Rare photos of Sharada Peeth in Pak occupied Kashmir

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POSTING FROM A DIFFERENT FORUM:

(kpindia-Kashmir Pandits India

group)

 

 

Pictures of Sharda

Peeth

 

Sanjay Wali

Date:

Wed May 4, 2005 6:53 am

Subject:

SHARDA PEETH

 

Dear All

Namaskaar ,

 

Sometime back I came across a person through net and

we exchanged emails regarding J&K problem. As he was

from POK so I requested him to get some pics of Sharda

Peeth for me from POK. As he was in Canada so he

promised me to get some pics as soon as he reaches his

POK.

 

Now he has emailed me about his visit to POK (text is

Below ), so please be ready to share recent Pics of

our Sharda Peeth.

 

Warm Regards,

Sanjay

Wali

 

Hi Sanjay

 

When I wrote to you 3-4 weeks ago, immediately after I

set off from UK

to Pakistan and then Azad Kashmir. It was a quick

whistle-stop trip of 2 weeks to see

some relatives and take photos. Since I had made a

promise to you, I had to photograph Sharda even it

was just plain land; I had to keep my

promise.

 

Although I had heard of Sharda, I had no idea where it

was.

Enquiries revealed that it was in Muzaffarabd distt.

but some 140km

from Muzaffarabad city. Along with some friends, I

travelled

to Muzaffarabad and then onto Atthmuqam which is about

70km

away. We stayed there overnight and then hired a jeep

to Sharda

travelling another 70 km on a partially metalled

road.This part of

the journey was the most interesting. We travelled

along the

Neelum Valley and along Neelum river which acts as the

LOC. We could

see AK settlements and Pak army on this side and JK

houses and Indian

army across the river. Until the recent cease-fire,

visitors were not

allowed in this area as there was constant firing and

shelling. Now it

was quiet and peaceful. Although the people are not

allowed to cross

the river/LOC they can now live in peace and

communicate with each

other using sign-language and shouting.

 

Anyway, we arrived in Sharda to be told that the

Sharda

temple was inside Pak army barracks and permission had

to be

obtained to see it. Apparently, the Pak army moved

there a long time

ago, taking over the temple complex and the

surrounding area

for their barracks.The upside of this was that the

remains of the

temple were being maintained and protected by Pak

army.

Anyway, we got permission to see the temple but

were not allowed to take photographs due to some law

(I

think it was more to do with the current political

climate etc).

Anyway, we talked to the commanding officer and he

gave us

permission for photography. As you can imagine, my

camera did not

stop clicking for a good 10 minutes. The temple was

very much in ruin but some of the walls, stairs and

court yard had been saved. I did not know too much

history about the place so was unable to relate

places. Facing Sharda village was a snow-capped

mountain range called Narda which was housed a shrine

visited by people in days gone by. Also below the

temple was the area which was once the university. The

university dating back 2-3000 years had been a seat of

learning during Budhist, Hindu and Muslim era. There

is not much of it left now.I heard that the AK govt

announced that Pandits would be allowed to visit

Sharda sometime in the future. I also heard on the

grapevine that a few Pandit folks had already

submitted applications to travel to AK on the peace

bus and visit Sharda.

 

I will try to sort out the photos and put them on the

web this weekend

for you to see.

Regards. (

 

----

 

The

pictures have been uploaded by setlurbadri these

pictures in his folder, just click the link and

transport yourself to the era where Samskrit ruled

Pravarapurva (the current day Srinagar) and when the

entire culture was destroyed by the suvar ke bachche.

Peace,Tranquility, Creativity and Knowledge deserted

Kashmir with the destruction of this revered seat of

knowledge by the stupid sultan.

 

http://uk.pg.photos./ph/setlurbadri/album?.dir=/e51b

 

Dhanyavaad

 

 

 

 

 

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