Adi Keshav to Pakistani Mahadev
A morning to remember from Kashi
I felt like
an original explorer that morning. I missed getting out by sunrise as I had
planned. But, being a winter morning, it was still not too sunny when I
ventured out at 8, and the streets were just getting a little busy in Varanasi.
I got into an electric auto rickshaw and asked for Adi Keshav mandir. The
driver drew a blank, and then I told him Raj Ghat. Still, he wasn’t too
convinced. I opened up the GPS and told him to head straight towards Raj Ghat.
I knew the best way would have been to go to Assi Ghat and take a boat ride
rather than rough it out on Kashi’s streets. Just laziness or my dizziness in
looking down into water while getting a boat, I avoided it. It was a pretty
long ride, and once close to the right turn towards Raj Ghat we asked for Adi
Keshav mandir and got directions. The GPS took us straight up to the lane
inside where the temple is tucked in clearly.
We crossed the archaeological ruins of the old Kashi, what is considered to have been the city of Kashi in the olden days within which the Lal Khan Tomb is situated. Lal Khan is said to have been the commander of the Kashi Naresh, in whose memory the king built a tomb in 1773 CE. Then there came the sprawling Theosophical Society and the Besant School. Towards the end of that road on the right side a small lane went in taking us towards the Varuna ghat. There were houses in a haphazard manner, and in between that was the temple. We have to climb a few stairs, to enter the Adi Keshav temple.
There is a
small plaque put up by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs that gives a
brief description of the temple.
“The
importance of Adi Keshav Ghat has been mentioned in Kashi Khanda Matsya Purana
and Linga Purana. This ghat is also known as Varuna Sangam Ghat according to
Kashi Khanda after being advised by Lord Shiva Lord Vishnu put his first step
in Kashi at this ghat after he washed his foot he left a foot impression on the
ghat where he installed a statue of his own. This pilgrimage is also known as
Padadak Tirth it is believed that a holi dip at this spot helps to free the
devotees from the circle of life and death. Bhudevi. Sridevi and Keshavaditya
are also worshipped at this temple. The temple of Adi Keshav has a Sabha Mantap
and a Garbh Griha.”
Unfortunately,
the plaque doesn’t give any dates on the original temple, its reconstruction
etc. A lady I met at the temple, from
the family of priests who have been taking care of the temple for four
generations said Garhwal King while on a hunting expedition found the temple
and rebuilt it. That again was without a date, and I presumed it was the last
of the constructions after which her family has been at the service there. But,
a little search yielded these dates - The one built by the Garhwal kings seem
to be the oldest, since there is a reference saying it was destroyed in 1194
after the establishment of the temple. After the Islamic invasions and rule
over Banaras, the temple was rebuilt in 1807 by the Scindias of Gwalior. There
was a disruption again during the 1857 uprising against the British, when the
temple was taken over the British forces and the Pujari evicted. According the
website kashikatha.com two years after that Pujari Keshav Bhatt requested British
to give permission for restarting the Pujas which has since been going on
unhindered.
As far as
the legend of the temple, which indicates the antiquity, it is connected with the
Puranic lore of King Divodasa. After Shiva and Parvati left the city of Kashi
to be back in their Himalayan abode, a mighty King Divodasa ruled the city with
great strength and prosperity. But, the Gods including Shiva and Parvati couldn’t
come back to the city. There is a detailed story of the Leela by which the Gods
repossessed the city in mailfromindia.com website in English. Once it became
difficult to unseat Divodasa who in his earlier avtar as Ripunjay was sent by
Brahma with specific purpose to Kashi, Vishnu had to come down and with a
deceit find place in Kashi, and also pave for Shiva and Parvati to come back.
More often
than not we dismiss Sthala Puranas – but, they are essential to understand
Kashi. To connect the dots when it comes to recreating history, and also to go
back in time to understand the timeless city. Many of the temples are hidden in
the lanes and by lanes of the city, each interconnected, and also separate. One
cannot know Kashi without the help of the various Puranas. Bindu Madhava has
his own legend, and so does Adi Keshava. Adi Keshava is also a unique murti, dark
and with Sridevi and Bhudevi alongside. That is rare in the North?
Another thing,
the ruins of old Kashi excavated around the Raj Ghat area, was it fully
excavated? Do we know enough about the city or its past from the excavations?
From the
remote times, I moved on to seek a deity, relatively new to the city of
Varanasi. Pakistani Mahadev mandir is on the ghats, a deity who was brought
from Pakistan during partition and installed on the ghats Dr. Vijay Nath Mishra
told us on the concluding session of Indic Academy’s Yatra Seminar. I couldn’t
reach Dr. Mishra to find out about the exact location of the Pakistani Mahadev,
but google produced one article where the information related to the “flight of
the deity” to borrow from Dr. Meenakshi Jain’s book. The article I found in a
Hindi News website said the temple is at Shitala Ghat near Dashaswamedh Ghat.
Also, what I remembered was that the deity had come Karachi, but the websites
mention that it was from Lahore, brought to Kashi by a trader named Sitaram
Mohani. By the time I reached Dashaswamedh Ghat it was close to noon, and the sun was sharp.
What made
the trip around to find Pakistani Mahadev interesting was the variety of
responses my query produced. “Pakistani, koyi Pakistani idhar nahi aa sakta”,
declared one vendor. “Pakistan se hamara kya sambandh hai, aisa koyi nahi hai”
said another. Not to give up I went around trying to tell the story I got to
know – I sharpened my Hindi skills to say “batware ke samay Karachi se idhar aaya,
woh Mahadev”. “Batwara, woh kab hua, do hazzaar saal pehle ho chuka that,” I
was astounded. I tried telling him “abhi sattar saal pehle hua, kya do hazzar
saal”. He refused to believe anything like that happened just 70-years ago. I
know Kashi is eternal, but time literally stands still for some. After sometime
I gave up … one person told me to check another Shitala Ghat that is there near
Scindia Ghat. I was by that time in condition to take the boat or walk to
Scindia Ghat. Told Pakistani Mahadev, Baba next time sure I will come. Later
friends confirmed it is towards the left from Scindia Ghat towards Bharma Ghat.
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| Pic Credit: Internet |
As Dr. Jain
says in her book, we never abandoned our deities. If the Adi Keshav temple was
rebuilt and pujas restored after disruptions, at Pakistani Mahadev the God
travelled all the way from Lahore. The perseverance of Dharmikas have to be
told and retold to remind the world how the civilizational continuity was
ensured against all odds.
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