Varanasi was first raided minorly in 1034 but in 1194, it was attacked by Aibak. He looted, plundered the city and demolished temples. The Adi Vishweshwar Temple was destroyed and on the site, Razia Sultan constructed the Razia Mosque. In 1230, a wealthy Gujarati merchant funded the reconstruction of the temple. In the 15th century, the Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur invaded Kashi again and tore down the temple. They used the parts to build a mosque in Jaunpur. In 1494, Lodi attacked Northern India, demolished all the newly built temples and imposed restriction against Hindu worship. In 1567, Akbar’s army marching from Prayagraj renaming it Allahabad attacked Varanasi and sacked the city. They plundered it and looted the wealth.
In 1585, scholar Narayana Bhatta backed by Man Singh and Todarmal under the same Akbar’s approval once again renovated Varanasi, built the Vishwanath temple and it became a place of learning in the whole of India again. But Akbar’s grandson, Shah Jahan demolished 76 temples in Varanasi and worst, his son, Aurangzeb tried to attack the city in 1664. But the Nagas protected the Vishwanath temple and drove the Mughals away. In 1669, under the command of Aurangzeb, Vishwanath temple was destroyed again and numerous other temples and schools were. The Bindu Madhav Temple was also destroyed and the Alamgiri Mosque was built on it and on the Vishwanath site, Gyanvapi Mosque. In 1742, Malhar Rao tried to demolish the mosque but the local priests said they might be supressed again by the invaders due to the demolition of the mosque.
In 1752, Mughals begged the Marathas for protection against the foreign invaders but they agreed only when Kashi, Ayodhya and Mathura be given full Hindu control. Mughals delayed the clause fearing their signing would signal the ultimate defeat of the Islamic conquest in India. In 1780, daughter in law of Malhar Rao, Ahilyabai built the modern Vishwanath temple adjacent to the mosque as Varanasi was still under the Nawabs and renovated a lot of temples with the Ghats which is mostly what is present today. The city underwent a lot of changes by Peshwa Bajirao who renovated the Ghats and a lot of warriors such as Man Singh and Jai Singh contributed to the city.