History of Benares from The Earliest Times Down to 1937

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In the following pages the history of the city of Benares has been narrated from pre-historic times down to the present day. There are a number of books on Benares, but they hardly do any justice to its early history. There is further no book which adequately deals with the ancient, medieval and modern history of the city in a connected manner. This task is therefore attempted in the present book.

Chapters I and II, which deal with the pre-Muslim history of the city, will be found to be throwing a good deal of new light on the subject. Chapter IV, which deals with the history of the famous temple of Visvanatha, tackles a problem which has not so far been attempted. This chapter is illustrated with six plates, which will help the understanding of the different sides of the problem. The plate, showing the ground-plan of the Visvanatha temple pulled down by Aurangzeb, is a very valuable one.

The object of the book is to give the history of the city of Benares. The history of the dynasties ruling over the city has not been discussed, as it is but remotely connected with the subject matter of the book. The achievements of those dynasties, which had made Benares their capital, are however discussed at length.

The book does not confine itself to the political history of the city. Benares is best known as the cultural centre of Hinduism, and all the problems connected with the religious, literary and educational activities of the city have been adequately dealt with.

The book was originally published in the Journal of the Benares Hindu University in two parts; it is now being published in the book form with a different pagination and with the addition of a preface, a table of contents and a detailed index.

During the period of British rule, many Indians became aware of the need to counter colonial historiography which served imperial interests and misrepresented the colonized as heirs to a fragmented society, polity, and spiritual tradition. John Strachey famously declared, "there is not, and never was an India, or even any country of India... of which we hear so much" (Strachey 1911: 5).

The underlying assumption that Indians were better off under British tutelage created an awareness among Indians of the need to write their own history. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838- 94) was emphatic that "a nation existed in its history." He deplored Hindu ignorance of their past and its "falsification" by foreign historians. He argued that knowledge of their history was vital for a self-aware people. He said, Vishnushastri Chiplunkar (1850-82), in several essays written in the 1870s, criticised colonial understanding of Indian society, and urged his compatriots to write their own histories.

In 1930, noted Hindi writer Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi (1864-1938) emphatically stated, "even if we lose freedom, we should not let our history go away. Because if history is intact the lost freedom can be won back."

From the commencement of the twentieth century, a significant number of histories were written by scholars like R.G. Bhandarkar, M.G. Ranade, D.C. Sircar, R.C. Majumdar, H.C. Raychaudhuri, Jadunath Sarkar, Radha Kumud Mookerji, K.P. Jayaswal, among others. They were all 'pioneers,' who made notable contributions to the study of numerous dimensions of the Indian past.

In the decades after independence, when Marxist historiography gained ascendancy, the above scholars were belittled as having lacked objectivity, and written Indian history from a 'nationalist' perspective. But, as recently pointed out, the pioneer historians never distorted or suppressed facts; their nationalism was not a hindrance to impartial research. Furthermore, it was erroneous to equate nationalism with communalism.

Distinguished historian, archaeologist and numismatist, A.S. Altekar (1898-1960), also belonged to the group of 'pioneer' scholars. His vast body of research on a wide range of subjects continues to interest students and scholars. Most of his works have been republished several times, and are readily available.

One book, however, remains largely inaccessible, his History of Benares (From the earliest times down to 1937). Originally published in two parts in the Journal of the Benares Hindu University, it was published in book form in 1937. It is that which is being re-published under the Revisiting Itihas series by Aryan Books International.