History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t2.149

v5.c74.t2.149

Visveśvara or Viśvanātha is the tutelary deity of Banaras and the principal and most holy temple in it (vide n 1429 a) It is prescribed that every resident of Kāśī must every day bathe in the Ganges and visit the temple of Viśveśvara (vide Tri S p. 214). After Aurangzeb pulled down the temple of Viśvanātha, there was no shrine of Viśvanātha in Benares for over a hundred years The *liṅga* was probably removed from place to place as the vicissitudes of the times required and the pilgrims performed parts of the worship (such as namaskāra and circumambulation) at the site of the image, but they could not perform other portions of the worship such as bathing the image with Ganges water¹⁴⁴⁸. The present temple of Viśvanātha was built in the last quarter of the 18th century by *Devī Ahalyābāī* Holkar (Altekar, p. 57). The Tri. S. p. 183, while on the question of the appearance (*prādurbhāva*) of Viśveśvara, observes that there is no blemish in the case of the Viśveśvara-linga due to the touch of the untouchable, that every day Viśveśvara removes it by a bath in Manikarnikā at dawn and the worship offered by Himself and quotes a verse of the Sanatkumāra-saṃhitā in support¹⁴⁴⁹. What the Tri. S. means is: Generally great care is taken about *lingas*. All and sundry are not allowed to touch them but in the case of the Viśveśvara-linga any one, even a great sinner, may worship it and pour Ganges water over it. Whether Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa meant that even the so-called untouchables might touch it is not clear.