SHIVRATRI - DWADASH JYOTIRLING VANDANA - 11 (JYOTIRLINGA OF VISHWANATH, KASHI/VARANSI)

SHIVRATRI - DWADASH JYOTIRLING VANDANA - 11
(JYOTIRLINGA OF VISHWANATH, KASHI/VARANSI)

#11:
NAME: Vishwanath/Vishweshwar (Lord/Savior of the Universe)

LOCATION: On the Banks of Holy Ganges in Varansi, Uttar Pradesh

ORIGINALLY BUILT BY: Legend says that Lord himself came down to Kashi to live in the form of Jyotirlinga Vishvanath when Maa Sati self immolated herself. Original construction goes back to unwritten history. Many pious rulers contributed to reviving the temple time to time whilst many invaders destroyed parallely.

BRIEF HISTORY: The original Vishwanath temple was destroyed by the army of Qutb-ud-din Aibak in 1194 CE, when he defeated the Raja of Kannauj as a commander of Mohammad Ghori. The temple was rebuilt by a Gujarati merchant during the reign of Delhi's Sultan Iltutmish (1211-1266 CE). It was demolished again during the rule of either Hussain Shah Sharqi (1447-1458) or Sikandar Lodhi (1489-1517).
In 1669 CE, Emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the temple and built the Gyanvapi Mosque in its place.The remains of the erstwhile temple can be seen in the foundation, the columns and at the rear part of the mosque

REMARKS: Considered as the holiest abode of Prabhu Mahadev. Today it's a broken half temple-half mosque.

VERSE TO WORSHIP:
Saananda maanandavane vasantamanandakandam hatapapavrindam .
Vaaranaseenathamanatha natham shree Vishwanatham Sharanam prapadye

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