Last day of campaigning in Varanasi: Is Lord Shiva pleased with 37 Kgs of gold?

The outlandish decision to put 37 kilograms of gold on the wall inside the sanctum sanctorum of Kasthi Viswanath temple has shocked purists and the devout. Lord Shiva is one Hindu deity after all who is known for his austere life and renunciation. The Lord is depicted with a snake strung round his neck and the only cosmetic being ashes from burning pyres.

But as reported earlier, an anonymous businessman from ‘South India’ (if he is anonymous then how is he known to be from the South?) donated 60 kilograms of gold, estimated to be worth Rs 30 Crore, to the Kashi Vishwanath temple; and the authorities used 37 kilograms of the gold on the walls of the sanctum sanctorum. Why 37 kilograms? Ostensibly because that is how much the Prime Minister Modi’s mother weighs now.

How does one anonymously donate 60 kilograms of gold? If the central agencies have an answer, they have not shared it in the public domain. While the penchant of the RSS for ‘secret donations’ (Gupt daan) is known, the faith of central agencies in such donations has not been tested.

Shiva, agrees author and commentator Mrinal Pande, is the most austere and ascetic Yogi in the Hindu pantheon. “Shiva legends repeatedly depict him as a stern upholder of righteousness and a master of Yogic austerities. These are said to be the source of power that makes him Devadhidev (God of gods). Vishnu among the popular Hindu gods is quite glamorous in contrast, with his various avataras like Ram and Krishna,” she points out.

But Shiva, unlike Vishnu, chooses to dwell in the wilderness. His hair is matted and a cobra is wrapped around his neck. His body is smeared with ashes from burning pyres, and as Bhuteswara, the lord of ghosts, he is in the company of wild creatures.

Significantly, a bit of gold is deemed essential while worshipping Vishnu but not while worshipping Shiva.

Explaining the significance of the ‘Garbh Griha’ or the sanctum sanctorum in Hindu temples, people with knowledge of the religion point out that this is the most sacred place in the temple where depiction of minor gods and goddesses is left behind as the worshipper draws close to the holy icon placed at a carefully selected intersection of east and west.

At the Kashi Vishwanath temple, past visitors confirmed, the sanctum sanctorum had no unnatural light except the strategically located door that brought the first rays of the Sun to rest on the Lord’s Lingam. There were no windows but just a door through which the priests enter. This has now changed with VVIPs thronging the sanctum sanctorum accompanied by cameras, lights and security.

The rituals involved in worshipping Shiva are also austere with cleanliness and humility on top of the charts. No Chhappan Bhog is offered to Shiva as in many Vishnu temples. Clean water, a few wild flowers with intoxicating juices (Dhatura) and Bilva Patra (leaves from trees bearing stone apple or Bel). Even on Shivratri, the holiest day for all Shaivites, the Lord is happy with devotees fasting for a day. This year it fell on Tuesday this week.

Gifts of silver and gold were made to the temple at Kashi by Raja Ranjit Singh (1835) of Punjab, Maratha chieftain Raghuji Bhonsle and even the Rana rulers of Nepal. But the gold was used to cover the outside dome (Shikhar Gumbad), not as ornamental covering for the Garbh Griha.

Asked why the gold then was not used in the sanctum sanctorum, pundits says that devotees are expected to leave behind Kama (erotic thoughts) and Arth (material and worldly interests) as they enter the sanctum. The true devotee faces the icon and becomes one with the Lord. They then exit without showing their back to Lord and re-enter the material world of Arth and Kama. “To walk into a Shiva temple for Arth and/or Kama is unthinkable,” quipped one.

The Shiva temple was in the past an open place. Pilgrims and devotees would trickle in. With the renovation and the gold plating now, it has become a tourist attraction and a temple for VVIP politicians wearing their devotion on their sleeves.