New Sharada temple in Kashmir to come up with Sringeri Shankaracharya Math support

Bengaluru: A new temple for Goddess Sharada in Kashmir would be built at Teetwal at the Line of Control (LOC) on the banks of Kishanganga river in Kashmir with the support of Sringeri Shankaracharya Math in Karnataka.

It will be built at Teetwal, en route to the Sarvajna Peeth — the original sixth century AD Sharada temple in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir — which is in ruins.

“Sringeri Math chief executive officer, Sri V R Gowrishankar conveyed that the Sringeri Math will offer full support to the noble initiative of the temple construction at Teetwal and offer a new Panchaloha Vigraha of Goddess Sharada for the installation,” a statement issued by the Math said.

According to the Sringeri Math, Ravinder Pandita of Sharada Yatra (Sarvajna Peeth) Temple Committee, Kashmir met Sringeri Jagadguru Shankaracharya Bharati Tirtha and Jagadguru Vidhushekhara Bharati, and received blessings for the construction of a new Goddess Sharada temple at the town of Teetwal near the LoC in Kashmir.

The Math added that Teetwal on the banks of the Kishanganga river was traditionally one of the places from which the annual Yatra to the Sarvajna Peetham of Goddess Sharadamba in Kashmir would commence.

The statement said that Jagadguru Sri Adi Shankaracharya had consecrated Goddess Sharada at Sringeri while establishing the Dakshinamnaya Peetham and towards the end of his ‘Digvijaya Yatra’, ascended the Sarvajna Peetham of Goddess Sharada in Kashmir.

Goddess Sharada has been revered in Kashmir since time immemorial and is referred to by the epithet, ‘Kaashmira-Pura-Vaasini’, the Math said.

Talking to PTI, Ravinder Pandita, who is the founder president of Save Sharada Temple Committee, said Teetwal at the LOC on the bank of Kishanganga river was the base camp for Sharada Yatra till 1947.

Pandita said he explained to Sringeri Shankaracharya about their struggle and stressed the need for reopening of Sharada corridor on the lines of Kartarpur Pilgrimage.

He added that pious stones (Pavitra Shila) got from Sharada Peeth in the PoK through the civil society across LoC were also presented to Shankaracharya, out of which he presented one pious stone to him for installation at the proposed temple at Teetwal.