पंचक्रोशी मंदिर

Just beyond the ghat-lined heart of Varanasi, the Panchakroshi Temple marks the vast circle of cosmic pilgrimage that defines the soul of the city. While modest in itself, it stands as a guardian of the Panchakroshi Yatra.

This sacred journey, spanning approximately 25 kroshas or around 88 km, links 108 shrines—Shiva lingams, Devi shrines, Vinayaka temples, even Vishnu temples—arranged around Varanasi in a concentric pattern. Rooted in the Kashi Khanda of the Skanda Purana, the path is said to have been trodden by Lord Rama, the Pandavas, and by devotees across millennia. Pilgrims typically undertake the Yatra over five days and nights, stopping at key temples and spots.

And, of course, it is fitting that if one cannot make the long trip around the Panchakroshi Road, there is a single temple in the heart of the city – the Panchakroshi Temple – which one can visit. By circumambulating the sanctum of this temple, with 108 wall reliefs of stops all along the sacred way, one honours the whole of Kashi, and, in turn, the whole world.

In a miniature form, the Panchakroshi temple possesses 107 images of the Panchakroshi Yatra path in addition to 194 other images associated with the different pilgrimage routes of Varanasi. The patron deity of this temple is Dvadasheshvara, which carries twelve miniatures of the Jyotir lingams of Shiva. Except the central one, representing Vishveshvara made of stone, the rest are made of crystal and placed on one platform of yoni. The sequence of numbering goes from right to left. These twelve Jyotirlingams of Shiva are located in different parts of India and are further replicated in Varanasi. That is how the city of Varanasi has converged as a microcosm of India.

The temple is not just a shrine; it’s a compass for that holy, circular pilgrimage—inviting each walker to visit that one temple and obtain blessings of the entire pilgrimage.