A Trip to Shahadra, Rajouri

Life is full of adventures and it is the innate human natureto visit and explore new places.  It was6th July 2019, I along with my cousin brother, Bilal Ahmad Sofi, his daughterNadiya (10) and my two aunts travelled from my maternal home Shopian toShahadra, in district Rajouri. We started our journey at 9 AM through thehistoric Mughal road. The road passes through Hurpora Wildlife Sanctuary, wherethe Markhor goats can be seen. On way to Rajouri the first historic place ofattraction we saw is Ali Abad Sarai. It is a historical rest house in the PirPanjal Range and is said to have been constructed by the Emperor Jahangir inthe sixteenth century. It was one of the 14 halting stations constructedbetween Lahore and Srinagar along the Mughal Road. An Iranian engineer, AliMardan Khan was in charge of the construction of this Sarai aided by localchieftains. The Mughal Sarai is still intact where Royal Mughal caravan aftercrossing Pir Panjal Range would halt for few days. But the Sarai is now in adilapidated condition and no attention is being paid to protect this historicmonument for future generations.

Then after we moved ahead and reached the famous place PirKi Gali. The place is named after the famous saint, Baba Abdul Karim. Pir kiGali is the highest spot on Mughal road at an altitude of 3490 m (11,450 ft)above the sea level. It is a mountain pass and a tourist destination. Itconnects the Kashmir valley with Rajouri and Poonch districts While crossingover the Pir Ki Gali, at various places we saw the foothills are still coveredunder glaciers.

   

There are many Galis and Passes along this 129 Kilometersroad from the town of Shopian. On the way one can see the nomad communities atdifferent places who stay there for grazing cattle. By 2:00 PMwe had lunch atYounis Memorial park named after the Engineer Mohammad Younis Mughal who losthis life on 21st June 2010 while on duty at this place. Here a memorial hasbeen installed in the memory of the deceased engineer and this entire stretchof the road has been named after him as Engineer Younis Sector.

During the journey on Mughal road we saw a number of bridgeson the way. The notable among them are Dubjan Bridge, Lal Ghulam Bridge, RattaChamb Bridge, Chatta Pani Bridge, Panar Bridge and Bafliaz Bridge. We reachedBafliaz by 2:15 PM. It falls in the Poonch district and it connects the Poonchand Rajouri districts to Kashmir. A little ahead of Bafliaz on this route isthe Noori Chamb, named after Noor Jahan. It is located near the hill village ofBahramgala in the Poonch district. There is a waterfall and is a populartourist spot. The stretch of Noori Chamb is of lush green pastures.

Due to the absence of mobile telecommunication, the vitalroad, which is prone to accidents and inclement weather, may sometimes provevery dangerous for the tourists as the information about any untoward incidentis always being received late by the authorities. Despite all these odds weenjoyed the journey and finally we reached the shrine of Baba Ghulam ShahBadshah at Shahdara by 4:00 PM. We instantly went to the Baitul Zaireen (Ahouse built for the devotees by the Auqaaf committee of the shrine) and bookeda room for night stay. Then we also went to the shrine and paid obeisance atthe shrine of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah. The forefathers of Syed Ghulam ShahBadshah belonged to Mashad (Iran) that is why he was called Mashadi. Hisgrandfather Peer Yar Ali Shah migrated from Mashad (Iran) during mid fifties of16th century to disseminate the message of Islam and settled in the villageSayedan Kasrawan in today’s Chakwal district of Punjab, Pakistan. Hisgrandfather had three sons; one among them was Syed Idrees. On the instructionsof his Spiritual guide Syed Hazrat Lateef Hussain (Imam Barry), Baba GhulamShah Badshah was told to march towards the north of Rajouri, near Thana Mandiwhere he would find a place called Sein Dara and subsequently Baba Ghulam ShahBadshah along with his well off followers came to Shahdara and remained herefor 41 years. He left for his heavenly abode at the age of 73 in January 1806AD/1226 Hijri. A shrine was constructed over his grave. It is also said thatshrine was constructed by a Multani craftsman in 1804 AD/1224 on theinstructions of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah before his death.

The shrine is 34 kilometers away from Rajouri districtheadquarter in the lap of hills surrounded by beautiful mountains of districtRajouri and is located at 33.30 degree latitude and 74.26 degree Eastlongitude. The altitude of the shrine is 5807 feet above the sea level.

Shahdara is popularly known by the name Sein Dara. Seinmeans lion and Dara means the Maskan or abode. Before the arrival of BabaGhulam Shah Badshah, this place was named as Sein Dara which later changed intoShahdara. The architecture of the shrine is little bit different from theshrines of Kashmir valley. The court yard of the shrine is open and accessibleto everyone. In the compound of the shrine is an orange tree that bears fruitround the year. People collect leaves of the orange tree with reverence. Thedevotees believe that the orange falls from the tree only to those whose wishis granted. The devotees are mostly the seekers of an offspring; they sit onthe floor of the shrine under the orange tree with the hope that the orangewill fall on them to get their wishes fulfilled. The shrine at Shahdara is asymbol of communal harmony as people from different religions and regions comehere. I have seen a number of Hindu couples in the shrine. Here the Auqaafcommittee is running a free community kitchen where we also had tea. One thingthat I saw special in the Shahdara is that unlike the shrines of valley, thereare no beggars in or outside the shrine. There is a beautiful park in theshrine built on the pattern of Nishat and Shalimar gardens and the park andadjoining areas of the shrine are neat and clean. The management of the shrineis administered well and is a doing tremendous job for the devotees. They lookafter the accommodation facilities and are managing a free community kitchenfor the devotees throughout the year. People from all walks of life are givingcharity to the shrine. By The Maghrib time we offered prayers in the Masjidlocated in the compound of the shrine. After the prayers the devotees used toassemble in the shrine and recite the manqabats in chorus. After Maghrib, thedevotees offer sweets and other eatables to each other. By 9:00 PM we offeredIsha prayers, then we had dinner in the community kitchen and after dinner westayed in the shrine for almost one hour then we moved to the room for rest.Most of the people in Shahadra speak in Kashmiri language. Shahbaz Razveeri andFida Razveeri are the famous Kashmiri poets of this district. Here we stayedfor a night.

Next day morning we get up early, we offered predawnprayers. Then we went to a nearby hotel and had breakfast. Soon after weboarded the car and started our journey back home.

Dr. Reyaz Ahmad Ganaie has done PhD from Pondicherry CentralUniversity

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