Banaras is the most visited pilgrimage destination in all of India. One of
the seven Holy Cities, one of the twelve Jyotir Linga sites and also a Shakti
Pitha site, it is the most favored place for Hindus to die and be cremated.
Myths and hymns speak of the waters of the Ganges as the fluid medium of Shiva's divine essence and a bath in the river is believed to wash away all of one's sins. The particular river-side location of Banaras is considered especially
potent because, in less than six miles (ten kilometers), the Ganges is met by
two other rivers, the Asi and the Varana. Commenting of this specific location
of Banaras along the river Ganges, the Hindu scripture Tristhalisetu explains
that,

Known in different eras as Avimukta, Varanasi and Kashi, meaning “where the
supreme light shines”, this great north Indian center of Shiva worship has had
more than 3000 years of continuous habitation. Few standing buildings are older
than the 16th century, however, as Muslim armies raiding from the 11th century
onward destroyed the ancient Hindu temples and erected mosques on their
foundations. Qutbuddin Aibak's armies were said to have destroyed more than a
thousand temples in 1194, and Shan Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, had
seventy-six temples demolished. The city's primary Shiva shrine, the Jyotir
Linga Visvanatha or ‘Golden Temple’, was rebuilt in 1776 across the road
from its original location (now occupied by the Jnana Vapi mosque). Adjacent to
this mosque is the Jnana Vapi well, the ritual center and axis mundi of Banaras.
The Jnana Vapi, or Well of Wisdom, is said to have been dug by Shiva himself,
and its waters carry the liquid form of jhana, the light of wisdom. The imposing
Alamgir mosque stands on the site of another of Kashi's most ancient and sacred
shrines, the temple of Bindu Madhava.
 

In Hindu Kashi, it is said there are thirty-three hundred million shrines and
a half a million images of the deities. Since a pilgrim would need all the years
of his or her life to visit each of these shrines, it is considered wise to come
to the holy city and never again leave. While this enormous number of shrines is
perhaps a trifle exaggerated, Kashi does indeed have many hundreds of beautiful
temples. Some of these temples are named after the great tirthas, or pilgrimage
centers, in other parts of India - Rameshvaram, Dwarka, Puri, and Kanchipuram,
for example - and it is said that merely by visiting Kashi one automatically
gains the benefit of visiting all other sacred places. Most pilgrims make only
short visits of days or weeks to Kashi yet others come to spend their remaining
years in the holy city.