Kheer Bhavani Temple

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Around 18,000 Kashmiri Pandits and other devotees visited the Kheer Bhavani temple in Kashmir Valley’s Ganderbal district on Jyeshtha Ashtami.

• The religious sanctity of the Mata Kheer Bhavani temple, built atop a holy spring, has a special spiritual significance among Kashmir Pandit devotees across the world.

About Kheer Bhavani temple

• Mata Kheer Bhavani temple at Tulmulla in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal.
• The temple is dedicated to the goddess Ragnya Devi.
• Situated 30 km from Srinagar city, it is one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites for Kashmiri Hindus.
• The temple gets its name from Kheer, or milk and rice pudding, that pilgrims pour into the spring inside the temple complex as an offering to the goddess.
• Legend has it that the water of the temple’s spring changes colour from white to red and black.
• The colour of the water is said to predict the impending future.
• Maharaja Pratap Singh of Jammu and Kashmir and Maharaja Hari Singh contributed to building and renovating the temple.