("Kashi's
Secret") In Uttar Pradesh's Himalaya Mountains, there is a village and a
holy spot (tirtha).
The Mandakini River, one of the Himalayan streams that join
to form the Ganges River, runs through Guptakashi.
The Pandavas, the five brothers who are the heroes of the
epic Mahabharata, are the site's founding story.
The Pandavas travelled to Benares (also known as Kashi) in
search of an encounter with the deity Shiva, but Shiva ran away and hid in
Guptakashi, according to tradition.
The two holy places in Guptakashi are Shiva temples.
Shiva is venerated in one of these temples as Vishvanath,
the "Lord of the Universe," who is the presiding god in Benares' most
significant temple.
The other is devoted to his Ardhanarishvara figure, which
features a feminine shape, clothing, and decoration on the left side and a male
form, dress, and ornamentation on the right.
The argument that Guptakashi is a "hidden" Kashi
demonstrates the flexibility of the Indian holy landscape, where one place's
holiness may be taken by another.
This is a strategy to claim part of Kashi's majesty as a holy place while attributing power to a much smaller and more distant location.
You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.
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