Beyond the Sacred: Contextualising Kāśī in the Jātakas

Abstract

The article attempts to contextualise the early historic city of Vārāṇasī in Uttar Pradesh beyond its sacred and religious identities. The article focuses on the craftsmen and crafts at Vārāṇasī as gleaned from the Buddhist literary tradition, notably the Jātakas. In doing so, it engages with the questions of inclusion and exclusion in urban space as these groups were accorded a lower social status despite the importance attached to specialised craft production. A critical reading of the stories suggests that the economic prosperity of the city was deeply rooted in the economic activities of the craftsmen. But the Jātakas reflect the reluctance and silence of the compilers in assigning requisite status to these groups.¹