Varanasi: An anonymous trader hailing from South India has made a secret donation (gupt daan) of 60-kg gold, worth around Rs 28 Crore, to plate the sanctum sanctorum of Kashi Vishwanath temple (KVT). Of the 60-kg gold donated, 37-kg, equal to the weight of PM Narendra Modi’s mother Hiraben has been used to plate the inner walls of the sanctum sanctorum.
Despite the donor requesting anonymity, the glitter of the gold could not be hidden and it was evident when recently PM Modi offered obeisance at the sanctum sanctorum during his visit to Varanasi on Sunday, February 27.
Till then the pilgrims were getting a glimpse of the glitter while offering prayers through ‘jharokha darshan’ (seeing the deity from a window) since the gold plating commenced.
The secret donation of 60-kg gold was confirmed by Divisional Commissioner Deepak Agarwal. “Of the 60-kg gold received from an anonymous donor, 37-kg has been used for covering the inner walls of sanctum sanctorum with gold. The remaining 23-kg will be used for covering the lower portion of the golden dome of the main KVT structure,” said Agarwal.
As per the Kashi Vishwanath Trust sources, the donor had come in contact with the temple authorities months before the inauguration of Kashi Vishwanath Dham by the PM on December 13, 2021.
Sources claimed that a Delhi-based firm was engaged in gold plating work. The gold plates were carried to the temple through trucks. A team of 10 artisans worked a day in and day put to complete the gold plating work of the temple inner walls in 30 hours, said the sources. “The work was started on Friday and completed by Sunday afternoon,” said Agarwal.
“The artisans engaged cast the walls of the sanctum sanctorum with copper sheets initially followed by the process of plating them with gold,” said Agrawal.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple had received such a quantity of gold for plating in the 18th century as well. As per history, after Indore’s queen Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar got the temple restored and renovated in 1777, Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab donated about one ton of gold which was used for covering two domes of the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
After the 18th century, the expansion of temple premises into a corridor has been planned and delivered under PM Modi. The project worth Rs 900-crore was perceived in 2015-16 and it assumed pace when Yogi Adityanath took over as UP CM in 2017. Under the project, over 300 buildings were purchased and removed for the expansion of the temple area from 2,700 sq ft to 5 lakh sq ft.