The Sharda Temple kashmir

The Sharda Temple

The Sharda Temple is located in Kishanganga Valley just across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) in a small village called Shardi at the confluence of River Kishanganga and River Jhelum which flows from Kashmir.
In 1948, during raids by Pakistani tribal raiders, the village fell into Pakistani hands.

A famous learning centre of Kashmiris, it is identified by noted historians and chroniclers including Al Beruni (1130 ad) and M A Stein, who visited the temple in 1892, (in Rajtarangini) as one of the most important temples of the Hindus equivalent to the Shiva Lingam of Somnath, Vishnu of Thaneshwar and Surya of Multan.

Abul Fazl in Ain-i-Akbari (16th century) says that on every eighth day of the month at the time of full moon, the temple "shakes and produces the most extraordinary effect." He however does not explain the "extraordinary effect."

The temple is so vital to Kashmiris that Kashmiri language has the script of Sharda, which is little similar to Devanagari.

Kalhana in Rajatarangini has said, devotees of Durga and Shiva from all over the country would flock to the temple of Sharda which can be approached from Bandipur in North Kashmir, about 80 km from Srinagar.

Through centuries the temple had remained the object of worship and devotion of lakhs of pilgrims from all over the country. Though in ruins now, the entire temple complex inspires grandeur and awe.

The temple had a massive library attached to it which had priceless works on art, science, literature, architecture, music, humanities, medicine, astrology, astronomy, philosophy, law and jurisprudence and sanskrit etc. The library was used by scholars from even neighbouring countries.

Kashmir was also called "Shardapeeth" (the base of Sharda), the name being derived from the temple.

We can take this to be an allegory of all the struggles Shankara had to face in his life. Ascending the seat of Sarvajna situated in Kashmir of the North is a symbol.

The meaning of it is that Shankara reached the peak of spirituality. We can get an idea of his greatness from the fact that a person of just thirty had ascended the throne of all knowledge.

As it is not possible to visit this shakti peetha, one can visit the famous Saraswathi temple in Basara in Nizamabad district of Andhra Pradesh. Basara is 200 km from Hyderabad.

Body part : Devi's right hand has fallen here.