Sharada Peeth

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (Retd.)
Ruins of Sharda Temple

Sharada Peeth (शारदापीठ) is a ruined Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

As one of the Maha Shakti Peethas, Hindus believe that it represents the spiritual location of the goddess Sati's fallen right hand. Sharada Peeth is one of the three holiest sites of pilgrimage alongside the Martand Sun Temple and the Amarnath Temple.[1]

Variants

Location

Sharada Peeth is located approximately 150 kilometres from Muzaffarabad,[3] the capital of Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir, and 130 kilometres from Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir[4]It is 10 kilometres away from the Line of Control, which divides the Pakistani- and Indian-controlled areas of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.

It is situated 1,981 metres (6,499 ft) above sea level, along the Neelum River in the village of Sharda, in the valley of Mount Harmukh,[5] believed to be the abode of Shiva.[6]

Origin of name

Sharada Peeth translates to "the seat of Sharada", the Kashmiri name for the Hindu goddess Saraswati.[7] "Sharada" could be also related to the proto-Nostratic terms "sarv", which means "flow or stream", and daw (blow, tip or rock), because it was located at the confluence of three streams.[8]

History

Between the 6th and 12th centuries CE, it was among the most prominent temple universities in the Indian subcontinent. Known in particular for its library, stories recount scholars travelling long distances to access its texts. It played a key role in the development and popularisation of the Sharada script in North India, causing the script to be named after it, and Kashmir to acquire the moniker "Sharada Desh", meaning "country of Sharada".

The beginnings of Sharada Peeth are uncertain, and the question of origins difficult, because Sharada Peeth might have been both a temple and an educational institution. It was probably commissioned by Lalitaditya Muktapida (r. 724 CE–760 CE) though no definitive evidence exists in favor.[9] Al-Biruni recorded the place for the first time, as a revered shrine housing a wooden image of Sharda — however, he had never ventured into Kashmir and based his observations on hearsay.[10]

As a centre of learning

Sharada Peeth is referred to by various historians, detailing its mythological status and prominence in ancient India. Its historical development is traced through references made to it by various historical sources. Although the Sharada script did not originate in Kashmir, it was used extensively in Sharada Peeth, and acquired its name from the institution. This has fed the popular belief that the script was developed in Kashmir.[11]


Some historians have suggested that Sharada Peeth was never a centre of learning, on the basis that in present-day, there are no sizeable ruins from a supposed educational site. In response, it has been said that Sharda is prone to earthquakes, and debris from a collapsed abandoned university are likely to have been used by townspeople for other constructions.[12]

As a temple

By the 8th century, the temple was a site of pilgrimage, attracting devotees from as far as present-day Bengal.[13]By the 11th century, it was among the most revered places of worship in the Indian subcontinent, described in Al-Biruni's chronicle of India. Significantly, it featured not in his description of Kashmir, but in his list of the most famous Hindu temples in the Indian subcontinent, alongside the Multan Sun Temple, the Sthaneshwar Mahadev Temple, and the Somnath temple.[14][15]

Jonaraja describes a visit by the Kashmiri Muslim sultan Zain-ul-Abidin in 1422 CE.[16] The sultan visited the temple seeking a vision of the goddess, but grew angry with her because she did not appear to him in person. In frustration, he slept in the court of the temple, where she appeared to him in a dream.[17]In the 16th century, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, Grand vizier to the Mughal emperor Akbar, described Sharada Peeth as a "stone temple ... regarded with great veneration".[18] He also described the popular belief in miracles at the shrine: "it is believed that on every eighth tithe of the bright half of the month, it begins to shake and produces the most extraordinary effect".[19][20]

