Sheikh Hilal

SHOPIAN

“A per our knowledge Kousar Nag was never a religious pilgrimage destination although it is holy for us but being residents of nearby Shopian town I have never heard of any religious Yatra going to that place even none of our elders have told us about any kind of Yatra before our migration,” this was stated by Vijay Shankar Lahori, a local Pandit who had come here to participate in a yearly Poja at Nagbal.

However, he added that there were people from both the communities who would go to Kausar Nag for excursions and picnics.

Lahori was here along with hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits to perform the yearly pooja in Devgam Nagbal Temple of Shopian.

A well known academician from the area Jawahar Lal who is in his 70s said, “In Nilmath Puraan this is mentioned that Kausar Nag is a Vishnu Paad (mark of holy foot of vishnu) and people at individual level were visiting this place without publicizing the religion, but I have never ever heard about any annual Yatra to Kousarnag.”

“People used to go for excursions there. I too have visited Kausar Nag thrice, once as a student and twice as a teacher with students before migration. Even my father never told me that there was any Yatra for a specific time,” Jawahar said.

He said, “As our Muslim brothers can offer Nimaaz at any clean place so can we. We should not make it a point of prestige between two communities who want to live in communal harmony. It will never happen that a common Kashmiri Muslim will stop us from any religious activity but to give a religious colour to any controversial issue is not good”, Jawahar added.

Chand ji khar, another pandit from Kulgam who had come to Devgam, Nagbal, termed the whole episode as ‘political’. “Some people for their personal as well as political gains use both communities. If someone wants to go to Kausar Nag what is the need to publicize it? This is merely to gain political mileage. These people have nothing to do with religion and it hardly matters to them whether the Yatra would take place or not they have their objectives and I think they got that.”

 

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