India, Jan. 29 -- One of the strangest habits within Hindu society is this: every serious attempt to improve a sacred space is first branded an act of betrayal, only to be celebrated centuries later as timeless heritage. The present outrage over the Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor is not new. It is merely the latest chapter in a long, repetitive cycle of resistance, regret, and retrospective reverence.

Those who claim that corridors, plazas, and open spaces "damage" Kashi's ancient character assume that Hindu sacred geography emerged fully formed and untouched by human intervention. History tells a very different story.

When Lokmata Ahilyabai Holkar undertook the construction of Manikarnika Ghat and works around the Kashi Vishwanath Mand...