But as this “Kashmirapura vasini” left, I wondered, what about her home on her land, Kashmirapura. My recent visits to Kashmir did hurt me to see the state of certain heritage structures that were once living temples. But I hadn’t met this goddess of learning there. Not because I didn’t want to, but because none of us who would want to, could. For, her place, the Sharada Peetha, the seat of learning, lies in what is today Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. And the last time someone undertook a yatra (pilgrimage) to the shrine was in 1948 when Swami Nand Lal, a sage from Kashmir, who initially had his ashram at Sharda town visited it. He had to move his ashram from Sharda to Tikker village after the partition, and is said to have also brought with him some idols, which are said to be found even now at Devibal at Baramulla.

Sharada Peetha’s Wikipedia entry tells you the grim reality. It “is an abandoned Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning along the Neelam River in the village of Sharda...”. This is because no one has been able to visit the shrine post-partition.

Efforts to revive the pilgrimage to this centre, however, have stayed on. It has been three years now since a group of civilians from Kashmir formed a group, the Save Sharda Committee Kashmir, founded and headed by Ravinder Pandita, has been seeking access to the shrine. Last week, yet again, they approached the Ministry of Home Affairs for it. They want special permits to be issued to Hindu pilgrims for using the cross-Line of Control (LoC) bus to visit the ancient shrine.

The committee has been relentless in its pursuit of late for access to this shrine, which it sees as part of the larger dream of “reestablishing Sharda desh, of which only Jammu and Kashmir is left today”.

The committee also met the Minister of State Jitendra Singh last week and apprised him about their demand. “We have again submitted our request for a special permit so that Hindu and Sikhs can use the LoC bus to visit their respective religious places in the PoK. The Ministry of External Affairs will also be approached so that they can again take up the issue with their counterparts in Pakistan,” said Pandita, as quoted by The Tribune.