Kashi Vishwanath Temple

Etymology

The Sanskrit words ‘Kashi’ mean “shining” in English and ‘Vishwanath’ translates to “Lord of the Universe,” denoting Shiva.

History

Believed to have been built in 490 AD, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple was destroyed during numerous invasions of India and in 1776 it was rebuilt in its present state by the Maharani Ahilya Bai of Indore.

Jnana Vapi Well

There is a small well in the temple called the Jnana Vapi (the wisdom well). Historical accounts say that upon invasion by the Moghul king Aurangzeb on 2nd September, 1669, the main priests of the temple jumped into the well with the Shiva linga in order to protect the Jyotirlinga from the invaders and remained in jala samadhi. When the Jyotirlinga was discovered again after centuries, even the lamp was burning at the altar and the flowers were fresh!

Visited by Great Saints

The Temple has been visited by all great saints- Adi Shankaracharya, Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, Swami Vivekanand, Goswami Tulsidas, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati, Gurunanak and several other spiritual personalities.

Significance

The Kashi Vishwanath Temple is a living embodiment of the timeless cultural and spiritual tradition of India.

The temple stands on the western bank of the holy river Ganges, and enshrines one of the twelve sacred Jyotirlingas of Shiva, making it one of the holiest of Shiva temples. In Hindu belief, the Jyotirlingas are located at places where Shiva Himself appeared as a shaft of light and gave blessings to his devotees, and where His divine presence is alive eternally. The main deity of the temple is known by the name of “Vishwanatha” or “Vishweshwara”, meaning the ruler of the universe. The holy shiva linga of Viswanatha Temple is placed on a silver altar in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. However, history deems that fearing destruction from invaders, the original Vishwanath Jyotirlinga was hidden at the bottom of a well. Known as Jnana Vapi, or ‘wisdom well’, it is located within the temple walls and still believed to contain the original Jyotirlinga to this day.

The temple town that is the oldest living city in the world, with 3500 years of documented history, is also called Kashi and hence the temple is popularly known as the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Due to its 15.5m high golden spire, the temple is also called the Golden Temple.

The temple complex consists of a series of smaller shrines, located in a small lane called the “Vishwanatha Gali”, near the River Ganga. The main deity at the shrine is the Shiva linga, which is 60 cm tall and 90 cm in circumference, housed in a silver altar. There are temples for Kalabhairava, Dhandapani, Avimukteshwara, Vishnu, Vinayaka, Shanishwara, Virupaksha and Virupaksh Gauri in the complex.

References

http://nithyanandatimes.org/kashi-the-city-of-moksha/ http://nithyanandatimes.org/kashi-vishwanatha-temple-varanasi/ https://innerawakening.org/july2016/