At the Vishvanath
temple in Benares, the deity Shiva appears in his manifestation as the
"Lord of the Universe." Shiva is represented in Vishvanath with a
linga, a pillar-shaped image that represents Shiva's symbolic form; the
Vishvanath linga is one of Shiva's twelve jyotirlingas, a network of locations
thought extremely important to Shiva and where Shiva is uniquely present.
Benares, also known as Varanasi, is one of India's most holy
towns; it is especially dedicated to Shiva, with Vishvanath being the most
significant of all the Shiva temples there.
The original temple was destroyed by the Moghul emperor
Aurangzeb, who built a mosque on the site, and the only part of the original
temple that has survived is the Gyan Vapi ("well of knowledge"), into
which the original Shiva linga was reportedly cast (to prevent it from being
desecrated by Aurangzeb's soldiers).
The original temple was established in 1776 on a location
next to the pre-sent temple by the Maratha queen Ahalya Bai Holkar.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore eventually covered the
temple in gold, earning it the moniker "Golden Temple." Even in
previous centuries, the closeness of the Vishvanath temple and Aurangzeb's mosque
made for tense relations between the Hindu and Muslim populations, and Benares,
like many other northern Indian towns, has seen its share of bloodshed.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu activist group
pushing for the "return" of this and other northern Indian landmarks
by force if necessary, has recently taken up the demolition of the old
Vishvanath temple as a political issue.
The existence and activities of the VHP have heightened
tensions between Hindus and Muslims in general.
Given the political benefits that these confrontational
techniques have yielded, it is probable that they will continue in the future,
and that the Vishvanath temple will remain a focus of strife.
You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.
Be sure to check out my writings on religion here.
