Omkar Dattatray
Jammu city has rightly the distinction of being called the city of temples as the temples, shrines and other religious places are situated in every nook and corner of Jammu. These religious places are the symbols of mutual brotherhood and communal harmony and are visited by the people of various faiths .One of the oldest and famous temples is the cave shrine of Peerkho situated in the city of Jammu near Panjthrithi and visited by a large number of the devotees speciously on Purnimashi, Amavaysa, Eakadashis, Soomwars (Mondays) to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva and seek his blessings. This cave temple is the pilgrim spot of great attraction and thus frequented by a large number of people .It is believed that the wishes of the devotees are fulfilled by paying visit to this cave and by propitiating Lord Shiva whose natural Idol is housed in this temple. It is one of the oldest temples in the city and witnesses a huge rush on the auspicious days .In addition ,the temple shrine is thronged by a numerous devotees during the time of some of the prime festivals of Jammu ,namely ,Shivratri ,Raksha Bandhan ,Shraven Purnimashi .This cave temple is mainly a Shiva temple ,and the Shiva lingam is placed inside a moderately seized cave ,and is a very peaceful place .It is etched in white marble on a rectangular platform .The black stone lingam is ornamented with copper snake or Naga ,as termed in Hindi ,and a sheet of silver covers the Jallari or Yoni ,with an overtop cropper vessel ,placed in a hanging position to be able to continuously pour water on the lingam .There is some evidence that this temple was built during the dominion of the Dogra rulers as the lower portion of the lingam and some of the other characteristics bear a close resemblance to the ones of Purmandal temple ,which was also built during Dogra rule .The Peer Mitha and the peer kho temple are the medieval period jewels of the city of Jammu. .As per some of the historical records ,the temple was built in the 15th century AD ,during the ruling regime of Raja Ajhaib Dev ,for the then peer ,Saint Siddha Ghareeb Nath .These caves are built underground and at an heart wrenching depth of twenty to thirty feet .The peer Kho cave is positioned on the banks of Suriputri river Tawi and it is widely believed that a character named Jamvant ,who was famously worshipped as the bear god had meditated in this cave .This temple is based in the vicinity of the Panchbaskhtar temple and the Ranbireshwar temple which are also temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and all placed along the river Tawi .Also known as the Jawvant cave ,these caves are located on an altar of igneous rocks ,laced with sedimentary deposits from the river and are placed on the edges of a circular road in the Northeast of Jammu city and are surrounded by the acacia jungle. The peer Kho temple has a large sized courtyard with an ensemble of three Shikharas ,with two placed on the left hand side and a single on the right .The Shikharas have a mix of modern and ancient design .The stairs that lead to the temple have an arched gateway which is tall in height and pink in color .The stairs have marble flooring and beautiful railings on its periphery .The temple has a long verandah with marble and mosaic flooring and another entrance which has an entry from pacca Danga via the Jullaka Mohalla .The dome of the temple is an inverted louts and is a modern structure made of stone .This dome serves as an entrance to the cave and is ornamented with beautiful paintings on the ceilings which resemble a strong and stark Mughal and Dogra influence with floral motifs at the entrance of the dome .The paintings bear a close resemblance to the designs of paintings of the Ram Nagar palace complex ,which is situated in the Udhampur district of the Jammu province .There is also a temple dedicated to Devi built on one of the corners of the courtyard within the premises of the temple .It has a white marble miniature temple shrine decorated with good looking and beautiful images of a goddess placed in a glass casing .The temple’s courtyard has a Tusli Plant on a pedestal in its premises ,which also brings in reminiscences of the architectural style of the Dogras spotted in the zorawar Singh residence cum palace complex and the Ram Nagar palace .There is a continuous smoke emitting shrine at the centre of the temple ,which is very unique feature of this temple .The entire temple is built on an artificial and elevated platform to safeguard it from the disaster of floods from river Tawi .There is a small opening to a low level passage from the round dome entrance which leads to the Amarnath cave or Guffa .There is also a temple of Lord Shiva in this cave .Another opening leads to the Nav Durga shrine ,which has a temple that is populated with life size idols of Lord Vishnu ,Lord Rama ,Sita and other gods and goddesses .There is also a Peer Kho Mohalla or locality which has a memorial of ancient Peer named Peer Shiv Nath located opposite to it .There is also a small temple of Shani Devta located on the right side of the peer kho temple .It is believed that during the reign of Raja Biram Dev of Jammu (1454-95) a famous mendicant Jogi Guru Garib Nath belonging to the Guru Gorakh Nath order came to Jammu and resided at Peer kho .Kho means cave in the local dialect .He came to be known as peer Kho and thus with the passage of time the cave got the name Peer Kho .According to the some historical records ,the Peer Mitha and peer Kho temples were built for the Peer Saint Siddha Ghareeb Nath in 18th century AD during the ruling reign of Raja Ajaib Dev .There is a culture of huge celebration during festivals amidst togetherness and reverence for each other and the feeling of brotherhood and love is eminent across the devotees of the temple in their conduct and their mannerisms .In short the people should visit this cave temple ,pay obeisance and seek blessings from lord Shiva.
(The author is a columnist and KP activist).
