ABSTRACT
One of Varanasi’s greatest events-a performance of magnitude, a pilgrimage, a display of the maharaja of Banaras’s splendor-the Ramlila of Ramnagar takes place not in the city itself, but across the Ganga, on the “east” bank, a few miles upriver. The Ganga swerves northward at Varanasi so that its southern bank is actually to the east. In Varanasi the sun rises over the river. And when crossing the Ganga from north to south one is moving from west to east. This conflation of directions is of great importance. Kashi, the Luminous City, arose at the place where pilgrims crossing the river and returning would move in all four cardinal directions. Directionality, defined spaces, and movement have been decisive qualities of Vishnu from the earliest accounts of his acts.1 Vishnu means “expander,” who by striding through space establishes his lawful authority. Following in his steps is, the Veda tells us, to step in honey. Rama, Vishnu’s seventh incarnation, is known for his “goings” or “journeying” (the yana of Ramayana).2 The core subtext of Valmiki’s Ramayana, Tulsidas’s
Ramcharitmanas, and the Ramlila is the expansion of Rama worship. Even Ravana, in death, is absorbed into Rama.
