Varanasi (or Benares, Banaras, Kashi), on the left bank of the Ganges, is one of the seven sacred cities of the Hindus. Among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, its early history is that of the first Aryan settlement in the middle Ganges valley. By late 2nd millennium BCE, Varanasi was a seat of Aryan religion and philosophy and a commercial and industrial centre famous for its muslin and silk fabrics, perfumes, ivory works, and sculpture