Visions of Order and Antiquity: Palimpsets and Invention in Banaras

The subject of this talk is the city of Banaras, the iconic Hindu religious center in Northern India. In this talk, Desai examines the confluences as well as tensions that have shaped this complex and remarkable city. Historians of South Asia have often viewed Hinduism and its practices as being part of an ancient religious and cultural heritage that is independent of its more recent histories. Such scholarly divisions also extended to analyses of religious built environments.