The famed 18th century Kashi Vishwananth temple will be expanded by merging two adjacent temples to make space for the teeming devotees.
VARANASI: The famed 18th century Kashi Vishwananth temple will be expanded by merging two adjacent temples to make space for the teeming devotees.
To facilitate proper 'darshan' of lord Shiva in the temple, the shrine area is being enlarged to about 8500 sq.feet from the original area of about 2500 sq.feet, Chairman of Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust at Varanasi and Commissioner Varanasi division Nitin Ramesh Gokarn told.
He said for the purpose of expanding the temple area, two other adjacent Shiva shrine, Tarakeshwar temple and Rani Bhavani Bhuvaneshwar temple have been merged into it.
Vishwanath temple is one of the 12 'jyotirlingas' spread across India and according to an estimate over two crore devotees pay obeisance there every year.
The temple being situated in the old city, devotees have to pass through a congested lane to pay obeisance at the temple.
To sort out the problem of congestion in the temple compound and to arrange for other spiritual activities like meditation, devotional singing and keertan the temple trust decided to expand the temple premises last year, said Gokarn.
The new premises will also have a 'yagya sthal' and additional gates to facilitate the entry and exit of pilgrims.
The Tarkeshwer and Rani Bhavani Bhuvaneshwar temples, have about 3250 sq. feet and 2800 sq. feet area respectively.
S N Tripathi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust said the construction work of the new temple premises is in full swing and the first phase of it will be completed by March end.
The layout will be on the same pattern as that of the old Kashi Vishwanath temple.
He said the pillars and arches for the first phase have been carved by architects from different parts of the country led by 100 craftsmen and architects of Rajasthan in the last four months.
He said a team comprising experts from ASI, BHU and PWD is monitoring the construction work so as to maintain the originality of the temple architecture.
The new premises will be ready for devotees by the end of June this year.
Tripathi said the project will cost Rs 1.51 crore and will transform the way devotees have darshan in this world famous temple.
The present Vishwanath temple was constructed by queen Ahilya Bai in 1780 after the erstwhile temple was demolished by Aaurangzeb in 1669. In 1839 Maharaja Ranjit Singh had covered the temple top and dome with gold leaf which was spread over plates of copper overlaying the stone beneath.
About a ton of gold was used to cover the entire temple top during that period.
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