The Lost Temple of Sharada

On the banks of the Neelum river, in a village named after the goddess Sharada, just across the Line of Control, on the India- Pakistan border are the ruins of an ancient abandoned temple. This temple dedicated to Sharada or Saraswati– the Goddess of Knowledge, holds a special place in the collective consciousness of all Saraswati worshippers.

While we don’t know when the temple was built, there are numerous early references to it, starting with the reference to the temple in the Sharada Mahatmya (an ancient manuscript dedicated to Sharada/ Saraswati). Goddess Sharada is said to have manifested herself to Sage Shandilya (the author of the Shandilya Upanishad, one of the two minor Upanishads) in the upper Kishenganga region of the Kashmir valley. But given the remoteness of the temple, little else is known about it.