Aavarana: The Veil

by S.L. Bhyrappa

‘Oh? Didn’t you know, mataji? See that mosque on the left…’ He pointed with his index finger. ‘The tall, fat mosque that looks like it is sniggering because it’s the biggest mosque in Kashi? That’s the Gyanvapi masjid standing on the original Kashi Vishwanath temple. Aurangzeb Badshah demolished it and built a gumbaz over its walls and pillars in 1669. And though he did all this, people still call it the Gyanvapi mosque. And see the mosque at the right? That’s where the Bindu Madhava temple stood. He demolished that in 1659 and used its pillars and stones and beams to raise this Alamgiri Masjid. That’s what you see now.’ Impressive! He even knows the dates! The best man to tell me the history of all the mosques out here. She put her bent right palm on her forehead to avoid the harsh sunlight and looked around the entire city. Littered with mosques. Everywhere. Size doesn’t matter. Every mosque built on a pre-existing temple. Built to mark Islam’s supremacy. Using the materials of the same destroyed temple. Kashi. Varanasi. Home to Hinduism’s multi-hued sects and paths and schools. Vedic, Jain, Buddhist, Shaakta, Tantra, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Ganapatya, Rama,