Kashmir celebrates Kheer Bhawani mela
Hundreds of Pandits, who had migrated from the Valley after eruption of militancy in 1989, visited the shrine on the annual festival (Jyestha Ashtami) and held special prayers.
Amid the hymns and bells, men and women, young and old, paid obeisance at the temple dedicated to the goddess Rajnya Devi, popularly known as Kheer Bhawani.
According to District Administration office Ganderbal 35,000 people will pay their respects in the temple.
The devotees offered milk and “kheer” (pudding) to the sacred spring surrounded by the Chinar trees within the temple complex. The devotees were also showering rose petals and lighting earthen lamps in the temple.
Pandits living in Jammu and other parts of the country visit the Kheer Bhawani mela annually.
Governor, N N Vohra and Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed have felicitated the people on the eve of Kheer Bhawani Mela.
In his message, the Governor observed that this festival is a shining example of communal harmony and brotherhood, which are the hallmark of the glorious pluralistic ethos of J&K in the centuries past.
Chief Minister also extended warm greetings to the people, particularly Kashmiri Pandit community, on the eve of Mela and prayed for peace and prosperity of the people of the State and the country.
Meanwhile, a large number of Kashmiri Pandits on Tuesday left Jammu for Kashmir valley to take part in the Mela.
The devotees of the Goddess Mata Kheer Bhawani fast and gather here on the eighth day of the full moon in the month of May/ June (The Annual Festival, on 26th May 2015) when, according to belief, the Goddess changes the color of the spring's waters, which are ascribed to different manifestations of the Goddess Mata Kheer Bhawani. Turning of the colour into shades of black is supposed to signal approaching disaster.
Some people say that before the exodus of the Pandits (Kashmiri Brahmans) from Kashmir the colour had turned completely black in 1990!
According to the legend, there were 360 springs surrounding the main spring but all of these seem to have disappeared as the land has become marshy all around.
In the last half century, the pilgrimage has become the most important for Kashmiri Brahmans who come here from all over the Jammu & Kashmir State and even from outside.
(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)
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