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Sharada Pilgrimage corridor at the cusp of a new history

Sharada Peeth that once symbolized the seat of divine and intellectual power of Kashmir and now in abject neglect and ruins in Muzaffarabad district of Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK), will soon become a talking point in Indo-Pak relations. The legends, religious lore and annals associated with this heritage site bear umpteen civilizational imprints that perhaps tell you everything about ancient and medieval glory of Kashmir. The study of Sharada Peeth itself can be a full course program, which will lift a scholar into ecstasy of an exploration that may offer only a few as a parallel. The pristine glory of knowledge tradition and whatever distinction Kashmir has had in domains of knowledge, everything almost originated or got processed from here. One of the 18 grand Shakti Peeths, Sharada, for Hindus of Kashmir was one of the three important religious pilgrimage tourism sites for ordinary Kashmiri. The other two were Shri Amarnath cave and Martand Sun Temple. Then the forces of evil and destruction struck and by the end of 16th century, Sharada Peeth had lost all the grandeur and most of her faithful. The zenith of civilization was brutally brought down in the orgy of persecution and destruction. Even though Budshah needs to be credited with a benevolent intervention and restoration, it was only with Sikh rule that there came the reprieve and then some consolidation under dogra rule when the pilgrimage to Sharada saw a revival lasting till late 1940s even if the ‘Peeth’ status remained somewhat subdued. What may have been the contours, scale and nature of pilgrimage in ancient times when actually Sharada Peerth achieved its name and fame are a different cup of tea but the pilgrimage economy that began with inception of Dogra rule and continued for over a century needs some attention separately. Without getting into finer details and religiosity, for a moment, consider how the corridor from Kupwara to Sharada (about 40 Km) evolved and ran as a tourist economy. Disrupted due to partition, this economy may again pick up if the corridor is reopened. The base camp of the round the year pilgrimage (except for winter months) used to be Tikker village in Kupwara. According to educationist and a resident of Tikker, Sh Mohan Lal Raina, pilgrims used to stay at Kheer Bawani Asthapan. Local Pandits under guidance of saints used to make arrangements for their stay, food and further foot journey. From Tikker the yatries would reach Luderwan village which had a good population of Kashmiri Pandits peasants and traders. While these Pandits used to provide free food and shelter to the yatries, other goods and basic necessities trade earned them a living. From Luderwan village the pilgtrims travelled through villages of Zurhama and Mirhama before crossing Mirhama gali (pass) to reach Dounarian. After this they would arrive at  Jumgand  some 9/10 km from Luderwan. From village Jumgand the Yatra used to pass through villages of Shaliboth and Thandapani to reach Dudinyal village. Then finally from village Dudinyal the yatra used to reach the revered Shardha Peeth after crossing villages of Dusool and Kharigam. There used to be a bridge over Kishenganga for crossing over. The whole route was hilly and pilgrimage taken on foot or ponies. It was therefore but natural for people of the area especially KPs to establish shops enroute and that resulted in a well established tourism economy for the region. And with tribesmen raid of 1947 followed by annexation of areas around Sharada by Pakistan, this stream of pilgrimage dried up, so did the livelihood of hundreds of families. In the likelihood of this corridor opening again, much of the olden ways and systems would change. The road connectivity may make the trekking expedition a thing of the past and it would be only a few centres that may come up along the route that will be the new mini markets. But at the same time, the tourism circuit will not only expand but provide a fresh lease of life to overall tourism in Kashmir. Within Sharada corridor is unexplored Sitasari, Jatayien hill, Ram Takht in addition to likes of pristinely picturesque Lolab valley and various shrines. In the popular folklore, it is believed that Lord Rama, Sita Mata and Lakshman while sent for banishment to forest for 14 years spent time in Dandakvan forests near Uthal Malyal village of Kupwara. The belief is that the fight between jatayien and Ravana to stop Sita;s abduction took place here. A hill is still named jatayien here. This spot may also come to life if the corridor is opened and in the hindsight help KPs of the area to reclaim lost heritage and pride.