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India

Since the beginning of recorded time, Varanasi has been the religious capital of India. and a microcosm of Indian life. When Buddha came here around 500 B.C., he encountered an ancient settlement along the likes of Babylon, Nineveh, and Thebes. Varanasi is one of the oldest cities in the world, a hub of firmly rooted traditions, but for all its variety, the city is really one big shrine, the shrine of Shiva. This cult is one of the oldest forms of worship, and was practiced in the Indus Valley thousands of years ago. It is during this period that legends recount how the Ganges was created: the water goddess Ganga was ordered to redeem the souls of some humans of great merit, but the fall of such a quantity of water would cause great damage to the world, so Shiva caught the goddess in his hair and let her seep out slowly to wash the ashes of the worthy mortals, and their souls ascended to heaven.