Capt Anil Gour (Retd)
Jammu has a glorious past which has never been showcased to the public & incoming tourist resulting in even the locals not being aware of their Heritage. Its not strange to find that the younger generation of Jammuites have no idea at all of the history of the various areas of Jammu City thus making them lose their moorings with the City itself.
Jammu Heritage Walk takes you backwards in the history of Jammu City starting from the lawns of Amar Mahal, built in 1862 and after winding through Panjthirthi – Mubarak Mandi – Chowk Chabutra & the various Dhakkis/Mohallas ends up at Purani Mandi on the steps of the 1st Palace of Jammu built by Raja Mal Dev in the 14th Century!! (Unfortunately demolished by the Amar Kshatriya Rajput Sabha and constructing a concrete monstrosity in its place). Enroute, one discovers the beautiful old temples and shrines nestled and hidden in the various nooks& corners of the city and goes back with the memories for a lifetime.
AMAR MAHAL
Amar Mahal’s construction was planned by a French Architect in 1862 and is builtlike a French Chateau overlooking the River Tawi. Its construction was started by Maharaja Amar Singh (Vice President of State Council of Jammu & Kashmir) in 1890. After Maharaja Amar Singh’s death in 1908, Maharaja Hari Singh carried on with its construction but due to disagreements at one point he fired the French Architect leaving this Palace incomplete. This was the private palace of Maharaja Hari Singh& was not used for official purposes.
BEGUM-Di-HAVELI OR HAVELI BEGUM:
Walking down from Amar Mahal towards Panjtirthi one encounters a two storied haveli on the right, which now houses the All India Radio, Jammu studio. This Haveli was allotted to Muglani Begum, the Widow of Lahore’s Governor by Raja Ranjit Dev & the adjoining area was occupied by her servants. This area from the Radio Station to Ambphalla was known as Begum-di-Haveli or Haveli Begum.
PANJTIRTHI
This area got its particular name during Maharaja Pratap Singh’s reign because of the 5 (Five)Sacred Places (Tirthas) located around here. These Five Sacred places are:
DAU TEMPLE: On the banks of River Tawi (below the newly built Multi Storey Parking), built by Maharaja Gulab Singh & now managed by Dhramarth Trust. The temple is dedicated to Lord Balram Ji, the elder brother of Lord Krishna & is named so as Lord Krishna used to address his elder brother as ‘ Dau’
SARDARON KA MANDIR:
Located Right Opposite the present Radio Station. It’s a large complex built by an army man of the Maharajas Army ranked as Sardar and named Attar Singh; hence it’s name. There are various Mandirs within its complex – Sri Ram Darbar, Mandirs of Shiva, Surya, Hanuman, Ganesh and Lakshmi Mata Ji.
RADHA KRISHAN TEMPLE: Opposite the Police Post Panjtirthi was built by Bhai Charan Das in1839 AD. The temple has beautiful idols of Radha Ji and Lord Krishna. It is also known as Billo temple after the name of the priest who took care of the temple for many years.
SATYA NARAYAN TEMPLE: Its Sanctum Sanctorum is on the second floor of the temple complex.It houses the idols of Shri Satya Narayan Ji and Mata Lakshami Ji. A small adjoining temple has a magnificent idol of GarudDevJi. The temple was built during the reign of Maharaja Partap Singh Ji.
BATMALU TEMPLE: It’s also called Shri Banwari Das Temple. The temple is located at the entrance of Chowgan Salathia outside Mubarak Mandi. The unique feature of this old temple is that it has the statues of Lord Rama, Mata Sita , Lakshman Ji and his wife Urmilla.
GADA DHAR TEMPLE: The temple is situated just outside the Mubarak Mandi complex. It houses two life size statues of Shri Gaddadhar ji and Devi Lakshmi. The Temple was built by the Dogra Rajas during 18th century.
In the PANJTIRTHI AREA, residences of several High Officials of the Dogra Kingdom & some world personalities are located:
POONCH HOUSE
Walking from Panjtirthi towards Mubarak Mandi was the residence of Raja Moti Singh, ruler of Poonch. Unfortunately, this too has been demolished and Govt Buildings come up in its place.
WAZIR GANGA RAM’S HAVELI: Wazir Ganga Ram was one of the Two ministers of Maharaja Hari Singh. The other was Wazir Mohamed Afzal. His house is now converted into a banquet hall.
WAZIR TEJ RAM’S HAVELI: He was the Treasurer of Maharaja Hari Singh.
RAO RATTAN SINGH’S HAVELI: He was the Governor of Lahore. His son Narendra Singh was also the Mayor of Jammu.
RAI BAHADUR ANANT RAM’S HAVELI: He was the revenue Minister of Maharaja Hari Singh.
PUNDIT RAM KRISHAN’S HAVELI: He was Raja Ranbir Singh’s favourite advisor. His brother Pundit Jalla was the Accountant General of the Lahore Durbar. At present his descendants Sh. KC Sharma & his family live here.
PUNDIT SHIV KUMAR SHARMA’S RESIDENCE: Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (13 January 1938 – 10 May 2022) was an Indian Classical musician and Santoor player.He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986 and the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan(India’s fourth and third highest civilian awards) in 1991 and 2001.
MUBARAK MANDI COMPLEX
This is the centerpiece of the Dogra Heritage & pride of Jammu. It consists of many Palaces built by various Maharajas during their tenure leading to the present structure that’s now standing.
