Varanasi (वाराणसी)

What makes Varanasi a temple town

Kashi's claim is continuity: the tradition holds it to be the oldest continuously inhabited city and the one Shiva does not leave, and the practical version of that claim is that the rites here have not stopped. Vishwanath is a Jyotirlinga, the ghats run for six kilometres, and Manikarnika's fires have burned without interruption for longer than anyone can date.

What distinguishes it from the other four towns on this list is that it is a working city as well — its pathshalas train the priests, its weavers and boatmen live in the lanes between the temples, and its Bhojpuri street life is not staged for anybody. A rite kept here is kept in a city, not at a site.