in bits and pieces
Hari Parbat Temple
Stairs and entrance to the temple
Window with a view
Temple Rooms
View of Srinagar city from Hari Parbat
The Temple
The Goddess: Sharika Bhagwati, Chakrishwar
Return to Godhead
Lights
view from the window
Lone Singer
Empty Hawan Kund
view to the right: Old Durrani fort
No haer here
Created this video using these images of Hari Parbat
About the video presentation:
Photographs of Chakreshwari Sharika Devi temple at Hari Parbat, Srinagar, Kashmir.
All Photographs taken by me in June 2008.
Sound: A Kashmiri prayer (aarti/bhajan) in praise of Goddess Tripura Sundari. Recorded live at Kheer Bhawani shrine Kashmir.
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Visit to parbat usually meant a visit to the big red rock at the top of the hill and/or a trip around the hill.
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Five ancient hymns, collectively known as Panchastavi are still popular among Kashmiri Pandits.
June, 2008:
Zeestha Devi temple at Zeethyar ( Zeeth’yar/Jaishthethwar Shrine) in interior Srinagar at the foothills of Zabarwan mountain range. Earlier, one had to trek to this far off spot. But, now one can easily drive right up to the steps that lead to it.
Zeestha Devi Temple Spring.
Unlike, Khir Bhawani spring, the water here is stagnant and needs to be cleaned frequently. And unlike Khir Bhawani Shrine and like the Chakrishwar temple atop Hari Parbat, meat -(particularly tcharvan (fried Liver) with Taher(turmeric yellowed rice), can be consumed here.
Zeestha Devi. A lot of pandit families used to take Taher–charvan here. Government, circumventing few rules, on the initiative of a few pandit high officers, has recently built beautiful guesthouses on the slopes surrounding the temple.These guest houses are run by a trust. When I visited the place, it being a hindu, Indian tourist season – Summer, there were also a few non-kashmiri vendors selling Kehwa and frying thin Luchis in oil.
Gods, old and new, under the tree.
Shiv temple at Zeethyar against the back drop of Zabarwan hills.
A dense forest covers the nearby slopes and is home to a number of wild animals. A cousin of mine visited the place in 2001 and witnessed a very funny scene: A BSF guard on duty near the gate was regaining consciousness after having suffered a fear induced fainting attack. Moments ago, he had been approached by a leopard.
This Shiv Ling was earlier located at Ganpatyar temple and was moved to Zeeth Ya’r in around 1988. Most people remember it as Shiv-ling with a crack.
An old habit of picking gor-da’yel (some sort of local citrus fruit) from the wild trees near the entrance to shrine. Gor-da’yel are meant to be consumed after cooking. We took a lot of them and did cook and ate them later.
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All Photographs taken by me in June, 2008.
Photograph: June 2008
Presently, there are plans to modify/ beautify the central marble structure inside the spring. The basic design (above in the image) has been finalized. The project has been sponsored by Capt. Kapil Raina and family.
The first marble structure inside the spring was built by the Dogra ruler Maharaja Pratap Singh and it was completed in 1920s. Before this marble structure was created there was only a mulberry tree.
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November, 2008
Update:
Dr. Karan Singh, who is the Trustee of the Dharmarth Trust – that looks after the affairs of this shrine and many other Pandit shrines of Kashmir – has refused this proposal. Because of the antiquity of the present design, he thought Pandit community won’t be happy with the New look.
Dr. Karan Singh was appointed the Sole Trustee of the Dharmarth Trust in January 1959.
An Old Photograph of Hari Parbat (Chakreshwar) that hangs inside one of the buildings to the left of the central structure. Probable date of the photograph: 1920s. The township surrounding the temple was originally created by the Mughal Emperor Akbar who setup this new township as his base here after his successful conquest of Kashmir in 1585.
Today this area is heavily congested and most of the old pathways lost to human in-habitation. Our parents and grandparents may have circumvent the hillock in their time at their pace but this is not a possibility for us anymore.
Photograph taken at the location in June 2008.
Old Photograph of central deities at Tulamulla (Kheer Bhawani). Probably taken in the late 1930s.
This photograph adores one of the sides of the structure inside the spring.
Photograph taken at the location in June, 2008
The Spring that Changes Colors
During my visit the waters of the spring was milky white.
In 1886 Walter Lawrence, the British Settlement Commissioner for land, noted during his visit to the spring that its color was having a violet tinge.
(Made an entry of it at the wiki along with the entry about the proposed new look of the central temple)
Naturally, a pilgrimage.
It has been (let me fetch a calculator) eighteen years since I left the place.
I am going to the adobe of Khir Bhawani, situated at village Tula Mulla. According to a famous local religious belief, the Goddess used to drink blood in Lanka of Ravana, but in Kashmir, she developed a sweet tooth, hence the Khir in the name. A writer once linked the revival of Khir Bhawani cult in the late 19th century to the rise of Queen Victoria led British influence in the region. But, this is not the post about that.
This is about the trip.
I am going with fourteen of my family members and relatives. My parents are surprised and delighted that I am going to a temple.
I have been to Tula Mulla earlier, I must have been seven, but I still have some vivid memories of that trip and some not so vivid memories of that place.
The reason:
When I returned home after that trip, the same day, I managed to baldy burn the index finger of my right hand.
The cause: I draped a polythene bag around a twig taken from a broom, and lit it up for the pure joy of watching little droplets of fire. I picked up this trick from some kids after having watched them do it at Tula Mulla. Or may be I got the idea from watching all the aartis and all the diyas.
The happening:
A little droplet of fire fell on my finger. Hot molten plastic melted onto my figure, glued onto its skin, burning it all the while. Afraid. I removed the plastic.Pain. Running water, tap, put toothpaste on it, Colgate, and still it burned. A few days later as the wound started ballooning up, Burnol was applied. In a few days the wound punctuated as burn wounds often do. Watery for days. And then the wound started to heal itself. It stopped being a bother. In a few months, the wound completely healed leaving an oval smooth skinned small scare on my index finger.
The affect: The scare is still there. There are days when I check up on it to make sure that it is still there.
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I am happy.
