01Darshan through the floor
Only the priest goes down to the Devi. Pilgrims stand in a small room above, a marble slab in the floor is opened, and they take darshan through the opening, looking down on Varahi in the dark below. The doors open before dawn and close by mid-morning; the times given by different guides vary between about 4.30 and 9.30 a.m., so go at first light. The Kashi belief is that Varahi guards the city through the night and rests in her shrine by day. The Durga Saptashati names Varahi among the Matrikas who came out of the Devas to fight beside the Devi against Raktabija, the boar-faced Shakti of Bhagwan Varaha.
02Which Panchasagar?
The Peetha Nirnaya Tantra says the lower teeth of Sati fell at Panchasagar, where the Devi is Varahi and the Bhairava Maharudra. It does not say where Panchasagar is, and Shakti Peetha lists differ. Most lists place it at Varanasi and point to this shrine. In the Kumaon hills, the Barahi Devi temple at Devidhura in Champawat district, where the Bagwal is fought with stones on Shravan Purnima, is also counted as Panchasagar by its own tradition, and some lists name a place near Lohaghat. The site cannot be settled from the texts, and each place worships the Devi as its own.
Walk up from Dashashwamedh or Man Mandir Ghat into the lanes; ask for Varahi Mata. Be there before sunrise, as the doors close early.
