Buildings were decorated with colourful lights and earthen lamps dotted houses as people across the country thronged temples and celebrated Diwali with pomp on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-day visit to Varanasi to inaugurate the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project.
'Aurangzeb supported construction of the Kumarswamy math and the reconstruction of the Kedar temple and supported the Jangambadi math in Banaras.'
Earlier on Wednesday, the district court ruled that a priest can perform prayers before the idols in a cellar of the Gyanvapi Masjid, a significant development in the legal battle over the mosque adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
Kolkata Knight Riders' journey home from Lucknow turned into an unexpected adventure on Monday night.
The Supreme Court's 2023 order refusing to stay a scientific survey at the Gyanvapi Mosque complex has sparked claims over several other disputed places of worship across India. This has led to several court cases, including one in Mathura where a survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex was ordered, and another in Ajmer where a claim was made that a Shiva temple existed within the dargah of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti. The article also highlights a dispute over the Bhojshala in Madhya Pradesh, which Hindus consider a temple and Muslims consider a mosque. The Supreme Court's order has reignited debates about the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibits the change of character of religious places as they existed on August 15, 1947.
Here's a look at the pictures.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra will hear the plea of Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee.
The Allahabad high court on Friday did not give any immediate relief to the Gyanvapi Masjid committee which had challenged the order of the Varanasi court allowing Hindu prayers in a cellar of the mosque.
The committee had filed the petition in the high court against the order of the district judge of Varanasi in September last year that turned down its objections on the maintainability of the suit filed by the five Hindu women.
"It is heartening to see us, common people, being acknowledged. 'Achha lag raha hai'," Ram Chand Kumar, a mason who hails from Bihar and has been working on the site for the last 5-6 months, hailed the prime minister's gesture.
A Varanasi court on Tuesday fixed February 15 for the hearing of a petition seeking a survey of all closed basements in the Gyanvapi mosque complex by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The ASI is carrying out a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises, next to Kashi Vishwanath temple here, to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath appeared to make a pitch in the assembly for a temple where a mosque stands now in Mathura, saying that Krishna Kanhaiya wouldn't have it any other way.
Modi lauded the civilisational heritage of Varanasi, and said many sultanates rose and collapsed but Benaras remained.
The Hindu litigants claim the mosque holds signs suggesting that it was a temple once.
After Ajay Devgn sought blessings at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, Abhishek Bachchan made a stopover there as well.
Ajay Devgn's Drishyam 2 is doing wonders at the box office and the actor is grateful to the Gods.
A court in Varanasi on Friday directed the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a "detailed scientific survey" -- including excavations, wherever necessary -- to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple is built upon a temple.
After hearing arguments in the matter, Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker posted it for further hearing on Wednesday.
The email that was sent to alumni a couple of days ago purportedly gave detailed instructions on how to change the location, which had drawn sharp criticism from a section of alumni and social media users.
'Why were they silent when over 128 temples and shrines including Shivlings were broken down at the time of the construction of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor?' a Varanasi resident asks Rashme Sehgal.
The survey was stalled last week amid objections by the mosque committee, which claimed that the advocate commissioner appointed by the court for the survey did not have the mandate to film inside the premises.
Ranveer Singh, Kriti Sanon and Manish Malhotra visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi to offer prayers over the weekend.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud also sought response of priest Shailendra Kumar Pathak Vyas by April 30 on the plea of the mosque committee.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati will descend on Varanasi on Saturday making it their battleground ahead of the last phase of Uttar Pradesh polls, a schedule that has put the administration on its toes.
On his arrival in Varanasi earlier on Monday, the prime minister offered prayers at Kaal Bhairav Temple.
With the surge in tourist footfalls to Varanasi in 2022, it almost rivals the arrivals in Agra and puts it way ahead of Prayagraj and Ayodhya.
The high court has dismissed the Gyanvapi mosque management committee's appeal.
The court said the parties shall give an affidavit to keep the report with them and not make it public after getting the report.
The Allahabad high court on Tuesday extended the interim stay till September 30 on a Varanasi court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a physical survey at the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex and further proceedings in this case.
Several sculptures of gods and goddesses along with other structures related to Hindu motifs were seen in the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, said advocate Ajay Kumar Mishra, who was appointed commissioner by a Varanasi court to survey the Gyanvapi-Gauri Shringar complex but was later removed for leaking the information.
The Gyanvapi mosque management committee has objected to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) seeking eight more weeks to complete the survey of the complex.
In a major victory for the Hindu side, a Varanasi court on Wednesday allowed Hindu devotees to offer prayers inside the 'Vyas ka Tekhana' area inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex.
The Allahabad high court on Wednesday adjourned to February 12 the hearing on a plea challenging the Varanasi district court order allowing Hindu prayers in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.
The plea filed by the Hindu side has stated that the cellar's roof is very old and weak.
Temple priest Gaurav Goshwami said limited number of devotees should be allowed inside the shrine at a time and a barrier system should put in place outside it to manage crowd.
The Allahabad high court reserved its judgment on Friday in a petition challenging the maintainability of a suit seeking 'restoration' of a temple at the site of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.
As Mumbai immerses in prayer and celebration for the next 10 days, Satish Bodas/Rediff.com visits four of the oldest Ganesh pandals in the city, where Mumbaikars seek the Lord's blessings.
The Supreme Court of India is scheduled to hear a batch of petitions challenging the validity of certain provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibits lawsuits to reclaim a place of worship or change its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947. The pleas, including one filed by Ashwini Upadhyay, argue that these provisions violate the right to judicial remedy and create an arbitrary cut-off date. The matter will be heard in the backdrop of several ongoing cases related to places of worship, including the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura. The Muslim side has cited the 1991 law to argue that such suits are not maintainable. The Supreme Court had previously sought the Centre's response to Upadhyay's petition, which alleged that the law creates an "arbitrary and irrational retrospective cut-off date" for maintaining the character of places of worship.
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