Ahilyabai Holkar: The queen who built & restored Hindu Temples including Kashi Vishwanath.

Maharani Ahilyabai: The great Holkar queen played a very important role in restoring Hindu temples destroyed by the Mughals.  

TN Lifestyle Desk | New Delhi | Feb 6, 2024:: For Hindus, the role played by Ahilyabai, the Holkar Queen of the Maratha Malwa kingdom, is very important. She was responsible for building and restoring Hindu temples that had been destroyed. A devout follower of Shiva, all the royal proclamations by her had “Shri Shankara” written on them, along with her signature. Most of the prominent pilgrimage sites have some sort of contribution by Rani Ahilyabai Holkar.

Her biggest contribution is that she restored and rebuilt the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas, in 1780. It was earlier plundered by the Mughal emperor Aurangazeb. During the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor Project in Varanasi, even Prime Minister Modi mentioned Rani Ahilyabai. Maharaja Ranjit Singh had it crowned with a golden ‘shikhar’ at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The Ahilyabai Ghat in Varanasi has been named after the queen.

The Gupta inscription of 5th century mentions that Manikarnika Ghat. It was in 1791, that Ahilyabai Holkar rebuilt the entire ghat.

The Vishnupad temple on the banks of the Falgu river, was rebuilt by Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, in 1787.

An old Somnath temple, located near the Somnath Jyotirlinga that was also destroyed, was restored by her. It’s believed that Ahilyabai dreamt of swayambhulinga (lingams that manifest on their own) and hence started the construction of the temple. Ahilyabai restored temples all across India, except for areas controlled by Afghans, Nawabs, and the British. The temples were built by her in places such as Srinagar, Haridwar, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Rishikesh, Prayaga, Varanasi, Naimisharanya, Puri, Rameshwaram, Somnath, Nasik, Omkareshvar, Mahabaleshwar, Pune, Indore, Srisailam, Udupi, Gokarna, and Kathmandu.

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Courtesy: Times Now Lifestyle.