Professor Rana PB Singh, having stayed in both Varanasi and Kyoto, offers a comparison of Kashi and Kyoto
It’s said that to see as much of life as India can show, all one needs to do is visit Varanasi. The city, often called India’s cultural capital, has recorded continuous settlement of people since 1000 BC. But the modern city grew mostly in the early 18th century. It now has about 15 lakh residents. With about 3,300 Hindu shrines, small and big, and 1,388 Muslim places of worship, and being holy to both Buddhists and Jains, Varanasi is indeed a microcosm of Indian culture and pluralism. There are four universities, three deemed universities, over a hundred Sanskrit pathashalas, 150 Muslim schools, scores of colleges. And there are numerous centres for the learning of yoga and Hindustani classical music, making it a veritable centre of learning.
Read: Between chaos and Kashi
The vividness and multiplicity, and the diversity and unity are easily enshrined in its practising religions, performing cultures, functioning society and regulating economy – altogether creating a cultural mosaic or universe of ‘heritagescapes’, in which age-old festivities and performances play a major role. The vividness of religion, culture, language and tradition has given a rich architectural heritage to the city. Surprisingly, none of the heritage properties in the city are listed in the UNESCO’s heritage list, except for the inclusion of the Buddhist site of Sarnath in the tentative list in 1998. Even with that, no one is sure if or when it will be included in the heritage list: the local authorities of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have no idea on any further movement.
No hope without an awakening
Prof Rana PB Singh offers a comparison of Kashi and Kyoto |
| Kyoto |
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Kashi/ Varanasi/ Banaras |
| The Kamo river, the riverfront walkways with their shrines |
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The Ganga, and the ghats along the banks of the river, considered holy by Hindus |
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| Full of lush greenery |
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Only scattered tress, and no natural park |
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| Everywhere public spaces and green parks |
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Very few public spaces and green parks |
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| Known as model of cleanliness and good governance |
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Known as model of dirtiness and mal- or misgovernance |
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| Nara, Buddhist-Shinto suburb |
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Sarnath, Buddhist site and suburb |
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| Around 2,000 temples and shrines. Some of them are Shinto, Buddhist or animistic and some are related to folk myth |
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Around 3,500 Hindu shrines, 1,388 Muslim sacred places and shrines, 45 Sikh sites, four Jain sites, 42 churches, and 100 folk shrines |
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| Ancient city since 850 BCE |
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Ancient city since 850 BCE |
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| Ancient capital till 1868 |
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Cultural centre and capital of Kashi Kingdom, during 9th-12th century |
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| Strong public awareness and participation |
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Only talk of ancient greatness and myth, no real participation and preservation of culture |
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| City of learning, seven universities |
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City of learning, with five universities |
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| Centre of art, craft, music and culture |
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Centre of art, craft, music and culture |
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| Most of the development and maintenance is by community organisations |
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Most of the development and maintenance by government, with hardly any public participation |
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| Tradition and modernity go side by side, following the philosophy of ‘Lifenology’ and Suitogaku, which aim at creating productive human-nature interfaces. |
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Tradition and modernity go their own individual ways. There’s talk of spirituality, but hardly any true practice. Rituals are practised without understanding their basis. |
Meanwhile, for over a decade, efforts are being made to nominate the riverfront, with its picturesque ghats, and the old city area, in the UNESCO’s world heritage list. However, due to lack of public awareness and active participation, the complex web of bureaucracy, rising corruption and the rise of both individualism and consumerism, there seems to be little hope for proper implementation of plans and maintenance of heritage properties in their original forms.
Schemes like the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Pilgrimage Rejuvenation And Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart City Mission are good, but what the city actually needs is sustainable development, which does not mess with the originality of the city.
As far as Kyoto is concerned, there are physical similarities between Kyoto and Kashi; however, saying that Kashi can be developed on similar lines as Kyoto is practically impossible. The development model of Kyoto cannot be applied in Kashi, for the holy city of India has pathetic civic sense. In Kyoto, the municipal corporation follows the working style and leadership of its people. In Varanasi, the basic notion is that the government is accountable for maintaining basic sanitation. The citizens feel no responsibility towards it. The common man or the resident of the city celebrates nonchalance. Take the example of the famous Banaras gharana, of which many proponents have won Padma awards. But there’s no record of its heritage and history. The basic sense of preserving and conserving heritage is missing in this temple town.
Singh, a former professor of BHU, has lived both in Varanasi and Kyoto, and has specialised in cultural geography and heritage studies.
(The article appears in the June 1-15, 2017 issue of Governance Now)
