700-year-old temple being restored in J&K’s Srinagar
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has started renovating all heritage religious sites in the Kashmir region
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has started renovating all heritage religious sites in the Kashmir region. The 700-year-old Mangaleshwar Bhairav Temple in the Baba Demb area of Srinagar is being renovated and restored to its original glory. The project is expected to be completed by April this year.
Located inside a water body on an Island in Srinagar’s Baba Demb area, Mangaleshwar Bhairav Temple was completely damaged in the 2014 floods and now the archaeology department is making sure to restore the temple to its exact architecture of when it was made.
”Mangaleshwar Bhairav Temple, which is being restored in the Baba Demb area. I opened the temple for the first time after decades in 2004 with the support of the Majority community, otherwise, it wasn’t possible to do so at that point in time. But the majority community has always given support to these things, and now Sharda temple has been opened as well, it’s a great step. The area will be developed and a lot of people from the south will come to visit. it will be better for Kashmir, and it will be peaceful again, ” said Sanjay Saraf, leader of Lok Jan Shakti Party.
The government is spending over 16 million Indian rupees on the temple and the project has been handed over to the Roads and Building department. And all the renovation on the temple is being done while in consultation with the Kashmiri Pandit community. The work on the temple is being completed in three phases.
”This temple was damaged in the 2014 floods, these works are generally done by the archaeology department, and they have asked us to work on it. We are the R&B Department. The total project cost is 1.62 crores. There are two parts to the renovation, the first is the main part of the temple, the restoration has to be done exactly to what it looked like earlier. We are using the same materials and making sure it’s made exactly the way it was. The second part is the guard room construction. We are hopeful to finish this by April end, ” said Muzaffar Ahmad, AEE, Roads and Building department.
Kashmir has always shown the best examples of brotherhood to the rest of the world. The caretaker of this 700-year-old Mangaleshwar Bhairav Temple is a Muslim man. Riyaz Ahmad has been taking care of Hindu temples for a long time and it’s been over a year since he has been taking care of this temple.
”I am thankful to the government that they have come forward to restore this temple which got damaged in the 2014 floods. I have been working with a Hindu organisation since 2008 and I am grateful to the government that they have decided to restore the temple. I want the sound of Morning Azaan and temple bells together to bring the communities together. It used to be like that earlier and it should be again like that only. I request all the Pandit community members to come back and live happily here. If the Sikhs in Punjab are cultivating rice for the rest of the country, why can’t I take care of Hindu temples? We are one, Hindu, Muslim Sikh, everyone, ” said Riyaz Ahmad, Caretaker Temple.
Since the temple is located on an Island, the workers faced a lot of hardship transporting the construction material to the temple courtyard. Everything was taken in boats with utmost care.