Temple Town
Big and small, decorated and sparse, famous and obscure—an estimated 23,000 temples can be found in Varanasi.
The most important shrine and the biggest attraction is the 9 Kashi Vishwanath Temple ( shrikashivishwanath. org). It is one of the 12 jyotirlingas and perhaps the holiest of Shiva temples. Destroyed and reconstructed several times in history, the current temple was built by the Maratha ruler, Ahilya Bai Holkar, after the last structure was demolished by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to make way for the Gyan Vapi Mosque. Another popular temple is the serene Tulsi Manas Temple, constructed in white marble at the site where Tulsidas composed the epic Ramcharitmanas in the local Awadhi dialect. A place of worship for Aghoris and Tantriks, the Batuk Bhairav Temple ( batukbhairav. com) features a lamp that is said to have healing powers. The 10 Bharat Mata Temple is a unique shrine dedicated not to any god or goddess, but to Mother India. It features a large relief map of the country carved in marble on the floor.