Kashi Day 2 Morning

 

Day 2 : हर हर महादेव 🔱 🙏🏽 🌼

Kashi Vishweshwar or Kashi Vishwanath is where Shiva the lord of the Universe resides in Varanasi and grants Moksha. This mandir is the epicentre of Sanatan Dharma! 

As much as it is important it has a deeply painful history of destruction and rebuilding many times over. First time is was destroyed by Qutub ud din Aibak  in 1194 CE then rebuilt by Raja Todar Mal, Akbar’s finance minister in 1585 after 391 years. 

The Current Mandir was rebuilt by Virtuoso Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar in 1780 after the last destruction by the psychopath Aurangzeb in 1669. She restored it to its glory after 111 yrs with a gold plated Gopur ! 

Later Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab added the gilded dome. He donated 1 tonne of gold for creating the dome and maintaining the gopur too. 

I was so angry to see the Gyanvapi Masjid which Aurangzeb built over the temple of Vishwanath. Could this have been the original Kashi Vishwanath temple? Pooja is performed in the cellar and I saw a Nandi there. One cannot be blind to the pillars of the mandir and the cellars Sanatani structures and symbols in the masjid even today. The masjid tells a story of fanatical destruction. Currently it is separated from Kashi Vishweshwar mandir by a security grid. 

This sthan is so powerful inspite of this brutal history it still draws people of faith. The city of Varanasi continues to thrive since eternity! 

That is our Bharat group resting after Darshan. Our day began at 3.30 am. We reached the Mandir corridor and lined up for 1 hr 30 mins. *Shabdmrut had in total 200 persons. That is a huge number. They should reduce the group size to improve management. It creates a flood of people at the mandirs adding to the maddening crowd of other pilgrims.*

I had a blessed Darshan of the Shivlinga and since it is in a corner I could see it clearly. Some people were complaining that they did not see it clearly due to the crowd. We are not allowed to stay there for long so it’s only a glimpse that one gets as Darshan. I was satisfied with the Darshan factoring the crowd effect. 

Then took Darshan of the Annapoorna Devi. She has been brought back and reinstated in the Gold Annapoorna Devi mandir. 

“The Annapoorna Devi statue, an 18th-century idol stolen from Varanasi over 100 years ago, was repatriated to India from Canada in November 2021. While the return was a diplomatic effort involving the Government of India, the role of Divya Mehra was central to its recovery.” 

The Gold Annapoorna Devi is revealed only during Annakut parva. The Bronze idol is worshipped in daily Pooja. Built in 1729 by Peshwa Baji Rao. She is the Goddess that sustains the world. Read the story of how Parvati became Annapoorna Devi here. 

Post breakfast we went to see few different temples in Varanasi. The first was in the Banaras Hindu University built by the legendary Madan Mohan Malviya. 

As per the itinerary Shabdamrut had listed RamCharitManas mandir but they dropped it and instead took us to this stunning 11 mukhi Hanuman mandir in Varanasi Cantonment near the Devi mandir. 

This post is getting long so will make a separate post on the Day 2 evening which was an independent adventure that I decided to go on… are you excited to read ?