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Kashi Vishwanath
Kashi, the city of Lord Shiva, which we know today as Varanasi and Banaras. It is said that this ancient and holy city was founded by Lord Shiva himself. By the way, if we talk about historical facts, then we come to know that Varanasi is one of the few cities in the world whose civilization is more than 5000 years old.
Apart from this, the experts of iconography studied a metal coin depicting Lord Shiva found here and a bull sitting near him, then they come to know that this coin is about 12400 years old. Now you can get an idea from this how old is Varanasi and how many years old its civilization can be.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple located in Varanasi is a very ancient and famous Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Kashi Vishwanath Temple, located on the Vishwanath street of Varanasi and the western bank of the river Ganges, is worshipped as the 07th Jyotirlinga out of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva.
The Shivling of Lord Shiva installed in the temple is worshipped in the name of Shri Vishwanath and Vishweshwar which in common language means the lord of the whole universe. The Kashi Vishwanath temple has long been described as a central part of worship in Shaivism in many ancient scriptures related to Hinduism.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple was demolished several times by external Mughal invaders, in which the name of the sixth Mughal invader Aurangzeb is taken prominently. Aurangzeb completely demolished the ancient Kashi Vishwanath temple and got the Gyanvapi mosque built on the remaining walls of that temple.
Gyanvapi Mosque by Aurangzeb is still situated near Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The present Kashi Vishwanath temple was built in 1780 by Rani Ahilyabai Holkar, the Maratha ruler of Indore and Maharaja Ranjit Singh gave about 1000 kg of gold for the Kashi Vishwanath temple, from which the Golden Dome of the temple was constructed.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple is also called Golden Temple due to the dome of the temple being of gold. Presently, on 13th December 2021, the Prime Minister of our country, Shri Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor. The work of construction of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor was started in 2019.
And the basic reason for the construction of this corridor was to facilitate the way from Kashi Vishwanath temple to the river Ganga. So that Lord Vishwanath can be worshipped by bringing water from the Ganges river. It is believed that Lord Vishwanath’s Jalabhishek was performed with the holy water of the Ganges River, which had been closed for many years due to the huge construction of Varanasi.
Now after the construction of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, the ancient tradition of worshipping Vishwanath Lord Shivling from the Ganges river will start back. Apart from this, keeping in mind the convenience of the devotees visiting the Kashi Vishwanath temple, this corridor has also been constructed.
Thousands of devotees visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple every day to see Lord Vishwanath and due to the small size of the temple complex, devotees had to go through many kinds of inconveniences here. Keeping this in mind, the premises of Kashi Vishwanath Temple has been enlarged to 50000 square meters.
To enlarge this complex, the Central and State Governments together relocated the houses and businesses of about 1400 families and also gave them fair compensation.
More than 40 ancient temples including Gangeshwar Mahadev Temple, Jauvinayak Temple, Shri Kumbh Mahadev Temple and Manokameshwar Mahadev Temple have also been renovated while constructing the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple History
No known facts have been received about when the original Kashi Vishwanath was built, but many ancient and religious texts related to Hindu religion such as Skanda Purana, Kashi Purana and Shiva Purana describe this temple in detail.
Apart from this, according to the known facts, in 1194 AD, the Mughal invader Qutbuddin Aibak destroyed the original Kashi Vishwanath, which is rebuilt in 1230 AD by a Gujarati merchant during the reign of the Mughal ruler Iltutmish (1211-1266 AD).
After this Hussain Shah Sharqi (1447–1458) or Sikandar Lodhi (1489–1517) again demolished the Kashi Vishwanath temple during their invasions and rule on India. After a few years, during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar, Maharaja Sawai Mansingh of Jaipur got the temple rebuilt.
After this, with the help of Raja Todarmal, Pandit Narayan Bhatt got the Kashi Vishwanath temple rebuilt at the original place of the temple in the year 1585. In the year 1632, on the orders of the Mughal invader Shah Jahan, his army sets out to break the Kashi Vishwanath temple again, but due to the fierce battle with the armies of the Hindu kings, the Mughal army could not break the Kashi Vishwanath temple but 63 other Hindu temples in Kashi breaks it.
