Vrindavan - Varanasi Yatra (Part 4)

We woke up early in the cold winter morning at Kashi on 28/01/22. It was Ekadashi and my wife & I were fasting the whole day. We had asked Avneesh, our guide, to come by 8 a.m. as we had a lot of temples to cover in the morning.

By 8.15 a.m. we were on our way walking through the narrow gullies of Kashi. It was cold (about 13 degrees Celsius) but we didnt feel it as we had come from a colder place - Vrindavan. Most shops were closed at that hour and there were very few people in the streets. Our first halt was at the Pita Maheshwar temple followed by the Shitala Mata temple. These are like the father & mother of Kashi whose blessings we took before visiting other temples.

The next was Chandreshwar temple - the place where Chandra (moon) had come to do tapas and get rid of a curse given by his father-in-law (Daksha Prajapati) due to playing favourite with one wife Rohini and neglecting all his other 26 wives. He was cursed to suffer from a wasting disease and disappear forever. Lord Shiva appeared before Chandra, pleased with his tapas, and diluted the curse by giving Chandra 15 days of waxing after 15 days of waning. Lord Shiva also gave Chandra a special place adorning His hair as an ornament.

Chandra established the Chandreshwar Ling and created a well called (Chandra Khoop) which is ever filled with sweet fresh water to be used to Shiva Abhishek. It is believed that this existed even before Ganga River was brought down from the Heaven by Bhagirath. The well is over 50 feet deep and the water fresh & pure. One can see ones shadow inside the well by peeping inside. The shadow appears as if it is placed on the full moon as the light from the top appears in a circular moon shape on the water.

There is a Siddheshwari Devi also in this temple who grants Siddhi powers to ascetics who do tapas here. The temple is managed by a Maharashtrian family for several generations. Shri Dinesh Drone, the caretaker of the temple, who also stays in the same premises, kindly narrated the legend of the temple and gave us the water from the well to pour on the Chandreshwar Linga. We also drank that holy water and carried back some of it with us.

Body of Lord Shiva

Next we visited the Atma Veereshwar temple which is believed to be the soul of Lord Shiva. Various Lingas of Kashi are said to represent several Angas (body parts) of Lord Shiva. Please see the picture for more information. As per Kashi Khand, any person who performs pooja here gets the benefit of worshiping 3 crore Lingas and gets happiness, prosperity & success in all his endeavours. In this temple, we also had darshan of Veerabhadra (who manifested from the hair of Lord Shiva who was enraged on hearing of Sati's death) and Ma Katyayani. 

Our next temple was the Buddeshwar temple established by Mercury after doing tapas in Kashi. Nearby was the Mangaleshwar temple established by Mars. We couldn't go inside as the temple was locked but had darshan from outside. Along with this Lingam, we had darshan of Mitra Vinayak (one of the 56 Vinayak of Kashi). Close by, we had darshan of Brihaspateshwar which was the result of the tapas undertaken by Jupiter in Kashi. Near this was the Vasukeshwar Lingam which had the Linga established by Rahu & Ketu.

Sankata Harani Bhavani temple

Then, we visited the Sankata Kashta Harani Bhavani temple which was fairly crowded as it was a Friday - an important day to visit Devi temples. As the name suggests, people pray to this Devi to be rid of problems. Within the same temple, we had darshan of Sankata Harana Vinayak Maharaj. Next was the Vindyachala Vasini temple, a representative of the Shakti Peeth which is situated some distance away from Kashi. Visiting this temple is believed to be equal to visiting the Shakti Peeth temple. Next was the Mayyar Mata temple representing the famous temple of Madhya Pradesh.

Then we visited two Jyotirlinga - Nageshwar & Someshwar which are believed to give the same and more benefits as visiting the original temples at Gujarat.

We also visited the Gabhasteshwar temple which has the Linga established by Sun God. There is also a small idol of Mayukh Aditya (Sun God) in the temple. Within this temple is the Mangala Gouri Mata temple (which gets crowded on Tuesdays) and the Mangala Vinayak - the bestower of all auspiciousness.

Bindu Madhava Deity

We continued walking through the gullies briskly (pace set by Avneesh) and reached the Bindu Madhav temple situated at the Panchganga ghat. This is one of the temples dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is one of the most important temples in Kashi (the other two being Vishweshwar temple and the Kal Bairav) and a visit to Kashi is not complete without visiting all three temples. This idol manifested as a result of the tapas of Rishi Agni Bindu with whom Lord Vishnu was pleased. The Lord appears as Bindu Madhav in Kashi, Veni Madhav in Prayag, Sethu Madhav in Rameshwaram, Kunti Madhav in Pitapuram near Kakinada and as Sundar Madhav at Thiruvananthapuram. These places are also known as the Panch Madhav Kshetras. Bindu Madhav is very pleasing & bewitching to look at and fills the devotee with peace & bliss by a mere darshan. The original temple was destroyed by the Moghuls and is situated a little distance away as a Mosque. The original idol was preserved by the priests by immersing it in the Ganga for several years before it became safe to restore it. There is a large Salagram at the feet of the Lord. The current temple was established by the Marathas - God bless the Marathas for their valour and protecting our Dharma from the Moghul invaders..

