A businessman from South India has donated 60 kg of gold to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi more than half of which has been used to decorate the inner walls of the sanctum sanctorum.

A Times of India report cited Divisional commissioner, Varanasi, Deepak Agarwal as saying that the temple has received 60 kg of gold from an unidentified devotee, of which 37 kg has been used for gold plating of the inner wall. “The remaining 23 kg will be used to cover the lower part of the golden dome of the main temple structure.”

The businessman who has donated the gold has chosen not to disclose his identity.

The gold plating could be seen when Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the sanctum sanctorum during his visit to Varanasi on Sunday (February 27).

This is the second major work of gold plating carried out at the Kashi Vishwanath temple after the 19th century when Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab donated a ton of gold, which was used for decorating the two domes. Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar of Maharashtra had helped to rebuild the Kashi Vishwanath as it had been demolished during the reign Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

In December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the first phase of the Rs 339 crore Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project connecting the Kashi Vishwanath temple with the Ganga ghats.

More than 300 old and dilapidated buildings were purchased and the area of the temple was increased from 2,700 sq ft to 5 lakh sq ft.

Also read: Development of Kashi Vishwanath Corridor – An odyssey of Narendra Modi