{"id":170,"date":"2012-12-07T18:56:48","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T13:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/?p=170"},"modified":"2019-06-03T20:23:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T14:53:10","slug":"a-personal-piligrimage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/?p=170","title":{"rendered":"A Personal Pilgrimage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently I helped the ZAKAT Trust<\/b> organise a free medical camp at Khrew<\/b>. The camp was a great success and around a thousand people including families from remote areas were able to take advantage of the facilities provided at the camp. For the first time in Kashmir, super-specialist consultations, sophisticated investigations and free medicines were available in a mobile medical camp. <\/p>\n

On a personal level the trip to Khrew turned out to be serendipitous. Our gracious host Yawar Masoodi<\/b> guided me to a cave on a hillock at Ladhoo<\/b> where Sheikh Nur-ud-Din Wali <\/b> meditated for more than a dozen years. The fifteenth-century mystic popularly called Sheikh-ul-Alam<\/i> or Alamdar-e-Kashmir (the Standard Bearer of Kashmir)<\/i> is the patron saint of Kashmir<\/a>.
\n


\nThere is one God
\nbut with a hundred thousand names
\nevery single blade of grass
\nworships Him
\n<\/i><\/p>\n


\nSheikh-ul-Alam's shrine at Chrar-e-Sharif<\/i><\/center>
\nA rocky path leads down from the cave to a small hut where another famous mystic called Lassa Sahib<\/b> used to meet his devotees. <\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

My family had connections with both these spiritual guides and so the trip became a personal pilgrimage of sorts. <\/p>\n

Our next stop was Wahab Sahib<\/b>'s shrine at a picturesque spot among the forested foothills of the Wastarwan Hill<\/b>, a couple of kilometres from Shar Shali<\/b> vilage. <\/p>\n

Wahab Khar<\/b> (1842-1910) was an illiterate blacksmith who also happened to be an accomplished mystical poet. 'Mehrajnama<\/i>' and 'Maach Tulir<\/i>' are his famous works. <\/p>\n

'Athi chhu Wahab Khar ti lajawab<\/i>' is an adage that testifies to his status.
\n


\nKam kam Suleiman aaye matyo
\nkati Haatim Tai
\ndorah karith draiy matyo
\njai kathyo chi<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

In the hills above Mandakpal<\/b> village near Ladhoo is a shrine with a clear water spring dedicated to another famed poet-mystic, Niyami Sahib<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Just below the hillock at Ladhoo are impressive ruins of a temple tank complex labeled as Sandyasar Nag<\/b> and Sun Temple<\/b> on Wikimapia. <\/p>\n

Ram Chandra Kak<\/b>, in Ancient Monuments of Kashmir<\/i>, considers the temple to be the first of its kind and the forerunner of the elaborate Avantiswami<\/b> and Martand<\/a><\/b> Temples. Nag-gaad (fish) abound in the temple tank and I saw an unusual white fish with a black head swimming among bathers in the tank. <\/p>\n


\n<\/center>
\nThe Jwalamukhi<\/b> temple at the top of the small hillock near Wuyan<\/b> is dedicated to the Goddess of Fire. Mela Jwalamukhi<\/b> is celebrated on the 14th day of Shravan (July\u2013August) at the temple. According to residents, Mela Jwalamukhi is the second most important mela for pilgrims after Mela Khir Bhavani<\/b>.<\/p>\n

A sacred spring called Damodar Nag<\/b> at Khonmoh<\/b> and ancient rock carvings at Bunshwar<\/b> are other places of archaeological interest in the area.<\/p>\n

Shikargah<\/b>, the erstwhile hunting preserve of the Maharajas of Kashmir and the Greater Dachigam<\/b> area as well as the Wastarvan<\/b> forests can be developed as prime camping\/trekking\/hiking destinations to complement the immense potential for pilgrimage tourism in the area. Two issues will need to be taken care of beforehand. <\/p>\n

The first is the seemingly random stone quarrying that is leaving huge scar marks on the pristine hills.<\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

The second issue is the increasing pollution from the cement factories in the Wuyan\/Khonmoh<\/b> belt which has the makings of a major environmental disaster. <\/p>\n

On some days the whole area is shrouded in a grey haze, and there are reports of increasing pollution-related health problems. To complicate things further, the area is also home to the critically endangered Hangul<\/b>, the official State Animal of J&K and the only Red Deer species in Asia. <\/p>\n


\nJwalamukhi Temple is barely visible through the haze generated by cement factories.<\/i><\/center><\/p>\n

Incidentally this shared concern for the dwindling Hangul habitat laid the foundations of my friendship with Yawar<\/b>. There are signs that he may assume a more public role in the coming years. That is indeed a ray of hope in the gloom (quite literally, as is evident from the photograph of the Jwalamukhi Temple). <\/p>\n

Stay blessed, my friend.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I helped the ZAKAT Trust organise a free medical camp at Khrew. The camp was a great success and around a thousand people including families from remote areas were able to take advantage of the facilities provided at the camp. For the first time in Kashmir, super-specialist consultations, sophisticated investigations and free medicines were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kashmir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1236,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions\/1236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}