Sub-Project Changing Sacred Waterscapes: Religious and Scientific Knowledge Systems in Varanasi (MC 9.2)

Project Leader: Jörg Gengnagel

The waterscape of the north-Indian city Varanasi (Benares, Banaras, Kāśī) is central to the perception of the city as one of the most important Indian pilgrimage centers. Various types of water places form an integral part of the topography of Varanasi. The river Gaṅgā and the tributaries Asi and Varuṇā demarcate the “sacred field” of the city (kāśīkṣetra). The cityspace itself is dotted with ponds, tanks (kuṇḍa, tālāb) and wells (vāpī, kūpa). The whole territory is therefore perceived as a ford or crossing (tīrtha) promising liberation.
That this waterscape has its environmental history where technological, scientific and religious knowledge systems interact, was investigated in case studies of the 19th and 21st century based on textual and cartographic sources as well as field research. In close cooperation with the other members of the interdisciplinary research group “Waterscapes” and the Cluster’s Research Area C “Knowledge Systems” we therefore looked at interacting knowledge systems and overlapping semantic domains of environmental, scientific and religious discourses in specific historical and regional contexts.