Mrityunjay Mahadev Mandir

Tucked into the tight lanes of Daranagar in the old city of Varanasi, the Mrityunjay Mahadev Mandir is one of Kashi's most quietly revered Shiva shrines.

• The name Mrityunjay means 'conqueror of death', and the temple is dedicated to Shiva in exactly that aspect — the deity invoked through the great Mahamrityunjaya mantra to ward off untimely death, illness and misfortune.
• The presiding lingam is worshipped as swayambhu (self-manifested rather than carved), and while the present sanctum was substantially built in the 18th century, the shrine itself is held to be far older.
• Pilgrims come here specifically to pray for long life and recovery from sickness, making the temple a distinctly gentle, hopeful place rather than a grand showpiece.
• The temple's most famous feature is its ancient well, the Dhanvantari Koop (also called Kalodak or Dhanvantari Kup), set within the small courtyard.
• Local tradition holds that Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods and father of Ayurveda, poured all his medicines and healing herbs into this well, and its water is therefore believed to carry curative power.
• Devotees sprinkle a few drops on themselves after darshan, combining the well-water with recitation of the Mahamrityunjaya mantra as a prayer for health.
• Whatever one makes of the legend, the ritual is a moving expression of Kashi's old bond between faith, medicine and mortality.
• Architecturally the temple is modest and inward-looking — a stone sanctum with carved figures of deities on its walls and ceiling, wrapped in the everyday bustle of the Vishweshwarganj bazaar rather than set apart on the riverfront.
• It sits only a short walk from the fierce guardian shrine of Kaal Bhairav, and the two are often visited together.
• The temple comes alive during the month of Shravan (Sawan) and on Mahashivratri, when night-long chanting, milk offerings and long queues transform the sleepy lane into a river of devotees.
• For vegetarian travellers this corner of Varanasi is effortless: the entire old city is overwhelmingly satvik and pure-vegetarian, and no meat, fish, egg or alcohol has any place around a Shiva temple like this one.
• Within a short walk you can eat legendary kachori-sabzi and jalebi at Ram Bhandar in Thatheri Bazaar, cool down with the thick, fruit-topped curd at Ksheer Sagar near the Vishwanath lanes, or head to Godowlia for the celebrated chaat at Kashi Chat Bhandar.
• Prasad offered at the temple and the sweets sold at surrounding stalls are all vegetarian, so you can move from darshan to a satisfying, worry-free meal without a second thought.