Temples: history, architecture and distribution

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Too little, too late : Atta ur Rehman Shiekh </b>
Fridaytimes.com
<b>The town of Katas Raj and its ancient Hindu temples have been ignored for decades. Can their remains still be salvaged? </b>
   
While critics jealously peer at the historical treasures inherited by Pakistan’s neighbour to the east, little effort is being made to recognise, let alone promote, the treasures inherited within the defined boundaries of the state. The town of Katas Raj, in the Kahoon Valley of the Chakwal district, is the site of many Hindu legends and what – over a millennia ago – were majestic temples. Today, these temples are an affront to the conservationist’s eye as they sit dilapidated and neglected. A few photographs in history journals and some newspapers were the only publicity these marks of the land’s history received – until, in a twist of irony, Indian leader LK Advani paid it a visit and laid the foundation stone of a joint India-Pakistan preservation and restoration project. This brought Katas Raj, among other archaeological and historical sites, back to public attention. It took a political gesture of good-will between rivals for the town to start getting the attention it deserves.

Katas Raj hosts the Salt Range’s most significant Hindu temples. Legend has it that when Lord Shiva mourned the death of his wife, a tear from each of his eyes dropped to earth and formed two sacred pools revered by Hindus. One of these formed the pool in Pushkara (Ajmer Sharif, India), the other in Katas Raj, around which the town was built.

Another legend tells the tale of five Pandava brothers, heroes of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata , who stayed at Katas Raj for four out of the fourteen years they spent in exile. It was at this sacred pool that the Yashka (protector of the pool) and Yudhishtira, the eldest of the five Pandava brothers, conducted their famous question and answer session. The Yashka’s questions and Yudhishtira’s answers contain profound philosophy and are frequently referred to in Hindu literature. Given the reverence and rich history enjoyed by Katas Raj, Hindu philosophy refers often to this area which was visited by a number of great yogis, scholars, warriors and pilgrims.

The town boasts over a hundred temples amongst its shrines, hermitages and houses. The architecture spans the centuries between 200BC and the 18th century, built mainly, as the name would suggest, under the rule of Hindu rajas. Much of the architecture has decayed and collapsed with neglect over time. Among the Satghara (literally “The Seven Temples”), only three (one major and two minor) temples have survived. Ruins are all that remain of a stupa that was erected during Asoka’s rein. The most imposing building is the temple of Ram Chandra, a three-storey building that overlooks the sacred pool. Behind the temple is the haveli of Hari Singh Nalva, one of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s most able commanders. On the eastern side of the pool sit a number of smaller temples, including the altar of Shiva (Shiv-lung).

Some other smaller structures and caves lie across the road, the tarmac by-way that passes through the town. A temple to the east of the pool is functional and comes alive when yatris (pilgrims) visit annually. Locally called the Shadi Ghar, it was re-built by the Buildings Department some years ago because, in 1992, it was completely demolished in retaliation to the destruction of India’s Babri Mosque. To the south of the pool are remains of a shrine, now called Sanpon Wali Haveli (Mansion of Snakes), as the place was devoted to snake worship. The pool is also a source of drinking water for several villages around Katas. Amazingly, the level of water remains unchanged, despite the fact that drinking water is supplied to over a dozen villages in the area.

Before Partition, Katas Raj used to bustle with devotees and Hindu pilgrims, including sadhus, yogis, sanyasis and priests from across the subcontinent. In 1947, most of the Hindus fled Katas Raj. Septuagenarian Mohammad Khan Awan, a peasant, and his contemporary Abdul Ghafoor, a former employee of the Archaeology Department, shared their memories of the 1940s with TFT. Hindus and Sikhs of all races and castes would gather at Katas Raj for the annual Besakhi fair, they recalled. Naked sadhus would sit by the bonfire throughout the festival. All too clearly, Awan and Ghafoor remembered the 15th of August, 1947, when groups of armed and non-armed Muslims gathered at Katas, chanting slogans of Allah-o-Akbar and Naara Haidri. “They desecrated the temples and shrines and pillaged the town,” said Abdul Ghafoor. “Idols were smashed to pieces.” A Hindu pandit and two of his disciples, who decided to stay back at Partition, were murdered that night. “My father moved to another village, foreseeing more riots in the coming days in Katas,” Awan told me.

As years passed and the town remained deserted, people of the area took away the doors, windows and girders of the ancient temples to use them in their own houses. Flash floods also contributed the destruction of Katas: many structures were simply washed away and others suffered irreparable damage. According to Abdul Ghafoor, who retired from the Department of Archaeology in 1992, the Katas temples had never been a priority for the department. “Only one superintendent visited the location during the 25 years I was with the department,” he commented. “That tells you how much importance is attached to this site.”

Today, only a trickle of yatris from India visit Katas, and this too is a practice that has been disrupted. After Partition, they started coming here in 1980, but following the demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992, stopped making their pilgrimage. The practice was then resumed in 2003. Nevertheless, much more needs to be done since the once beautiful buildings continue to disintegrate. Thankfully, special security arrangements for visitors are now provided and the site is cleaned and temples are white-washed before they arrive every year. It seems that the initiative to form a political friendship with India became a catalyst for the process of preservation.

As the government tries to portray Pakistan as a nation of “enlightened moderation” – boosting the confidence of its own minority population and being more hospitable to Hindu devotees and tourists works in favour of that – and the prime minister recognises the economic benefits of tourism, it seems as though the government may start doing what it failed to do in the past. In collaboration with the government of India and in consultation with Indian and Pakistani archaeologists and preservationists, plans have been disclosed to remove silt from the pool, repair the Satghara, and most radically, repair the statues in the temples to make them ‘living temples.’ A five-member board, with a mandate to preserve the Katas Raj temples, has also been formed, while the temples and buildings will remain under the protection of the Federal Ministry and the Department of Archaeology.

It looks as though progress will finally be made, but meanwhile, a different problem looms on the horizon. Three cement factories are being established within a radius of ten kilometres from Katas Raj; one of them a mere two kilometres away. When these factories are up and running, the traffic along the Salt Ranges will increase exponentially. What the environmental fall-out will be, remains anybody’s guess.
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