Sri Kala Bhairav Mandir

The Kala Bhairava Temple, located at house K-32/22 Bhaironath near the Town Hall in Visheshvarganj, North Varanasi, is a significant religious site built in 1817 by the Maratha king Bajirao Peshva II, as recorded in an inscription on the inner courtyard wall. Revered as the “divine police chief” (Kotwal) of Kashi and a fierce form of Shiva, Kala Bhairava embodies Death, Fate, and Protection—worshipped not for liberation, but for health, safety, and worldly well-being. Only his silver-garlanded face is visible through the sanctum door, while the rest of his pot-bellied, trident-holding figure seated on a dog remains concealed. The temple features a courtyard measuring 17.4 by 13.4 meters, surrounded by an arcade, though parts have been encroached upon or repurposed; the structure was marble-clad in 1968, and in 1995, raised seating was added for the twenty families managing the temple, who also sell devotional items like black cloth garlands. Ritual practices include blessings from a peacock-feather club, application and ingestion of sacred ash (bhabhut), and the tying of black-thread malas as protective amulets.

The temple compound houses subsidiary shrines to Devi, Hanuman, Krishna-Radha, Parvati, and Ganesha, as well as a striking navagraha slab representing the nine planetary deities—highlighting Bhairava’s role as a guardian of time and fate. At the entrance, images of Batuka Bhairava, Shmashana Bhairava, and Kalamadhava (a Vishnu form from the Shodash Vishnu Yatra) frame the approach, and within the sanctum lies a mysterious sculptural fragment with its central figure chiseled off, attended by vermilion-covered remnants. Kala Bhairava’s temple thus functions as a potent site of localized theism and ritual engagement, offering protection within the sacred geography of Kashi.