We were rowing towards Trilochan ghat when my glance was arrested by this imposing mosque standing on the Panch Ganga Ghat. I asked about it to our boatman Deepu. He told us that the famous Bindu Madhava temple earlier stood at the place. Aurangzeb, the last mughal emperor got the temple demolished and erected this mosque .
The Bindu Madhav temple is presently housed in a simple nondescript building. The exterior of the building is just like any other house in the lanes of Varanasi. Inside in a low ceiling non ornamental hall at the farthest end stands the revered deity. The deity here is made of saligram stone. Due to the mythological references this temple holds great importance for the pilgrims visiting the holy city.
There in the temple we met two pujaris, Sri Ashok kumar Joshi and Sri Murlidhar Ganesh Patvardhan. There were other pilgrims and travelers too and the priests talked to us in length about the history and Mythological references of the temple.
It is said that when Aurangzeb ordered the demolition of the original temple ,the then pujari somehow took the vigraham of deity with him and kept it hidden for a long time . Later on the idol was placed in this building as near to it’s original place as possible.
This Madhav temple is one of the Panch Madhava temples in India. The other four are
Beni Madhav at Prayag
Kunti Madhava at Pitapuram near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh
setu Madhava at Rameshwaram
Sunder Madhava at Thiruanantapuram, Kerala
The mythological story related to this Panch Madhav Kshetras goes like this.
Twashta was one of the Prajapatis created by Lord Brahma. He had one son named Vishwarupa. Vishwarupa was very noble and was jitendriya. He once started doing great tapa. Indra became afraid that Vishwarupa might take his kingdom so resorted to all kind of tricks to destroy and disturb his tapsya but all in vain. Then Indra chopped Vishwarupa’s head with his vjrayudh. Indra also lured Taksha to help him in chopping heads of vishwarupa.Vishwarupa is said to have three heads.
On hearing the sad end of his beloved son Twashta got enraged and started homa to creat a massive Asura from his krodhagni. Twashta named him viratasura and ordered him to defeat Indra to avenge the death of his elder brother.Viratasura defeated Indra but later on the treacherous Indra befriended him and killed him . Thus Indra acquired the sin of Brahmahatya ,which is considered to be worst kind of sin. To absolve himself of this great sin Indra consecrated these Panch Madhava temples .
So it is believed that a pilgrimage to these Panch Madhav Kshetram has a power to absolve one off all one’s sins.
Sans any fanfare the simple quiet premises, heartfelt discussions with pujaris and other pilgrims, my experience in Beni Madhav temple left me positively energized.
To me this temple represented the philosophy that the exterior,our body is perishable while the inner substance, the soul is immortal. The quintessence of our being lies in soul not the body.
Panch Ganga Ghat and the mosque above. The minarets of mosque are not very high as is the case usually.
The deity at Bindu Madhav temple
The two pujaris in the temple
some other pilgrims
all the pics by Sunder Iyer
May 30, 2014 at 6:58 AM
I will love to spend a few months in varanasi… may be in future who can say a chance will pop up 🙂
May 30, 2014 at 3:24 PM
definitely…it will come up and at that time give me a ping who knows we can meet there on ghats of varanasi.
June 3, 2014 at 5:03 AM
that will be great Namita, its always a greater joy to travel in company of someone who shares similar taste.
You may know Bengali literature has close connection with Kashi (varanasi), Kashi and Brindaban were two favorite spots for bengalis to dump their widows 😦
I have read so much about Kashi in Tagore, Saratchandra Chatterjee that I have always felt a strange attraction for it.
May be, some day I will spend a few days sitting on the steps of some ghat in varanasi, feeling the powerful magic 🙂
June 2, 2014 at 4:06 PM
A great piece of Bindu Madhav temple which is but one of the countless temples desecrated by Aurangzeb. I have spent my childhood in Varanasi. All I have to do is to close my eyes and smell the ghats, temples, cows and the cloying smell of flowers and cows. Thanks for sharing this beauty.
June 7, 2014 at 9:25 AM
I am happy that I could bring some childhood memories back. Are they not the sweetest ones….. those childhood memories?
very true Varanasi has that ever lasting impact and you said beautifully..it’s not any one thing but a heady mix of so many feelings,smell,philosophy…..even the chaos of varanasi has a different charm.Thanks for your presence.It’s always good to share,exchange views..
June 13, 2014 at 5:47 AM
waiting for next post 🙂
June 6, 2015 at 9:19 AM
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!!!
Hare Krishna!!
June 9, 2015 at 10:06 AM
Jai Sri Krishna
December 31, 2015 at 9:55 AM
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Mukund Bhosale
October 20, 2016 at 11:10 AM
Our family god is Bidhumadav, we going to Varanasi today, we have to perform a Abhishek, kindly send us the priest contact.
October 30, 2016 at 2:21 AM
I am so sorry Anand that I reacted to your inquiry so late. Got busy into certain personal work and could not open the blogs etc. Hope your visit to Varanasi and pooja at temple must have been performed nicely and smoothly.
November 28, 2016 at 8:22 AM
There is one temple of Shri Bindu Madhav situated at Madkai, Ponda- Goa. Our family God, ( Kuldevata) is Shri Bindu Madhav . All family members of different surnames from Sarswat Brahmin community of kaushik gotra whose kuldevata is Shri Bindu Madhav visit the temple to perform Abhishek etc. and annul function on Kartik Amawasha .
Can anyone enlighten the details of Shir Bindu Madhav, How the temple came there? In which scriptures the details of Shri Bindu Madhav appear?.
Why kartik Amaswa?
Awaiting your reply
November 28, 2016 at 4:52 PM
http://varanasi-temples.com/category/vishnu-temples/bindu-madhav/….this is the link where you can find the names and phone numbers of priests are given. you can contact them . I feel they will be able to answer your queries.
June 26, 2017 at 4:22 AM
Ome namo Narayanaya