There has been an over threefold jump in pilgrims visiting the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi on peak days, up to 5-6 lakh daily, since the inauguration of the holy corridor in the city by Prime Minister Narendra Modi six months ago.
News18 reviewed an official document of the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Special Area Development Board which has put out the said figures while proposing to set up a new state-of-the-art Varanasi Gallery and City Museum inside the premises of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor to enhance the experience for pilgrims coming in high numbers.
Shivratri draws most visitors
As per the document, the flow of visitors on peak days has risen to an average of 5 lakh daily compared to 1.5 lakh earlier since the corridor was inaugurated by PM Modi last December. The peak days at the temple are January, Basant Panchami, Maha Shivratri, Rangbhari Ekadashi, Holi, the Mondays of the Shravan month, Diwali, and Dev Deepawali.
In fact, the document says that a record 6.5 lakh pilgrims visited the temple and the corridor on Shivratri day this year, on March 1. On non-peak days, the visitor rush has increased from about 35,000 daily to 70,000 daily now. The PM inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Dham project spread over 50,000 sqm on December 13, 2021.
Bigger plans
“In order to provide enhanced experience to the visitors of the transformed temple precinct”, the Board now also plans to develop a state-of-the-art museum and gallery with digital and physical exhibits based on the latest technologies and immersive experiences. This will come up inside the existing corridor to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
Already, the corridor has multiple amenities for pilgrims like Yatri Suvidha Kendras, guesthouses, hospice (Mumukshu Bhavan), library, museum, gallery and a spiritual book centre. “With added user facilities in and around the temple along with increased capacity of the precinct, the temple Parishad envisages multi-fold increase in visitation numbers,” the document mentioned.
The two new projects will showcase the “spiritual legacy of the city, history of making of Shri Kashi Vishwanath temple, cultural heritage of Varanasi, legacy of classical music, India’s preeminence as the oldest living civilisation and achievements of India”, as per the document.
Techniques such as 3D projection mapping installations, interactive kiosks, interactive surfaces, sensor-based installations, 360-degree virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D holography installation, and film projections will be used here as well.
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