Showing posts with label Chakwal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chakwal. Show all posts

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Museum to be opened at Katasraj

Museum to be opened at Katasraj


katasraj-temple

THE Punjab Archaeology Department is setting up a museum at Katasraj near Chakwal to highlight the culture and history of this fine historical treasure. A team consisting of ex- perts and a few Punjab University Archaeology Department students is working on the site these days looking for archeological fragments found in and around Katas.

The research- ers are also working on the archi- tecture in the area and will re- cord their findings in a report. The site is famous for its temples, the most famous among them the one dedicated to Shiva. It has ex- isted since the days of Mahabharata and the Pandava brothers spent a substantial part of their exile here.

Punjab Archeology Department Director Shahbaz Khan says the museum would have a pictorial gallery in which Hindu mythology will be high- lighted through historical refer- ences. Another gallery would he on architecture in which frag- mented pieces found from Katas will be put on display Other exhi- bition areas will also be estab- lished in the museum.

Mr Khan tells Dawn the muse- umwillbeset upeidneratflari Singh? Haveli located inside Katas and has been conserved or at the Bayragi House. The work is being doneon the finalisation of the loca- tion for museum, he added. The temples were abandoned by local Hindus when they migra- ted to India in 1947. It has always been the site of holy pilgrimage for people of various faiths. Even today, worshippers from all faiths perform pilgrimages to the tem- ple every year and bathe in the sacred pool here.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Katas village in the Chakwal

Katasraj temple is a Hindu temple situated in Katas village in the Chakwal district of Punjab in Pakistan. Dedicated to Shiva, the temple has existed since the days of Mahābhārata and the Pandava brothers spent a substantial part of their exile at the site. The Pakistan Government is considering nominating the temple complex for World Heritage Site status. It also proposes to spend about Rs 20 million in three phases for the restoration of the complex.