TEMPLES CITY - JAMMU

Nestling in the foothills of the Himalayas, with the river Tawi flowing alongside, is the place that Raja Jambu Lochan discovered one day while he was on a hunting trip. Legend has it that he came upon a clearing where he saw a sight that left him wonderstruck. A tiger and a goat stood side-by-side, drinking water from the same place in the Tawi River. He was so struck by this unusual sight that he decided to build a city on this land where no living creature seemed to bear enmity towards each other. Little is known of Jammu’s subsequent history until, in 1730 AD, it came under the rule of the Dogra king, Raja Dhruv Deva. The Dogra rulers moved their capital to the present site and Jammu became an important centre of art and culture, especially the Pahari school of paintings.

Today, as if in testimony to Raja Jambu Lochan’s vision, the city of Jammu has come to be known as the ‘City Of Temples’. Innumerable temples and shrines, with glittering ‘shikhars’ soaring into the sky, dot the city’s skyline, creating the ambience of a holy and peaceful city.

Temples and Shrines Amongst the temples in Jammu, the Raghunath Mandir takes pride of place being situated right in the heart of the city.

.It consists of a cluster of temples and is the largest temple complex in northern India. Its inner sanctums contain gigantic statues of deities and numerous ‘lingams’. It contains representatives of almost the entire Hindu pantheon, which make it a rare site to behold.

Each has its own legend, its devotees and specific days of worship. In Ranbireshwar Temple, there are twelve Shiva ‘lingams’ of crystal measuring 12" to 18" and galleries with thousands of ‘saligrams’ fixed on stone slabs. Other important temples in Jammu are the Lakshmi Narayan temple, Duda Dhari temple and the Panj Mandir in Gandhi Nagar.

It is said that if the Bawey Wali Mata is the presiding deity of Jammu, the ‘durgah’ of Peer Budhan Ali Shah or Peer Baba as it is known, is the shrine that protects the people of this city from mishaps and evil spirits.

The famous temple of Bawey Wali Mata is inside the Bahu Fort where, every Tuesday and Sunday, pilgrims throng to worship the goddess.

A little further away, on a spur opposite the Bahu Fort, overlooking the river Tawi, stands a temple dedicated to Mahamaya, a Dogra heroine who lost her life fourteen centuries ago fighting foreign invaders.

The Peer Kho cave temple overlooking the Tawi river, the Panchbakhtar temple and the Ranbireshwar temple are the other well known Shiva temples in Jammu.

Peer Mitha is another famous Muslim shrine in Jammu. Peer Mitha was a contemporary of Ajaib Dev and Ghareeb Nath - both saints were famous for their prophecies and miracles.

‘Mitha’ means ‘the sweet one’, for the Peer would accept nothing more than a pinch of sugar in offering from his devotees.

A friend of Guru Gobind Singh, Peer Baba is said to have lived his entire life on milk alone and lived to the age of five hundred. On Thursdays, Hindu and Sikh devotees vastly outnumber their Muslim brethren at this shrine; such is the faith of the people in Peer Baba. Most VIPs make it a point to visit this ‘durgah’ when they come to Jammu.