During the reign of Mughal ruler Jahangir, Veer Singh Deo got the temple renovated. Some historians also believe that Veer Singh Dev had built the new Kashi Vishwanath temple. After this, the Mughal invader Aurangzeb broke the Kashi Vishwanath temple in the year 1669 and got the Gyanvapi mosque built on its remains.
The remains of the original Kashi Vishwanath temple are still clearly visible on the back walls of the Gyanvapi Mosque. Aurangzeb gives a written order to the Mughal army on 18 April 1669 to attack the Kashi Vishwanath temple. After that, on 2 September 1669, the Mughal army attacked the Kashi Vishwanath temple and conveys the information of its destruction to Aurangzeb.
The original copy of the order given by Aurangzeb to attack the Kashi Vishwanath temple is still preserved in the Asiatic Library of Kolkata. About the attack on Kashi Vishwanath temple by Aurangzeb, the Muslim writer of that time Saki Mustaid Khan has written in detail in his book “Maside Alamgiri”.
After some time, when the British rule started in India, then in 1742, the Maratha ruler Malhar Rao Holkar planned to rebuild the Vishweshwar temple by demolishing the Gyanvapi mosque, but at that time due to the intervention of the then Nawab of Awadh, the Gyanvapi mosque The original temple cannot be built by breaking it.
But in the year 1780, Malhar Rao Holkar’s daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar buys land near Gyanvapi Masjid and gets the new Kashi Vishwanath temple constructed. In 1828, Baija Bai, the widowed wife of Daulat Rao Scindia, the Maratha ruler of Gwalior, gets a roof built with more than 40 pillars in the Gyanvapi complex.
Apart from this, from 1833 to 1840 AD, many other Hindu temples are also built near the Gyanvapi well and the ghat located near it. The contribution was made by many Hindu kings of India for the construction and operation of the temples done here at that time.
In the year 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, at the behest of his wife Maharani Datar Kaur, gave more than 1000 kg of gold for the Kashi Vishwanath temple, which was later installed on the top of the temple, and apart from this, Raja Raghuji Bhosale III of Nagpur gave silver for the temple had donated.
Mythology of Kashi Vishwanath
01 – It is believed that before marriage, Lord Shiva liked to do penance by staying in the Himalayan mountains. He did not have any problem even with the severe cold of the Himalayas. It is said that when the cold became very severe, he used to carry the ashes of the cremation ground on his body to keep himself warm.
Apart from this, he used to use the skins of wild animals as blankets. But when he gets marriedtoh Mother Parvati, he comes from the hills to live in the plains and he likes this place which we all know today as Varanasi (Kashi). Coming to Kashi, Lord Shiva established this region as a powerful centre of energy. The same energy can be felt in Varanasi even today.
02 – Kashi is called the city of lights and you can get to hear a very interesting story related to it here. Once a dispute arises between Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe and Lord Vishnu, the maintainer of the universe, as to who is the best among them.
Gradually, this dispute between these two gods increases very much and seeing no conclusion of it, the other gods present there to suggest to Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu that the solution of the dispute between you both is with Lord Shiva. Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu, listening to other deities, approach Lord Shiva and request them to end their dispute.
To end the dispute between the two gods, Lord Shiva takes the form of a huge lighthouse. The light of the pillar of light that Lord Shiva assumes rips through the earth and goes to Hades and the other part of the light reaches the infinite universe. Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma are very surprised to see such a form of Lord Shiva.
After this, according to the instructions given by Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma rides on his swan to find the height of the lighthouse and goes towards the universe. And Lord Vishnu taking the form of a succulent starts digging to find the end of this lighthouse in Hades.
Both the gods keep trying to find the end of that lighthouse for many ages. In the end, Lord Vishnu accepts his defeat and returns to Lord Shiva and surrenders before him. But here Lord Brahma did not want to accept his defeat in any way, so he tells Lord Shiva that he has found the upper end of the lighthouse and to justify his claim, he would also get false testimony from Ketki Phool.
Lord Shiva was aware of the lies of Lord Brahma, so he gets angry and curses Lord Brahma, neither will anyone ever worship Lord Brahma nor will a temple be built for him. This is the reason that even today we get to see very few temples of Lord Brahma.
It is believed that the place on earth where Lord Shiva had established himself as a pillar of light, today we all know that place by the name of Kashi. And this is the reason why Kashi is also called the city of lights.
