The Raghunath temple was about a km from our hotel and one fine morning I took off for a walk to explore the area and visit the temple. The entire area around the temple is called Raghunath market and its a busy bazaar where one can find dry fruits, clothes and all sorts of stuff that Jammu is famous for.
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| Raghunath temple at night |
I entered the temple rather early in the morning and was quite pleasantly surprised to find not many people inside. Another cause for surprise is that it was a huge complex with several shrines and lots of place and gardens etc. The temple construction was started in 1835 by Maharaja Gulab Singh of the Dogra dynasty.
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| The temple complex during day |
The presiding deity is Lord Rama. There are seven shrines and all around the main temple are corridors inside which there are smaller shrines. Overall there are some 300 idols of gods and goddesses inside the complex.
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| The main shrine |
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| Mata Vaishno Devi shrine behind the main shrine |
With no devotees around, the main pujari was free and he gave me a small introduction to the history of the temple and gave me prasad. I went out and explored the complex a little,. I found a beautiful Shiva temple to one side.
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| The main shrine |
The complex also has a school and a library which has some 6000 manuscripts of ancient times.
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| Shiva temple |
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| The Raghunath market |
While reading up on the temple I read that in 2002 there were two terrorist attacks on the temple - in March and November - where terrorists indiscriminately fired and killed 20 devotees and injured 40. The temple is well guarded with security personnel now.
It was a beautiful experience and once again, one can sit here for hours in peace.
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