[1] Subsequently, in 1678, the Gyanvapi Mosque was built on its site,[2] but Hindu pilgrims continued to visit the remnants of the temple.

Due to Brahma's deceit over the discovery of the origin of the luminous column, Shiva penalised him by cutting his fifth head and placing a curse upon him.

This curse entailed that Brahma would no longer receive reverence, whereas Vishnu, being truthful, would be equally venerated alongside Shiva and have dedicated temples for eternity.

[12] The jyotirlinga is an ancient axis mundi symbol representing the supremely formless (nirguna) reality at the core of creation, out of which the form (saguna) of Shiva appears.

[15] At all these sites, the primary image is a lingam representing the beginningless and endless Stambha pillar, symbolising the infinite nature of Shiva.

[19] Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa, in his book Tristhalisetu,[20] as well as Madhuri Desai describe that the temple centres around a repetition of destruction and reconstruction.

[29] In the seventeenth century, during the rule of Jahangir, Vir Singh Deo completed the construction of the earlier temple.

[33] In 1742, the Maratha ruler Malhar Rao Holkar devised a plan to demolish the mosque and reconstruct the Vishweshwar temple at the site.

[34]: 85 In 1785, at the behest of Governor General Warren Hastings, Collector Mohammed Ibrahim constructed a Naubatkhana in front of the temple.

[36] In 1828, Baiza Bai, widow of the Maratha ruler Daulat Rao Scindhia of Gwalior State, built a low-roofed colonnade with over 40 pillars in the Gyan Vapi precinct.

Many noble families from various ancestral kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent, and their predecessor states, made generous contributions to the operation of the temple.

[38] In 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire, at the behest of his wife, Maharani Datar Kaur, donated 1 tonne of gold for plating the temple's dome.

In August 2021, five Hindu women petitioned a local court in Varanasi to be allowed to pray at the Maa Shringar Gauri Temple.

[42] After 239 years, the Kumbhabhishekham (consecration ceremony) of the temple was held on 5 July 2018, which was conducted by Nattukottai Nagarathar, a mercantile community of Tamil Nadu.

[43] The Kashi Vishwanath Corridor Project was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 to make it easier to travel between the temple and the Ganges River and to create more space to prevent crowding.

[49] The temple complex consists of a series of smaller shrines located in a small lane called the Vishwanatha Gali, near the river.

There are small temples for Kala Bhairava, Kartikeya, Avimukteshwara, Vishnu, Ganesha, Shani, Shiva, and Parvati in the complex.

The Jnana Vapi is located to the north of the main temple, and during the invasion by the Mughals, the jyotirlinga was hidden in the well to protect it.

The Kashi Vishwanath Temple is widely recognised as one of the most important places of worship in the Hindu religion, because the it holds the jyotirlinga of Shiva Vishveshwara, or Vishvanath.

[citation needed] There is a popular belief that Shiva himself blows the mantra of salvation into the ears of people who die naturally at the Vishwanath temple.

[58] These rituals of Baba's marriage ceremony are performed at the residence of Kulpati Tiwari, the erstwhile Mahant of Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Redzone.

Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport is located roughly 22 kilometres from the city centre and approximately 25 km from the temple complex.