Kashi is an old city and it is also a symbol of the heartbeat and identity of Indian culture. Many writers have written a lot about Kashi but in the words of Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, the beauty of Kashi is more vibrant than the world's famous cities like Rome, Athens, Tomaric and Oxford. Ignoring these cities, Kashi's existence is vast and important. In the words of Pandit Jawahar Lal, Kashi is a city of unbroken history, which even Delhi does not have. New Delhi is the eighth form of Delhi. Kashi is an ancient city. 3000 years ago, Mahatma Gautam also chose Kashi as his cultural seat in India, equivalent to Damascus. According to archaeologists, Kashi existed before 1200 BC. It has been a place of knowledge since ancient times. Gautam Buddha, Jain, Adinath, Shankaracharya, Chaitanya, Saint Kabir, Swami Ramanand, Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharya, Saint Tulsi Das, Saint Raidas, Guru Nanak Dev Ji attained spiritual practice and knowledge. Ramakrishna Paramhans attained enlightenment in Kashi. It is noteworthy that Kashi is an eternal city and the abode of knowledge. All the scholars of the world consider themselves incomplete until they come to Kashi and study.
In other words, Kashi is a city of temples. Almost every Ghat is a Shiva temple and every crossroad is a temple or crossroad of some deity. It is often said that the holy Lord Shankar loves two places Kashi and Kailash very much. Because Kashi is very dear to him, he had to leave a place like Kailash and come to Kashi along with Ganga. The holy stream Ganga has changed its flow many times but it is stable in Kashi by the grace of Lord Shankar. Shiva's form is like a crescent moon which is beautiful on his head. This beauty of Ganga in Kashi is incomparable. Ganga has never left the Ghats of Kashi. In Matsya Purana, Lord Shiva himself says while describing Varanasi.
Varanasi River Pune Siddhaganvardha Service.
Pravasya Tripayaganga in that altar, my dear one.
I love the holy Varanasi, served by the siddha Gandharvas, where the Ganges meets the Ganga. Situated on the left bank of the Ganga, this city wakes up with the chanting of Har-Har Bam Bam Mahadev Shambho, the sound of Kashi Vishwanath Ganga and the opening of the Vishwanath temple. It wakes up from its slumber with the sound of Bismillah Khan's Shehnai and people become active on the beats of Kishan Maharaj's Tabla. There is complete diversity in the character of Kashi, unity in diversity is clearly visible. While the sages have considered Kashi as Anand Kanan, it has also been called Mahasmshan. Here cremation is also done with the music of bands. In Kashi, the Ganga flows northwards, although it flows from south to north. The banks of the Ganga have been built by kings, wealthy people and Seths, which is very beautiful. These ghats are spread over an area of six miles. The day progresses with the temples shining in the golden sunlight, with men chanting Gayatri Mantra and women engrossed in worship.
The beauty of flowers and lamps floating in the Ganga looks unique. Like most of the times, every evening and night the Ghats have their own charm. Gangaji's Aarti looks very beautiful with the echo of the sound of big bells. Our guide told us that there are a total of 76 Ghats on the Ganga in Kashi but the main ones among these Ghats are Harishchandra, Panchganga, Manikarnikand, Dashamegh and Varun Ghat. Some story or the other is associated with each Ghat. Varanasi-Varanasi is situated between Varuna and Abhi rivers. Banaras where there is always a shower of love. Kashi has been a major centre of learning since ancient times. Today there are more than three universities in Kashi. Tulsi Das has rightly written-
Muktijanma mahi know, knowledge mine and loss.
Where there is auspicious Bhavani, it is not similar to Kashi.
