By Omkar Dattatray
Poll manifesto of both NC and PDP seems to be the documents/manifestoes full of communal tones and seems like that of an enemy country and both manifestoes underline that if their governments come to power, they will restore the controversial article 370 and statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Unfortunately, the NC manifesto shows that the National Conference has already changed the names of historical Shankeracharya Hillocks and Hari Parbat Hill Fort to Islamic names Takht-e-Suleiman and Koh-i-Maran and its government will connect both with a Gandola Service.
This amounts to misrepresentation, misinterpretation and distortion of the history of Jammu and Kashmir. It also leads to anti-Hindu and anti-religious attack on the Hindu religious sites and thus such intentions of NC which boasts of secularism and its secular credentials becomes suspect. The Indian National Congress which has decided to form a pre-poll alliance with National Conference-NC and Congress president and the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi should clear its stand on the rechristening of the historical and religious sites. Otherwise the people will consider that Congress which is a Pan India and national party is in collusion with NC in its nefarious and ulterior designs to change the names of historical and religious sites which is unacceptable and it only shows the radicalized mind of the oldest political party of J&K which NC has the distinction of being. Such renaming of the historical and religious places will give bad name to the mainstream party NC. The design, intention and keeping it in the manifesto of NC speaks volumes about the communal bent of mind of NC. One fails to understand as to what it wants to achieve by keeping such anti-history, anti-religious and communal item in the NC's poll manifesto for the crucial assembly elections?
It may be for appeasement politics and for gaining the support of the majority Muslim community and for placating the majority community. To distort history and to misrepresent it is untenable and the intention to rename historical and religious sites is pure communal and sectarian agenda which NC wants to fulfill once it comes to power after the crucial assembly elections. It is travesty and trivializing as well as misrepresenting the history to propose to change the name of Srinagar's Shankracharya hillock as ‘'Takht-i-Sulaiman'' and Hariparbat hill as Kohi-i-Maran.. By doing so, the NC wants to erase the original names of historical and religious places of prominence. The election manifesto has rightly been criticized by the BJP and its former MLC and spokesman G. L. Raina who has strongly criticized the NC for its proposal to rename the Shankaracharya and Hari Parbat hillocks in Srinagar in its manifesto for 2024 assembly elections. Raina has termed the move as “atrocious'' and accused NC of double speak and double standards. NC is playing communal and emotional card to communalizing the situation before elections and it is trying to blackmail the people by such moves and strives to gain Muslim votes. But NC and its leaders should know that by renaming historical sites and religious places, it cannot erase the true history. For the NC and the general public let me show the real history of Hari Parbat hill and Shankaracharya hillocks as follows—Hari Parbat is considered sacred by Kashmiri Pandits. According to Hindu mythology and Kashmir history, the area of Hari Parbat was inhabited by a daemon –asura named Jalodbhava. People went to pray to goddess Parvati for help. She took the form of a bird and dropped a pebble on the asura's head. The pebble grew larger and larger until it crushed the daemon. Hari Parbat is revered as that pebble and Parvati is worshipped under the name Sharika, its temple occupying the middle part of the western slope of the hill. She is depicted as having 18 arms and sitting in Shri Chakra. Another legend is that there were two demons named Chand & Mund and they lived in Kashmir valley. Chand conceded himself in water near the present location of the Hari and Mund was present somewhere above the present Dalgate. Both Chand and Mund together endangered the people of the valley, to safeguard the people God appeared as ‘Shakti', who took the form of a Hari—Myna and flew to Sumer and brought pebble in her beak and threw it on Chand. That pebble transformed into and grew as a mountain, crumpled the demon and was later termed Hari Parbat.
Hari Parbat Fort is a historical fortification atop the Hari Parbat hill in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. The fort was built during the late 18th century/early 19th century by Atta Mohammad Khan, Governor of Kashmir under Durrani rule. The fort's rampart dates earlier to the late 16th century, from a non-extant fortification built by Mughal emperor Akbar. Hari Parbat is a sacred hillock which can be seen from about twenty miles away from the western side of the Srinagar city. This hill is considered very holy as it is the permanent abode of Jagatamba Shrika Bhagwati –the presiding deity of majority of KP's. Sharika Devi is believed to be the incarnation of goddess Durga. There are many shrines located on all sides of Hariparbat and amongst them, the Chakreshvar shrine perhaps, is the holiest one. The hillock of Hariparbat has been a place of worship from ancient times. The presiding Goddess has 18 arms and is regarded as the reigning deity –Isht Devi of the Srinagar city.
The Shankaracharya Temple, abode the Gopadri Hills, is dedicated to Lord Shiva, is the oldest temple and ancient pilgrim centre in Kashmir. Devotees believe that the temple was built in 200 BC by the Maurya Prince Jaluka. Since then, several kings have reconstructed the temple because it was destroyed by the invaders several times. It is the history that Adi Shankaracharya had also visited the temple and paid obeisance to Lord Shiva not long time ago and so the temple is known as Shankaracharya temple. The Temple on Gopadri hill–1000 feet in height in Srinagar is also known as the Jyoteshwar temple. One can experience the scenic beauty of the city from the temple. Pas-Bahar is another name for this temple given by the followers of Buddhism. Lord Shiva is the main deity of this temple, represented by in the form of Shivalinga in the sanctum sanctorum. The temple is an important pilgrimage place for the Kashmiri Hindus and is considered the oldest temple in Kashmir. Though exact date of the construction of this temple is not known, people believe that Jaluka, the son of the Maurya Emperor Ashoka, built it in 200 BC. Sultan Skindar, the ruler of Kashmir destroyed the Shiva Lingam of the temple and several other deities. Later, different rulers at different times restored the temple because of the natural disasters and several attacks. Devotees believe the bakti of Lord Shiva spread from this region. Hence, this temple is an important site of Shivism. Additionally, Adi Shankaracharya composed the spiritual text, Saundarya Lahiri, on this hill. The temple has great architectural importance too, as it represented the Kashmiri Shikhara style architecture.
Anyway, NC and its leaders should not distort and misrepresent history. They should not tinker with the historical facts for gaining few votes. NC should desist from spreading communal feelings and adhere to secular values if it really has. In the end it can be said, that there is nothing in name as a rose smells the same if called by any other name. NC leaders should understand that renaming moves will not hide the true history of Kashmir. Their move to rename Hari Parbat and Shankaracharya hillocks as their poll manifesto mentioned, may backfire on NC and it will belies their claims of being a secular party.
Author is a columnist, social and KP activist.