Legendary origins

Hindu legends: An alternative account holds that Shandilya prayed to the goddess Sharada with great devotion, and was rewarded when she appeared to him and promised to show him her real, divine form. She advised him to look for the Sharada forest, and his journey was filled with miraculous experiences. On his way, he had a vision of the god Ganesha on the eastern side of a hill. When he reached the Neelum river, he bathed in it and saw half his body turn golden. Eventually, the goddess revealed herself to him in her triple form of Sharada, Saraswati and Vagdevi, and invited him to her abode. As he was preparing for a ritual, he drew water from the Mahāsindhu. Half of this water transformed into honey, and became a stream, now known as the Madhumati stream.[21]

Local legends: There are two popular legends of Shardi explaining Sharada Peeth.[22] The first holds that there were two sisters, Sharada and Narada, who ruled the world. The two mountains overlooking the valley, Shardi and Nardi, are named after them. One day, Narada saw, from her abode on the mountain, that Sharada had died, and that giants were fleeing from her body. Furious, she summoned them and ordered them to build her a tomb, which became Sharada Peeth. The second legend says that there once was a giant who loved a princess. She desired a palace, and so he began work. At the time of morning azan, he was supposed to have finished, but the roof remained incomplete and for that reason, Sharada Peeth today remains without a roof.[23]

Literary and cultural references

Sharada Peeth has appeared in various historical and literary texts. Its earliest mention is in the Nilamata Purana (6th – 8th century CE). The 11th century Kashmiri poet Bilhana describes both the spiritual and academic elements of Sharada Peeth. He describes Kashmir as a patron of learning and Sharada Peeth as the source of that reputation. He also says that the goddess Sharada:

"resemble[s] a swan, carrying as her diadem the [glittering gold washed from the sand] of the Madhumati stream, which is bent on rivalling Ganga. Spreading lustre by her fame as her diadem, and rivalling the Ganges river. Spreading lustre by her fame, brilliant like crystal, she makes even Mount Himalaya, the preceptor of Gauri, raise higher his head (referring to his peaks) [in pride] of her residence there."[24]

In Kalhana's 12th century epic, Rajatarangini, Sharada Peeth is identified as a site of popular veneration:

35. There, the goddess Saraswati herself is seen in the form of a swan in a lake [situated] on the summit of the Bheda hill, which is sanctified by the Ganga source.
37. There, when visiting the goddess Sharada, one reaches at once the river Madhumati, and [the river of] Saraswati worshipped by poets.[25]

Kalhana points out other events of political significance involving Sharada Peeth. During Lalitaditya's reign (713 – 755), a group of assassins from the Gauda Kingdom entered Kashmir under the guise of a pilgrimage to Sharada Peeth. [26].

Kalhana also describes a rebellion during his own lifetime. Three princes, Lothana, Vigraharaja and Bhoja, rebelled against King Jayasimha of Kashmir. These princes, pursued by the Royal Army, sought refuge in the upper Kishenganga Valley, in the Sirahsila Castle. Kalhana believed that the Royal Army took refuge in Sharada Peeth, because it had the open space required for a temporary military village, and because the area surrounding the Sirahsila Castle was not large enough to host a camp for a siege without the siege force being vulnerable to archers.[27]

In Rajatarangini

Shāradā (शारदा) - goddess is mentioned in Rajatarangini. [28]

Rajatarangini [29] mentions....Rajavadana Balhara was born of Ojas, a leader in the army and in the womb of a chaste woman. This Ojas beamed with prowess, and during the civil war, adorned Sussala's army which was, as it were, a test stone of heroism for the principal warriors. Rajavadana was, during his childhood, called the long-blanket-clad. Owing to the faithfulness of his father, he was retained by the king in his service, and the possession of the estates of Ebenaka &c. was gradually given to him. But Nāga, born in the hermitage of Khuya, turned the king against Rajavadana, whereupon the latter, with a view to fight, held him in subjection. All feared that being a servant, he would not act cruelly towards the king, and not being a Lavanya, would not stand against the sovereign.

