Nagarparkar ( ur, , sd, ننگرپارڪر), is a

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its adminis ...

in at the base of the Karoonjhar Mountains in

Tharparkar District Tharparkar (Dhatki/ sd, ٿرپارڪر, ur, ), also known as Thar, is a district in Sindh province in Pakistan headquartered at Mithi. Before Indian independence it was known as the Thar and Parkar district. The district is the largest in Si ...

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

province of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. The historic Churrio Jabal Durga Mata Temple is situated here. The taluka is located at a distance of 129 km from Mithi, in

Description

The name comes from the original word ''Nangar Parkar''. It is at the foot of the Karoonjhar Hills. It is situated at a distance of about 16 km from south and about 23 from east from the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n border. At one time the area was under the sea, which had to be crossed; the name "Parkar" means "to cross over". Nagarparkar has

Taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

Chachro Chachro(Urdu:چھاچھرو) is a Tehsil in the Tharparkar District of Sindh, Pakistan. It is located in the southeast corner of Pakistan, in the Thar Desert, along the Pakistan-India border. It has a population of 351,263. Geography Chachro is ...

on its north, and on its west is

Mithi of

, while on east of it lies Barmer (

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

) and on its south is Rann Kachchh. The surrounding area is a rocky belt called Parkar, and the remaining part is a sandy area. The Karoonjhar hills surround Nagarparkar for 16 miles. The

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

stone of this mountain is used for making tiles. There is a saying that the Karoonjhar hills provide 1-1/4 kilos of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

every day in the form of red granite stone, china clay, and honey. In summer, different sounds are audible from the rock due to sulfur deposits.

Nagarparkar Jain temples

The region once had a significant

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

population. Shri Gaudi Parshvanth Stavan in 1650 described the Parkar as the most glorious of all regions of India. The remains of a number of Jain temples are popular tourist attractions and heritage sites in the region.

Churrio Jabal Durga Mata Temple

Churrio Jabal Durga Mata Temple, on Churrio Jabal hill in Choryo village, is one of the two Hindu temples in this place. On

Shivratri Maha Shivaratri (IAST: Mahāśivarātri) is a Hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god Shiva. The name also refers to the night when Shiva performs the heavenly dance called Tandava. In every month of the luni-solar Hindu ca ...

200,000 pilgrims visit the temples. Hindus cremate the dead and ashes are preserved till Shivratri for immersion in the into holy water. Richer

Pakistani Hindus Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Pakistan after Islam. While Hinduism was one of the dominant faiths in the region a few centuries back, today Hindus account for 2.14% of Pakistan's population or 4.4 million people accor ...

go to India to immerse the ashes in

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

and the rest visit Nagarparkar to immerse the ashes. This area has been leased by the government for the mining by dynamite blasting of the hills on which the temples are located. This is posing a threat to the temples. Angry pilgrims held a protest against mining.Contractor blasting through Tharparkar temple in search of granite

The Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the '' Daily Express'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliated newspaper in a partnership with the ''Intern ...

, 10 Mar 2011.

Demographics

The population of the taluka is 153,106, out of which 90,893 are

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

and 62,213 are

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. There is one rest house beneath the Karoonjhar Mountain, but it partially collapsed during the

2001 Gujarat earthquake The 2001 Gujarat earthquake, also known as the Bhuj earthquake, occurred on 26 January, India's 52nd Republic Day, at . The epicentre was about 9 km south-southwest of the village of Chobari in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District of Gujarat ...

. This region is an ancient place of

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

worship. Sardharo, Anchlesar, and

temples are situated there.

Gallery

File:Bodehsar temple front view it was mind blowing.jpg,

Temple of Bhodesar File:Jain Temple Nagarparkar by smn121-15.JPG, An ancient Jain temple at Nagarparkar File:Virawah Jain Temple.jpg, Virawah Jain Temple File:Gori Mandar.jpg, Gori Temple File:Durga Mata Temple 4.jpg, Churrio

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around c ...

temple is under threat from the reckless dynamite blast mining File:Bhudesar Mosque.jpg, Bhudesar Mosque File:Bhodesar1.jpg, Jain Temple ruins

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Hindu temples in Sindh Shiva temples History of Pakistan Ruins in Pakistan Populated places in Sindh Tharparkar District Jainism in Pakistan