The Kashi Corridor Project awaits its inauguration in 12 days. The temple was shut for the whole day yesterday (1 December) for cleaning of the sanctum sanctorum and the golden shikara as reported.

But before the clean-up of the main premise, the deities and idols that had been earlier relocated were reinstated — silencing all those who had been accusing the temple authorities of having taken them away. The idols that were originally located within the temple's main premise had been relocated to enable the clean-up, construction and beautification, and were re-consecrated at their respective places on Tuesday (30 November). As reported by Jagran, the Navagraha and Avimukteshwar idols have been re-consecrated at the Tarakeshwar Mandap according to ritualistic procedures.

Kumbheshwar and Veerbhadreshwar have been reinstalled at the temples close to the river and all these procedures were conducted as directed by the Kashi Vidwat Parishad.

The idols had been removed from their original place of installation following due procedures and kept safely under due inspection as advised by scholars of Kashi in order to facilitate the expansion and construction works.

As the project nears completion, idols are now being reinstalled, and seven temples have been built around the main temple premises for this purpose. Also, 27 other temples have been built to reinstall the remaining idols. All idols will soon be reinstated, said Mahamantri of Kashi Vidwat Parishad R N Dwivedi, as quoted.

The temple remained closed through Wednesday (1 December) as the cleaning continued and will be open for devotees today (2 December) from 6 am, as reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the corridor project on 13 December when he is said to first visit the banks of the Ganga according to ritual to take a dip or do ‘achaman’ and then head to the main shrine of Vishwanath.

Along with the various structures that have come up, the corridor will also be lined up with trees that are traditionally said to be of importance to the worship of or special to Kashi Vishwanath. Trees including bilva or bel, rudraksha, neem, Ashoka and kadamba will line the length of the corridor which is also proposed to display potted plants of flowering saplings.

When Swarajya visited the project premises in November, large pits had been dug and space reserved for the planting of trees, as the officials said that the plants will be in place in time for the inauguration.

This would be in contrast to the experience of devotees all these years when they take a dip in the Ganga and make their way through dung, dust and dirt to reach the shrine through serpentine lanes. Now, they will be able to make their way through a massive, well-lit and ventilated corridor lined with buildings of pink stone, clean neat floorings, tourist centres, plants and trees and fragrant flowers among other facilities — offering a truly pilgrim experience.

Tarakeshwar Mandap

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