Then Alankara who had reached Dranga and had taken possession of the estates was sent by the king with money, to subdue Bhoja. Bhoja said to the Damara [Alankara], " I am ready to go to you, but should yon depart leaving me, I will kill myself." The other promised to see him on the next morning. When thus promised, [Bhoja] without saying any thing to any body left Kotta at the fourth watch of night And when he [Alankarachakra] inquired after him who, though then rained, was looking after the road, he heard that [Bhoja] had gone out of the fort at the latter end

[p.246]: of the night. The irrepressible Bhoja, with a limited number of followers, journied on by day and went to the shrine of the goddess Shāradā. But out of pity and feeling ashamed to appear before the females of his kinsmen, without the two kinsmen who accompanied him, he, though advanced in years, like a young man, five times tried [to leave the place]. He believed that he would be blamed by men, and felt no desire to go to Durāṅḍa. He went by the road along the banks of the Madhumati with the intention to fight with the help of the people of Darad. He spent five or six days in the way, and the days were very dreadful. Sometimes he passed over rough and broken stones, sometimes the clouds hid the light and darkened all sides, spreading themselves like the net of death. At times masses of snow, like elephants, slided down making the day dreadful. At times the rush of the water fall, like arrows, pierced his body. Sometimes the wind, hurtful to the body, penetrated him into the skin. And at times his eyes, distressed by the sun, were fixed on the moon. The days became fearful on account of the fall of snow. He then descended down a plain not quite level but extended. The descent was difficult, and though he walked down, yet he frequently thought as if he was ascending. At last he reached a village in the skirts of Darad.

