Temples of Kashi - The Tilbhandeshwar Temple

The city of Kashi is filled with temples, big and small, old and new. There are temples at every corner, and you never know where you will stumble upon a small shrine. There are idols beneath what remains of trees (there are hardly any trees any more within the core area of the city), there are saffron covered forms resembling deities which seem attached to walls, an especially incongruous sight when the idol itself appears to be old, while the wall is evidently new…. And there are surprisingly large temples rising from what appear to be a bunch of houses.

The city is sometimes colloquially said to be as old as time, and some of the shrines and temples are said to date back to times unknown, at least the deity itself, if not the structure. Not much remains of the ancient structures anyway. The city has seen more than its fair share of good and bad times. It has seen the heights of grandeur, and the lows brought about by destruction.

The city that exists today has grown so haphazardly, that the underlying order beneath the chaos is difficult to see. The ancient temples are part of this underlying order – they show us traces of what once was, if we are able to see beyond what is.

I have written about some of the temples of Kashi in earlier posts.

• The Kashi Vishwanath Temple
• The Annapurna Temple
• The Temple circuit
• Other ancient temples in Kashi

There are two temples that I want to share with you from this visit. This post is about one of them.

Tilbhandeshwar Temple

I first heard of this temple during our 2008 visit, but we weren’t able to visit it then. This time, with some spare time on our hands, and an auto driver eager to take us around, we decided to add to our list of temples in Kashi by visiting this one. My expectations were low. I expected this to be like any other Shiva temple in Kashi – a relatively recent structure constructed over a much older shrine. That does summarize the temple, as it is today, but it also held surprises in store.

The structure itself held no surprises. I would estimate it to be built in the 18^th century, and added to over the decades, leading to a mix of styles. Stone, brick, and concrete, all covered with marble as well as tiles – the typical kind of structure that one sees all over the country these days. Not a style I admire or appreciate. However, the interior was surprisingly airy, the high ceiling adding to the feeling of spaciousness. The sanctum itself wasn’t small, but it seemed dwarfed by the size of the lingam. As per the temple legend, the lingam grows by the size of a ‘til’ (sesame) seed every year, thus giving the Lord and the temple their name. Seeing the size of the lingam, it was easy to see where the legend had its origins.

Much as I wasn’t impressed by the architecture or the aesthetics of the temple, I couldn’t help but feel the sacredness that seeped through as we stood in the hall outside the sanctum gazing at the Lord. At none of the other temples that I had visited so far in Kashi, had I felt like this (except at the Vishwanath temple of course, but there was no way I could have stood there gazing at the Lord as I did here, so that doesn’t count). We had the temple to ourselves, so after circumambulating the lord inside the sanctum, I sat in the hall, and just enjoyed gazing at Him, and soaking in the feeling of being in this sacred space. There was no one to disturb me, and I was able to sit for quite some time, content to just sit there. At the Vishwanath temple, I had wished that I could have chanted the Rudram and sung some bhajans in His presence, but that was impossible. Here, there was nothing to stop me, so I fulfilled my heart’s desire to chant and sing in His presence at this, which is also considered to be one of the most ancient temples in the city.

When I finally got up, I decided to do one final circumambulation of the deity, this time outside the sanctum, and here was the biggest surprise this temple had for me. The first thing I saw on my left were 4 sculptures, standing side by side. They were so familiar, and yet, so out of place here, that I went to take a closer look. Only to find that my instinct was right – they were the four main Shaivite saints, the naalvar – Appar, Sundarar, Sambandar and Manickavachakar. They are a common sight in most temples in Tamilnadu, but this was the last place I would have expected to see them. A little further down the same corridor, on the outer wall of the sanctum, was another surprise – Dakshinamurthy – Lord Shiva as the teacher. He is also seen at all Shiva temples in Tamilnadu, and relatively unknown in North India.

It was clear that this temple had a deep connection to Tamilnadu, probably built by someone who visited from deep down south. The sculptures were old, and the Dakshnamurthi certainly way older, than that of the saints. From the appearance, I would say that the lingam and the Dakshinamurthy dated back to the same period, and the saints were added later on. This implies that the Tamil connection to this temple existed for quite a time period. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any further information about this connection.

What is more interesting however, is that in recent times, there seems to be a Bengali connection as well, since we saw boards in Bengali inside the temple. The location of the temple, adjacent to the Bengali Tola area of the city, could explain this connection. This South and East connection to this temple in the heartland of North India made this one of the most interesting temples I have visited in Kashi.

Stay tuned to read about the other temple I want to introduce you to!