The Sacred and the Material: Making of a Jain Pilgrimage and Redefining the Identity of Benares (c. 1600–1700)

It was the autumn of the first half of the seventeenth century when a young Jain merchant from Jaunpur named Banarasidas excitedly travelled to a city named Benares for visiting the holy shrines of the Jain deities Lord Parshwanatha and Suparshwanatha.

Kasi Nagari Main Gaye, Pratham Nahaye Ganga,
Pooja Paas Supaas Ki, Keemi Dhari Mann Rang

(The Pilgrims) travelled to the city of Kashi and took a bath in the Ganges (after which) they worshipped Parshwanatha and Suparshwanatha that filled their hearts with joy. Banarasidas 1943: Verse 232, p. 26.)