It's said that the Garud - golden eagle (also the vehicle of Lord Vishnu) do not fly over Kashi (also known as Varanasi, Banaras) around a radius of about 50 km.
Similarly the house lizards do not make their noises in Kashi.
There is a reference abut the reason for this peculiarity in the scriptures.
So the story goes something like this:
After killing Ravana, Lord Rama wanted to offer special pooja to Lord Siva in order to get rid of the 'BrahmaHatya sin' (the sin of killing Brahmin).
He asked to Hanuman to go to Kashi and bring a 'Swayamboo Ling' (a Siva Ling of self originated) from there.
When Hanuman went there the place was full of Siva Lings. So he could not identify the Swayamboo Ling.
Garud, came to help Hanuman then, and showed a Swayamboo ling by flying in a circle over it.
Also, at that time the lizard helped Hanuman and made its sound to confirm the selection of Garud.
Hanuman, then removed the ling and started flying out of Kashi towards Rameswaram.
Now, Kasi was believed to be guarded by Lord Bhairav.
When Hanuman reached the border of Kashi, Bhairav stopped him and asked him as to how dare he (Hanuman) is to take Shiva Ling without his (Bhairav's) permission.
To this, Hanuman replied that he need no permission from any body as it is as per by the request of his lord Shri Rama.
Thus followed a fierce battle between Bhairav and Hanuman. Neither of them were getting defeated or winning.
All the gods watched this with great sorrow. After some time some of them took initiative to stop the fight.
They requested Bhairav to allow Hanuman to take the Ling so that Lord Shri Ram can offer the worship.
Bhairav agreed to their request.
Now, since Garud and Lizard helped Hanuman to identify the Swayamboo Ling, Bhairav made a condition that Garud should not fly within 45 miles of Kashi and Lizards should always be silent in Kasi.
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