Annual Kheer Bhawani Mela in Kashmir unlikely to witness any participation amid COVID

Due to the prevailing COVID-19 crisis, the annual Kheer Bhawani Mela at the famous temple of Ragnya Devi in Tullamulla village of central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district is unlikely to witness any participation this year. As per the sources the management of the ‘Dharmarth Trust’ that manages the affairs of the temple, has decided to cancel the celebration of the Kheer Bhawani Mela, scheduled on May 30 current year, citing the outbreak of COVID 19 Pandemic. 

'No communication regarding cancellation received yet'

While wishing anonymity, a member of the Trust said that all the rituals and Aarti of the deity will be conducted as per tradition by two priests in the Temple on May 30 and the same will be shared with the public and devotees through social media. However, he said in the larger public interest and safety, the Mela would not take place this year. 

Meanwhile, District Development Commissioner, Ganderbal, Shafqat Iqbal said they have not received any communication about the cancellation of the Mela yet. However, he said that it was unlikely to take place.

Earlier, thousands of devotees would visit the revered temple every year, to celebrate the holiest religious festival of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community.

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Arrival of devotees started decreasing in this temple when on January 25, 1998, Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists killed 23 Pandits in nearby Wandhama village, However, after 2003, attendance at the festival started enhancing with each year.

In recent years, thousands of Pandits, including women and children, would converge at the temple from various far-off places, including Delhi and Jammu to offer special prayers on the occasion of the annual holy day ‘Zyeshth Ashtami.’

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More than 50,000 Pandit families left their ancestral homes in 1990 and migrated to Jammu and other parts of the country when a bloody insurgency broke out in Kashmir in 1989. 

Despite summer unrests of 2008, 2010, 2016, and 2019 that affected all types of activities here, the mela Kheer Bhawani festival remained untouched as they (unrests) started after middle June and by that time the festival was over.

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(PTI Image)