History of Kashi Vishwanath Temple
Kashi Vishwanath Temple, the main among the Dwadash Jyotirlingas, is in Kashi since time immemorial. This place is the original place of Shiva and Parvati, that is why Avimukteshwar is considered as the first linga in the form of Adilinga. It is also mentioned in Mahabharata and Upanishads. The Vishwanath sanctuary, which was remodeled by King Harishchandra in the eleventh century BC, was redesigned by Emperor Vikramaditya. It was demolished by Muhammad Ghori in 1194 after being plundered.
According to historians, this magnificent temple was demolished in 1194 by Muhammad Ghori. It was rebuilt, but once again it was demolished in 1447 by Sultan Mahmud Shah of Jaunpur. Again in 1585 AD, a grand temple was again constructed at this place by Pt. Narayan Bhatt with the help of Raja Todarmal. In 1632, Shah Jahan passed the order and sent the army to destroy this magnificent temple. The army could not destroy the central temple of Vishwanath temple due to strong resistance of Hindus, but 63 other temples of Kashi were demolished.
Dr. AS Bhatt has mentioned in his book 'Dan Harawali' that Todarmal had rebuilt the temple in 1585. On 18 April 1669, Aurangzeb issued a decree ordering the destruction of the Kashi Vishwanath temple. This decree is preserved even today in the Asiatic Library, Kolkata. This demolition is described in 'Maside Alamgiri' written by the writer of that time Saki Mustaid Khan. On the sets of Aurangzeb, a Gyanvapi mosque was worked by breaking the sanctuary here. On 2 September 1669, Aurangzeb was informed of the completion of the temple demolition. Aurangzeb had also passed an order to convert thousands of Brahmins to Muslims every day. Today, 90 percent of the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh are Brahmins.
Between 1752 and 1780, Maratha Sardar Dattaji Scindia and Malharrao Holkar made efforts to liberate the temple. On 7 August 1770 AD, Mahadji Scindia issued an order from the Emperor of Delhi, Shah Alam, to recover the compensation for the destruction of the temple, but by then the East India Company had ruled Kashi, so the renovation of the temple stopped. This sanctuary was revamped by Maharani Ahilyabai of Indore in 1777-80.
Ahilyabai Holkar built Vishwanath temple in this complex on which Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab built a golden umbrella. Maharani Baijabai of Gwalior built a pavilion of Gyanvapi and Maharaja Nepal installed a huge Nandi statue there.
In 1809 the Hindus of Kashi forcibly occupied the mosque, because the entire area is the area of the Gyanvapi Pavilion, which is now known as the Gyanvapi Masjid. On 30 December 1810, the then District Magistrate of Banaras, Mr. Watson had written a letter to the 'Vice President in Council' asking to hand over the Gyanvapi campus to the Hindus forever, but this was never possible.
In the history books, the mention of temples and their destruction in the period from 11th to 15th century also comes to the fore. Contemporary writer of Muhammad Tughlaq (1325) Jinprabh Suri has written in the book 'Vividh Kalp Teerth' that Baba Vishwanath was called Dev Kshetra. Writer Furer has also written that some temples were converted into mosques during the time of Firoz Shah Tughlaq. In 1460, Vachaspati in his book 'Tirtha Chintamani' describes that Avimukteshwar and Visheshvara are the same linga.
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