Kashi Vishwanath Temple

Kashi's sanctity is celebrated throughout Puranic literature. The Kashi Khanda of the Skanda Purana is devoted to the city and describes the Vishwanath temple of its time, called Moksha Lakshmi Vilas, with the lingam in the garbhagriha surrounded by four mandapas — Jnana, Ranga, Aishvarya and Mukti. The Tamil Nayanar saint Sambandar sang of the shrine. The temple trust lists Adi Shankaracharya, Goswami Tulsidas, Guru Nanak, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda and Swami Dayanand Saraswati among the many saints who came here for darshan.

Historians describe the temple's story as one of repeated destruction and rebuilding. According to historical accounts, the earlier temple, remembered as Adi Vishweshwar, was destroyed in 1194 when the army of Muhammad of Ghor defeated Jayachandra of Kannauj; the Razia Mosque was later built on that site. A temple was rebuilt in the 13th century, damaged under the Sharqi sultans of Jaunpur in the 15th century, and demolished under Sikandar Lodi around 1490. During Akbar's reign Raja Man Singh and Raja Todar Mal sponsored its reconstruction, Todar Mal's work being dated to about 1585, with the scholar Narayana Bhatta of Varanasi associated with the effort.

In 1669, according to Mughal court records and later historians, Emperor Aurangzeb ordered the temple's demolition, and the Gyanvapi Mosque was built on part of its site; remains of the earlier temple can be seen in the mosque's plinth and rear wall. Some historians link the order to the politics of the time, including local resistance to Mughal authority, rather than to religion alone. Pilgrims kept coming to the precinct. In the 18th century Malhar Rao Holkar and the Maharaja of Jaipur both tried, without success, to rebuild the temple on its original spot. Disputes over the Gyanvapi site are before the courts, and this page does not comment on them.

In 1780 Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore, Malhar Rao's daughter-in-law, built the present temple on an adjacent site. In 1785 a naubatkhana (drum house) was built in front of it by the Collector, Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, at the instance of Governor-General Warren Hastings. In 1828 Baiza Bai of Gwalior built a colonnade of more than 40 pillars in the Gyanvapi precinct. In the 1830s Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab gave gold to cover two of the temple's three domes: 1835 in most histories, 1839 according to the temple trust. Raghuji Bhonsle III of Nagpur gave silver in 1841.

For two centuries the temple was looked after by hereditary priests (mahants). On 28 January 1983 the Government of Uttar Pradesh took it over under the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act. Its management was entrusted to the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust, with the former Kashi Naresh, Dr Vibhuti Narayan Singh, as president, and an executive committee chaired by the Divisional Commissioner of Varanasi.

The temple's recent history has been one of large-scale renewal. In July 2018 a Kumbhabhishekam (reconsecration) was held, conducted by the Nattukottai Nagarathar community of Tamil Nadu, whose association with the shrine goes back generations. The Shri Kashi Vishwanath Dham project, begun in 2019, cleared and rebuilt the area between the temple and the river; more than 40 old temples uncovered during the work were restored. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it on 13 December 2021.

The Dham opened a broad stone-paved route from Mandir Chowk down to Lalita Ghat on the Ganga, with pilgrim facilities, a museum, a Vedic library and guest houses run by the trust. In 2022 the walls of the sanctum were plated with gold offered by an anonymous devotee. Pilgrim numbers have since risen many times over, and the trust now runs online aarti, Rudrabhishek and Sugam Darshan bookings.

The present temple, built in 1780, follows the North Indian Nagara style, built of stone and set within a walled courtyard. Its plan is compact: a sabha griha (hall) leads to the garbhagriha, where the Jyotirlinga of Vishweshwara, a smooth black stone, rests in a silver-lined base set into the floor. The courtyard holds smaller shrines of Avimukteshwara, Kala Bhairava, Kartikeya, Vishnu, Ganesha, Shani, Dandapani and others.

The temple has three spires or domes. Two of them, the shikhara over the sanctum and a dome beside it, are covered in gold given by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The trust notes that the third is still uncovered. Atop the main shikhara stand a gold finial, a flag and a trident. In front of the temple is the 1785 naubatkhana, where ceremonial music was played. In 2022 the inner walls of the sanctum were also covered with gold.

North of the temple is the Jnana Vapi (Gyanvapi), the 'well of wisdom'. Tradition holds that during an attack the Jyotirlinga was hidden in this well to protect it, the chief priest leaping in with it, and a large Nandi faces in its direction. Baiza Bai's 1828 colonnade stands nearby.

The Shri Kashi Vishwanath Dham, completed in 2021, has transformed the setting. Instead of a cluster of narrow lanes, the temple now sits within a large stone-paved precinct of sandstone pavilions and arcades, with a direct link through Mandir Chowk to Lalita Ghat. From the river, the gold spire of the temple is visible for the first time in centuries.