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Devi ka mandir – a faded reminder of Pindi’s past
The Kohati Bazaar is home to one of Rawalpindi’s most beautiful heritage buildings – the Kalyan Das temple. The temple was built by the famous Suri family, who lived in Rawalpindi before partition.
Today, the Suris are mistakenly remembered as the Nuri family, because the inscription outside their family home, the Suri Mansion in Kartarpura, was changed after partition.
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| The entrance to the Suri Mansion, which is located just off the Banni food street in Kartarpura. The inscription on the building’s façade was changed to ‘Nuri’ after partition. |
The beautiful structure, known commonly as devi ka mandir, has been converted into the Govt Qandeel Secondary School for the Blind. Construction on the temple began in the 1850s and was completed in 1880. In the 1950s, the Evacuee Property Trust Board took over the building and in 1973 the school was established.
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| The temple is not properly maintained and, as a result, this historic building has fallen victim to the vagaries of nature and the apathy of locals, with garbage littered around the premises. |
In 2005, the grandson of Kalyan Das and Rajya Sabha MP, the late Lalit Suri visited the temple and his family mansion and promised to contribute for the development of the school there.
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| The walls of the temple are decorated with images and busts of Hindu deities, such as Krishna and Ganesh, which still retain their beauty despite generations of neglect. |
It is said that Hindu yatris from the South heading to Srinagar and Kashmir for the Amarnath Yatra used the temple – which has a pond and rooms for lodging – as an overnight stop.
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— Text and Photos by Shiraz Hassan
Published in Dawn, Aug 2nd , 2014
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Comments (47) Closed
Lets preserve this historic Mandir for future generation. Who knows in the future there will be peace in the subcontinent we can visit each other religious place.
This is disgusting. Pakistan should look to preserve heritage and not just mosques.
Most temples in pakistan are in bad state. I guess this is how hinduism is evicted from pakistan
Mandir and other historical sites belonging to Hindu and Sikhs communities should be preserved. When we preserve their past we are preserving our own past as at one time were one.
@rudra Although I agree that most temples in Pakistan are in bad shape, but so are lot of islamic historic buildings. The problem in Pakistan is corruption and our government is not interested in preserving much of our history
@salman cheema Great thinking bro..... kudos.
@salman cheema , Being an Indian I salute you sir for your thoughts. the bottom line is , if someone is expecting the people from other religion to respect his religion , he/she must learn how to respect other religions .
I am suprised that the temple is still not been razed by the authorities.
The most obvious act of most newly insecure converts is to deface, desecrate and destroy anything that reminds them of their past.
Why are historic mosques maintained in a much better condition in India?
Why this lip service? I mean your headline writer can't even spell 'Mandir"
Heritage structures , religious or others need to be protected , as ,they are the pages of the book , through which History of journey of Human Race can be studied well .
If on the other hand we look in to the issue purely from Economic point of view this may be just wastage of the resources .
Probably we may search for some alternative economically viable solution .... if needed be , they may used for non religious purposes too ( first priority --- education ) . And then the revenue earned from them may be used for their up keeping .
If we go in for the status of heritage religious places belong to minorities communities in Pakistan are concerned , it seems to be appreciable . At least that is what can be gathered from the reports in media , conventional and non conventional ( social ) . Thanks to people like Shiraz Hassan and Reema Abbasi
Heritage structures , religious or others need to be protected , as ,they are the pages of the book , through which History of journey of Human Race can be studied well .
If on the other hand we look in to the issue purely from Economic point of view this may be just wastage of the resources .
Probably we may search for some alternative economically viable solution .... if needed be , they may used for non religious purposes too ( first priority --- education ) . And then the revenue earned from them may be used for their up keeping .
If we go in for the status of heritage religious places belong to minorities communities in Pakistan are concerned , it seems to be appreciable . At least that is what can be gathered from the reports in media , conventional and non conventional ( social ) . Thanks to people like Shiraz Hassan and Reema Abbasi
@salman cheema Funny, I have a sikh friend who also has the same surname Cheema. Any explanation?
@M. khan Most Pakistanis believe they are the ancestors of Arabs. Hence they call them Bakistani.
@sfoman A nation who does not preserve its past, has no future.
About 300 years ago, an Indian king from the South visited London Hyde Park. He established a shelter for the horses in Hyde Park. Today, after three hundred years, the British still remembers the king and they has put a stone there where the story is told for the public.
''When you understand why you don't believe in other people's Gods, you will understand why I don't believe in yours" - Albert Einstein
Enough of such lop service, things are bad for minorities and will definitely get worse - so stop such crocodile tears.
