An anonymous donor has donate 60kg gold to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and 37 kg of this has been use on the inner walls of the sanctum sanctorum. The pilgrims visiting the temple got glimpses of the gold plating on walls while offering prayers through `jharokha darshan`.
The visuals release by the temple administration when Prime Minister Narendra Modi offer prayers on Sunday gave a broader look.
Divisional Commissioner Deepak Agrawal Said :
The donor had come in contact with the temple authorities, months before the formal opening of Kashi Vishwanath Dham by the Prime Minister on 13th December, 2021.
The Kashi Vishwanath authorities had also finalised the plan that the donate gold would be use for gold plating of the inner wall of the sanctum sanctorum and also the lower portion of the main temple dome.
Deepak Agrawal Said :
This is the second major work of gold covering of any part of the temple after the 18th century.
According to the history of Kashi Vishwanath Temple, following the reconstruction of the temple by Indore`s queen Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar in 1777, Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab had donate about one ton of gold, which was use for covering two domes of Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
After the 18th century, the major work for expanding the shrine area of Kashi Vishwanath Temple was ensure by the Prime Minister after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.
The project of over Rs 900 crore was launch in the name of Kashi Vishwanath Dham (corridor), under which over 300 buildings were purchase and remove to expand the shrine area from 2,700 square feet to 5 lakh square feet by giving it a direct connectivity with the river Ganga through Jalasen, Manikarnika and Lalita ghats.