Sharda (), also known as Shardi, is a small

Tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...

Neelam District Neelum (spelt also ''Neelam''; ) is a district of Pakistan-administered territory of Azad Kashmir, in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir ( ), is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is one of the two ''

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...

s'' of Neelum district, and is located on the banks of the

Neelum river The Neelum River, or Kishanganga River, is a river in the Kashmir region in the Indian subcontinent. It originates in the Ganderbal district of Indian-administered Kashmir, flows through the Neelam Valley into Pakistani-administered Kashmir, ...

at an altitude of .

Etymology and historical sites

"Sharda" is another name of the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

goddess of knowledge,

Saraswati Saraswati (, ), also spelled as Sarasvati, is one of the principal Devi, goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of knowledge, education, learning, arts, speech, poetry, music, purification, language and culture. Together with the godde ...

, and is known for being the site of the ruins of the famous temple and Hindu pilgrimage site

Sharada Peeth Sharada Peeth is a ruined Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning located in the Neelum Valley of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. Between the 6th and 12th centuries CE, it was among the most prominen ...

, dedicated to the goddess Sharada.

Sharada Peeth

Between the 6th and 12th centuries CE, Sharada Peeth was among the most prominent temple universities in the Indian subcontinent. Known in particular for its library, it was associated with Buddhist scholars such as

Kumārajīva Kumārajīva (Sanskrit: कुमारजीव; , 344–413 CE) was a bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, missionary and translator from Kucha (present-day Aksu City, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China). Kumārajīva is seen as one of the great ...

Thonmi Sambhota Thonmi Sambhota (Thönmi Sambhoṭa, (Tib. , Wylie transcription, Wylie ''thon mi sam+b+ho Ta''; c.619-7th C.) is a figure credited by Tibetan traditions with creating the first Tibetan script, based on the Gupta script, Gupta alphabet, after bei ...

Rinchen Zangpo __NOTOC__ Lochen Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055; ), also known as Mahaguru, was a principal lotsawa or translator of Sanskrit Buddhist texts into Tibetan during the second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet, variously called the New Translation School, ...

, as well as Kalhana Pandit and

Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (, ), was an Indian Vedanga, Vedic scholar, Hindu philosophy, philosopher and teacher (''acharya'') of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scant, and h ...

. It played a key role in the development and popularisation of the

Sharada script The Śāradā, Sarada or Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. The script was widespread between the 8th and 12th centuries in the northwestern parts of Indian Subcontinent (in Kashmir and neighbouring ...

in North India, resulting in the script being named after it, and

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

acquiring the moniker "''Sharada Desh"'', meaning "country of Sharada". Before 1947, a fair was held in Sharda every four years during the leap year (last being 1944) on Sharda Ashtami, the 8th day of the bright fortnight of Badhun (Bhadra in Hindu Panchang calendar), where Kashmiri Pandits would assemble for Shraad rituals and ashes of those who had died during the past 12 months were immersed in Kishenganga (Neelum) river. In non-leap years, the Shraad was performed every year at Haramukh Gangabal located at 14,500 ft in the Kashmir valley.

Nearby locations

Shardi and Nardi are the two mountain peaks overlooking the valley, named after the princesses of legend, Sharda and Narda. Over the right bank, opposite Sharda, the river Neelum is joined by the Surgan Nullah, along which a track leads to the Noori Nar Pass and through it to Kaghan Valley, where boating and jet skiing takes place. Attractions in Sharda include Surgan, Maidaan, Kishan Ghatti, and Sharada Peeth.

Gallery

File:Sharda Neelum Valley Winter.jpg File:Sharda, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan.jpg File:Sharda village.jpg File:The Mountains of Sharda, Azad Kashmir.jpg

References

External links