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Sharda temple pilgrimage movement is good news

The Sharda temple pilgrimage is again in news and therefore, a good reason to revisit the issue from the day for this one perspective of how important or central this is to a community living in exile and struggling for keeping the basics of cultural identity.

First, what was the news about? Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's reported remark that she will make a sincere effort at re-opening the Sharda Mala Temple pilgrimage is significant in the sense that it signals updates the issue may eventually get into Indo-Pak dialogue or part of CBM (confidence building measure) package once the two neighbouring countries decide on talks. It is also important because it provides a momentum to a fresh namative inside the whole of Jammu & Kashmir (including PoK) as it raises hope for people from both sides of the LoC for the revival of heritage tourism.

The second important update was reported from across the LoC, when through a video message Haji Shabbir, head of a religious organisation in Muzaffarabad Payees Mohammed, Bashir Khan, local sarpanch and others broadcast a video message made at the Sharda temple site (ruins) after they offered flowers at the Sanctum sanctorum of Sharda Peeth in PoK on the Sharda Divas on January 20. The efforts of years by Shri Ravinder Pandita also saw the supreme court of PoK taking cognizance of his petition. According to a report in DNA news, Chief Justice Chaudhary Muhammad Ibrahim Zia issued directions to take steps to protect the abandoned temple and also trace other temples and gurudwaras to put them in heritage list for preservation The court issued notices to the government and asked the Registrar to inform Pandita. "In case failure on the part of state functionaries in carrying out of the judgments, you may approach this court for redress of your grievances (sic) Registrar Supreme Court Rizal Ahmad wrote to the Save Sharda Committee of which Shri Pandita is a founder member.

The Sharda temple pilgrimage is, thus, registering a deep interest and to some extent forward movement. The refugees from Pok, who for the past 70 years were thinking such a proposition as nothing but daydreaming are clearly enthused and their fond memories of Sharda temple and other temples and gurudwaras are rekindling. The issue of this pilgrimage, in fact, should have been part of cross-Loc trade and people's movement as part of Caravan-e-Aman movement in 2005. But then every historical event has is own shortcomings and maybe God has planned another.

Coming to the pilgrimage's relevance to present KP community scattered all over the globe, it might be nothing when compared to its lost hopes of returning to their homes. The fact that the community is also increasingly getting hierarchical on many counts including income and opinions, is also casting a shadow on any cheer about these hearty updates .

Not long ago, the Sharda script was the script of horoscopes in Kashmir. In the last 40 years or so, KPs have lost it and it would be prized by a few living that might be able to decipher or read the script these days. Until 1947. the accounts of the Sharda temple pilgrimage likewise exist in real anecdotes, travelogues and official records. And, all this points towards the historical fact that this pilgrimage was indeed much like the Amamath Yatra we have known and experienced in our own life time-religious and part of our identity.

"Namastey Sharada Devi Kashmirpur Vasini. Tvam Ham Prartheye Nityam Vidya Danam Che Dehi mey (Salutations to you O Sharada, O Goddess, O one who resides in Kashmir I pray to you daily, please give me the charity of knowledge) must be the last word on the importance Sharda Mata and her seat should have for every Kashmin Pandit.

According to a blog by Lieutenant General (retd) Syed Ala Hasnain between Athmuqam and Dudniyal lies the confluence of the two rivers and there exists this ancient temple of Goddess Ma Saraswati (also known as Sharda) "It is said that Kashmir was once known as Sharda Desh and was the centre of learning of Vedic works, scriptures and commentaries. Although there are different accounts recorded, it is evident that a very bustling intellectual community existed in and around the area where the shrine is located Sharda Peetham (Centre for Advanced studies) was the nerve centre of learning and it was the Sharda script which was in use. The shrine did not have a deity but a very large plinth/slab and outside there was a Shivling (symbolic idol of Lord Shiva) Sharda Temple had the main girdle of 22 feet diameter. It had an entrance door on the west. The other entrances had arches over them, and these arches were 20 feet in height. The main entrance had footsteps. On both sides of the porch, there were two square shaped pillars, 16 feet high and 2'6" x 26" in sectional size carved out of a solid stone block. The construction inside the temple was very plain and unadorned. The temple is situated on a hillock on the right bank of river Madhumati An annual fair used to be conducted here. All the information here is courtesy Mr Bamzai, a Kashmin Pandit scholar who was one of the last to visit the shrine before the partition 1947," he writes.

Like this, much has been known, talked and written about "Sharda Peethan", a seat of advanced leaming much like the famed Nalanda and Taxila universities of ancient India where great philosophers, sages and exponents of art, culture and religion made their day and according to some accounts Adi Shankaracharya composed "Panchastavi in praise of goddess "Sharda" while living in the Pelham.

All this points to a deep-rooted connection between the highly reputed Sharda Peeta of that era and the excellence and great works in religion, art, culture, spirituality and other popular subjects in the past centuries in undivided Kashmir that travelled much beyond. A revival of interest in the Sharda institution and pilgrimage does greatly benefit the identity reclamation of Kahmiri Pandits. who unfortunately are steadily forgetting about its unique religious and cultural traditions.

Evolution has not finished. So, the changes we see in community may be part of this evolutionary process which has been cursed in a way for the community all along its history. But then, our heritage, so rich, will also have a magical effect on the young generation if we talk it through. They will be greatly inspired and strive for continuing the tradition of excellence in knowledge in various fields of study and learning And, two, let's not discount faith here. For millennia, KPs have been great believers of their faith, which rests principally with the Lord Shiva and Divine Mother Parvati in several facets including Ma Sharda. Any act that enriches that faith must be nectar for all KPs.

Let's pray to Her benign self to take pity on the KP community, end its exile and bless it again with the glory it once commanded!

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Courtesy:-   Avtar Nehru  Koshur Samachar 2018, March