References

  1. ↑ Kumar, Ramesh (16 December 1999 – 15 January 1999). "Sarada Pilgrimage - its Socio-Historicity - I" (PDF). Kashmir Sentinel. 5: 16. Archived from the original (PDF)
  2. ↑ Kings of Kashmira Vol 2 (Rajatarangini of Kalhana)/Book VIII (ii) p.246
  3. ↑ Rehman, Faiz ur (31 December 2017). "Peace & Economy beyond Faith: A Case Study of Sharda Temple". Pakistan Vision. 18 (2): 1–14 – via academia.edu. "Located in the isolated village of Sharda in Neelum Valley in Pakistan's Kashmir, at a distance of around 140 Kilometers from Muzaffarabad, (the capital city) and nearly 30 km from Kupwara (a town in Indian Held Kashmir), it lies few miles from the Line of Control (LoC) in a very sensitive military zone."
  4. ↑ Godbole, Sanjay. "The Sharda Temple of Kashmir". Kashmiri Pandit Network / Kashmir Sentinel. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018.
  5. ↑ Raina, Mohini Qasba (2013). Kashur: The Kashmiri Speaking People. Trafford Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 978-1490701653.
  6. ↑ Rehman, Faiz ur (31 December 2017). "Peace & Economy beyond Faith: A Case Study of Sharda Temple". Pakistan Vision. 18 (2): 1–14 – via academia.edu. "its water originates from Sarasvati lake which is located on the top of Narda peak, the another holy place for Hindus because it is considered to be the birth place of Shivajee"
  7. ↑ Raina, Dina Nath (1994). Kashmir - distortions and reality. Michigan: Reliance Publishing House, University of Michigan. p. 38. ISBN 8185972524.
  8. ↑ Graves, Charles (January–March 2013). "Origins of Peoples of the Karakorum Himalayas" (PDF). Himalayan and Central Asian Studies. 17 (1): 11.
  9. ↑ Rashid, Salman (1 April 2018). "Heritage: Goddess of the Mountains". Dawn.
  10. ↑ Rashid, Salman (1 April 2018). "Heritage: Goddess of the Mountains". Dawn.
  11. ↑ Qazi, Junaid Ahmad; Samad, Abdul (January 2015). Shakirullah; Young, Ruth (eds.). "Śarda Temple and the Stone Temples of Kashmir in Perspective: A Review Note". Pakistan Heritage. Hazara University Mansehra-Pakistan. 7: 111–120 – via Research Gate.
  12. ↑ Rashid, Salman (1 April 2018). "Heritage: Goddess of the Mountains". Dawn.
  13. ↑ Kalhana (1900). Kalhaṇa's Rājataraṅginī: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kaśmīr. Translated by Stein, Marc Aurel. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company, Ltd. pp. 151–152. ISBN 9788120803718.
  14. ↑ Rashid, Salman (1 April 2018). "Heritage: Goddess of the Mountains". Dawn.
  15. ↑ alhaṇa's Rājataraṅgiṇī. Vol. 3 : a chronicle of the kings of Kaśmīr. Kalhana, Stein, M. A. (Reprint ed.). 2003. ISBN 81-208-0371-X. OCLC 872559688.
  16. ↑ Raina, Mohini Qasba (2013). Kashur: The Kashmiri Speaking People. Trafford Publishing. pp. 85, 191. ISBN 978-1490701653.
  17. ↑ Qazi, Junaid Ahmad; Samad, Abdul (January 2015). Shakirullah; Young, Ruth (eds.). "Śarda Temple and the Stone Temples of Kashmir in Perspective: A Review Note". Pakistan Heritage. Hazara University Mansehra-Pakistan. 7: 111–120 – via Research Gate.
  18. ↑ Raina, Mohini Qasba (2013). Kashur: The Kashmiri Speaking People. Trafford Publishing. pp. 85, 191. ISBN 978-1490701653.
  19. ↑ Raina, Mohini Qasba (2013). Kashur: The Kashmiri Speaking People. Trafford Publishing. pp. 85, 191. ISBN 978-1490701653.
  20. ↑ Rashid, Salman (1 April 2018). "Heritage: Goddess of the Mountains". Dawn.
  21. ↑ alhana (1900). Kalhaṇa's Rājataraṅginī: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kaśmīr. Translated by Stein, Marc Aurel. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company, Ltd. pp. 151–152. ISBN 9788120803718.
  22. ↑ Ghani, Abdul (2009). Sharda: Tarikh kay Irtaqāī Marāhil (Urdu ed.). Mirpur: Verinag Publishers.
  23. ↑ Qazi, Junaid Ahmad; Samad, Abdul (January 2015). Shakirullah; Young, Ruth (eds.). "Śarda Temple and the Stone Temples of Kashmir in Perspective: A Review Note". Pakistan Heritage. Hazara University Mansehra-Pakistan. 7: 111–120 – via Research Gate.
  24. ↑ Kalhaṇa's Rājataraṅgiṇī. Vol. 3 : a chronicle of the kings of Kaśmīr. Kalhana, Stein, M. A. (Reprint ed.). 2003. p. 285. ISBN 81-208-0371-X. OCLC 872559688.
  25. ↑ Kalhaṇa's Rājataraṅgiṇī. Vol. 3 : a chronicle of the kings of Kaśmīr. Vol. 1. Kalhana, Stein, M. A. (Reprint ed.). 2003. p. 182. ISBN 81-208-0371-X. OCLC 872559688.
  26. ↑ Kalhana (1900). Kalhaṇa's Rājataraṅginī: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kaśmīr. Translated by Stein, Marc Aurel. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company, Ltd. pp. 151–152. ISBN 9788120803718.
  27. ↑ Qazi, Junaid Ahmad; Samad, Abdul (January 2015). Shakirullah; Young, Ruth (eds.). "Śarda Temple and the Stone Temples of Kashmir in Perspective: A Review Note". Pakistan Heritage. Hazara University Mansehra-Pakistan. 7: 111–120 – via Research Gate.
  28. ↑ Kings of Kashmira Vol 2 (Rajatarangini of Kalhana)/Book VIII (ii) p.246
  29. ↑ Kings of Kashmira Vol 2 (Rajatarangini of Kalhana)/Book VIII (ii) p.245-246
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