PUNJAB, INDIA, December 24, 2017 (by Haroon Khalid, Wikimedia Commons): With the Supreme Court taking interest in their renovation and protection, the Katas Raj temples, one of the oldest Hindu religious sites in Pakistan, are in the news again. Situated within embrace of the Salt Range near Kallar Kahar, Punjab, this splendid complex of temples dedicated to Ram, Hanuman and Shiva is laid around a natural pond. The pond, the faithful believe, was created from a teardrop of the weeping Shiva as he flew across the sky carrying the dead body of his wife Sati. He shed two tears, one creating this pond, the other falling and making a pond in Ajmer, Rajasthan. The Pandavas came to this place during their exile, the legend goes, and built some of the older temples. Historical records suggest many of the temples, constructed in the Kashmiri architectural tradition, came up in the 11th century CE, when this region, along with parts of Punjab, fell under a Kashmiri kingdom.
After decades of silence, the country’s Hindu heritage became part of the public discourse. In Islamabad, the model village of Saidpur was restored and its Hindu temple and Sikh gurdwara renovated. Several restaurants opened in the village as tourists flooded in. The inside of the temple was painted and its structure strengthened, but an idol was conspicuously missing. For all the talk about enlightened moderation, the country was perhaps still not ready to embrace its Hindu heritage without reservation. The temple was acceptable as long as it was “muesumized,” keeping it at a certain distance so as not to challenge the agreed upon concepts of national identity. Placing an idol would have brought the temple alive, threatening the notion of exclusive Muslim citizenship. It had taken over 50 years to even talk about renovating Hindu temples, but the renovation was to happen in a context that was still “otherized” – a reminder of our past but unacceptable in our present. In the past decade, the Pakistani state has found it acceptable to talk about renovating and protecting historical Hindu temples. But is it prepared to let them be places of worship as well?
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