Once upon a time, Jammu district housed a cluster of temples, which resided in a place reverentially called Chhoti Kashi, meaning small or mini version of Kashi, the great historical and religious city of the Hindus. The holy place and the temples still exist unharmed, but their district has got a new name.
Kashi is also known by the names of Banaras and Varanasi. This abode of Bhagwan Shiv is the spiritual capital of the Hindus. The origin of Kashi dates back to the times immemorial.
The Dogras know this Chhoti Kashi as Purmandal. It is an ancient complex of temples dedicated to Bhagwan Shiv. Now, technically, Purmandal falls in the limits of the newly carved district of Samba.
We started off to the pilgrimage on a Sunday, especially to introduce our son Kartikey to the most important temple around Jammu after the shrines of Maa Vaishno Devi and Bawe Wali Mata.
Purmandal is about 40 kilometres from Jammu. About six kilometres short of the destination, the road gives you an option to turn right towards Mandal. We exercised this option and turned right. The straight road takes you to a place called Pur, which makes the entire area known as Pur plus Mandal, Purmandal.
Our first stop was at the Ranbireshwar ( Rameshwaram as per the Wikipedia ) temple in the Mandal part of the holy place. This temple was built by Maharaja Ranbir Singh, the second king of the Dogra dynasty, sometime in 1863, which makes it around 160 years old.
The temple premises is located on a land parcel of 16 kanals and 16 marlas. There are 11 Shivlings inside the covered temple enclosure. Ten Shivlings of the same size ( around three feet and six inches in height ) surround the central Shivling of about five feet height. The twelfth shivling is in the area outside the enclosure. We learn from the caretaker-priest that the Shivlings were sourced from Nepal.
Bhagwan Shiv has, very generously, blessed me by permitting me visit most of his holy abodes across the country. So, with great confidence, I can state that this temple is uniquely divine. It successfully gives you a sense of closeness to the divinity that we associate with our gods.
What a great and satisfying sense of proximity to Bhagwan Shiv as you pour the freshly drawn water from the handpump in the temple premises over the 12 shivlings ! It is something to be felt to be believed !
I feel like staying put in the area nearby this temple, forever, so that I can offer fresh ” jal” ( water ) to all the 12 shivlings each day of the rest of my life ! Wow !
That Sunday, we four were the only visitors to the temple upto 1100 hrs as told to us by Karan Singh, the caretaker-cum-pujari of the temple. He also showed us an abandoned stepwell in the temple premises, barely 25 yards away from the sanctum sanctorum. In olden times, the ” jal” offered to the Bhagwan flowed down to this stepwell and the pilgrims bathed in this holy water.
Karan Singh tells us that for more than 50 years this stepwell is in disuse, as told to him by his elders. He himself is around 40 years old. Not many pilgrims visit this temple, he informs us. He stays in a village nearby, about two kilometres from the temple.
Driving away from Ranbireshwar temple, I was engulfed by a sense of utmost dejection. What a lovely place of divine presence in a peaceful and serene location where you are with your Bhagwan without any disturbance, distraction or pilgrims jostling for a peep at the supreme deity. And what pathetic neglect it suffers !
Our next stop was at another temple of Shiv a few kilometres further. Here also, there is a large Shivling and a broken metal bell that, I am told, weighed around five quintals when installed ! The bell was installed by one of the queens of Maharaja Ranbir Singh. We do not know which queen did the honours. The maharaja married five times.
The resonance of this bell used to travel a distance of 13 kilometres, tells Bittu Lambardar, the pujari of the temple. There used to be a children’s school under the temple premises that is not in use now. Why was the school made underground, we know not.
Every month, on the day of Amavasya ( the new moon ), a mela is held around the temple. Thousands of devotees and villagers gather to make purchases from the stalls that are set-up near the temple. Every Amavasya, the temple provides free meals to the visitors as a langar or prasad.
Between these two Shiv temples, holy river Devika turns north and that is how the place is also known as Uttar Vahini. Uttar means “north” and vahini means “the one which flows”.
