One of the dwadasa jyotirlingas Kashi Vishwanath Temple (KVT) was decorated with Rudraksh Shringar on the eight and last Monday in this ‘adimas’ (extra month) extended auspicious month of Shravan. Amidst tight security arrangements, lakhs of devotees including thousands of saffron-clad kanwariyas offered jalabhishek at the KVT. Like the previous seven Mondays of Shravan when the devotees saw the Shringar (decoration) of Lord Vishwanath in the Swaroop (forms) of Chal Pratima, Gauri Shankar, Amrit Varsha, Bhagirathi, Tapasyarat Parvati, Shankar Parvati Ganesh and Ardhnarishwar, this time the temple premises was decorated with Rudraksh, one of the most favourite articles of Lord Shiva. As Shravan month will conclude on August 31, the devotees can have a darshan of annual Jhula Shringar on the last day.
Religious fervour gripped this entire city of Lord Shiva on this occasion and right from the wee hours, there were long lines of devotees from Dashaswamedh ghat via Godowlia side and Maidagin. As the water level of river Ganga was still at a high level, the devotees faced it tough to have a holy dip in this sacred river and all activities were closely watched by NDRF and Water Police personnel. In view of the heavy rush, elaborate security arrangements were made and no vehicles were allowed to move between Godowlia and Maidagin throughout the day.
To maintain law and order, the devotees were checked at many places through metal detectors. Senior administrative and police officers were present there to keep watch on the stock of situation in Kashi Vishwanath Corridor (KVC) premises. All the activities were also watched through various CCTV cameras. To avoid congregation the devotees were asked to move towards Gyanvapi only through barricading and Rapid Action Force (RAF), para-military and PAC jawans were deployed both inside and outside of the premises.
Besides, a good number of devotees also went to Panchkoshi Parikarma Yatra as due to ‘adimas’, its religious importance has been increased. A heavy rush of devotees was seen at all the Shiva temples located on Panchkoshi Marg including Karmdeshwar Mahadev, Bhim Chandi, Rameshwar Mahadev, Panch Pandava and Kapildhara. Not only this, the entire city and its outskirts were echoed with the slogans of ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and ‘Bol Bom’.
Heavy rush of devotees was also seen at Markandey Mahadev Temple located near Varanasi-Ghazipur highway about 25 kms from here near the confluence of rivers Ganga and Gomti at Kaithi village apart from all famous Shiva temples including Mahamritunjya Mahadev (Daranagar), Gauri Kedareshwar (Kedar Ghat), Jogeshar Mahadev (Ishwargangi), Omkleshwar Mahadev (Chittanpura), Teel Bhandeshwar (Pandey Haveli), Sarangnath Mahadev (Sarnath) and many others in the city areas.
Apart from these famous temples, rush of devotees was also seen at Vishwanath temple in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) premises and Shool Tankeshwar Mahadev and scores of all others as the city is famous for having the replicas of all the dwadasa jyotirlingas.