Banaras, Kashi or Varanasi, this beautiful place belongs to lord Vishwanath the lord of the lords – SHIVA.
Banaras is considered the oldest city in India where spirituality prevails. Hindu pilgrims from all over India visits this place in the state of Uttar Pradesh for it’s temples and ghats. The place is also famous for it’s history, music, culture and vibrance. It has produced some legendary musicians like Pandit Ravishankar and Ustad Bismillah Khan. It was the very place where the poet saint Goswami Tulsidas composed the Ramcharitmanas and Hanuman Chalisa on the banks of river Ganga. Some other spiritual saints including Kabir and Ramdas were born in Banaras.
Banarasi sarees are the must have during weddings and the Banarasi paan are to die for.
In 1567 or thereabouts, Mughal emperor Akbar sacked the city of Banaras on his march from Allahabad (modern-day Prayagraj). However, later the Kachwaha Rajput rulers of Amber (Mughal vassals themselves) most notably under Raja Maan Singh rebuilt various temples and ghats in the city.
Author Mark Twain wrote in 1897 on Varanasi,
Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.
Banaras and it’s ghats – a heaven for photography.
Banaras and it’s ghats offers a wide array of opportunities to a photographer who loves to work on human subjects. It’s a great place for street and daily life photography. The ghats and the markets of Banaras provides vibrant colours and the paintings on the city walls provides excellent textures. The ghats are full of people from all walks of life which offers opportunity to capture interesting candid moments. The narrow alleys of this old city may surprise any photographer with kaleidoscope of colors and interesting human characters.
This was the idea behind keeping an online photography contest themed on Banaras – the spiritual capital of India.
Results:
There were numerous entries during the contest which was held online between 15th February to 28th February 2025. Out of the submitted photographs 45 photos were carefully curated and were sent to the external jury Ms. Debrani Das who is a street photographer and Fujifilm X ambassador. One can find her work published in our earlier blog for inspiration. She has selected the top five images below.
Jury’s Choice – top five.
Editor’s Choice – top five.
Few more nominated images which were highly appreciated:
PHOENIX PHOTOGRAPHY 
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