Maharishi Ved Vyas divided the Vedas into four parts here and composed the Shrimad Bhagwat and eighteen Puranas. Maharishi Agastya has kept alive the tradition of Maharishi Patanjali's Tapobhoomi even today. There are thousands of saints, pilgrimage sites, monasteries, ashrams and temples in Kashi. Therefore, Kashi is known as the cultural capital of the country. There are sanyasis and saints of every sect in Kashi. One of the saints is Panchmara Dandi Swami. It has 37 monasteries in Kashi. The Jangamwadi Math, established in the 6th century, is an ancient monastery of Kashi. This Math has the right to worship the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
Kashi, the city of Devadhidev Mahadev, is one of the places of twelve Jyotirlingas. One of the 51 Shaktipeeths is located at Vishalakshi Manikarnika Ghat. Although four Vishwanath temples are mentioned in Kashi, the main temple is the Kashi Vishwanath temple located in the Avimukteshwar courtyard. The temple's doors open at 3 o'clock in the morning and close at 12 midnight. During this time, five aartis and Mangala, Bhog, Sandhya, Shringar and Shayan aartis are performed. At the time of aartis, entry into the sanctum sanctorum is prohibited for people other than priests. During the rest of the time, devotees can come to the sanctum sanctorum for darshan. The scene of aarti is very thrilling. The chanting of the priests in unison, the beauty of the Jata Karah Sabhraya Bhramatriliya springs and the streams of ghee and camphor, and finally the recitation of the Karpoor Gaur Karuna Vataram mantra aloud, gives immense power to the mind and there is a competition among the devotees to get the aarti and the darshan of Shri Vishweshwar. Except during the aarti, the Shivling is covered with Ganga water, Belpatra, garland and flowers. On Shivratri, Rangbhari Ekadashi and Annakoot Purva, the main Shivling is surrounded by a golden water tank and a silver square circle; the Shivling is deposited in the golden water tank; the temple of Maa Annakoot is at a little distance. The Panchkosi Yatra is very important from the religious point of view. Kardameshwar, Bhimchadi, Rameswaram Panch Pandava and Kapildhara are the five stops.
The grand construction of Shri Vishwaeshwar Temple was done during the Gupta period. From 1110 AD to 1669, the work of destroying the temple continued by the Muslim rulers. The temple kept getting destroyed and rebuilt. Among the Mughal rulers, Qutubuddin Aibak, Shahabuddin Gauri, Iltunmish, Firoz Tughlaq, Sikandar Lodi and Aurangzeb had razed the temples of Kashi to the ground. On 2 October 1669, Aurangzeb completely demolished the temple of Kashi. During his Kashi visit in 1672 and 1772, the King of Mewar, Rewa Naresh, visited the Gyanvani complex near the old temple. The Shivling is in the introduction to the sanctum sanctorum of the present temple. The present temple was built by Ahilyabai in 1780. Maharaja Ranjit Singh offered 875 kg of gold in 1839. Today Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Gyanvani complex have become a police camp. Ordinary citizens face great difficulty due to this. To go to Kashi temple, one has to go through a mental detector. I saw that a miniature India is easily visible in Kashi. Various Indian people like South Indian, Bengali, Marwari, Maharashtrian, Gujarati, Punjabi, Haryanvi, Uttar Pradesh etc. are giving a new message.
I have seen with my own eyes that the land of Kashi looks unique. From Assi Ghat to Rajpat, one can see the amazing views of the series of ghats where a poor person to a millionaire considers himself lucky after taking a bath in the Ganga with the mantras of Har-Har Mahadev Shambhas and visiting Vishwanath and Maa Annapurna. While honestly performing my duty for the coverage of Modi's election campaign, I have also collected the views of the Muslim community about Kashi and many surprising questions have come up which I will mention later but even the Muslim people can be seen to have complete faith in Shiv Shankar Bhole Baba.
Mirza Ghalib in 1827 AD had called this city Chirag-e-Dher Mandir Ka Diya and many poets had praised the beauty of this Kashi.
Ta al Allah Banaras is the beautiful sight of Baddoor.
Vihisht-e-Khurram-o Firdaus-e-Masoor.
Meaning: Banaras is a green city, it looks like heaven, may Allah protect it from evil eyes.
Worship departs for the heavenly abode.
Our Kaab-e-Hindustan.
What it means is that Banaras is the place of worship of conch blowers and is the Kaaba of Hindustan.
The land whose dust is also a philosopher's stone.
That famous city is Banaras.
A poet has even written-
Chana chebena ganga water which is dried by the cowherd.
Vishwanath's court should not be left after visiting Kashi.
Our guide told us that the more you travel in Kashi, the more you will become one of it. Kashi is a living museum of Hinduism. There is satisfaction and enjoyment in life in Kashi. Every person is painted in the colour of Shiva. It is known as the city of temples. Every man, woman and old and young here are immersed in the devotion of Shiva from morning to evening. Old people often come here to attain salvation. Kashi is also the gateway to salvation.
Subhash Anand – Vibhuti Features
