Kashi Vishwanath Templeਕਾਸ਼ੀ ਵਿਸ਼ਵਨਾਥ ਮੰਦਰ

Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, is the most revered of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the shrines where Shiva is worshipped as a self-manifested pillar of light. The present temple was built in 1780 by Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore, and its three domes were plated with a tonne of gold donated by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1835.

What is Kashi Vishwanath Temple?

Kashi Vishwanath is a Hindu temple to Shiva in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and the most revered of the twelve Jyotirlingas. Vishwanath means Lord of the Universe, and for Hindus the temple is the spiritual heart of Kashi, the ancient city on the western bank of the Ganga that is counted among the oldest living cities in the world. Pilgrims come here seeking darshan of the jyotirlinga, the self-manifested pillar of light that is Shiva's presence, and tradition holds that a visit to Kashi Vishwanath carries a special spiritual weight: in the Hindu imagination, Kashi is the city Shiva never abandons.

Who built the present temple?

The temple standing today was built in 1780 by Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore, the Maratha ruler remembered across India as a restorer of shrines. It rose on a site beside the Gyanvapi Mosque, after a long history of destruction and rebuilding. According to several historical accounts, the Ghurids destroyed an earlier temple in 1194; it was rebuilt, demolished again under Sikandar Lodi in the late 15th and early 16th century, and rebuilt once more in 1585 by Raja Man Singh I and Todar Mal during Akbar's reign. Then, according to several historical accounts, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb ordered the Vishweshwar temple demolished in 1669, and the Gyanvapi Mosque was raised on its site in the years after. Some scholars argue the 1669 demolition was aimed at rebellious local zamindars rather than being purely religious iconoclasm, so the motive remains a matter of scholarly debate. Ahilyabai's 1780 temple, built in the traditional North Indian Nagara style, is the shrine pilgrims enter today.

Why is it called the Golden Temple of Varanasi?

In 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire, at the behest of his wife Maharani Datar Kaur, donated a tonne of gold to plate the temple's domes. Three domes of the temple are covered in pure gold, which is why Varanasi's shrine is also known as the Golden Temple, not to be confused with Amritsar's Harmandir Sahib. The temple's shikhara rises 15.5 metres; the main lingam stands 60 cm tall with a 90 cm circumference on a silver altar. Around the main shrine cluster smaller sanctums to Kala Bhairava, Kartikeya, Avimukteshwara, Vishnu, Ganesha, Shani, Shiva and Parvati. North of the main temple lies the Jnana Vapi, the well of wisdom, where tradition holds the jyotirlinga was hidden for safekeeping during the Mughal invasion. Like Somnath, Kashi Vishwanath is a shrine that has been broken and raised again across the centuries, and each rebuilding has deepened its place in the Hindu imagination.

What is the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor?

For centuries pilgrims reached the temple through the narrow, congested lanes of Vishwanath Gali. The Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, whose foundation stone was laid in March 2019, changed that: its first phase was inaugurated on 13 December 2021, opening a direct, grand pathway from the Ganga's ghats to the temple. The temple precinct grew from about 3,000 square feet to nearly five lakh square feet, with 23 new buildings including a tourist facilitation centre, a Vedic Kendra, a city museum and pilgrim rest houses. During construction, more than 40 buried ancient temples were found and restored. The corridor now handles an average of 45,000 pilgrims a day, and the temple trust recorded 10 crore visitors in the years since the inauguration. A kumbhabhishekham, the ritual reconsecration of the temple, was held in July 2018 after a gap of 239 years, and in February 2022 the sanctum itself was gold-plated with 60 kg of gold given by an anonymous donor from South India.

Is Kashi a Shakti Pitha too?

The Shakti Pitha of Kashi is not the Vishwanath temple itself but its neighbour. About 250 metres north-west of Kashi Vishwanath, at Mir Ghat, stands the Vishalakshi Temple, regarded as one of the 51 Shakti Pithas, the seats of the Goddess. There Shakti is worshipped as Vishalakshi Devi with Kaal Bhairav as her Bhairava, and tradition holds that the gem from Sati's earring fell at this spot. Pilgrims commonly visit the two shrines together, honouring Shiva as Vishwanath and the Goddess as Vishalakshi in a single Kashi yatra. Kashi's religious geography is full of such pairings: the city is at once Shaiva, Shakta and deeply woven into the lives of its ghats, wells and lanes.

Festivals and daily worship

Maha Shivaratri is the temple's great festival, when Varanasi fills with devotees through the night. Twelve days later comes Rangbhari Ekadashi, a tradition more than 200 years old, when Shiva is believed to return to Kashi with Parvati after his wedding, and the city plays Holi with colour in his honour. On Vasant Panchami, the tilak ceremony is performed for Baba Vishwanath. Daily worship follows a fixed rhythm through the day: the Mangala Aarti before dawn, the Bhog Aarti at midday, the Shringar Aarti late in the evening and the Saptarishi Aarti at 7:30 in the evening, each drawing crowds into the sanctum courtyard.

What is the Gyanvapi Mosque, and how is it connected to the temple?

The Gyanvapi Mosque stands immediately beside Kashi Vishwanath, on the site where, according to several historical accounts, the earlier Vishweshwar temple was demolished in 1669 and the mosque raised in the years after. Remains associated with the old temple are visible in parts of the mosque's structure, including its foundation, columns and rear portion. The site has a live legal history: a title suit was filed in 1991, and petitions concerning worship at the Shringar Gauri shrine within the complex were filed in 2021. The status of the site remains disputed and before the courts. Visitors should know that the temple and the mosque share one of the most closely watched religious sites in India, and the entry describes the history as the sources report it, without taking a position on the dispute.