History of Kashi Vishwanath Temple: Know who attacked Baba’s temple when

Kashi Vishwanath Temple, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva, is in Varanasi, the oldest city in the world. Varanasi is also known as Banaras or Kashi. Varanasi and Kashi-Viswanath temple in Varanasi have special significance in Hinduism. It is believed that Kashi rests on the trident of Lord Shiva. People come to this city of Mahadev, the god of gods, situated on the banks of the holy Ganges river, to attain salvation. Kashi is also mentioned in the sacred texts of Hinduism. It is believed that this is the original place of Mahadev Shiva and Mother Parvati. Due to the boon of Lord Bhole Shankar, a person who renounces here attains salvation immediately.
The devotees of Hindu religion have special faith in this pilgrimage place. To erase this belief, foreign invaders tried to break the temple of Baba Vishwanath many times. It is believed that Baba Vishwanath has been residing here since time immemorial. That is why Avimukteshwar is considered as the first linga in the form of Adilinga. It is said that after King Harishchandra, Emperor Vikramaditya got this temple renovated. This grand temple was demolished in 1194 after being plundered by the Muslim invader Muhammad Ghori. According to historians, this temple was rebuilt after the destruction of Muhammad Ghori, but it was again demolished by Sultan Mahmud Shah of Jaunpur.
After this, Raja Todarmal, one of Akbar’s Navaratnas, rebuilt it in 1585. Seeing the grand temple of Baba Vishwanath here, the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan got jealous and sent an army to destroy it in 1632. Due to the resistance of the Hindus, the Mughal army could not destroy the main Vishwanath temple, but 63 other temples of Kashi were demolished. ordered. It is said that this decree is still preserved in the Asiatic Library, Kolkata. The description of this demolition is in the ‘Maside Alamgiri’ of the writer of that time, Saki Mustaid Khan.

On the orders of Aurangzeb, a Gyanvapi Mosque was built by demolishing the temple here. There was a lot of resentment among the Hindus due to the frequent demolition of the temple. After 1752, Maratha Sardar Dattaji Scindia and Malharrao Holkar made efforts to liberate the temple, but at that time the East India Company’s rule over Kashi stopped the work of rebuilding the temple. Eventually Maharani Ahilyabai of Indore got this temple renovated in 1777-78. After the current Vishwanath temple was built by Ahilyabai Holkar, in 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab built a golden umbrella on its summit. After this, the king of Nepal installed a huge Nandi statue here.