Lohar Devta Shrine

Lohar Devta Shrine is thirty one kilometers away from Poonch Town and is located in the western side of Tehsil Mendhar on an elevated slope of Ghani hill top in Krishna Ghati range of mountain. The shrine is surrounded by snow clad lofty peeks of Peer Panchal. The Green valley of Mendhar is visible up to Bhimber Gali Top (5400ft). This religious place is about three kilometer inside the line of actual control. A mettaled road goes up to Bhaira Top near the Asthaan of Baba Grib Dass, who was son of a great saint Baba BirmShah of 17th Century AD. From Bhira Top to Lohar Devta one has to travel two kilometers on foot. At Shrine place there is an attractive temple and an ancient pond (14 X 14 ft) constructed with engraved stones. This pond is known as Amrit Kund. The main shrine of Lohar Devta has been constructed recently with the initiative of a sikh devotee S. Rajinder Singh Kaka. Apart from main temple, a langer hall with capacity of two thousand people, two room guest house for pilgrims and public conveniences are there. The eatables and utensils are kept ready for the pilgrims who can stay there, cook meal and eat because such types of facility is not available in that locality.

A big mael is organized twice in year, one on Magar Pornima while the main mael is organized on Bodh Pornima. Thousands of devotees from Poonch, Rajouri, Sunderbani, Nowshera and Jammu assemble here during the mael days and perform the religious rituals. Mostly Hindu Brahmans, the original natives of Poonch are the followers of this shrine. They include Chibber, Manjyal, Bali, Dutta, Sudan and Sasan caste apart from Vermas of Magnar village. As per their belief Lohar was their kul devta and they are his disciples from centuries together. Majority of them participated in Budh Pornima mael and conducted the mundan (tonsuring) ceremony of their children. They also consider their marriage genuine only after taking seven Pharas (rounds) of the shrine.

Before the turmoil of 1947, Lohar Devta was considered an important religious shrine for Hindus of Poonch principality. During the mael days on the eve of Budh Purnima the devotees offer prayers after sacrificing goats at the shrine. Keeping in view this typical type of ritual and attachment of devotees with the shrine, Raja Moti Singh (1852-1892 AD) of Poonch had donated a piece of forteen hundred Kanal land to this shrine in 1860 AD. From 1860 to 1947 this religious place remained the center of great hustle bustle as the followers from tehsil Bagh, Sudnuti Mendhar, Kotli, Thakyala Prava, Rawalakote and Rajouri visited regularly to offer prayers. However due to the happening of 1947 the LOC was demarcated near the shrine and the area remained prohibited for general public for a pretty long period due to security reasons. The majority of devotees of this shrine also migrated from Bagh, Sudhnuti and Poonch to the other parts of the country. Therefore, the shrine remained unattended and the original structure was destroyed and damaged. After 1971 when the ceasefire line was converted into line of actual control and peace was restored in the area, the devotees again started pouring in to this holy place. In the initial stage a small kacha hutment was constructed at the place of Lohar Devta and a Pujari from Julas village started visting the shrine for performing daily rituals. From 1975 onward Lohar devta mael was again restored but the slaughtering of goat on the eve of budh pornima was banned. In 1989, a local sikh S. Rajinder Singh Kaka also started visiting the shrine with great devotion. He decided to construct a pacca complex at this place. With his initiative a number of other devotees also participated in construction work and with the passage of time a magnificent temple, Lunger bulding and guest houses were constructed at the site.

It is very astonishing that there is no original idol of Lohar Devta at the shrine. It is also important to note that there is no Hindu deity with the name of Lohar. Eve then the shrine is considered an important religious place. It is not out of place to mention here that there are ruins of some ancient fort and a complex of buildings about three hundred meters above the shrine on Ghani hill top where engraved long stones are still available in a big area. The natives believe that there was an ancient castle at this place under the name of Lohar Castle. Interestingly there was another important castle in poonch principality which was known as Lohar Kote located 32 kilometer in the north of Poonch town on ancient Tosh-e-maidan route leading towards Kashmir valley. Lohar Kote fort was known as the gate way of Kashmir. Legend goes that there was a great commander Lohar who ruled this area on the order of Greek King Manindra, (The descedent of Alexander the Great in India) who had embraced Buddhism (161-130 BC) after his discourse with Budhist monk Abhinav Gosh in present Mendhar valley where Lohar Devta shrine is located. It is possible that Lohar might have been either a great religious person or a saintly personality cum commander of King Manindra in whose name two castles at Ghani in Mendhar valley and Lohar Kote in Mandi Glen were constructed. With the passage of time these castle gets damaged and turned into ruins but the faith and memories travels with the centuries.

There are a number of engraved stones, pillars and broken idols available at Ghani top. One of them is 16x2” has been brought by the devotees from hilltop to shrine and placed before the temple of Lohar Devta. The pre historic image engraved on this stone resembles Lord Budha. In 1984, a team of archeological department had visited this site but no excavation has so far taken place to identify the real status of this place. It appears from the ruins that there was a big complex and a civilization at Ghani hilltop.

