Karnataka to Kashmir: How a Sharda temple is building bridges between faiths and regions

“The panchaloha idol, which is three-feet tall and weighing around 300 kilograms, will be taken out in a yatra early next year to Teetwal, where it will be consecrated in the new Sharda temple,” Ravinder Pandita, founder of Sharda Yatra Temple Committee and head of the Save Sharda Committee Kashmir Trust told South First.

Panchaloha idol of Goddess Sharada being handed over to Kashmiri Pandits by Sringeri Matha in Karnataka on 5 October 2022. (https://sringeri.net)

The Delhi-based Kashmiri Pandit has been instrumental in renovating and rebuilding at least 26 Hindu temples destroyed in raids and proxy wars by Pakistan.

He received the idol from Sringeri Sharada Matha’s seer Jagadguru Sri Sir Vidhushekhara Bharati on 5 October. The journey, he said, reminded him of the one Adi Shankaracharya had undertaken.

“It is believed that Adi Shankaracharya carried with him an idol of Goddess Sharda made in sandalwood to Sringeri. The statue is still in the Sringeri Matha,” Pandita told South First.

The Sringeri Matha is one of the four abbeys Sri Adi Shankara established in the eighth century to preserve and propagate the Hindu religion.

Kashmir-Karnataka connect

The idol is not the only connection the under-construction building in Kashmir has with Karnataka.

The sculptors working on the temple are from Karnataka. Pandita had visited Karnataka’s Magadi taluk in March 2022, and handpicked six sculptors, including a supervisor, and took them to the valley.

“The workers stayed there for 35 days and completed almost all the main works. The temple has four doors in each direction,” Pandita said. Local labourers were also roped in for manual work such as loading and unloading and transportation of materials.

Ravinder Pandita stands outside the underconstruction Sharda temple in Kashmir. (Supplied)

Pandita has plans to engrave the names of four mathas on the doors. However, except for the Sringeri Matha, the other three have not responded to Pandita’s appeal for help.

Muslims contribute land

Pandita thought of constructing the Sharda temple in Teetwal in September 2021. Local Muslims in Teetwal played a significant role in helping him take his plan forward.

Kashmiri pandits, who embark on an annual pilgrimage to Sharda Peeth, have to end their journey at the Indian side of the Kishenganga River since the Peeth is in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Pandita has been petitioning the United Nations and the Pakistan prime minister through the high commissioner in India, to allow pilgrims to travel to Sharda Peeth.

Sharda temple in Teetwal, Kashmir

“During our annual pilgrimage in September 2021, we were overwhelmed when the local residents, almost all of them Muslims, handed over 23 marlas (approximately 6,261 sq ft) of demarcated revenue land to us. They contributed the land after consulting the army, the Jammu Kashmir government, and the Government of India,” Pandita told South First.

“They asked us if we would build a temple and a gurudwara,” he said, adding a dharamshala and gurudwara that existed in Teetwal was burnt down during the Qabali raids in 1947.

Following the overwhelming gesture by local residents in Teetwal, the temple committee completed legal formalities and a bhoomi puja — or ground-breaking ceremony —was performed on 2 December, 2021.

The nine-member temple committee includes three Muslims and a Sikh member.

Sharda Peeth Yatra

Besides rebuilding the temple at the old site, Pandita’s initiative also aims at reviving an ancient pilgrimage route to Sharda Peeth in PoK.

Sharda Peeth, or “the Seat of Sharda” is one of the foremost ancient universities in the Indian subcontinent.

Pandita dreams of resuming the pilgrimage to Sharda Peeth on the banks of the Kishenganga River, which flows from India to Pakistan.

“I am a Hindu in exile since 1947,” Pandita told South First. I live in Delhi, but I want to return to my roots in Sharda Peeth.”