To the east of Dudh Kuth Pass rise the summits of great mountain mass – the Haramukh Peaks. Stein learnt about the sacred legends that clustered around them. And it was for this reason that the area was known as one of the holiest Tirathas of Kashmir. The legend on Siva’s residence on Mount Haramukata inspired Stein to visit the holy site. But owing to this superstition he had great difficulty “in inducing any of his Kashmiri Coolies (Muhammaden) to accompany him on the ascent he made to the peaks in September 1894.
“My Brhaman friends could not give credence to my having reached the summit. According to their opinion the very fact my having reached the Peak was a sufficient proof of this not having been Haramukata. An argument as simple as incontrovertible to the orthodox mind.”
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Haramukh Glacier |
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In October, the same year, Stein arranged to take a trip to visit the Wullar Lake. October 17, 1894: “In the night ride across the Wullar Lake, a small storm made me worry for the safety of my manuscripts. It seemed as if the Goddess of Wisdom represented by the waters of Kashmir was unwilling to let me abduct the manuscripts. This is what happened twelve hundred years ago to Chinese pilgrim Hsuan-tsang who had to leave his Sanskrit manuscripts in the angry Indus River”.
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Rested, refreshed, Stein started early in autumn of 1895 in search of a sacred shrine of Gangodbheda that Kalhana had referred to and which had long escaped identification. Neither Professor Buhler, nor Stein had succeeded in tracing any information whatever regarding it among the Pandits of Srinagar. However, Stein first obtained an indication of the right direction in which to look for when examining in September and old Codex of a Mahatmya text in the colophon of which was also indicated the pilgrims manual of the Tirtha of Gangodbheda.
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Temple ruins, Pattan view
from south west |
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Votive Temple, Pattan |
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