Jammu, the Duggar
land where the past still has a living presence. A land of grand
ancient temples, and beautiful palaces, all nestling in the
foothills of the Himalayas. It is said that, on becoming King,
the Suryavanshi Jambu Lochan went on a hunt and, crossing the
Tawi, found a deer and a tiger drinking water from the same
tank. His ministers explained that this meant that the soil of
the place was so virtuous that no living creature bore enmity
against another.
Raja Jambu Lochan, who lived in the later Vedic period, decided
to found his capital , Jambupura,
on his soil, on the right bank of the Tawi, overlooking his
brother king Bahu's fort. Today the temple of Maha Kali, better
known as "Bahu" or "Bawey Wali Mata", located in the Bahu Fort,
is considered second only to Mata Vaishno Devi in terms of
mystical power. The present temple was built shortly after the
coronation of Maharaja Gulab Singh, in 1822. The existing fort,
as well as the Manasabdar's palace inside it, was constructed in
1820.
History
Legend has it that Jamboo Loochen founded the city about three
thousand years ago. The Raja was hunting in the area, away from
his capital city of Bahu when he came across a lion and a goat
drinking from the same pond. The Shivadawala Shrine now stands
on this spot in the city. Jammu is known as 'the city of
temples' because of its many shrines, with their soaring golden
spires or 'Shikhars'.
There are many other shrines and temples around the city and
environs that date from earlier years but the recorded history
of Jammu begins from the time of the Dogra rulers in the early
19th century. In 1846 the Dogra ruler of Jammu was created
Maharaja of an ill-defined Himalayan kingdom, 'to the eastward
of the river Indus and westward of the river Ravi', by the
treaties of Lahore and Amritsar at the conclusion of the first
Sikh war.
It was the lack of definition of this state - the forerunner of
Jammu and Kashmir - that caused the continuing disputes with
Russia and China over territory. The British created the state
as part of a complex political buffer zone between their Indian
Empire and China and Russia.
For the Maharaja Gulab Singh, the treaty confirmed for him
almost 25 years of fighting and negotiation with the small hill
tribes along the northern border of the Sikh Empire, centered on
the Punjab. |