Hindu-Muslim amity marks Khir Bhawani festival in J&K

Srinagar, June 2: Local Muslims were welcomed by local Kashmiri Pandit pilgrims when they arrived at Talmula pilgrimage because the Khir Bhawani festival in Jammu and Kashmir saw general fraternity. Not more than 300 devotees on Friday visited north Kashmir's Tullamulla town to celebrate the Khir Bhawani Mela, the holiest religious festival of the Kashmiri Pandits.

The Tullamulla temple and the shrine are dedicated to the Hindu goddess Mata Ragnya, who legend says flew from Sri Lanka during Ravana's reign to Kashmir and established her seat beside a spring in the Tullamulla village. Kashmiri Pandits believe that the colour of the spring inside the shrine annually predicts Kashmir's future. Local Muslims have been traditionally welcoming their Pandit brothers with milk during the festival at Tullamulla village, 29 km from here in Ganderbal district.

This year, too, despite the record low number of devotees, local Muslims served milk to the devotees, an encouraging evidence of the fact that whatever be the security and political situation in the state, the basic fabric of Hindu-Muslim amity remains intact. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti visited the shrine on Friday to interact with the devotees and oversee the arrangements made for them. Employees are responsible for a few migrant scholars who are expected to attend this year's festival, which has been promoted through social networking sites. Even after the local migrants from the Valley in the 1990s, after the migration from the Valley, attend this festival from different parts of the country and pray in Mata Rugania's prayer.