The Varanasimahatmya of the Bhairavapradurbhava: A Twelfth-Century Glorification of Varanasi

The city of Varanasi in North India is one of the most sacred Hindu places. Its unique location on the banks of the Ganga adds to its special claims of holiness. These claims found expression in an extensive body of literature called Mahatmyas, texts composed in Sanskrit with the specific aim of promoting the ‘greatness’ (mahatmya) of the town through the narration of tales of origin of individual sites. The present study presents a little-known Varanasimahatmya which has survived in a unique compendium of such Mahatmyas in a palm-leaf manuscript in Nepal. It contains a critical edition of the text with an introduction and annotated English synopsis. In making this material available, this study aims to contribute to an understanding of the location of Brahmanical Hinduism, in particular Saivism.