Mata Ragnya at Logripora

Hey! Devotees of Mata Shakti, hold the torch of magnificent faith. Let ye float high, the unique banner of immortal peace. Wear the unending cover of dispassion towards Kam, Krodh, Loubh, Moh, and Ahankar and recite the glory of Shiva and Shakti to bring nectar to the soul besides bliss of santosh to the Atman. These are the feelings when one descends on the seat of devotion in the hearts of lands groomed by the Knight of Canals, the Shah Kol. It is pertaining to the abode of Mata Ragnya at Logripora(Loketpur ).Logripora is an ancient village in Pahalgam Assembly segment enroute Anantnag Pahalgam via Martand. This village also known as Lokitpur is one km away from shrine place Aishimuqam. Perished high up on a mountain spur in the shrine of Zain Shah Sahib known among Hindus as Zanak Rishi, he is the guardian saint of the Lidder Valley and is reputed to be one of the followers of Shiekh Noor-Ud-Din the chief saint of Kashmir Valley” writes Parmanand Parashar in his book Kashmir: The Paradise of Asia. Shri Shiri Ram Bakshi in his book Kashmir through Ages [Volume 3] writes, “There is a spring and a small hill near Baisaran, passing through the glade. There is a big rock in the centre of the glade. It is that saint Zain Shah meditated 12 years on that stone. There was then living a Gujar with his family. He had a cow from which he gave milk continuously to Zain Shah for 12 years. Once the wife of the Gujar murmured that during 12 years they would have obtained 12 calves from the cow. The saint heard this and called for the Gujar and told him to go to the cowshed and call calves by their names from the door. Thereby 12 calves came out from the shed when the Gujar was busy with calling the saint left the place. The Gujar searched all sides and found him on the bank of Lidder at Aishimuqam where his Ziarat is existing.

Logripora has the distinction of being the seat of an ancient shrine of Mata Ragnya dating its history to the era of Satisar. The surrounding area of village Logripora consists of Sapt Rishi Springs at a distance of half km on East side, Sweet water spring of Village Manzgam on West side at a distance of half km. Roza Mubarak of Saint Zain Shah [Zanak Rishi for Hindus] at Aishimuqam at a distance of one km on North side and Bodh Rishi, the seat of Bhodhistva, at a distance of half km on South side. Logripora is at foothills of Shael Dar forest range abounding in Devdar trees.  (  Kheer Bhawani   )

Logripora village was home to 42 house holds of Kashmiri Pandits before mass exodus and now only four house holds have held back. I visited the village on 11th September 2009; one Shri Jagan Nath Bhat son of Late Shri Mahadev Bhat aged 54 of the same village accompanied me. We reached this village at about 1100 hours after starting our journey from Srinagar at about 800 hours.

Logripora village holds in its lap the famed Shrine of Ragnya Mata, the incarnation of Shakti. The shrine is held even today as gospel of peace and pleasure for all ethoses that have unquestionable faith in the magical prowess of Shiva and Shakti.

Spread over an area of forty kanals of land, the shrine has five springs representing Panchtatva. As Panchtatva combine and form a life. Simultaneously water from all the springs with independent out lets combine to form a brook and passing into a phase of journey. The philosophy of life as per Sanatan belief applies to the presence of these springs. Shiva and Shakti being the creators of the Universe seem to overlook the Panch Nags [five springs] to form a brook of life for its onward journey.

Five springs exist and dates its origin to the era of Kashyap. Each spring is with length and breadth of 10 to 12 feet each apart from the bigger one which has dimension of about 12 to 15 feet. This spring has earned its name as Kali Nag due to its blackish crest. Two temples stamp at this place. One temple is devoted to Lord Shiva, having a Shiva Lingam in it and the other one is built magnificently to house a spring inside the temple. The temple is made of bricks while as the spring is having its walls made of Devri stones. There is no image or presence of any visible figure of any god or goddess, which can be directly approached on the side of morning sun is a window shaped place carved in the wall of spring where in a monolithic black stone image of Mata Ragnya was placed. This portion of window type place specially carved for keeping the image of Mata is not approachable any way except spring water in from of it. The monolithic black stone image of Mata is said to be some 1000 years old. It is that when Lord Hanuman brought this image from desecrated Sri Lanka and on his voyage to Ksher Bhawani, he had a brief stint at this place and thereafter the place was also known as Ragnya Pora.   (    Sudhmahadev fair  )

The monolithic black stone image of Mata is not now available there. The image may have either fallen in the hands of vandalisms or may have felt in the hands of antique smugglers taking the advantage of the turmoil conditions in the valley. No FIR has ever been lodged and neither has district administration provided any security cover to this magnificent place of meditation. There were other pieces of images of variety of stones and these also missing now. The fencing of the shrine has also been dismantled in the year 1993. There are many walnut, apricot and Chinar trees in the forty kanal land of the shrine and these are very much there.

Another temple in premises of the shrine one a hillock was devoted to Lord Shiva and a big Shiva lingam is installed in it. The Shiva lingam is made of hard rock stone on monolithic base. The temple has remained apparently untouched by hooligans due to the heavy mass of the lingam.

