Kashi Vishwanath temple
Topic: The Marathas · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 2 "Reshaping India's Political Map"; Class 8, Ch 3 "The Marathas"
Meaning
The Kashi Vishwanath temple at Varanasi is one of the most sacred temples to Shiva. In 1669 it was destroyed on the orders of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. In 1780 the Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar rebuilt it close to the old site. It is a major example of the Maratha effort to restore Hindu sacred places.
Example
Ahilyabai Holkar ruled the Holkar territory around Indore. Her rebuilding of Kashi Vishwanath in 1780 was part of her work restoring hundreds of temples, ghats (riverside steps) and wells from Kedarnath to Rameswaram. Later, Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab covered the temple's spires with gold.
Don't confuse with
- Somnath temple: Ahilyabai also rebuilt Somnath, in Gujarat. But Somnath was destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni, not by Aurangzeb.