{"id":23471,"date":"2026-10-01T02:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T02:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/?p=23471"},"modified":"2026-10-01T02:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T02:21:08","slug":"srinagar-temple-reopens-decades-after-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/2026\/10\/01\/srinagar-temple-reopens-decades-after-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Srinagar Temple Reopens Decades After Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SRINAGAR, JAMMU And KASHMIR, September 24, 2026 (India Today): Srinagar\u2019s historic Sheetalnath Temple in the Habba Kadal area reopened after 36 years, with temple bells, Vedic chants and havan rituals marking the revival of the shrine that had remained closed amid decades of unrest in Kashmir. The reopening brought together scores of Kashmiri Pandits who travelled from different parts of India. They were welcomed by local Kashmiri Muslims, in a gathering that highlighted the Valley\u2019s shared cultural heritage and its long-standing tradition of Kashmiriyat. The restoration of the temple was carried out by Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL) in coordination with the Jammu and Kashmir Department of Culture.<br><br>The Sheetalnath complex was left neglected and suffered extensive damage, including from arson, after the mass fleeing of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990. The restoration involved structural rebuilding of key parts of the complex, including the sanctum sanctorum and the havanshala. The revival has now allowed devotees to return to the shrine for prayers and religious ceremonies. The temple holds an important place in Kashmiri Shaivism and is regarded as one of the ancient Ashta Bhairavs, the eight guardian Deities traditionally associated with the protection of Srinagar. Officials said the restoration of Sheetalnath is part of a broader effort to preserve and restore historic places of worship across Jammu and Kashmir that were damaged or neglected during years of unrest.<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/amp\/india\/story\/sheetalnath-temple-srinagar-reopens-after-36-years-welcomes-kashmiri-pandits-echoes-vedic-chants-prayers-jammu-kashmir-historic-restoration-see-photos-3002222-2026-09-24\">https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/amp\/india\/story\/sheetalnath-temple-srinagar-reopens-after-36-years-welcomes-kashmiri-pandits-echoes-vedic-chants-prayers-jammu-kashmir-historic-restoration-see-photos-3002222-2026-09-24<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SRINAGAR, JAMMU And KASHMIR, September 24, 2026 (India Today): Srinagar\u2019s historic Sheetalnath Temple in the Habba Kadal area reopened after,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23471","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23471"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23483,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23471\/revisions\/23483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}