The Gyanvapi Mosque is located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was constructed c. 1678, a decade after Aurangzeb's demolition of a Shiva temple that stood at the site. The site had a Vishweshwar temple devoted to the Hindu deity Shiva. It was built by Todar Mal, a premier courtier and minister of Akbar, in conjunction with Narayana Bhatta, a pre-eminen…The Gyanvapi Mosque is located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was constructed c. 1678, a decade after Aurangzeb's demolition of a Shiva temple that stood at the site. The site had a Vishweshwar temple devoted to the Hindu deity Shiva. It was built by Todar Mal, a premier courtier and minister of Akbar, in conjunction with Narayana Bhatta, a pre-eminent Brahmin scholar of Banaras from Maharashtra, during the late 16th century. The temple contributed to the establishment of Banaras as a vaunted center of Brahminic assembly, drawing scholars across the subcontinent esp. Maharashtra, for adjudicating a spectrum of disputes concerned with Hindu religious law.