Still standing…
Nagarparkar where ancient Hindu, Muslim and Jain places of worship should be protected and renovated are left to the mercy of vandals and the vagaries of the weather
By Urooj Zia
The Sardaro Temple in Qasbo, Sindh, is one of the two important pilgrimage points for Hindus, not just from Sindh in Pakistan but also Rajasthan and Gujarat in India. The other point is the Hinglaj (Kaali) Mata temple in Hingol, Balochistan. Devotees from India, however, have been denied their religious duty for several decades now, primarily due to “security issues” – Qasbo in district Nagarparkar lies less than 15 kilometres from Pakistan’s border with India, while Hingol lies in the troubled Balochistan province.
Nagarparkar and its surrounding areas are home to a wide range of Hindu and Jain temples, most of which date back to at least 2,000 to 2,500 years. Unfortunately, most of these historic pieces of architecture have now fallen into ruin – their facades eroded by the dry desert winds, their structures severely damaged by earthquakes. In addition, visitors have plundered and vandalised them. Yet they continue to stand, mute testimonies to a bygone era of opulence.
Dotted with green and blue peacocks and peahens, the Sardaro temple, devoted to Shiva, is testimony to the historic religious tolerance of Sindh. An old caretaker who lives alone there attends to the temple. Muhammad Yousuf, a local blind singer, and his troupe enthral visitors. Yousuf beautifully renders a variety of genres – from Bhajans and Vedic extracts to Sufi Kalaam. Mesmerising is the sight when peacocks in the temple spread their majestic tails and start dancing as Yousuf begins to sing. Singer and peacocks sway to the music as though with a common soul; one stops only when the other does.
A couple of kilometres from Qasbo, is a temple atop a hill, dedicated to Durga Mata (referred to locally as Sherawali Mata). Initially, this was just a cave with a small statue dedicated to Durga. Then one day, a woman came here to pray for a child; she promised to build a larger statue if her wish was fulfilled. She had a baby after that, and came back to build what you see today, explain area residents. A majestic statue of Durga Mata, surrounded by flowers and other offerings, stands in a cave at the hilltop.
Near the cave is a smaller structure, enshrining a pair of slippers. “This was built by another woman who had her wish fulfilled. She had promised to walk home barefoot from the temple. This is the point where she began her journey home,” says one local.
A map of Sindh shows that the temple is situated in the south-eastern ‘corner’ of the province – sitting on the hill near the temple, therefore, one can look right across over the India-Pakistan border into Gujarat on one side, and Rajasthan on the other. Photography is unfortunately banned in the area.
The first standing structure that one sees between Islamkot (formerly Salamkot) and Nagarparkar is the Jain temple in Ghori. This structure is in relatively better shape, although the backyard and some inner domes have begun to fall apart. Flowers carved out of marble adorn the pillars in the front courtyard of the temple, and the walls are decorated with carvings of deities. Even today, unknown caretakers light incense sticks on the various altars, although the statues that once adorned them are long gone. Domes inside the temple tell pictorial tales of royalty and myths of kings and queens; demons and angels; and ancient battles. Epithets in Gujarati, ostensibly added relatively recently, attempt to keep these tales alive, even as the pictures themselves have begun to fade into oblivion. The inner sanctums of the temple, drenched in darkness, are now home to schools of bats, while the outer domes are resting places for flocks of pigeons.
Interestingly, there is an underground tunnel in the outer court of this temple, which, according to legend, connects to some temple in Nagarparkar city. It is said to have once served as an escape route to priests from the temple, but no one has attempted to navigate it in recent times.
In Virawah, around 15 minutes by road from Ghori, is a temple which is said to be a small-scale replica of a similar structure in Kathmandu, Nepal. Another, even smaller replica stands in the heart of Nagarparkar city. Minutely carved pillars, painted with green and blue dye marks, the Virawah temple is now devoid of all statues and altars.
Much of the damage was done right after the destruction of the Babri Mosque in India, locals say. They add, while a lot of the gold statues were plundered, some were whisked off and saved by Hindus in the vicinity. Apparently, they’re still safe and adorn altars in some of their homes. But the locals won’t disclose which ones though as they don’t want them taken away – because then they will be lost for good.
Virawah was once a prosperous seaport in the days when the Arabian Sea (‘Gulf de Sindhu Sea’ as ancient French maps term it) came right up to it, and the Rann of Kutch did not exist. Over time, the town was reclaimed by the desert. Local residents say that during excavations near the temple a decade or so ago, a bulldozer operator unearthed gold statues and utensils. Excited by his find, he abandoned his job and fled with the loot, hoping to make a fortune. No one knows what happened to the unearthed treasures or the bulldozer operator. Other versions of the tale differ only in the details of what was unearthed and by whom. Some claim that government functionaries were complicit in the robbery; others claim unimaginable treasures.
The Bhodesar Mosque is another interesting structure in the region. Its architecture resembles that of a temple, with places for altars and statues. The altar in the centre holds a copy of the Quran. One may think that this was a temple that was annexed and converted into a mosque, but that is not so. It was always a mosque, says a local, adding: back then, mosques were built to look like temples to assimilate with the local culture.
More recently carved plaques were added to the walls of the mosque with Sindhi translations of verses from the Quran. The road outside is dotted with old and new graves ostensibly of residents from the nearby areas. This is one of the few regions in Pakistan where Islam is a minority religion – most of the locals are Hindu; some from the lower castes converted to Christianity some generations ago.
While Jainism has completely disappeared from the area, the Jain Bhodesar temple nearby bears testimony to their former hold over the region. Situated atop a high platform, accessed by a long flight of uneven stone steps, the temple was initially built on the shores of the mighty ‘Gulf de Sindhu Sea’. An earthquake a couple of years ago all but destroyed the temple dome and made the structure extremely dangerous. Sadly, no attempts are being made to restore this historical heritage, despite a blue government board outside, which claims that the temple is a “protected monument” – albeit one which, like many others in the area, has been left to the mercy of vandals and the vagaries of the weather.