Kashi Vishwanath Temple

Facts About Kashi Vishwanat Temple

One of the most well-known Hindu temples devoted to Lord Shiva is the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. It is situated in Varanasi's Vishwanath Gali, Uttar Pradesh, India. The Temple is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, or Jyotirlingams, the holiest of Shiva Temples, and is located on the western bank of the holy river Ganga. Shri Vishwanath and Vishweshwara are the names of the principal god, which literally means Lord of the Universe. In ancient times, Varanasi was known as Kashi ("shining"), and the temple is now known as Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Vishva: Universe, Ishvara: lord, one who has dominion is the etymology of the name Vishveshvara.

For a long time, the Temple has been mentioned in Hindu scriptures as a major aspect of Shaiva's philosophy devotion. Many Muslim monarchs had demolished it, the most recent being Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor, who built the Gyanvapi Mosque on its location. In 1780, the Maratha ruler Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore built the current edifice on an adjacent location.

The Uttar Pradesh government has been in charge of the shrine since 1983. Kashi Naresh (King of Kashi) is the chief officiating priest at the holy festival of Shivratri. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the big Shri Kashi Vishwanath Dham on December 13, 2021.

According to the Shiva Purana, Brahma (the Hindu God of Creation) and Vishnu (the Hindu God of Preservation) once quarreled about who was the most powerful, to put them to the test, Shiva pierced the three realms as the jyotirlinga, a massive infinite pillar of light. To see who was the most powerful, Vishnu disguised himself as a pig and went to the bottom of the pillar, while Brahma disguised himself as a swan and flew to the top. Brahma, in his arrogance, claimed to have discovered the end and offered a katuki flower as proof. Vishnu respectfully admitted that he couldn't discover the bottom. Shiva then became the wrathful Bhairava form, severed Brahma's lying fifth head, and cursed him not to be worshipped. For all eternity, Vishnu would be adored as equal to Shiva, with his own temples. The jyotirlinga is an axis mundi symbol that represents the supreme formless (nirguna) truth at the heart of creation, from whence Shiva's form (saguna) emerges. As a result, the jyothirlinga shrines are places where Shiva manifested himself as a blazing column of light. Shiva has 64 different forms, which are not to be confused with Jyotirlingas.

The Shakti Peetha, or revered place of worship for the Shaktism sect, is the Manikarnika Ghat on the banks of the Ganges near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The Daksha Yaga, a Shaivite literature, is regarded as essential literature since it tells the narrative of the Shakti Peethas' beginnings.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple

Structure of the Temple

The temple complex is made up of a collection of smaller shrines that are placed along the river in a little alley known as the Vishwanatha Galli. The main deity's linga, which is housed in a silver altar, is 60 centimeters tall and 90 centimeters in circumference. The main temple is a quadrilateral surrounded by shrines dedicated to different gods. In the complex, there are minor temples dedicated to Kala Bhairava, Kartikeya, Avimukteshwara, Vishnu, Ganesha, Shani, Shiva, and Parvati.

The temple has a small well called Jnana Vapi, which is alternatively spelled Gyan Vapi (the wisdom well). The Jnana Vapi well is located to the north of the main temple, and the Jyotirlinga was buried in the well during the Mughal conquest to protect it. According to legend, the temple's principal priest dived into the well with the lingam to safeguard the Jyotirlinga from intruders.

A Sabha Griha, or Congregation Hall, connects the outside Garbha Griha, or Sanctum Sanctorum, with the inner Garbha Griha, or Sanctum Sanctorum. The venerable Jyotirlinga is a dark brown colored stone that sits on a silver podium in the Sanctum. Mandir's structure is divided into three sections. The first compromise the temple's spire. The gold dome is the second, and the gold spire above the sanctuary, holding a flag and a trident, is the third.

Every day, roughly 3,000 people visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple. In rare cases, the numbers can exceed 1,000,000 or even higher. The temple's 15.5-meter-high gold tower and gold dome are notable features. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who donated the domes in 1835, fashioned each one out of pure gold.

A corridor with numerous amenities for pilgrims is now being built between Kashi Vishwanath temple and Manikarnika Ghat.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple

Periods of antiquity and classical antiquity

In Rajghat's excavations, a seal of Lord Avimukteshwara (Vishweshwara/Vishwanath) dated 9-10 century BCE was uncovered. During the years 508-10 CE, Vainyagupta renovated the temple.

In 635 CE, Xuanzang visited Varanasi and wrote about the temple in his book. The temple is mentioned in the Puranas, particularly the Skanda Purana's Kashi Khanda (section).

