Now, no entry in Kashi Vishwanath Temple sanctum sanctorum Aug 18th, 2019 from Times of India

Now, devotees and pilgrims visiting Kashi Vishwanath Temple will not get an opportunity to enter the sanctum sanctorum.

They will get only ‘jhanki darshan’ (glimpse of Lord Vishwanath and offer prayers by standing at the door of the sanctum sanctorum.) The decision of restricting entry of pilgrims in the sanctum sanctorum by initiating jhanki darshan had been introduced for the period of Shrawan month, which ended on August 15, on an experimental basis. But, after Shrawan it has been made a permanent feature at KVT, one of the Dwadash Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva.

Talking to TOI on Saturday, KVT chief executive officer Vishal Singh said, “The arrangement of jhanki darshan had been introduced for Shrawan month to ensure that each devotee and pilgrim gets a glimpse of Lord Vishwanath conveniently. Due to lack of space inside the sanctum sanctorum, accommodating a large number of devotees even for a few minutes caused a great deal of inconvenience.” “Introduction of jhanki darshan by installing metallic argha (plates connected with pipes to give water, milk, flowers and other articles offered to Lord Vishwanath by visitors) at the door of the sanctum sanctorum ended a lot of chaos inside the sanctum sanctorum,” said a temple official.

Singh said that success of this arrangement was encouraging, following which it was decided to make it a permanent feature. “Now, only priests authorized for performing aartis and prescribed rituals will be allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum. Not only this, people visiting the temple with tickets of aartis will also have to offer prayer through jhanki darshan only,” he informed TOI on Saturday. The temple priests said that before the introduction of jhanki darshan, devotees on non-festival days were allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum. However, chaos was created when they tried to reach close to the Shivlinga and touch it while offering prayers. This change in arrangement at KVT has come at a time when an ambitious project of its expansion in the name of Vishwanath Dham (corridor) project is already in progress.