{"id":16729,"date":"2020-02-24T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/2020\/02\/24\/at-srinagar-s-sharika-devi-temple-pandits-were-driven-out-but-those-who-stayed-survived-thanks-to-muslims\/"},"modified":"2020-02-24T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T12:00:00","slug":"at-srinagar-s-sharika-devi-temple-pandits-were-driven-out-but-those-who-stayed-survived-thanks-to-muslims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/2020\/02\/24\/at-srinagar-s-sharika-devi-temple-pandits-were-driven-out-but-those-who-stayed-survived-thanks-to-muslims\/","title":{"rendered":"At Srinagar&#8217;s Sharika Devi Temple: Pandits Were Driven Out, but Those Who Stayed, Survived Thanks to Muslims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.millenniumpost.in\/big-stories\/at-srinagars-sharika-devi-temple-pandits-were-driven-out-but-those-who-stayed-survived-thanks-to-muslims-401902\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cloud.millenniumpost.in\/38526GSibu2QBpZ0pXDUeb9az0A7bATGiqgb5334344\/3852epc85wq71kcw2qhx1r45hhgbbudc5wl25306792png.png\" style=\"max-width:100%;object-fit:scale-down;\" \/><br \/>SRINAGAR, KASHMIR, February 21, 2020 (Millennium Post): Overlooking Srinagar is Hari Parbat, a hill home to a fort, a temple, a gurdwara and a dargah. The temple here is dedicated to Jagdamba Sharika Bhagwati, considered the presiding Deity of Srinagar. Rolled-up concertina wires lie on the long flight of stairs leading up to the temple. A CRPF jawan proffers a register, where one must note down their name and phone number before entering the temple. Inside, on the afternoon of February 16, around 10-15 people are busy with kirtan. It is a few days before Shivaratri, and the temple is gearing up for the festival. &#8220;Had you come here this time of the year in the 1980s, you wouldn&#8217;t have space for one sesame seed on the ground, so crowded would the courtyard have been. Had you come in the early 90s, you wouldn&#8217;t have found anyone,&#8221; says Virendra Koul, a retired government employee.<\/p>\n<p>And today? &#8220;Oh, things are better. You see this gathering in the temple. We aren&#8217;t fearful of living our normal lives anymore. Over the years, a few pandits have come back, some because of the government&#8217;s rehabilitation package, some because the situation improved,&#8221; says Koul. &#8220;Till late 1980s, everyone lived in harmony. And then suddenly, we had little children on the streets chanting slogans of a Muslim empire. I have heard with my own ears, announcements from mosques saying Kashmir would have Muslim rule. People fled leaving behind homes, properties worth millions of dollars. Then, as the Hindus left, I watched Kashmir change. This temple, and the others you see open, survived because of the Armed Forces. We got used to praying in the shadow of guns.&#8221; Then his voice softens. &#8220;But you know what, there is another, undeniable truth &#8212; the Hindus who stayed back survived because of their Muslim neighbors. When a Hindu died, Muslims made all efforts to arrange his funeral, often at personal risk.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>More of this account at &#8220;source&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source SRINAGAR, KASHMIR, February 21, 2020 (Millennium Post): Overlooking Srinagar is Hari Parbat, a hill home to a fort, a,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}