SRINAGAR, March 23: A new temple of Goddess Sharada was opened in Teetwal in
Kupwara district of north Kashmir on Wednesday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah virtually inaugurated the temple and a Dharamshala.
The new temple forms part of a Kashmiri Pandit plan for the revival of pilgrimage
to Sharada Peeth across the LoC. It has been proposed to form a corridor to
Sharada Peeth on the model of Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate Hindu devotees
and scholars visit the ancient temple and centre of learning.
The Sharada temple has been built on the banks of Kishanganga river in Teetwal
at the initiative of the Sringeri Sankaracharya mutt in Karnataka. The Sringeri
mutt donated a panchaloha idol of goddess Sharada, a replica of Kashmiri Sharada
Peeth (in occupied Kashmir) for installation at the temple.
In ancient times, Teetwal used to be one of the starting points for the annual
Yatra to the 'Sarvajna Peetham' (Sharada Peeth).
The Sharada Peeth is a ruined Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning located
in the Neelum Valley of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, 10 km from the LoC. It was
the most prominent temple university in the ancient Indian subcontinent.
Adi Sankara is said to have opened the southern door of the temple and ascended
the 'Sarvajna Peetham'.
The Sankaracharya of Sringeri mutt, Sri Bharati Tirth Swamigal, is likely to
consecrate the Teetwal temple in May. The mutt is headed by younger Sankaracharya
Vidhushekhara Bharati. The Sharadamba temple at Sringeri is a famous Hindu temple
dedicated to goddess Saraswati, founded by Adi Sankaracharya in the 8th century
AD. This (Sringeri Sharada peetham) forms one of the five Sankara mutts Adi
Sankara established in the far corners of the ancient indian subcontinent. The
four other peethams are at Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu (Kanchi Kamakoti peetham),
Puri in Odisha (Govardhan peetham), Dwaraka in Gujarat (Sharada Peetham) and
Badrikashram (Joshi Mutt) in Uttarakhand (Jyotir peetham).
