New Delhi, Mar 28 (IANS): Jammu and Kashmir's Akhnoor sub-division is a historical gamut. Going by history and archaeological findings it is perhaps the most important place in Jammu territory. Quietly sitting on the banks of the river Chenab with the backdrop of Shivaliks, the quaint archaeological site of Akhnoor holds the secrets of ancient India, waiting to be discovered.
'Chen' means moon and 'aab' means river -- and rightly so the moon river has well kept the mystic energy of the region under its divine aura.
Akhnoor or 'Aankhon-ka-Noor' (light of the eyes) was coined by Mughal Emperor Jahangir after his infected eyes were cured with the water of Chenab at Jia Pota Ghat (river bathing point), the western bank of Chenab. A Hindu priest had asked him to wash his eyes with the water and let the river breeze dry them up; to his surprise, his eyes were cured instantly. There is primeval magic in this ancient city, located just 28 km from Jammu.
It is believed to be the city of Virat Nagar from Mahabharata where the Pandavas spent their year of Agyatvas on the banks of Chenab, then known as Chandrabhaga. The Pandava Gufa adjacent to Jia Pota stands with inscriptions as its testimony. Lord Krishna visited them in this cave to plan the war strategies. At Jia Pota, the turbulent Chenab is calm and serene. It is said that when the Virat Nagri warriors returned from the battle of Mahabharata, they thrashed the river water to calm it down so they could rest peacefully.
Jia Pota was selected for these reasons as the foundation of the Dogra Empire by the Punjab Emperor. It gets its name from the Jia Pota tree under which a grand Coronation Ceremony of Raja Gulab Singh was performed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the emperor of Punjab, 200 hundred years ago on 17 June 1822. For the Dogras it marked the first step towards the formation of what would be known as the largest princely state in India. 2022 is the bicentenary year of the foundation of the erstwhile 'Riyasat e Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-wa-Tibet-ha', the vast empire which spanned over 84,743 sq miles. This makes Akhnoor a significant place of political, religious, and spiritual value in North India.
This year Maharaja Gulab Singh Memorial Trust under the trusteeship of Dr. Karan Singh will celebrate the bicentenary of the historic event over a three day period to remember and commemorate their ancestors' glories.
A magnanimous Akhnoor Fort overlooks Jia Pota representing the might of the state which later brought a major political transformation in the region. Recognising the strategic significance of the place, it was Raja Mian Tej Singh who started the construction of the fort made exclusively of bricks of different sizes overlooking the Jia Pota Ghat. Archaeological Society of India (ASI) found relics of 5,000-year-old Harappan and pre-Harappan civilizations here. The Fort and the Palace is a protected national monument under ASI's jurisdiction since 1982. Presently the Fort is undergoing a major renovation to safeguard the heritage of J&K.
Excavations at Akhnoor confirm that it was the last bastion of the Indus Valley Civilization and Manda, the northernmost site from where the Harappans used to collect timber. Just one kilometer upstream from the Ghat are the remains of a Buddhist monastery and Stupa at a site called Ambaran dating back to 1st century A.D. to 7th century A.D. After the Dalai Lama of Tibet visited this Buddhist monastic complex at Ambaran in 2011, the site was in limelight and many Buddhists from foreign lands came to witness it.
The Ambaran-Pamberwan sites revealed an eight-spoke Stupa, proof that it was once the home of Buddhists during the Kushan and Gupta periods. High-quality baked bricks, stone pathways, meditation cells, etc., are the central theme of the architecture, just like at Buddhist archaeological sites of Sanghol in Punjab and Nagarjunakonda in Andhra. This complex acted as a transit camp for the monks and as a propagation ground for Buddhism in the hilly communities. Ambaran village also indicates a Hindu past with its 9th century Trimurti idol made of a single stone. The devotion of the hill communities towards Buddhism verifies the strong influence of the religion since the Kushan era. From Jammu, Buddhism was spread to Kashmir by Majhantika during the reign of 'Ashoka-the-Great'.
With the Prime Minister's initiative of promoting new destinations in the JKUT, Akhnoor will soon get its fair share of deserved publicity as the crown of ancient India. A center for knowledge, like the International Yoga Centre at Mantalai (Udhampur), will be set up in the region focusing on the heritage and spiritual learning of the people before us.
The Ghat has been a prominent center of pilgrimage. According to the legends, Vasuki Nag's son Baba Kahi brought the waters of river Chandrabhaga to the barren region of Akhnoor. During the holy month of Magh, the devotees take a dip in the river at the Ghat to purify themselves of their sins. Sankranti of every month also witnesses a huge rush during the evening Aarti at Jia Pota Ghat.
In the wake of spiritual tourism in the country, the Department of Tourism has started organizing cultural events during major festivals at the Jia Pota Ghat - probably an eyewitness to all civilisations since existence in the Neolithic times. The resurrection of the Pracheen Pandava Gufa, Parshuram Temple, Gurudwara Taposthan Sant Baba Sunder Singh, and an upcoming tourist center nearby is hopeful to attract tourists and reignite the UT's passion for their glorious history.