Uttar Pradesh: Lord Shiva to rest on silver bed during 'Shayan Aarti' at Kashi Vishwanath Temple

VARANASI: Lord Shiva will rest on a silver bed at Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple, which enshrines the 'dwadash' (twelve) Jyotirlingas of the deity. A beautiful and well-crafted bed made of silver has been offered to Lord Shiva to rest during 'Shayan Aarti' at the temple.
The bed has been offered by Sri Kasi Nattukkottai Nagara Satram (SKNNS), a Tamil Nadu-based organisation working to arrange bhog-prasad at Kashi Vishwanath temple for 209 years. Recently, Varanasi police had freed land worth Rs. 250 crore owned by this organisation from two-decade-old illegal possession of land sharks. Flowers grown on this piece of land are used as an offering to Lord Shiva in KVT.
"The land was freed from illegal possession within 24 hours after a complaint was lodged," said commissioner of police A Satish Ganesh. The beautiful garden in 62,000 sq ft area, from where flowers were arranged for KVT till two decades ago, returned to its old glory in June after the action taken by the police against the land grabbers, who used this piece of land commercially as marriage lawn as well as partying venue.
According to the police commissioner, this piece of land had been under illegal possession of two mafia brothers, who are the sons of a retired police officer since 2003. The SKNNS cultivated flowers in this piece of land for the daily puja of the deity. The land mafia had started encroaching this land in 2003 by constructing a wall. The SKNNS office-bearers met the police commissioner with a complaint. Through an illegal agreement two persons had encroached on the entire land in the name of purchasing the lodge, which existed in a 4,000 sq ft area, in 2003. Later, they also stopped the entry of SKNNS people by locking the doors.
The Sigra police had on May 11 lodged an FIR against Anand Mohan Yadav alias Guddu, who had contested the 2017 assembly election on SP ticket from Shivpur seat, and his two brothers Krishna Mohan Yadav and Sanjay Yadav for illegally capturing the land of SKNNS. They were booked under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 447 (criminal trespass), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (committing forgery for the purpose of cheating), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.