GOL GHAR:
It was built by Maharaja Ranbir Singh and it is believed that the flag a top the Gol Ghar was visible from Sialkot through binoculars. Post-independence this housed the Sales Tax Offices of J&K. Frequent fires numbering 36 times; have burnt down this structure and only the shell is visible these days. Strangely no investigation could fix the cause and responsibility of these fires.
Palaces of Raja Ram Singh & Amar Singh were next to the entrance from Panjtirthi Dhonthilliside. Adjacent to these was the Taxal Ghar (Mint House).This shows that J&K had its own Currency & Stamps.It is also said that Raja Ram Singh used to ride his horse right up to his living rooms on the first floor & that’s why the staircase of his palace is wide & gentle.
Maharaja Pratap Singh constructed the Palace on the Eastern side (PacciDhakki side) whose Ground Floor was used as Army Headquarters and Frist Floor as Foreign Affairs Office. On top of this place is a clock tower housing four big clocks. In1950’s these were later called the Dogra Hall and Green Hall and were used to hold the Legislative Council meetings. This complex later also housed the Dogra Art Museum which has now been shifted in the adjacent Pink Hall.
GADA DHAR TEMPLE:
This is the oldest temple dedicated to Lord Vishnuin Jammu. It has a unique Architecture from the rest of temples of Jammu & the Garba Grah is on the first floor of the temple.
SHRI SHIV NABH TEMPLE: This temple was constructed during 18th century and located inside the Mubarak Mandi complex. Devoted to Lord Shiva, the Shivling in the shrine appears to be emerging from the navel (Nabhi) of Lord Vishnu. The cupola over the Shivling is gilded completely with gold.
PACCI DHAKKI: This street,which led to River Tawi; was made Pucca by laying bricks with mortar by Maharaja Pratap Singh as it was quite steep making it difficult for the water carriers to walk during monsoons.
CHOWK CHABUTRA: This crossing is so named as it’s in the crossing for many ancient Mohalla’s (Localities) of Old Jammu City.
JULLAKA MOHALLA: This was the mohalla where the Jullahas (Weavers) were settled & hence it got its name.
SIRAJA DI DHAKKI: Siraja literally means a person skilled in making Horse Saddles (Khathi). The population dwelling in this Mohalla was skilled in Saddle making hence this area was so named.
AFGHAN MOHALLA: This area was believed to be the resting place for the Afghan Army.
KHATIKA DA TALLAB: Khatik is a person who is skilled in making Leather. The people here resided next to a Pond (Talab) as they required lots of water to make the usable form of leather after extracting the skins from dead animals. Thus this area came to be named Khatika Da Talab.
PIR MITHA: One Fakir settled here nearly 550years ago. His diet was only Milk & Jaggery and this area was named after him as Pir Mitha.
DARUGIR KA MOHALLA: (Presently the area on Residency Road in front of the Dak Bunglow). The people settled here were skilled in making Ammunition (Bombs & Cartridges) for the Royal Army.
MAST GARH:Raja Ranjit Dev cionstructed a Mosque here and the area was know as Mughal Pura. A Fakir named MastrKalandar came and settled here and since then Mughal Pura is know as Mast Garh.
URDU BAZAR: Now it’s known as Rajinder Bazar. It houses a 250 year old SHIV Temple on the junction of Residency Road and Rajinder Bazar.
DHOUNTHLY BAZAR: Raja Ranjit Dev named this area as DHRAMA STHALLI and now this has been morphed into Dhounthly Bazar.
JAIN BAZAR: This Bazar is the Gold Market of Jammu. When Ahmed Shah Abdali attacked Punjab, the people from there ran away and came to Jammu. These people were mostly Jain Goldsmiths they started the Gold business in Jammu and the area was named after them.
PACCA DANGA : This area stretches from Chowk Chabutra down to Dewan Mandir & to what’s now the Subzi Mandi, Parade Ground.
The famous heritage sites here are:
MAHA LAKSHMI TEMPLE
JANDRIYA MOHALLA
FATUU CHOGAN
DHANI-DI-HATTI
MOTI BAZAR
RANI TALAB (now RANI PARK)
KALI JANNI: In 1360 when Raja Mal Dev decided to establish the present Jammu City, from the existing Bahu Fort area; he carried this huge Black Stone from River Tawi on his shoulders and the place where he dropped it was the area of the first Palace of Jammu. He called this Stone KALA JAN & hence the area where its placed is known as KALLI JANNI.
PURANI MANDI: In the 14th Century AD, Raja Mal Dev constructed his palace in Purani Mandi with the placing of Kala Jan stone carried form Tawi river.
RAM CHANDER MANDIR: Also called Bandrali Rani templeThis is adjacent to the erstwhile Palace complex & was built by Rani BandralDevi wife of Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1890-91
RAJ TILAK ROAD: This road runs from Purani Mandi to present Parade Ground. All the Rajas used to walk down this road after their Coronation Ceremony. Maharaja Hari Singh’s coronation processions also passed through this road. It enabled the common man pay his respects and greet their new King. Coming down from Purani Mandi is the Raghunath Temple Complex& other Temples built by the successive Kings of the Dogra Dynasty. This completes the journey of Heritage Walk and Trail of Jammu’s history & heritage. This is a must do for all Jammuites and of course the incoming Tourists.
(The author is President Travel Agents Association of Jammu & Past Chairman IATO J&K Chapter)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