03 – Once Lord Shiva had to leave Kashi at the request of the gods, now what was the reason for this. You can get to hear a very interesting legend related to this incident in this ancient city. Once upon a time, Lord Shiva used to live in Kashi with Mother Parvati.
At that time, Lord Shiva used to be absorbed in intense penance for most of the time, so the gods started worrying that the energy of Kashi should be destroyed. That’s why he requested a king named Devodas to become the king of Kashi.
Devodas used to be a very influential king at that time, so he told the gods that he can become the king of Kashi only when Lord Shiva leaves this city and leaves from here. King Devodas knew that as long as Lord Shiva resides in Kashi, all the people will go to Lord Shiva only.
Apart from this, he also knew that as long as Lord Shiva stays in Kashi, no one will accept him as a king there. Thus, at the behest of King Devodas, all the gods request Lord Shiva to leave Kashi and go somewhere else. At the request of the deities, Lord Shiva leaves Kashi with Mother Parvati and goes to reside on the Mandar mountain.
But even after going to the Mandar mountain, Lord Shiva did not feel like there because he wanted to come back to Kashi. But as long as King Devodas lived in Kashi, he could not go back to Kashi. Therefore, Lord Shiva sends 64 yoginis to get King Devodas out of Kashi so that he can mislead King Devodas.
64 Yoginis spread all around to corrupt King Devodas and the people of Kashi. But Kashi is liked by all of them so much that all of them forget their work and stay here and do not go back. After this Lord Shiva sends Surya here. And Surya also likes this place so much that he also does not go back.
For this reason, there are many Sun temples in Kashi even today, in which Aditya Temple is also very famous. The same thing happens with Brahma and he stays in Kashi forever. Now finally Lord Shiva sends his most trusted Ganas to Kashi so that all of them together can somehow get King Devodas out of Kashi.
But when all of them reach Kashi, then all of them also find Kashi very dear. That is why the Ganas of Lord Shiva think that when Lord Shiva has to come back from Mandar mountain to Kashi, then what will those people do after returning. Thus the Ganas of Lord Shiva become the gatekeepers of Kashi and start waiting for Lord Shiva.
In this way, many types of temptations were given by Lord Shiva to misguide King Devodas and leave Kashi, but he does not get any kind of success because King Devodas himself is a very pious soul. In the end, King Devodas is offered salvation by Lord Shiva, which King Devodas accepts.
And when King Devodas leaves Kashi after accepting the offer of salvation, then Lord Shiva comes back to Kashi. For this reason, a temple named Avimukteshwar has been built in Kashi. It is also believed that Lord Shiva will not leave Kashi under any circumstances.
Architecture of Kashi Vishwanath Temple
The Shivling of Lord Shiva installed in the sanctum of Kashi Vishwanath temple is installed on a silver altar. The main temple is surrounded by many other small and big temples including Avimukteshwar Temple, Ganesh Temple, Vishnu Temple, Shani Temple, Kaal Bhairav Temple, Kartikeya Temple and smaller temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati.
A small well is also built on the north side of the main temple, which is called the Gyanvapi well. According to the history related to the well, when the Mughal invaders attacked the temple, the priests of the temple jumped into this well along with the Shivling to save the Shivling of Lord Shiva from the Mughals.
The structure of the main temple is divided into three parts. In which except for the first dome, the rest of the domes are made of gold. A flag and trident is installed on top of the third dome and is about 15.5 meters in height.
Festivals of Kashi Vishwanath Temple
Apart from the big festivals like Mahashivratri and Basant Panchami, Rangbhari Ekadashi is one such festival that is celebrated with great pomp in the Kashi Vishwanath temple. The day of Falgun Shukla Ekadashi which falls almost every year in March is celebrated as the Rangbhari Ekadashi festival in Kashi Vishwanath temple.
On the day of this festival, a cow procession of Lord Shiva comes out from the Kashi Vishwanath temple, in which the devotees of Lord Shiva participate as a procession. In this Gauna procession of Lord Shiva, devotees play damaru, dhol, conch shell and drums and together they reach the house of Goddess Parvati while playing Holi with abir-gulal.
The festival of Rangbhari Ekadashi is celebrated in the Kashi Vishwanath temple for about 350 years and in this, the Gauna procession of Lord Shiva goes from Kashi Vishwanath temple to Mata Parvati’s maternal home. At present, the residence of the former Mahant of the temple, Dr Kukpati Tiwari, located at Tedhineem, is considered to be the maternal uncle of Mother Parvati.
