Varanasi

Timeline

1. -800–-200Kashi · IndiaAccording to traditional texts, Kashi was foremost among Hinduism's seven sacred cities, where Ganges rituals and Brahmin scholarship took root, making it the core of religious life in North India.
2. 400–1000Varanasi · Uttar PradeshTemples and ghats were built successively from the Gupta Empire onward; the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang recorded the coexistence of Buddhist and Brahmanical learning here, consolidating the city's status as a hub of scholarship and pilgrimage.
3. 1021–1030Varanasi · Uttar PradeshThe Gahadavala dynasty controlled the middle stretch of the Ganges plain; religious activity and temple property management in Varanasi continued, with ghats rituals and scholarly traditions uninterrupted through changes of regime.
4. 1500Varanasi · Uttar PradeshMughal rulers such as Akbar adopted relatively tolerant policies toward the Hindu sacred city; after Banaras Hindu University was founded in modern times, the city remained a symbol of Hindu faith and scholarship through the colonial and post-independence periods.