Varanasi priest hails verdict: ‘Pleasant moment for all Sanatanis’

VARANASI: The Varanasi priest whose petition led district judge Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha to allow regular worship of Shringar Gauri and other Hindu deities in the southern cellar of Gyanvapi mosque described Wednesday's verdict as a "most pleasant moment for my family and all Sanatanis".

Shailendra Kumar Pathak Vyas, head priest of Acharya Ved Vyas Peeth temple, said his ancestors had been performing puja at the cellar since 1551 before access was barred in 1993. He recalled regularly visiting the southern cellar, referred to in the petition as "Vyasji ka tehkhana", with his late maternal grandfather Somnath Vyas. Somnath Vyas was among the three plaintiffs in the original Adi Vishweshwar vs Gyanvapi Masjid title suit filed in 1991. Suit 610/1991 is currently being contested by advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi as the "next friend of the deity". The Vyas family retains records of other cases linked to Gyanvapi that members of the clan had purportedly filed at different times since 1880.

During the renovation of Kashi Vishwanath Dham, members of the Vyas family shifted to different localities of the city, but continued to stake their claim to the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.

Shailendra Vyas said his family had been living near Kashi Vishwanath temple and Gyanvapi mosque since 1883. Gulshan Kapoor, who used to give the call for "jalabhishek" during worship of Shringar Gauri, recalled that following the developments in Ayodhya in 1992-93, he submitted memorandums to the authorities and launched an agitation for access to the cellar.

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