STONE TEMPLE BUILD BY DOGRA RULERS.
Gadadhar Temple is in the Shergarhi Palace Complex. It was the first-ever temple built by Dogra Rulers in Kashmir. This temple is dedicated to Baghwan Hanumanji. This temple survived the 1885 earthquake without much damage while the fort complex suffered extensive damages. This temple has been repaired and renovated from time to time.
The emergence of a collective body of subjects but with clearly demarcated religious identities was reiterated in the increasingly public celebration of festivals patronized by the Hindu ruling house. As rulers more representative of their subjects, the Dogras provided occasions for the participation of all Kashmiris in their public rituals, such as the celebration of Ankut, the harvest festival. Although this was an agricultural festivity without any specific religious association. The Festival was inaugurated with the carrying in a procession of the idol of Shri Gadadharji made of pure gold weighing 25 Seers from his temple to a marble terrace, where a military guard of honor waited. Here religious- ceremonies were performed in the presence of all the civil and military officers of the state. The chanting of Vedic hymns coupled with the 'touching notes of the national anthem . . . duly impressed upon the people the gorgeousness and dignity of this auspicious occasion and the hearts of all joined in one fervent prayer for the welfare, health, and longevity of His Highness and the Royal family and the prosperity of the state and its subjects. The ceremony was followed by a public feast but one in which separate arrangements were made for the different 'classes of people'. Thus, state officials, Kashmiri Pandits, Sunnis, Shias, Punjabi Hindus, and European ladies and gentlemen would eat in tents kept distinctly apart from each other. The public creation of a body of subjects, therefore, involved a melding of religious particularism with 'national' commonality, a superimposition on a Hindu ruler of a more 'representative' maharaja for whose health and 'longevity all the subjects would pray with one collective heart.
Maharaja Ranbir Singh began the patronage of Kashmiri shrines and deities gradually to embed aspects of the Rama cult in the valley in order to associate Jammu and Kashmir within a common frame of worship. One way in which the Dogras did this was by erecting temples dedicated to Vaishnavite, especially Rama, worship on Kashmiri soil. Among the prominent ones were the Gadadharji temple dedicated to Hanuman and the Ranbirswamiji (Raghunath Temple) temple, both in Srinagar. Along with the temples came the celebration of religious festivals honoring Rama, such as Rama Naumi (Rama's birthday), and Dussehra, celebrating Rama's victory over the demon king Ravana. These festivals had never been celebrated in Kashmir before the Dogras. The composition of the mahatmya for Khir Bhawani provided Ranbir Singh with a fresh occasion to superimpose the Rama cult on Kashmiri's beliefs and to do so by enlisting the help of Kashmiri Pandits funded by the Dharmarth Trust. Thus, in the mahatmya, which was completed in the reign of Pratap Singh, Khir Bhawani was described as 'the one who grants Ramarajya. . . and has made Satidesa her abode. By the time Pratap Singh ascended the gaddi (throne), the religious boundaries of the Hindu faith united the provinces of Jammu and Kashmir in a state that not only had a Hindu ruler but that itself also had a distinctly Hindu identity.
It is quite remarkable how the association of the state with the religion of the ruler was still quite evident in this emblematic representation of it. In fact, although Pratap Singh had declared in 1885 that he would treat all his subjects 'without any distinction of race or rank, creed or color, this was by no means- to suggest that either the ruler or the ruled would lose their religious affiliations. The Kalash of this 8 cornered temple was plated with 2000 tolas (20 Kgs) of pure gold. For its maintenance, a special tax was levied on all rice production which was equal to 1 Pav (235gm) per Kherwar (75Kg) produced.
The Main Murti (Idol) weighing 25 Seers of Pure Gold was taken away by the Maharaja when he fled to Jammuon the night of 26th Oct 1947.
Reference:
Hindu Rulers Muslim Subjects by Mridu Rai
Heir Apparent An Autobiography by Karan Singh
Koshur Encyclopedia Vol-2, J&k Cultural Academy
Indian Pages & Pictures: Rajputana, Sikkim, The Punjab & Kashmir by M.M.Shoemaker.
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