The shrine place is an ecstatic mutational place and philosophy of origin of world applies to it as the combination of Shiva and Shakti as creators of this universe comes to the fore; from the fact that presence of Shiva and Shakti and representatives of Panchtatva is what we now call the universe with mother earth and other celestial bodies making it a body for research and imagination. Swami Nand Bab and Swami Kashi Bab were perhaps feeling this magnetic gravitation towards this shrine that they adopted to meditate here for earning moksha from creators of the universe. The sanctity of this shrine is revered even by Muslims as they offer first cow milk to the temple spring at the feet of Ragnya before using it for themselves.

It is held in high esteem by local devotees particularly and they often quote examples like one dates back to period not for away from the date of exodus. Smt. Meenawati wife of Late Sh. Shamboo Nath Bhat age 86 who is still residing in this village disclosed that the marriage of the daughter of Sh. Mahadev Bhat was fixed and she suddenly fell ill. She was admitted in a hospital at Anantnag. As the day of nuptial knot was closing in she was brought back to the village in ill condition to attend Saat Mainz at Ragnya Pora/Logripora. All of a sudden a saint namely Kashi Bab appeared there and offered her the sacred water of temple spring, she took the water and was all right within half an hour.  

Shri Sudershan Koul age 70 who is still residing in the village also quote the example of how all people (devotees) fell ill when a dispute took place between them on construction of the roof of the temple. It was only on the advice of a saint that the dispute was settled and roof of the temple was constructed. Ultimately all were free of illness.    (   Lalleshuri  )

Shiva and Shakti here created all alike. Be it Satoguni or Rajoguni or be it occupied with Tamoguni habit, but pitfalls of attachment and faith must remain when Shiva is with Shakti and Shakti is incomplete tale without Shiva, who the Tamoguni was, who has separated Shiva with Shakti and took away the image of Shakti, the other part of Ardhnareshwar. Attribute intellect to antakarna to bring back Shakti for Shiva at magnificent spring abode of Shiva and Shakti in this Ragnya Pora. Should we wait Shiva to come out of meditation and what then?

Author Chander M. Bhat

Holy Shrine of Buddha Amarnath in Poonch

Buddha Amarnath is an ancient and unique Shiva Temple having a white naturally formed Shiv Lingam of “Chakmak”. It is located in an area known as Rajpura Mandi. Two kms from Mandi village and 25 kms in the north east of Poonch Town it is situated in between the main belt of Pir Panchal range of mountains.

This sacred place is very picturesque; it is situated on the confluence of two gushing streams namely Nallah Gagri and Pulsta Nadi. The stream which flows near it is the Loran stream but it is believed by the locals that Ravan's grandfather Pulasta Rishi performed his tapasya here and thus is known as Pulasta stream.
This place is surrounded by snow bound lofty peaks, thick belt of fur forests (in the Eastern side), lush green pastures and crystal clear streams. The climate of this attractive and charming spot is very pleasant and cool.

The original temple has been constructed out with one big stone. There are four doors in the temple on the northern, southern, eastern and western sides which indicates that the doors of this shrine are open for all the four classes. In Buddha Amarnath temple Lord Shiva manifested himself in the form of a "Chakmak" white rock i.e. naturally formed Shiv Lingam, unlike other Shiva temples where Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of a lingam. A number of ancient idols collected from near by villages have also been installed in the premises of the Temple. There were four holy springs near the temple in the past. At present the water of three springs has been diverted to fourth one which is on the southern side of the temple. The water of these springs is considered holy from religious point of view. The pilgrims first take bath in this spring and then enter in the temple for prayers. ( Haramukh Harmukat Ganga )

The legends of this temple are closely associated with lord Shiva and goddess parvati. According to one legend, rishi Pulatsya (Ravana's grandfather) had a darshan of lord Shiva at the place where the Buddha Amarnath shrine is located. Another legend is that lord Shiva, accompanied by Parvati, on one of his trips to Amarnath from kailash, had made a brief halt at this place. It is also believed that this shrine is older than that of Amarnath ji of Kashmir and the pilgrimage to Amarnath cave in Kashmir remains incomplete without a visit to this shrine.

On Shrawan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan) people visit this shrine in a large number and every year a ten day yatra is organised which concludes on the occasion of the shrawan Purnima. This year the ten day Yatra is commencing from July 25, various pilgrims from all over India are expected to come on this day and the inauguration is on July 26, there after the Yatra will start from July 27 from Ved Mandir Ambphalla and it will culminate on Purnima (Raksha Bandhan) on August 5.  ( Ramkund temple in Poonch )

This shrine is 25 kms from the Poonch town. Buses, tempo, Cars, Jeeps carrying pilgrims ply on the road regularly. From Jammu it is approx. 250 kms away and regular bus services are available for Poonch district. One can also hire private vehicle for this trip very easily.

It is believed that Lord Shiva grants wishes to everyone who makes a pilgrimage to Buddha Amarnath. It is such a place one must visit to take blessings of lord Shiva and also to enjoy the picturesque place and get relax amid the beauty of the nature.