After restoring this 1,200-yr-old temple, can Pak save more?

It’s a place for all to marvel. Spread over a sprawling area, the Valmiki Mandir in Neela Gumbad — located on the corner of Bheem Street, snugly placed in the narrow bylanes of the fabled Anarkali Bazaar near the splendorous Shahi Qila in the heart of old-town Lahore — is at least 1,200 years old. The ancient temple has been in the news after it was reopened in Pakistan, extending an invite to pilgrims from across the world. The decision came after a family living on its premises was evicted following an extended legal battle in a civil court. medium93659049How does the temple look from inside? Here’s how writer Sehyr Mirza described it in a 2014 piece: “Inside the sparse room of worship, decorations adorn the crumbling plaster. Garlands of fresh flowers garnish the Valmiki idol and the colours brighten up the entire area. A low, tiny table placed near the idols stores the puja samagri and other items. A variety of indoor and outdoor potted plants spruce up the exterior of the room of worship, while streamers and paper decorations liven up the cramped space. A group of devotees are seated on the floor singing bhajans. The pandit recites mantras and performs special puja to mark the occasion.”In Pakistan, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) looks after the temples and land left over by Sikhs and Hindus who migrated to India after Partition. At present, the board oversees 200 gurdwaras and 150 temples across the country. medium93659237Through the ages Legend has it that Prince Lav, the son of Lord Ram and Sita and a disciple of Valmiki — who is believed to have written the Ramayana — founded the city of Lahore, while his brother Prince Kush founded the twin city of Kasur. (The Lava Temple on the grounds of the Lahore Fort is said to house Prince Lav’s samadhi.)The Valmiki Hindus, on the other hand, are a sizeable community in Pakistan, and can be found in Lahore, Sialkot, Kasur, Multan, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan in the Punjab province, as well as in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Peshawar, Nowshera, areas formerly part of the Federally Acclaimed Tribal Areas (FATA) and across the province of Sindh. (According to the Pakistan Hindu Council, there are roughly eight million Hindus living in Pakistan, a Muslim majority country of 210 million people.) One of the only two functioning Hindu temples in the city — the other being a Krishna mandir — the Valmiki Mandir fell into extreme neglect and ruin post-Partition when a large number of well-heeled Hindu residents of the area relocated to India. The members of the community who decided to stay behind were so under-resourced that they grappled to fund the upkeep of the temple. medium93671867Tragedy hit the temple in 1992, in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid attack, when it was demolished and its building was set on fire. According to Mirza, an angry mob wielding weapons stormed into the Valmiki temple. “It smashed the idols of Krishna and Valmiki, broke utensils and crockery in the kitchen and seized the gold with which the statues were embellished,” she writes in a 2014 piece. “The shops in the neighbourhood also caught fire and it took days for the authorities to extinguish the flames.”Over the next two decades, the temple remained in the illegal possession of a Bhagat Lal and family, who claimed the mandir to be theirs. (Some reports even indicate the tenants of the property were practitioners of black magic and dark arts.)“Despite several attempts by the ETPB to resolve the issue, Bhagat Lal chose to legally challenge it by staking claim to the property,” explains Syed Faraz Abbas, deputy secretary of the ETPB. “A suit was then filed in the civil court, following which on June 25 this year, it was ruled in favour of the board, and the possession was handed back to the Hindu Waqf Properties to reopen the temple to worshipers.”After regaining possession, the ETPB, in collaboration with the Pakistan Hindu Mandir Management Committee and the local Valmiki Sangat, organised an inaugural prayer ceremony on July 7, followed by a larger celebratory event, complete with a special pooja and langar 10 days later. The multi-faith ceremony saw over 100 Hindus and some Sikh and Christian leaders attend it. medium93659361With the temple opening , efforts are underway to restore it to its full glory. The ETPB, in collaboration with the Pakistan Hindu Mandir Management Committee, are working together with expert artisans from across the country, and engaging in international collaborations to restore, revive and renew the regalia of the temple. Fakira, a master craftsman who is based in Sindh, has been entrusted with creating a new idol of Rishi Valmiki to take centre stage at the temple of the blue dome. “It’s not just this project,” says Krishan Sharma, president of the Pakistan Hindu Mandir Management Committee. “The two bodies are also working towards restoring countless temples across Pakistan.”Other temples in Pakistan being restoredNext in line are the samadhi of Atma Ram Ji — Acharya Vijayanand Suri who was the first Swetambar Murtipujaka Jain monk to receive the title of acharya — and the Jain Mandir in Rasul Nagar, Gujranwala. They are being restored in collaboration with the National College of Arts, Lahore and the Jain Heritage Foundation, which are hoping to revive them with as much authenticity as possible despite the absence of a Jain community in Pakistan following Partition.Multan’s Prahladpuri Temple, located adjacent to the Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya, dedicated to Narasimha (considered the fourth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu), is another temple site being restored. Legend has it that the festival of Holi originated here, which makes it an attraction for the Hindu community globally. medium93672039The restoration work for the Sri Katas Raj Temples, also known as Qila Katas, has also picked up steam. This complex of six Hindu temples connected to one another by walkways, surrounds Katas — a pond that is regarded as sacred by Hindus, and believed to have been created from the teardrops of Shiva, after he wandered the earth inconsolable following the death of his wife Sati. The water-body occupies an area of two kanals and 15 marlas and is about 20 feet deep in parts.Incidentally, these temples were visited by senior BJP leader LK Advani in 2005, following which restoration work began a year after. This restoration of the complex is now being planned along the lines of Kartarpur Sahib, complete with 50-room accommodation and connectivity via central highways. medium93672315Though under the management of the provincial government, assistance is being provided towards the restoration of the shrine of Odero Lal, in Tando Adam, Sindh. Muslims believe the shrine is that of Sheikh Tahir, while Hindus believe it to be the final resting place of Jhulelal. Both communities also refer to the saint by the alternate and religiously-neutral term ‘Zinda Pir’ or ‘The Living Saint’. Much like Oderolal, restoration of Hinglaj Mata is also being worked on. Located in Lasbela district of Balochistan, along the Makran coast, the shrine draws a multitude of pilgrims during the annual Hinglaj Yatra every spring. Similar work is also underway in Hassan Abdaal, Mansera, Swat, Karak, Peshawar and other areas of the mountainous north. Authorities intend to take things slow, owing to the sensitive nature of the task at hand. But the end goal is an attempt to bring back religious tourism to Pakistan.