1. Home
2. Front Page

Colours of harmony, religious fervour at Khir Bhawani

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 6/17/2013 11:29:17 PM

SRINAGAR, June 17: Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits assembled at Khir Bhawani temple in Tulmula Ganderbal to pay obeisance to the revered deity. The devotees had arrived in large numbers from different parts of the country to attend the annual festival at the seat of the Hindu deity, Mata Ragnya, believed to be the queen of the universe the temple.
Despite their migration from the Valley in early 1990, Kashmiri Pandits throng the Khirbhawani Temple, 22 km from Srinagar, every year to re-assert their Kashmiri roots. Keeping up a tradition that goes back to centuries, dozens of local Muslims greeted their Pandit brethren as they arrived at the Khir Bhawani Temple.
Hirday Nath, a Pandit migrant from South Kashmir believes that Pandits want to return to their homeland but the government has so far done nothing to fulfill their dream. Younger generations of Pandits brought up outside the Valley after the migration of their families, however, feel differently. “We have lost our properties to violence. Our families are living as refugees in our own country after migration,” said Sunil Raina, 22, who accompanied his parents, seeing no hope of returning.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, the union health minister and senior Congress leader also visited Khir Bhwani and interacted with the devotees. Minister of State for Cooperatives, Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma also accompanied Azad.
Azad interacted with the devotees and inquired about the facilities made available for them in and around the shrine. He asked devotees to pray for peace, prosperity and development of the State.
Interacting with people, Azad said that our leaders have given sacrifices for upholding the tradition of communal harmony. He appealed to them to promote mutual brotherhood and work for making firm the fabric of the composite culture woven by Sufis and Saints, centuries ago, in the State.
The chief minister Omar Abdullah also visited the temple to meet the devotees but had to face the ire of angry devotees who complained lack of arrangements from the government.
CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami also visited Khirbhawani and extended his greetings to the visiting Pandit Community. During his interaction with the Pandits, Tarigami hoped that the mela would help in regaining the traditional social and communal harmony in the state.
“The enthusiasm local Muslims exhibited this year in welcoming the Pundits was an exemplary one and a pre cursor of a near future envisaging both Muslims and Pundits living together to strengthen the bonds of communal harmony,” Tarigami told Kashmir Times.
Mohammad Yasin Malik, chairman Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) also visited the temple to greet the devotees on the occasion. He interacted with the Kashmiri Pandit pilgrims, who form the majority visitors to this temple shrine constructed over a sacred spring. Malik said that Muslims, Pandits and people of other religions were an integral part of Kashmir.
A Valley-wide holiday was declared on Monday in connection with the Khir Bhawani Mela.