@salman cheema God willing, your wishes will be fulfilled. I am looking for the day when better sense will prevail on both the sides of Redcliff line and peace and harmony will prevail
@rudra Yeah I can certainly remember what good care India took of the historic Babari Mosque. Shiv Sena's angelic workers were in the forefront of its restoration while the local and the federal governments as well as the police conveniently looked the other way.
@Saad(DXB) Please! You are on very very thin ice. Don't compare ...
@arif My surname is Syal (India) and was recently researching about our ancestory (from Jhelum, Gujrat) and found not one but atleast 100 same surnames (syal, bakshi, chaowdhary, suri, mallick...)and did not find it surprising when found how things progressed, from how it started around 900 years back till date !! All I can say is we had such a glorious past as a big community, being ruined by opportunistic rulers and politicians of all times !
@M. khan Salute to you Sir. I wish all people of South Asia should think that once we were one. We divided our home but our hearts should still be one. We should feel happy with one and other and feel sorry for any trouble to our other brother. There is famous lines from a Punjabi song....... Tenu taap chare main hooka, teri meri ik Jindri. ( If you got fever or pain, I feel it as our is one life. Thanks.
@guddi - Did you even know what Albert Einstein meant? He didn
Allah aur Rasool ka farmaan ishq hai, Gautam aur Masih ka armaan ishq hai......... Malik ne har insaan ko insaan banaya, humbe use Hindu aur Musalmaan banaya..... so wrote Sahir Ludhiyanvi. If we just sit and ponder the wisdom of these words, we would be better humans. We have to learn from the mistakes of the past and move forward for better future.
@sfoman Wrong. Hindu temples are taken over by land grabbers, and protests by Hindus do not have any effect at all. Idols are literally thrown out. One temple in FATA was converted into butcher shop.
@John because secularism does not mean "voided of respect for religion". It means respect for "all" religions.
@arif so many last name exist in both community as once they were of same fold......................common pl this is age of 2014
@Saad(DXB) you are entirely wrong. bharatvarsh is the fold you came from. it has its own shortcommings but still...........
@Saad(DXB) police dont always look other way in india. its little different than pakistan.they have minority in force too not easy to look otherway.
@arif It's a common punjabi surname like Rana, Bhatti etc.
Temple ??? in Islamic Republic of Pakistan ????...It is high time we need to think about ourself.
@Onkar Sharma I wish everybody hears these words, not only in India or Pakistan but everywhere in the world.
What a nice little charade. The temple has already been converted into a school, and apparently there is redemption in now maintaining it.
Minorities are generally not treated as well as the majority anywhere, but that does not automatically mean that they are treated the same everywhere. For all its faults, India treats its minorities far better than either Pakistan or Bangladesh. You know how you know? Just look at the demographic statistics:
India: 10% muslims after independence, now over 13% Pakistan: 20% hindus after independence, now 2% Bangladesh: 20% hindus after independence, now 9%
It is obvious that ethnic cleansing of this kind (kidnapping, murder, forced conversion, blasphemy laws, property laws) will continue unabated, so who cares if you preserve this or not.
@TRVERMA yeah right. In USA I am always attacked by Indian Hindus because of being Pakistani. I also had to hear that my country Pakistan is actually a failed state. By reading your comment I would just say, Easier said than done...why don't you start asking your fellow Hindu brothers to represent Indian hindu community professionally abroad.
Pakistan has the right to destroy whatever it wants within its Jurisdiction why should we complain I feel all minorities should flee the country or get themselves killed. after all pakistan was formed For the muslims by the muslims. there is no future of a country having such an intolerant society.
Nice article
@Allaisa Perhaps you should direct your anger towards the dept. Responsible with a letter to the concerned Dept. The writter is atleast bringing it to our attention as a journalist. Kudos for that!
@gary LOL. Where did that come from. My ancesterors were perhaps the hordes who invaded india centuries ago? Certainly was no Arab as is true for most pakistanis. Baluchi's migh have some Arab ancestory but only some of them. Would be interesting to look into it given the DNA technology we have today and the fact that these sub-groups marry within their groups limiting genetic heterogeneity. Any one interested in an anthropology thesis?
@gary We try as besta s we can. Wish we had more resources!
And Muslims complain about "occupation" !!!
@Neeraj ....first destruct minorities, and when there will be no minority, then start destroying each other ! Both these actions can also be done simultaneously at times as it is happening now.It is not easy to remove hatred and jealously from the heart even after your target is dead.
@Saad(DXB) One swallow does not make summer
@rudra True
@Amar Singh Couldn't have said it better.
No religion allows anyone to destroy the place of worship.