About Kashi Dham:
Standing
on the western bank of India's holiest river
Ganges, Varanasi is the oldest surviving
city of the world and the cultural capital
of India. It is in the heart of this city
that there stands in its fullest majesty
the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in which is
enshrined the Jyotirlinga of Shiva, Vishweshwara
or Vishwanatha. Here gravitate the teeming
millions of India to seek benediction and
spiritual peace by the darshan of this Jyotirlinga
which confers liberation from the bondages
of maya and the inexorable entanglements
of the world. A simple glimpse of the Jyotirlinga
is a soul-cleansing experience that transforms
life and puts it on the path of knowledge
and bhakti. Vishweshwara Jyotirlinga has
a very special and unique significance in
the spiritual history of India. Tradition
has it that the merits earned by the darshan
of other jyotirlinga scattered in various
parts of India accrue to devotee by a single
visit to Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Deeply
and intimately implanted in the Hindu mind,
the Kashi Vishwanath Temple has been a living
embodiment of our timeless cultural traditions
and highest spiritual values. The Kashi
Vishwanath Temple attracts visitors not
only from India but abroad as well and thereby
symbolises man's desire to live in peace
send harmony with one another. Vishwanath
being a supreme repository of this spiritual
truth thus strengthens the bonds of universal
brotherhood and fellow feeling at the national
as well as global levels.
The
Temple in the present shape was built way
back in 1780 by Late Maharani Ahilya Bai
Holkar of Indore. In the year 1785 a Naubatkhana
was built up in front of the Temple by the
then Collector Mohd. Ibrahim Khan at the
instance of Governor General Warren Hastings.
In 1839, Two domes of the Temple were covered
by gold donated by Punjab Kesari Maharaja
Ranjeet Singh. Third dome still remains
uncovered, U.P. Govt. is taking keen interest
for gold plating of third dome of Temple.
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