History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t2.147

v5.c74.t2.147

A mosque, which still exists, was built on the site of the Viśveśvara temple by Aurangzeb, who even changed the name of Banaras to Muhammadabad. The result is that, as stated by Sherring (p. 32), it would be difficult to find twenty temples in the whole of Banaras of the age of Aurangzeb (1658-1707 A. D.). Many of the temples were built by the Maratha Chiefs and Sardars and during the British occupation many more were built. Prinsep calculated in about 1828 that there were in the Banaras city proper 1000 Hindu temples and 333 mosques; a more recent estimate puts the figures at 1454 temples and 272 mosques (Sherring¹⁴⁴⁷ pp 41-42).