorakhpur University (UP), completed his Ph D Dissertation on the particular Panda clan Gangaputras of Varanasi in the early 1960s. The book is being published after a gap of several decades, but is of immense research value.

As you approach or leave Varanasi in a flight, a sight appears like an ox-bow curve in the Ganga river below, as the river bends to a near circle with a distinct northerly flow as it touches the holy city. In the scriptural parlance, this turn in the river's flow is known as 'uttar-vahini' (or north flowing), which is considered to be especially divine.

There have been hundreds of books written on Kashi, also known as Varanasi (or in an Anglicized form as 'Benares') in scores of languages including Sanskrit and English, many the lay man. of them for scholars, yet scores of them for This book 'The Gangaputra Pandas of Varanasi', however, is a well-researched dissertation written on a specific clan of priests in the city, generally found engaged in their profession on the different 'ghats' at the western river-front whereby the river flows south to north, serving and guiding the pilgrims bathing in the river at these ghats. As the name signifies, Gangaputra denotes a specific clan of such river-side priests, their history and ancestral tradition.

The present study is an attempt to enalyse the social and economic aspects of the life of the Gangaputra Pandas of zir Varanasi. They are also known by the name of Tirth Purohits. Varanasi is the most famous pilgrim centre of the Hindus, and the importance of the Pandas who handle the pilgrims is indisputable. It is believed that religious rites si performed without the assistance of a Purohit will not be complete, and from very remote times such services have been required.

**Contents and Sample Pages**