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KASHMIR, INDIA, May 29, 2012 (thehindu.com): Thousands of devotees on Tuesday thronged the temple of Ragnya Devi, a revered Goddess of Kashmiri Pandits, to celebrate the annual festival of Kheer Bhawani. Nestled in the shade of mammoth Chinar trees in this village in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, the temple witnessed massive crowds of devotees, most of them Kashmiri Pandits, who made the journey from across the country. Walking barefoot, the devotees carried rose petals and offered tribute to the goddess as men took a dip in the stream close to the shrine. “I am so happy that I came here. I prayed for peace and harmony. I was glad to see young boys, both Muslims and Hindus, making arrangements for the festival of the Mata,” said Santosh Kaw, a Kashmiri Pandit who is visiting the temple after 27 years. With the improvement in the security situation in Kashmir at the turn of this century, the confidence of the Kashmiri Pandits saw a boost with more members of the community paying occasional visits to the Valley. This is evident from the rising number of Kashmiri Pandit devotees attending the Kheer Bhawani festival every year, with more than one lakh attending the festival last year alone.

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