Varanasi is the 11th largest Hindi speaking city of India with a total population of 1.1 million. Highest employment in Varanasi district is in the Railway, Textiles, Handicraft, Education, and in the Tourism Industry. Varanasi city has 40% workers in the manufacturing sector, 25% in the trade and commerce sector, 8% in transport and communication, 4% Agricultural workers, 2% construction workers, 2% marginal workers and the remaining 19% in miscellaneous areas. Topography of this region is of a flat land, with abundance of good quality groundwater since Varanasi is situated on the banks of the River Ganga and its tributaries Varuna and Assi. Varanasi city is not a big agricultural belt because of the large urban spread of the city and its industries. This is one of the oldest living cities in the world, mentioned adequately in ancient texts. According to Mark Twain, Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together. Archaeological evidence of the earliest known urban settlements in the vicinity of Varanasi date back to approximately 2000 BCE. These archaeological remains suggest that the Varanasi area was populated by Vedic people. The oldest known text referencing the city, the Atharvaveda, also dates to approximately the same period, and suggests that the area was populated by indigenous tribes. Varanasi remained the central hub for intellectuals and theologians during the middle ages, which further contributed to its reputation as a cultural center of religion and education. Several major figures of the Bhakti movement were born in Varanasi, including Kabir, born in 1389 and Ravidas, a 15th-century socio-religious reformer, mystic, poet, traveler, and spiritual figure, who was employed in a tannery at Varanasi. Guru Nanak visited Varanasi for Maha Shivaratri in 1507, a trip that played a large role in the founding of Sikhism. In 1665, the French traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier described the architectural beauty of the Vindu Madhava temple by the Ganges.