We retrace our way and arrive at the most famous of the temples in the region called Chhota Kashi. The Sanctum Sanctorum here is the Umapati temple. As we enter the temple, Sanskrit shlokas in praise of Bhagwan Shiv are being recited by a handsome and youthful pujari with joy writ large on his face. He has recognised my wife Seema Anil Sehgal. She had accompanied our daughter who was shooting a short video for the promotion of this sacred circuit, about two months ago.
I hear the hymns in chaste pronunciation. Each syllable I can hear clearly. It gives a magical feeling as I hear the shlokas in front of the deity that is a Swayambhu ( self manifested ) Shivling. This is not the shape of a traditional Shivling as we perceive. It is very different and looks like the hood of a cobra. The Shivling is enclosed in a perennial sprout of crystal clear water that never overflows !
The pujari is named Rajeev Sharma. He is young, pleasant and enthusiastic. Without hinting even once for any remunerative expectations, he tells me how the temple in its present structure came into being.
The Shivling must have been existing at this holy place since times immemorial. There hangs an interesting tale as to how the temple came into being.
In this thick jungle of the yore, in midst of a large number of animals, there lived a female jackal who was a staunch devotee of Bhagwan Shiv. She would visit the Shivling every night. Those days Raja Avantivarman was the ruler of Kashmir with present day Avantipur as his capital.
One night, when he was hunting around Purmandal area, he heard an animal sound in the thick of the night. He shot an arrow towards the sound. He was a good shooter. The arrow hit the jackal in the head and killed her. The jackal was in worship of Shiv at that time.
The king did not know his arrow had killed someone. Years later, Avantivarman was blessed with a daughter. When she was around seven years, she developed a severe and nagging headache that would not leave her. No medicine worked. Those days vaidyas knew jyotish shastra also. They studied the horoscope of the daughter.
The vaidyas told the king how, a few years ago, by mistake he had killed a female jackal who was in worship of Shiv. The king could remember nothing. They told him about the location and said the arrow was still lodged in the head of the jackal. The king must go and remove the arrow. Only then his daughter will get relief from the headache.
With much difficulty, Avantivarman located the jackal and also discovered the Shivling. As he removed the arrow, his daughter was cured of the headache. In gratitude to the benevolence of Shiv, the king built this temple around the Shivling, which we know as Umapati temple.
Avantivarman ruled from 855 to 883 CE. So, we can safely presume that this Umapati temple could be around 1170 years old, although the pujari tells us it is 2500 years old.
Baba Nanak visited this historic temple and the Shivalay on Panj Bakhtar Road, Jammu, during his visit to the region. A numbar of legends are connected to this holy place.
Rishi Kashyap is believed to have performed meditation for a long time, at this place. Bhagwan Shiv was pleased with his devotion and appeared before him. The Rishi requested Shiv to purify the sinners. Bhagwan Shiv then asked his consort Uma (Goddess Parvati) to flow in the land of the Dogras as Devika and ordained that whosoever bathed in this river would become free from any kind of sins. By this method of thinking, the temple may be thousands of years old.
Every year, a three day Purmandal Mela is organized during Shivratri to celebrate the marriage ceremony of Shiv with Goddess Parvati. Entire region of Jammu wears a festive look during this period.
We were shown a wall painting on the outer walls of one of the temples in the premises, depicting the coronation of Maharaja Gulab Singh by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. This painting is so faded by now that you can barely see it.
The temple is a property of the Dharmarth Trust. A direct descendant of Gulab Singh is the head of the Trust that enjoys budget of crores of rupees every year. Surely, this important painting can be restored on top priority. This is Dogra heritage, which must be preserved at all costs.
Dogras must preserve and promote this holy place of Purmandal and the temples it houses. No Dogra who claims to be a Shiv devotee, can afford not to visit Purmandal. If promoted properly, this can be a great religious circuit for the visitors to Jammu, Katra and Ma Vaishno Devi shrine in the Shivalik hills.
Similarly, there are old “dharamshalas” ( Sarai or resting place ) across the river Devika that is invisible most of the times. One of the Sarais was built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the benefactor of Gulab Singh, who was crowned Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir by him ( Ranjit Singh ). I wonder if Dharmarth Trust would like to restore this Sarai to its original glory. This shall be a commendable gesture of gratitude.
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