[Reader-list] Kashmir’s only Jain temple burnt down

[Pawan Durani]

Dear Shuddha ,

I think now it must have been clear to you that the Temple was in the
premises of a hotel in Kashmir .

If you still have doubts , if the temple really existed , pls check
the Kashmir Despatch report which acknowledges that Temple did exist .
And I am sure you have enough knowledge that who runs Kashmir Despatch
from across the border.

Need some more gyan , pls do revert.

Pawan

On 8/21/10, shuddha at sarai.net <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> I'd like to thank Shri Aditya Raj Kaul for sharing this 'developing' story.
> I
> am sure it will 'develop' further. I am curious to know where exactly in
> Srinagar, Kashmir, this 'Jain Temple' is, or more correctly, if the story is
> to
> be believed, was, located? I am sure it would be easy to find a street name,
> an
> exact address, even a photograph of the location. Perhaps we could be
> pointed
> to a link (no doubt there must be a niche on a website like 'Flickr' where
> it
> would be documented) where we could see with our own eyes an image of the
> sad
> and unfortunate destruction of this sole Jain Temple in the Kashmir valley.
>
> Interestingly, the first report of this alleged incident came to light in a
> website called 'Desh Gujarat'. I would advise everyone to take a close look
> at
> Desh Gujarat to observe the origins of this developing story. The report in
> Desh Gujarat is dated 11th August 2010. Which means, contrary to the report
> forwarded to us by Shri Aditya Raj Kaul, it must have occured, not on
> Saturday,
> the 14th of August, but even earlier, at least before the 11th of August .
>
> See the following link
> http://deshgujarat.com/2010/08/11/7-jain-idols-rescued-from-srinagar-jain-mandir-brought-to-ahmedabad/
>
> But it isn't just time travel from one date to another alone that makes this
> story interesting. There seems to be an indication of some space travel as
> well.
>
> The 'Desh Gujarat' Report says :
>
> "The Sunni islamist anti-nationals of Kashmir, recently destroyed a Jain
> Mandir
> located on the banks of Alaknanda river in Kashmir valley’s Srinagar city.
> However, before they could do any harm to the idols, tha Jain Mandir’s
> priest
> took the idols out of the Mandir and shifted them to safer place."
>
> All very well. The only problem is a minor Geographical one. There happen to
> be
> two places called Srinagar. One is in the Kashmir valley, and the other is
> in
> the Pauri-Garhwal region of Uttaranchal/Uttarakhand. The Alakananda River
> flows, not through Srinagar in Kashmir, (where the river is the Jhelum) but
> through Srinagar in Pauri Garhwal. And there is indeed a Jain Temple located
> by
> the banks of the Alaknanda in Srinagar, in Pauri Garhwal.
>
> see - http://www.jainheritagecentres.com/Uttarpradesh/Srinagar.htm
>
> Now, either the Alaknanda River has travelled a few hundred kilometres north
> west from Pauri Garhwal to the Kashmir valley, across the Pir Panjal,
> carrying
> the Jain Temple with it, or there is something a bit fishy in this story. I
> am
> perefectly willing to believe that the first is the case, but I would like
> some
> convincing evidence of such a marvel of the engineering sciences, and I am
> curious to know why, we did not know of such a feat earlier. If indeed, it
> had
> taken place.
>
> Could it be, that a bit of imaginative reporting (travelling like a bad game
> of
> 'Chinese Whispers', from before the 11th of August to the 14th of August,
> and
> from hearsay to 'Desh Gujarat' to the Times News Network, jumping across the
> inconvenient obstacles of space and time) has transposed the fate of a Jain
> temple in one Srinagar on to the map of another?
>
> I remain curious, and as always, interested,
>
> Shuddha
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:58:10 +0530 Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com>
> wrote
>
>> Kashmir’s only Jain temple burnt down Idols Safe As Priest, Sniffing
>> Trouble, Hid Them In Hotel Hemali Chhapia & Mansi Choksi | TNN
>> The Times of India
>>
>> Mumbai: Two years ago, a family from Mumbai built a temple in the lap of
>> snow-capped mountains miles away in Srinagar. The derasar (temple), carved
>> out of teak, decked with marigolds and installed with three idols of Jain
>> tirthankars, was set up for the thousands of Jains who streamed into the
>> volatile region every holiday season.
>>
>>     But last Saturday, the only Jain temple in the Kashmir Valley was
>> burnt
>> down by a mob. “It is now ground zero. There is nothing left,’’ says
> Jyotin
>> Doshi, chairman of Gem, a travel agency in Mumbai, whose family built the
>> temple.
>>
>>     A shaken-up Doshi recalls speaking to the priest, the lone caretaker
>> of
>> the temple, on the night the violence erupted. “There was curfew in the
>> Valley but he noticed people gathering outside the temple,’’ he says. The
>> priest, who is disturbed and has now returned to his village near
>> Lucknow, quickly
>> gathered the three idols, which were sculpted out of panchdhatu (an alloy
>> of
>> gold, silver, copper, iron and zinc), and hid them in a hotel. “Three
>> hours
>> later, the mob struck and destroyed what we had built,’’ says Doshi.
>>
>>     Two members of Doshi’s team from Mumbai, Apurva Bhansali and Jiten
>> Dharod, flew to Srinagar the next day when the curfew was lifted. They
>> packed the idols in cardboard boxes and flew to Sabarmati in Gujarat.
>> “Before the two had reached, the news had spread in Sabarmati. When the
>> idols were installed in Chintamani Parshwanath derasar there, there were
>> more than 14,000 people who came for darshan,’’ he says.
>>
>>     Doshi says his family set up the temple to realize his 68-year-old
>> mother’s dream. “There are many Jain travellers who can’t start their
> day
>> without offering prayers. She believed that the Valley needed a Jain
>> temple
>> for them,’’ he says.
>>
>>     After news spread, the Doshi family has been flooded with support from
>> the community. “We don’t want anything out of this. Such an issue is
> easily
>> made into a political controversy. We only want closure through
>> nonviolence.
>> Our idols are safe and that’s what matters,’’ he says.
>> The Doshis, a family from Mumbai, had set up the derasar in Srinagar two
>> years ago to realize the wishes of their mother, who wanted to build a
>> temple for Jains. After the shrine was destroyed in violence, they
>> secretly
>> took the idols to Gujarat
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