We then walked through the gullies to reach Dandapani Bhairav temple. There are 36 Bhairav temples in Kashi of which 8 are very important - the most important being the Kal Bhairav which was our next halt. The silver faced idol of Kal Bhairav who is seated on his vahana (vehicle), a dog and is holding a trident. Only the face of the icon decorated (with garlands) is visible to the visitors through the doorway. Rest of the icon is covered with a piece of cloth. On the rear door of the temple, there is an icon of Kshetrapal Bhairav, another aspect of Bhairava. We spent some time worshipping the guardian deity of Kashi and thanking Him for smooth yatra and seeking His grace to visit again in the near future. We also got a black band put on our wrists for protection from hurdles & evil forces.

Kriti Vasaseshwar Lingam inside Mosque

We then visited the newly built Kirti Vaaseshwar temple. The original temple & Lingam were destroyed by the Moghuls and a mosque constructed in its place. This Lingam was formed after Lord Shiva destroyed Gajasura who was in the form of an elephant and causing destruction to the world. Before dying, Gajasura thanked the Lord for giving moksha to him and prayed that his skin adorns the Lord always. Shiva accepted this request and also created a Ling from the Asura's body. Lord Shiva further declared that whoever prays or recites the Sri Rudram at this spot will get the benefit equal to chanting the Sri Rudram seven crore times. This Linga is said to represent the Head of Lord Shiva in Kashi. We had darshan of Kirti Vaaseshwar & poured water on the Lingam. We then also visited the mosque, which is situated a little distance away, and prayed at the original site of the temple also. There is a replacement Lingam placed there and devotees are allowed free access to worship.

We then visited the Mrityunjay Mandir and prayed to the Lord to give long life to all His devotees. There is a Dhanvantri Khoop (well) in that temple which is believed to be installed by Lord Dhanvantri. We also drank some water from this well.

After all these darshan, we were still not satiated and wanted to visit more temples and see more Lingams. It is believed that there are more than 1.25 crore Lingams in Kashi and one lifetime is not sufficient to see all of them. Each temple has one or more main Lingams and many more Lingams all over. We were surrounded by Lingams all over in Kashi. Physically we were exhausted with all the walking around - it is believed that with every step one takes in the gullies of Kashi while visiting the various temples, one is destroying one's sins and accumulating virtues. So, we decided to stop the temple tour and walk back to our hotel for some rest. My son had his lunch in the same restaurant where we had dinner the previous day.

In the afternoon, we hired a motorised boat to take a tour and see all the famous ghats of Kashi. We were only three of us in a boat that could easily accommodate 25+ people. The weather was pleasant at first but started getting cold as we went into the river. It was a leisurely trip seeing the ghats from the waters - Ganga is so clean & pure thanks to the efforts of the government & the people. We could see bodies being cremated at the Harishchandra & Manikarnika ghats, while other ghats were pristine & well maintained.

After seeing the ghats of Kashi, the boatman stopped the motor and let the boat drift in the waters. The tide & the wind were moving us gently. There were several people flying kites in the city and we could see some kite fights in the sky. Suddenly, our boatman (a young lad of 17) saw a cut kite flying in our direction and caught the string. He started flying the kite from our boat. After some time, I took over and flew the kite after a gap of nearly 45 years. After a little while, I got an opportunity to have a kite fight with another kite. To my delight & surprise, we won and managed to cut the string of our opponent. A little later, this feat was repeated by my boatman with another opponent.

Towards 6 p.m., we went to Dashaswamedh ghat to witness the Ganga Aarti. It was lovely to see boats from all over converging at this spot - some were row boats while a few were motorised. Each boat were tied to each other with ropes to ensure that we did not drift. Usually, this aarti is done by 7 guys simultaneously and is quite a spectacle to watch. However, due to the pandemic, this has been scaled down and only one guy does the aarti and the time is also curtailed to about 20 minutes.

After the Aarti, we got dropped back to the shore and walked back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped at a restaurant for my son to have a quick snack in lieu of dinner. As it was still early, we decided to visit the Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple & the Durga temple. We hired a Tum Tum to go there. The actual distance was only 3 kms but it seemed longer as some of the roads were blocked and we had to take a detour. After a good darshan at both temples, we came back tired & exhausted to our hotel.

Thus ended day 4 of our yatra.