Whenever a Shaiva intones a mantra to the twelve jyotirlingams, two temples are mentioned first – Somnath and Kashi Vishwanath. In Varanasi Lord Shiva is Vishwanath or Vishweshwar, the lord of the universe. Kashi is said to stand on the three prongs of Shiva’s trident and these form three hills. Three shivalingams anchor each hill to earth, Omkara in the north, Kedar in the south and Vishwanath in the centre and today it is the reigning deity of the city. The temple and the Manikarnika ghat are said to be the axis of the mandala of Kashi. A shrine to Vishwanath at Varanasi is mentioned in many ancient texts like the Puranas and Kashi Khandas but the present temple is not of great antiquity. This is because during medieval times the city faced the religious fury of Muslim invaders time and again. It became a cycle of destruction, revival and destruction from the armies of Qutubuddin Aibak, Razia Sultan, the Sharqi kings of Jaunpur till the time of Aurangzeb who turned most of the important shrines like Adi Vishweshwara and Bindu Madhav into rubble. As a matter of fact for a city of such antiquity Varanasi has no temple that was built before the 18th century.

The present Kashi Vishwanath Temple was built in 1785 by Queen Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore at the site of the earlier Adi Vishweshwara Temple that had been built by Raja Todar Mal, the finance minister of Emperor Akbar. Then in 1835 the shikhara spires of the temple were plated in gold using 820 kilograms of the precious metal by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler of Punjab. The temple is located in the middle of a maze of narrow lanes with the legendary shopping arcade of the Vishwanath Gali leading to its main gateway that is always milling with a crowd of devotees.

Compared to the magnificent temples of South India with their soaring gopurams, open courtyards, halls and sculpted shrines, the Kashi Vishwanath temple is a small and simple structure built in the north Indian nagara architecture style. It has a main shrine, the garbha griha with the Vishweshwara shiva lingam, with curving multiple spires on top that were originally covered in copper and many small shrines around its courtyard. Also as it is placed inside serpentine lanes it is not easy to get a complete view of the building. However what is instantly felt is the sanctity of the place. There is a palpable ambience of devotion and a feeling of religious fervour that transforms this temple into a truly spiritual experience.

The carved stone gateway has brass doors and a pavilion called naubat khana on top where shehnai players sit and serenade Lord Vishwanath at dawn to wake him up. The gateway leads into the main courtyard of the marble temple, with the golden shikharas rising majestically above the sanctum, the garbha griha, where Lord Vishwanath waits for his acolytes. The air is full of prayers, the smell of flowers and incense, the clanging bells, and the sudden shouts of “har har Mahadev!”

Carved silver door lead into the sanctum where the altar is set on the floor and the shivalingam sits under the flaring head of a silver snake inside a square silver altar. The black stone lingam has the three stripes of the tripurantaka drawn on it in sandalwood paste and vermillion. It is covered in flowers – roses, marigolds and jasmines and devotees offer garlands of hibiscus and bilva leaves that are Shiva’s favourite blooms. In the jostling crowds one only gets a short glimpse of the deity as a priest makes a quick offering for each devotee.

The temple has an old connection to the Ramanathaswamy temple at Rameswaram where Lord Rama worshipped Shiva after his victory at Lanka. At Kashi Vishwanath the word ‘Ram’ is written on bilva leaves with vermillion and offered as the water from the sea of Rameswaram is poured over the lingam. Pilgrims also carry the Gangajal from Varanasi to the southern dhaam for puja.