Annapurna Temple

The temple is dedicated to Annapurna, the goddess of food, whose name is translated as “she who fills with food.” Her usual image is recognized by a vessel and a serving ladle, while a special shrine keeps a golden sculptural group: the goddess offers food to a silver Shiva with a bowl. This group is displayed only for a few festival days, then closed again until the following year.

In the seventeen twenties, Narayan Dixit Patankar led groups of pilgrims from the Deccan to Kashi. He was a Brahmin—an expert in rituals—and court mentor to Baji Rao the First, the first minister and military leader of the Maratha Empire. People in his circle lived through the patronage of rulers; rulers, in turn, needed the recognition of such mentors. Patankar could turn his patron's treasury into a temple, a meal, or a new pilgrimage route—and he chose all three at once.

Near Gyanvapi, believers continued to come to the site of the former Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The arrangement of shrines now taken for granted was still taking shape. Annapurna was not even mentioned in the Kashi Khanda, the influential Sanskrit description of Kashi's sacred places. The goddess had been known before, but it was here that Patankar secured a new role for her.

He persuaded Baji Rao to pay for the Annapurna Temple and for feeding everyone who came. The site was chosen near the already venerated Gyanvapi area: someone who received food from Annapurna found themselves beside Vishwanath's shrines. Free meals ensured a steady flow of people, the temple entered pilgrims' routes, and the Maratha ruler received visible confirmation of his patronage of Kashi. Patankar's decision proved more lasting than the court service on which he lived: his patron's name remained in the history of the construction, while the institution they devised continued to feed visitors after both men had died.

Why Annapurna was chosen for this is explained by a temple legend. Shiva declared food to be part of maya, the deceptive material world. Parvati, wishing to show the cost of these words, deprived the world of food. Famine began, and Shiva himself had to take up a begging bowl. In Kashi, Parvati appeared as Annapurna—“she who fills with food”—and fed him. This is a religious legend, not a historical episode.

Its resolution is reproduced literally in the temple. The goddess's everyday image holds a vessel and a ladle. A golden group is kept in a separate shrine: Annapurna distributes food, and before her stands a silver Shiva with a beggar's bowl. It is displayed only for a few days from Dhanteras to Annakuta; then the image is hidden again for a year.

The annakshetra associated with the temple—a free public dining hall—feeds pilgrims today as well. In the golden image, Shiva holds out an empty bowl, while in the dining hall a visitor is still given a filled plate.