Ganderbal,21-May; Kashmiri Pandits visiting a temple in central Kashmir are keeping fingers crossed after the spring on the premises “changed its colour” from red to pink. According to the management, the spring at Kheer Bhawani temple in Ganderbal district had turned red — signifying bad omen — after the killing of Kashmiri Pandit employee Rahul Bhat by militants last week. However, the water body has become pinkish recently, which they also consider a bad omen and heralds hard times ahead.Dedicated to the goddess Bhawani also known as Maharagya Devi, Kheer Bhawani temple, around 25 kms from here, is located near Tulmulla in district Ganderbal. The temple has always been held in veneration by the Kashmiri Pandits. The annual festival is being held at Kheer Bhawani temple on Zestha Ashtami (usually in the month of May) and a large number of Kashmiri Pandits throng the temple from all over the world.The mention of Kheer Bhawani is also found in Kalhana’s Rajtarangini. He writes that the sacred spring of Tulmulla is situated in a marshy ground. Kalhana mentions the name of the spring as Mata Ragini Kund.As per Hindu mythology, the spring is said to exhibit changes in the colour of its waters from time to time, which are ascribed to different manifestations of the goddess. The spring is known to change its colour with various hues of red, pink, orange, green, blue and white, which has been noted by Abul Fazal in Aien-e-Akbari and also by Swami Vivekananda.The traditional Kashmiri belief especially among the Kashmiri Pandits about the colour of the spring water seems to be stronger than the scientific explanation.Vijay saas, one of the Kashmiri Pandit residing in valley Confirmed that the colour of the spring had turned red last week and it remained so for a day. But it has changed since then and now the spring has pink colour. “We see green as a good omen. It is an auspicious colour and signifies peace,” Saas said, claiming that pink is not the good significance.“Maintaining that the change of colour of the spring is natural, the KP said, “Water of the spring was tested in the past and it was found that no outside stuff had been put into it and to our knowledge the color signifies the current circumstances.”(CNS)