Apart from the residents of Kashi, thousands of devotees from all over the country and abroad come to Varanasi on this festival of Rangbhari Ekadashi.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple Entry Fee
No entry fee is charged in Kashi Vishwanath Temple. But if you want to easily see the aarti happening in the Kashi Vishwanath temple or want to have darshan comfortably, then you will have to pay the fee prescribed by the temple administration.
| Darshan | Ticket Price |
| Mangla Aarti | 350/- INR |
| Mid Day Bhog Aarti | 180/- INR |
| Sapt Rishi Aarti | 180/- INR |
| Shringar / Bhog Aarti | 180/- INR |
| Sugam Darshan | 300/- INR |
Note:- 01 The entry fee of Kashi Vishwanath Temple Aarti and Sugam Darshan can be changed by the temple administration at any time.
02 You can book tickets for yourself for easy darshan and aarti from the official website of Kashi Vishwanath Temple ( https://shrikashivishwanath.org/ ) .
03 Tickets for Sugam Darshan and Aarti are checked at Gate No.-03 (Neelkanth Gate) and Gate No.-04 (Saraswati Gate) of Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
04 All rights related to entry into Kashi Vishwanath Temple are reserved with the temple administration.
05 All types of fees related to entry and aarti in the Kashi Vishwanath temple can be checked on the official website of Kashi Vishwanath temple.
06 Book entry of Kashi Vishwanath Temple and all types of tickets related to Aarti only through the official website of Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple Entry Timings
You can enter the Kashi Vishwanath temple even during the day.
Aarti Timings at Kashi Vishwanath Temple
| Aarti | Timings |
| Mangla Aarti | 03:00 AM To 04:00 AM |
| General Darshan | 04:00 AM To 11:00 AM |
| Bhog Aarti | 11:15 AM To 12:20 PM |
| Sandhya Aarti | 07:00 PM To 08:15 PM |
| Shrinagar Aarti | 09:00 PM To 10:15 PM |
| Shayana Aarti | 10:30 PM To 11:00 PM |
Note:- 01 Change is possible in the Aarti to be held in Kashi Vishwanath temple by the temple administration.
02 You can see the aarti by paying the fee prescribed by the temple administration for all types of aarti to be done in the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
03 You can see the tickets for the Aarti to be held in the Kashi Vishwanath temple on the official website of the temple.
04 You can book tickets for the Aarti to be held in Kashi Vishwanath on the official website of the temple.
05 All rights related to Aarti Ticket in Kashi Vishwanath Temple are reserved with the temple administration.
Best time to visit Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Hindi
Although the Kashi Vishwanath temple is open for devotees throughout the year, the time from October to March is considered to be the best time to visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
Hotels Near Kashi Vishwanath Temple
There are many Dharamshalas, guest houses and hotels to stay near Kashi Vishwanath Temple located in Varanasi. You can book almost all Dharamshala, Guest House and Hotels online or through telephone. Apart from this, through many online hotel booking websites, you can also book a hotel for yourself or a room for yourself in Dharamshala near Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
How to reach Kashi Vishwanath Temple
How to reach Kashi Vishwanath Temple by Air
Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport of Babtpur is the nearest airport to Kashi Vishwanath Temple. For Babatpur airport, you will get connecting flights from major airports in India regularly. From Babatpur airport, you can easily reach Kashi Vishwanath Temple with the help of a taxi. The distance of Kashi Vishwanath temple from Babatpur airport is just 26 km.
How to reach Kashi Vishwanath Temple by Rail
The nearest railway station to Kashi Vishwanath Temple is the City Railway Station of Varanasi, which is just 02 kilometres away from Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Apart from this, you can easily reach Kashi Vishwanath Temple from Manduadih Railway Station (distance 04 km) and Mughal Sarai Railway Station (distance 17 km). From all these railway stations, you can reach Kashi Vishwanath Temple with the help of taxis and cabs.
How to reach Kashi Vishwanath Temple by Road
Varanasi is well connected by road to almost all the major cities of North India. Apart from this, you will get regular bus service to Varanasi from cities like Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur and Jaipur. You can easily reach Kashi Vishwanath Temple by taxi, cab and also by your private vehicle.
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