Who rebuiltt kashi wishvanath temple in 16 th century?
Answers
Kasi Viswanath temple existed since many thousands of years and has been reconstructed every few hundreds of years.
The temple structure that existed prior to the construction of the mosque was built by Raja Man Singh during Akbar’s reign.
The temple’s demolition was intended as a warning to the anti-Mughal factions and Hindu religious leaders in the city after few helped Maratha King Sivaji to escape from Agra.
Maratha ruler Malhar Rao Holkar (1693-1766) wanted to demolish the mosque and reconstruct Vishweshwar temple at the site.
However, he never actually did that. Later, in 1780, his daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar constructed the present Kasi Viswanath Temple adjacent to the mosque.
Viswanath temple was destroyed by the army of Qutb-ud-din Aibak in 1194 CE, when he defeated the Raja of Kannauj as a commander of Mohammad Ghori.
It temple was rebuilt by a Gujarati merchant during the reign of Shamsuddin Iltumish (1211-1266 CE).
It was demolished again during the rule of either Hussain Shah Sharqi (1447-1458) or Sikandar Lodhi (1489-1517).
Raja Man Singh built the temple during Akbar’s rule, but orthodox Hindus boycotted it as he had let the Mughal emperors marry within his family. Raja Todar Mal further re-built the temple with Akbar’s funding at its original site in 1585.