Varanasi, April 2: More than six lakh devotees visited the Kashi Vishwanath Dham on Sunday, setting a new record of the highest ever footfall at the shrine on a non-festive day.

Besides, the month of March also recorded the highest number of devotees at the temple -- at 95 lakh -- in a non-festive month.

Kashi Vishwanath Dham chief executive officer (CEO), Vidya Bhushan Mishra, said, "A total of 6,36,975 devotees visited the Kashi Vishwanath Dham on March 31. This is the highest ever footfall at the temple on a non-festive day."

According to him, compared to March 2024, around 37,11,060 devotees visited the Kashi Vishwanath Dham last year during March.

"If we look at the numbers of the festival month, then the all-time maximum number of devotees visiting Kashi Vishwanath Dham in the month of 'Shravan' (August 2023) was 95,62,206. In March 2024, the temple saw 95,63,432 devotees," the CEO added.

"Earlier, we saw the arrival of 5,03,024 devotees in 24 hours on March 18. It was a non-festival day. The average footfall during usual days has gone above 1.5 lakh per day after January 31," he said.

According to the temple authorities, before the opening of a revamped Kashi Vishwanath Dham, the average footfall per day at the temple ranged around 20,000, and on special occasions like Maha Shivaratri, it used to witness more than 2.5 lakh devotees.

(IANS)