Hopeful of reviving Sharda Yatra, committee lays foundation to rebuild temple at LoC

“I am the first Kashmiri to visit Kartarpur Sahib,” says Ravinder Pandita, who heads the Save Sharda Committee. “If they (India and Pakistan) can evolve a mechanism for Kartarpur Sahib, why not for Sharda Peeth? If I can visit Kartarpur Sahib, why can’t I visit Sharda Peeth?” he asks.

Sharda Peeth or the Seat of Sharda, named after the goddess of wisdom Saraswati, is believed to be an ancient centre of learning established in Neelum Valley in 273 BC, even before the Takshila and Nalanda universities. While the university has always been a centre of attraction, the annual pilgrimage to the temple flourished during the reign of Maharaja Pratap Singh and Ranbir Singh.

The pilgrimage came to a halt after the Partition in 1947 and the university and temple have since fallen into disrepair. While India and Pakistan opened up cross-LoC movement for people on either side of the border, travel was restricted to the families that had been divided.

“While the cross-LoC movement is suspended these days, we are hopeful it will start soon,” says Pandita. “We want a change in the existing mechanism. People from both sides of Kashmir should also be allowed to visit their religious sites. The Muslims should be allowed to visit Hazratbal and Chrar Shrines. Similarly, people from here should be allowed to visit Sharda Peeth and Gurdwara Ali Baig.”

Over the years, Pandita has made efforts in India and Pakistan to revive the annual Sharda Yatra. He has set up a cross-LoC civil society and his attempts eventually led a PoK court to order a halt on the encroachment of Sharda Peeth and bring it under the Archaeology Department of PoK.

Pandita says the Muslims of Teetwal helped him to reclaim land for the Sharda Yatra base camp. “Residents of Teetwal, especially Iftikhar Ahmad, Captain Ilyas and Ajaz Ahmad, re-discovered this land, which was the base camp of the yatra, and they approached us. We went there and took control of the two kanals of land (0.25 acres),” he explains. “We are building a temple-cum-dharamshala there and also a small gurdwara that used to exist there before 1947.”