Gateway from Varanasi

Yesterday, when we asked one person from the hotel, regarding the Viswanath Temple visit timing, he informed us that, if we go there early morning, especially before 6 am, it would be less crowded. So we decided to visit the temple early morning & set an alarm on mobile.

We wake up approx 4:30 am. We prepared for temple darshan. When we visited the temple there were only local people & a few outsiders. We entered the temple area without a queue. It seemed to me, that we are entering our local temple.

At the entrance, there was a temple for Mata Annapurna. After 50 mtr, the main temple was there. We visited the main temple. The upper part of the temple was covered by a golden sheet. 

Near the main temple, there was a "well" named "Gyan Vapi". Some purohit gives the water from the well & asking for money. During the invasion of the temple by Emperor Aurangzeb, the effigy of Lord Shiva was carefully hidden by a priest inside this well. Since then, the waters of this well have been considered as sacred as the river Ganga. In 1669 CE, Emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the temple and built the Gyanvapi Mosque in its place. So both the temple & mosques share the same boundary area.

There was a big stone bull also. A lot of construction work was going on here and there. Lots of police forces were there also.

After the darshan, we decided to visit the Bhairabv temple who is considered the guard of Varanashi. We walked a few kilometers (approx 2.5km). But there was a huge queue. So we just took a look from outside & leave the temple area.

On our way to Bhairab temple, we noticed the famous "Manikarnika ghat". So we asked local people regarding the ghat's direction. As per their suggestion, we entered the famous Kashi's Gali. The road was not so wide, only two people can walk side by side. Even on both sides of the road, there was some sewage Nala. local people dump their day-to-day "kachra" here and there.

We reached the ghat area after 10 minutes of walk. There were some pyres still burning. It is famous that, the pyres never stopped here.

Near the ghat, there was a tilted temple. People told that the temple is more tilted than the Pisa tower.