Benares
City, 1794–1947
بنارسوارانسیबनारसवाराणसी
Today Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Same place, renamed.
Key facts
- Historical name
- Benares
- Type
- City
- Coordinates
- 25.3189° N, 83.0128° E(seed dataset)
- Governance
- Directly administered
- Record confidence
- High confidence
- Identifiers
- Q79980
Directly administered by the Governor-General of India, and therefore part of British India in the statutory sense of the Interpretation Act 1889, s.18.
Location
Pin placed at the coordinates recorded for this place. Colonial-era boundaries are not drawn.
Description
Hindu pilgrimage city on the Ganges, head-quarters of Benares District 'with cantonment' according to the Imperial Gazetteer.
Historical notes
Ceded to the East India Company by the Nawab of Oudh in 1775 and fully administered from 1794; the Maharaja of Benares held the adjoining Ramnagar estate. Renamed Varanasi after 1947.
Administrative history
Administrative parenthood changed over time. Each row states the years it is recorded for, and the source it comes from.
| Years | Relation | Unit | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| from 1901 | Part of | United Provinces of Agra and OudhProvince · Directly administeredSnapshot from the 1901 census and the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31). End of the relationship not established; recorded as open rather than inferred. | High confidencesource |
| from 1901 | Part of | BenaresDistrict · Directly administeredSnapshot from the 1901 census and the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31). End of the relationship not established; recorded as open rather than inferred. | High confidencesource |
Recorded names
Every documented spelling and transliteration held for this place. The historical name is canonical; modern names redirect to it.
| Name | Script | Type | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benares | Latin | Historical English | — |
| Banaras | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| Benaras | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| Benares City | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| Kashi | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| Varanasi | Latin | Modern English | — |
| Varanasi | Latin | Indigenous | — |
| بنارس | Arabic | Indigenous | — |
| وارانسی | Arabic | Indigenous | — |
| बनारस | Devanagari | Indigenous | — |
| वाराणसी | Devanagari | Indigenous | — |
Records and references
- Imperial Gazetteer of India
- Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31), Vol. 7 (7), p. 189
Sources
- Gazetteer· administrativeLicence unverified
Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago — the 1908–31 text is public domain, but DSAL's digital presentation states no licence; link-out only
Retrieved 2026-08-29
- Encyclopedia· generalCC BY-SA
Wikipedia: Varanasi, Wikimedia Foundation
Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0
Retrieved 2026-08-29
- Database· identityCC0
Wikidata (Q79980), Wikimedia Foundation
Wikidata, CC0 1.0
Retrieved 2026-08-29
Sources tagged “Licence unverified” are linked to rather than reproduced. Scans and images are only displayed inline where the licence is confirmed permissive.