Rediff.com's Utkarsh Mishra visits the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, which is fast being turned into another mandir-masjid dispute.
Bollywood celebrates Maha Shivratri with prayers and pictures.
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.
Days after the district court ruled that a priest can perform prayers in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, a petitioner on Monday filled a plea seeking an ASI survey of all other closed basements in the complex.
Lord Krishna in every particle of Mathura and Lord Ram in every particle of Ayodhya, Kangana said.
The Allahabad high court on Tuesday heard both the Hindu and Muslim sides on the Gyanvapi mosque committee's appeal challenging the Varanasi district court order allowing Hindu prayers in a cellar of the mosque.
Muslim body Anjuman Intezamia Masjid committee on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against the Allahabad high court order permitting an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey at the Gyanvapi mosque.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-day visit to Varanasi to inaugurate the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project.
Kolkata Knight Riders' journey home from Lucknow turned into an unexpected adventure on Monday night.
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.
The Gyanvapi issue has been at the centre of a long-drawn legal battle with the Hindu side arguing that the Gyanvapi mosque was allegedly built on the remains of a pre-existing temple, while the Muslim side has contested the claim.
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.
Modi is on a two-day visit to his constituency, which began on Monday with the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, ventured out on the streets of Varanasi in the early hours of Tuesday and visited the just-inaugurated Kashi Vishwanath Dham and the Banaras railway station.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra will hear the plea of Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee.
Modi lauded the civilisational heritage of Varanasi, and said many sultanates rose and collapsed but Benaras remained.
Jain told reporters that copies of the survey report consisting of 839 pages were made available to the parties concerned by the court late Thursday evening.
Ranveer Singh, Kriti Sanon and Manish Malhotra visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi to offer prayers over the weekend.
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Justice Padia stayed the Varanasi civil court order, ruling that the subordinate court passed its order ignoring the fact that the high court had reserved its verdict on the plea challenging the maintainability of the suit which had been filed earlier in the lower court for the survey.
The idol of the goddess was taken to the temple in a silver palanquin, shouldered by Adityanath.
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.
... resulting in a Rs 2 trillion economic spinoff.
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.
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).
He also appealed to the Muslim side for a peaceful solution for all these three temples.
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.
'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.
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.
Ajay Devgn's Drishyam 2 is doing wonders at the box office and the actor is grateful to the Gods.
More than 51,000 diyas were lighted on Friday on Dev Deepawali at a Varanasi ghat to form 'Batoge to Katoge' -- a slogan given recently by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a call apparently to Hindus to stay united.
The order was passed by Justice Prakash Padia, who was hearing a petition filed by Anjuman Intazamia Masazid, Varanasi.
The train connects Mysuru and Chennai via Bengaluru.
Shops in Varanasi's Muslim-dominated areas remained closed and the police sounded an alert in the entire district ahead of the Friday namaaz, following the district court order to allow Hindu prayers in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed the spectacular Ganga 'aarti' in Varanasi on Monday evening while on board a river cruise with chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and other Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.
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.
'You don't realise your life has changed in just three days.' 'It's when you come back to the city that it starts hitting you but you now have the power to manage the challenges Life throws at you.'
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.
The plea filed by the Hindu side has stated that the cellar's roof is very old and weak.
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