Kashi Vishwanath Temple is one of the most famous Hindu temples and is dedicated to Lord
Shiva. It is located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, the holiest existing place of Hindus.
The temple stands on the western bank of the holy river Ganges, and is one of the twelve
Jyotirlingas, the holiest of Shiva temples. The main deity is known by the name Vishwanatha
or Vishweshwara meaning Ruler of the universe. The temple town, which claims to be the oldest
living city in the world, with 3500 years of documented history, is also called Kashi
and hence the temple is popularly called Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
The temple has been referred to in Hindu scriptures for a very long time and as a central part
of worship in the Shaiva philosophy. It has been destroyed and re-constructed a number
of times in the history. The last structure was demolished by Aurganzeb, who constructed
the Gyanvapi Mosque on its site. The current structure was built on an adjacent site by
the Maratha monarch, Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore in 1780.
Since 1983, the temple has been managed by the government of Uttar Pradesh. During the
religious occasion of Shivratri, Kashi Naresh is the chief officiating priest and no other
person or priest is allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum. It is only after he performs his
religious functions that others are allowed to enter.
Introduction Standing on the western bank of India's holiest
river, the Ganges, Varanasi is one of the oldest surviving cities of the world and the
cultural capital of India. Inside the Kashi Vishwanath Temple is the Jyotirlinga of Shiva,
Vishweshwara or Vishwanath. The Vishweshwara Jyotirlinga has a very special and unique
significance in the spiritual history of India. Tradition has it that the merits earned by
the darshan of other jyotirlinga scattered in various parts of India accrue to a devotee
by a single visit to Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Deeply and intimately implanted in the Hindu
mind, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple has been a living embodiment of India's timeless cultural
traditions and highest spiritual values. The Kashi Vishwanath Temple attracts visitors
not only from India but abroad as well. Legend
As per Shiva Purana, once Brahma and Vishnu had an argument in terms of supremacy of creation.
To test them, Shiva pierced the three worlds as a huge endless pillar of light, the jyotirlinga.
Vishnu and Brahma split their ways to downwards and upwards respectively to find the end of
the light in either directions. Brahma lied that he found out the end, while Vishnu conceded
his defeat. Shiva appeared as a second pillar of light and cursed Brahma that he would have
no place in ceremonies while Vishnu would be worshipped till the end of eternity. The
jyotirlinga is the supreme partless reality, out of which Shiva partly appears. The jyothirlinga
shrines, thus are places where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of light. Originally there
were believed to be 64 jyothirlingas while 12 of them are considered to be very auspicious
and holy. Each of the twelve jyothirlinga sites take the name of the presiding deity
- each considered different manifestation of Shiva. At all these sites, the primary
image is lingam representing the beginningless and endless Stambha pillar, symbolizing the
infinite nature of Shiva. The twelve jyothirlinga are Somnath in Gujarat, Mallikarjuna at Srisailam
in Andhra Pradesh, Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh,
Kedarnath in Himalayas, Bhimashankar in Maharashtra, Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Triambakeshwar
in Maharashtra, Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga, Deogarh in Deoghar, Jharkhand, Nageswar at Dwarka
in Gujarat, Rameshwar at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and Grishneshwar at Aurangabad in Maharashtra.
The Manikarnika Ghat on the banks of Ganges near to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple is considered
as a Shakti Peetha, a revered place of worship for the Shaktism sect. The mythology of Daksha
Yaga, a Shaivite literature is considered as an important literature which is the stoty
about the origin of Shakti Peethas. It is said that Shiva came to the Kashi Vishwanath
Shrine through Manikarnika after the death of Sati Devi.
The temple structure
The temple complex consists of a series of smaller shrines, located in a small lane called
the Vishwanatha Galli, near the river. The linga of the main deity at the shrine is 60 cm
tall and 90 cm in circumference housed in a silver altar. The main temple is quadrangle
and is surrounded by shrines of other gods. There are small temples for Kaalbhairav, Dhandapani,
Avimukteshwara, Vishnu, Vinayaka, Sanishwara, Virupaksha and Virupaksh Gauri in the complex.
There is a small well in the temple called the Jnana Vapi also spelled as Gyaan vapi.
The Jnana Vapi well sites to the north of the main temple and it is believed that the
Jytorlinga was hidden in the well to protect it at the time of invasion. It is said that
the main priest of the temple jumped in the well with the Shiv Ling in order to protect
the Jyotirlinga from invaders. According to the structure of the temple,
there is a sabha gurh or congregation hall leading to the inner garbha, gurh or sanctum.