Period of the Middle Ages

When Aibak fought the Raja of Kannauj as a commander of Mohammad Ghori in 1194 CE, the old Vishwanath temple was demolished. During the reign of Delhi's Sultan Iltutmish (1211–1266 CE), the temple was renovated in 1230 by a Gujarati trader. During the reigns of Hussain Shah Sharqi (1447–1458) or Sikandar Lodhi (1489–1517), it was demolished once again.

Period of the Mughals

During the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar, Raja Man Singh erected the temple. In 1585, Raja Todar Mal reconstructed the temple on its original site. Vir Singh Deo either renovated or completed the construction of an older temple during Jahangir's reign. Emperor Aurangzeb demolished the temple in 1669 CE and replaced it with the Gyanvapi Mosque. The foundation, columns, and the back portion of the mosque contain remnants of the former temple.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple

British Period

Malhar Rao Holkar, the Maratha emperor, devised a plan in 1742 to demolish the mosque and rebuild the Vishweshwar temple on the site. His plan, however, did not come to fruition, in part due to the intervention of the Nawab of Awadh, who was handed administration of the province. Around 1750, the Maharaja of Jaipur commissioned a survey of the land surrounding the temple with the goal of purchasing land to restore it. His proposal to reconstruct the temple, however, did not come to fruition. Ahilyabai Holkar, Malhar Rao's daughter-in-law, built the current temple next to the mosque in 1780.

In the Gyan Vapi precinct, Baiza Bai, the widow of Maratha king Daulat Rao Scindhia of Gwalior State, built a low-roofed colonnade with about 40 pillars in 1828.

Gyanvapi Well's boundaries, ghats, and other neighboring temples were built between 1833 and 1840 CE. Many royal families from numerous Indian subcontinent ancestral kingdoms and their past establishments contribute generously to the temple's operations.

At the request of his wife, Datar Kaur, Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire donated one tonne of gold for plating the temple's dome in 1835. Nagpur's Raghuji Bhonsle III donated silver to the shrine in 1841. To the east of the colonnade is a 7-foot high stone statue of the Nandi bull, which was given by the Rana of Nepal sometime in the 1860s.

A hereditary group of pandits or mahants was in charge of the temple. Following Mahant Devi Dutt's death, a disagreement erupted among his successors. Pandit Visheshwar Dayal Tewari, his brother-in-law, filed a lawsuit in 1900, and was declared the chief priest.

Post-independence

After the Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992, Shringar Gauri's long-running puja (at the back of Gyanvapi mosque was halted.

The Kashi Vishwanath Corridor Project, which began in 2019, was designed to improve access between the temple and the Ganges River by creating more space and preventing overcrowding. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone. The temple's total space will be increased to roughly 50,000 square meters as part of the restoration. A total of 1,400 people and companies were moved and compensated. More than 40 destroyed, centuries-old temples, including the Gangeshwar Mahadev temple, the Manokameshwar Mahadev temple, the Jauvinayak temple, and the Shri Kumbha Mahadev temple, were discovered and rebuilt during the refurbishment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the site to a holy ceremony on December 13, 2021.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple

Importance

Varanasi, situated on the banks of the sacred Ganges, is considered one of the holiest Hindu cities. The Kashi Vishwanath temple is widely regarded as one of Hinduism's most important places of worship. The Jyotirlinga of Shiva, Vishveshvara or Vishvanath, is housed within the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The Vishveshvara Jyotirlinga holds a special and unique place in India's spiritual history.

Adi Sankaracharya, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Bamakhyapa, Goswami Tulsidas, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Sathya Sai Baba, Yogiji Maharaj, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Mahant Swami Maharaj, and Gurunanak are just a few of the famous saints who have visited the place.

A visit to the temple and a bath in the Ganges are two of the many procedures thought to lead to Moksha (liberation). As a result, Hindus from all over the world make an effort to visit the site at least once in their lives. There is also a tradition that after a pilgrimage to the temple, one should give up at least one desire, and the pilgrimage would include a visit to the temple at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Southern India, where people take Gange's water samples to pray at the temple and bring back sand from near the temple. Hundreds more temples have been created in the same architectural style as the Kashi Vishwanath temple due to its tremendous popularity and sacredness. Many tales claim that real devotion to Shiva results in liberation from death and sasra, with Shiva's adherents being carried directly to his residence on Mount Kailash by his messengers after death, rather than to Yama. Shiva's dominance and victory against his own nature (Shiva is associated with death) are also stated. It is widely believed that when people die naturally at the Vishwanath temple, Shiva himself blows the salvation chant into their ears.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple