Lucknow: The Hindu side on Friday (20 May 2022) claimed in the Allahabad High Court that the Swayambhu Jyotirlinga of Adi Vishweshwar is present in Gyanvapi, regarding the disputed Gyanvapi structure in Varanasi. In the Allahabad High Court, the respondent advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi said that the Shivling found in the Vajukhana is not the Shivling of Vishweshwar. It is Tarakeswar Mahadev. He said that the Swayambhu Shivling of Adi Vishweshwar is present at a depth of about 100 feet just below the central dome of the Gyanvapi structure.

Swayambhu means that which has appeared itself, i.e. which has not been created. It is being said that Lord Adi Visvesvara is considered to be the Swayambhu Shivalinga, which represents the form of Lord Shiva. According to Puranas, the Shivalinga at Kashi is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas and is the oldest. Jyotirlingas have a long history and are described in many Hindu scriptures including the Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas. Advocate Rastogi has said that during the British Raj, an old map of Vishwanath temple was made by the then district magistrate of Varanasi, James Principe. The map is mentioned in the 'History of Banaras Written by Doctor AS Eltekar (Head of Department, BHU Varanasi)'. It is said that in which place there were temples of the deity.

In the Kashi Vishwanath and Gyanvapi case, which has been going on in the civil court of Varanasi since 1991, Vadmitra Rastogi, appearing for Adi Visheshwar, said that on the basis of that map, the location of the Vajukhana points to the Tarkeshwar temple. He said that this temple was demolished and flattened. If it is a Shivlinga, it can be of the same Tarkeshwar Mahadev. According to Dr Vishwanath Pandey, former special officer of BHU, the evidence of the Kashi Vishwanath temple being built five times is recorded in history. The first was built by Maharaja Vikramaditya near the Varuna-Ganga Sangam in 2050 years ago. Fa-Hien, the first Chinese traveler who came to Kashi in 402 AD to learn Sanskrit, has written about seeing the Shivling built by Maharaja Vikramaditya, the emerald of Adi Vishveshwara.

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