The venerable linga is made up of black colored stone, and is enshrined in the sanctum, placed
on a silver platform. Structure of the temple is composed of three parts. The first compromises
a spire on the temple of Lord Vishwanath or Mahadeva. The second is gold dome and the
third is the gold spire atop the Vishwanath carrying a flag and a trident.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple receives around 3000 visitors every day. On certain occasions
the numbers reach 1,000,000 and more. Noteworthy about the temple is 15.5 metre high gold spire
and gold dome. There are three domes each made up of pure gold. Thus, this Hindu temple
is also called The Golden Temple, because of little bit being identical to the Golden
Temple. Importance of the temple
The temple is widely recognized as one of the most important places of worship in Hindu
religion and most of the leading Hindu saints, including Adi Sankaracharya, Ramakrishna Paramhansa,
Swami Vivekananda, Goswami Tulsidas, Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Gurunanak have visited
the site. A visit to the temple and a bath in the river Ganges is one of many methods
believed to lead one on a path to Moksha. Thus, people from all over the nation try
to visit the place at least once in their lifetime. There is also a tradition that one
should give up at least one desire after a pilgrimage the temple, and the pilgrimage
would also include a visit to the temple at Rameswaram in South India, where people take
water samples of the Ganges to perform prayer at the temple and bring back sand from near
that temple. Due to the immense popularity and holiness of Kashi Vishwanath temple, hundreds
of temples across the nation have been built in the same architectural style. Many legends
record that the true devotee achieves freedom from death and saṃsāra by the worship of
Shiva, Shiva's devotees on death being directly taken to his abode on Mount Kailash by his
messengers and not to Yama. The superiority of Shiva and his victory over his own nature—Shiva
is himself identified with death—is also stated. There is a popular belief that Shiva
himself blows the mantra of salvation into the ears of people who choose to end their
lives at the Vishwanath temple. History
A Shiva temple has been mentioned in the Puranas including the Kashi Khanda of Skanda Purana.
The original Vishwanath temple was destroyed by the army of Qutb-ud-din Aibak in 1194 CE,
when he defeated the Raja of Kannauj as a commander of Mohammad Ghori. The temple was
rebuilt by a Gujarati merchant during the reign of Shamsuddin Iltumish. It was demolished
again during the rule of either Hussain Shah Sharqi or Sikandar Lodhi. Raja Man Singh built
the temple during Akbar's rule, but orthodox Hindus boycotted it as he had let the Mughal
emperors marry within his family. Raja Todar Mal further re-built the temple with Akbar's
funding at its original site in 1585. In 1669 CE, Emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the
temple and built the Gyanvapi Mosque in its place. The remains of the erstwhile temple
can be seen in the foundation, the columns and at the rear part of the mosque. The Maratha
ruler Malhar Rao Holkar wanted to destroy the Gyanvapi mosque and re-construct the temple
at the site. However, he never actually did that. His daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar
later constructed the present current temple structure near the mosque. Maharaja Ranjit
Singh donated gold for the temple. During 1833-1840 CE, Ahilyabai constructed the boundary
of Gyanvapi Well, the ghats and other temples. Many noble families from various ancestral
kingdoms of India and their prior establishments make generous contributions for the operations
of the temple. Pooja Details
There are 5 aartis of Shree Kashi Vishwanath: . Mangala Aarti :- 3.00 - 4.00.
. Bhog Aarti :- 11.15 to 12.20. . Sandhya Aarti :- 7.00 to 8.15.
. Shringar Aarti :- 9.00 to 10.15. . Shayan Aarti :- 10.30-11.00.
Security arrangements do not allow any cell phones, camera, belts with metal buckle, cigerrette,
lighters etc. inside the temple. See also
Shivaratri Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship
into mosques References
Notes Chaturvedi, B. K., Shiv Purana, New Delhi:
Diamond Pocket Books Ltd, ISBN 81-7182-721-7 Eck, Diana L., Banaras, city of light, New
York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-231-11447-8 Gwynne, Paul, World Religions in Practice:
A Comparative Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell Publication, ISBN 978-1-4051-6702-4 .
Harding, Elizabeth U.. "God, the Father". Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar. Motilal
Banarsidass. pp. 156–157. ISBN 978-81-208-1450-9. Lochtefeld, James G., The Illustrated Encyclopedia
of Hinduism: A-M, Rosen Publishing Group, p. 122, ISBN 0-8239-3179-X
R., Venugopalam, Meditation: Any Time Any Where, Delhi: B. Jain Publishers Ltd., ISBN 81-8056-373-1
Vivekananda, Swami. "The Paris Congress of the History of Religions". The Complete Works
of Swami Vivekananda. Vol.4. External links
Kashi Vishwanath Temple Website Vishwanath Temple
Shri Kashi Vishwanath Mandir, Varanasi Article in indhistory.com
Culture holidays - Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Uttar Pradesh
Information about all jyotrilingas Kashi Vishwanath Temple
New Kashi Vishwanath Temple Kaaba Hindu Temple