Who is sharadamba

Sri Bharati Krishna Tirtha substituted the sandalwood idol with the present golden idol. Temple of Sri Sharadamba at Sringeri. Sri Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati raised the present structure in granite with polished granite walling round the sanctum and Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati consecrated the new temple in May Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha made several improvements in the temple.

The belief that the right hand of Devi Sati, the hand symbolic of writing and learning fell in this holy land also made it the abode of the Goddess Saraswati in the form of Sharda. It is said that Kashmir at a point was known as Sharda Desha and the temple was a hub of learning and erudition. The small village of Sharda did not just have the temple of the Devi but was also home to one of the largest universities in Central Asia.

The Sharda script which is native to Kashmir is named after this form of Shakti. Kashmir is known as one of the oldest Shaiva Kshetras but there is a strong Shakta tradition in the state which is often ignored. And this Shakta tradition owes its origin to the presence of Devi Sharda. The earliest mention of the shrine can be traced to the Nilamata Purana which particularly elaborates on the various tirthas and peethas of Kashmir. After the mass migration of Kashmiri Hindus from PoK, the temple was completely cut off from the devotees and gradually started falling into disrepair.

The temple lies unattended since decades, the deity or Vigraha of the Goddess is long gone and the earthquake of has even made the structure absolutely vulnerable. There are even instances of theft which have come to light with one of the Kundas from the temple being located at the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences, Muzaffarabad.

Once the seat of learning and education, the tiny village of Shardi, has almost become a footnote in the tumultuous history of Kashmir. The one thing that keeps the allure and the longing of the shrine alive are the stories and oral traditions that pass down generations in Kashmiri Hindu households. But, even oral traditions are dwindling with time.

The last devotees who visited this Maha Shakti Peeth did so before independence and the collective memory of the shrine is at a risk of getting lost.

One of the last documented accounts of the temple is by nonagenarian Shambhunath Thusu. It is unclear whether he has seen the temple but he has provided a thorough description of the Vigraha. The Vigraha is a naturally occurring stone plinth about six feet long and seven feet wide. Another old timer account of the temple also provides a similar account and states that there was an entrance of the Western side of the temple and a Shiva Lingam outside the sanctum sanctorum.

Another account came from Justice S. N Katju who visited the temple in The details are sparse now and the images available make it difficult to imagine the temple in its days of glory. He has drawn from the accounts of Pandit Bhawani Kaul and Pandit Harjoo Fehrist who had undertaken multiple pilgrimages to Shardi in the late s and whose accounts survived as oral traditions in Kashmiri Hindu households.

The pilgrimage used to take days on foot from Sri Nagar and pilgrims used to keep joining the group as they passed through major halting locations. One of the most recent accounts of the visit to the Sharda Peeth is provided by A.

Nazki describes the state of ruin of the temple and details out all that has been able to bear the neglect of decades. He writes of the faint inscriptions in the Sharda script on the entry pillar of the temple and remnants of quarters where the Pujaris must have lived in the days gone by. Only the left half of the archway stands and the door and the roof of the temple are no longer there. The university which used to thrive at Sharda has no remains and apparently there used to be a pond with healing water in the compound which has since dried up.

Religious beliefs and practises are a major part of that tool kit which determine our actions, behaviors and decisions.

Hence, our religious practises define us on a daily basis and alienation from that has a profound impact on the way we imagine ourselves. It is said he spent twelve years here.

He is also said to have built four other temples around the Matha — Kalabhairava temple, Durga temple, Anjaneya temple and Kali temple. As Devi Saraswathi had decided to reside here, he built a temple here and installed a sandalwood idol of her as Sharada Devi, in a standing posture. It is believed that during the Muslim invasion under Malik Kafur, the original idol was destroyed. During the Vijayanagara period, a gold statue of Sharadamba in a seated posture was installed here. Recently, a Gopuram was added to this temple.

Navaratri or Dusshera celebrations are a grand occasion here. The Goddess is taken out in procession, and thousands attend the festivities.

The nearest airport is present in Mangalore. Shimoga and Kadur are the nearest railway stations. The complex is an idyllic location with the serene Tunga river on one side and the beautiful Rishyashringa-Giri hills on the other sides. The main shrine is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, the goddess of learning. There is an interesting legend behind the setting up of the Sringeri Math and the temple.

There he saw a strange scene, a king cobra had spread its hood to provide shade to a pregnant frog from the hot afternoon sun. He understood that the place has some enchanting influence and decided to set up a math here.

So, he built the Sharadamba shrine, installed and consecrated a sandalwood idol of Saraswati as Sri Sharadamba in the shrine over a sacred Sri Chakra carved on a rock by Adi Shankara himself.

Subsequently, the temple was built in Kerala style, with timber and tiled roof. Later, the sandalwood idol was replaced with the present golden idol. Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha, the 35th Jagadguru, made several improvements in the temple. The mahamantapam has huge stone pillars exquisitely carved with deities like Durga, Raja Rajeshwari and dwarapalakas, all sculpted according to shilpa shastras.