In October-November 2006, more than 200 Hindu pilgrims (yatrees) came from outside of Pakistan to visit Katas Raj.
The mention of Katas Raj, located in the salt range 18 miles south of Chakwal, is found in Maha Bharat written in 300 BC. The etymology of this place as narrated in the old edition of Tarikh-i-Jhelum (History of Jhelum) is that according to Brahaman belief, Shiv Devta wept so profusely on the death of his beloved wife Satti that two holy ponds - one at Pushkar of Ajmair and other at Katak Shell - came into being with his tears. In Sanskrit, the word - Katak Shell - means chain of tears which later on was pronounced as ‘Katas’.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and President Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) L.K Advani 
also visited Katas Raj to inaugurate the conservation work at Satghrah temple in June this year. The photo to the right is from that occasion.
According to Gen Cunningham, Katas was considered the second largest holy place in Punjab for Hindu pilgrims after Jawala Mukhi. It is said famous Pando brothers spent 12 years in Katas and built the temples of Satghara. It is said Al-Beruni also spent some time at Katas to learn Sanskrit in a linguistic university which, at that time, was established here. Temples at Katas have been transferred from the federal government to the Punjab Archaeology Department recently.
Katas Raj is also the place where Alberuni attempted to measure the circumference of the Earth, studied Sanskrit and wrote his renowned Kitab-ul-Hind (Book of Hind) which depicted the religion, scientific knowledge, and social customs of Hindus. Paras Nath Jogi drew his last breath on Katas. Jagat Guru Nanak Ji also visited the place on the 1st of Visakh. Katas came to be known as Nanaknawas and was a site of contemplation for many large groups of mystics, ascetics and jogis. According to Hindu beliefs, taking bath in the holy pond at the site washes away all sins and makes man innocent.
Its good to know that the Govt. of Pakistan is paying attention to the Katas temples. I went there some four years back, and noticed that the temples literally lay in ruins. Unfortunately I did not understand the religious significance associated with the place then, but now I do. I am glad that the temples are being restored now.
Another photo of Katas temple:
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/Pakistan/pho to517320.htm
further reading on the pottohar temples
Ah yes, that place is beautiful. I went there two years ago and sadly it lay in ruins, pun unintended. I hope they have changed that now by preserving it better.
Haha. Poor Cowasjee. Though I must admire the creativity of the guy who pasted these names up. Kamal Jacqui/Camel Jockey? Too good!
Hey Eidee Man, did you email Cowasjee about it. He should know people do read with some attention and do not take his every word as engraved in stone.
Thank you, once again, for a very informative post. Learnt a lot here. Glad to hear that conservation work is being done there. Do you have any information on how that work has gone or is going?
Shirazi Sb
Thanks for the informative article. I wonder what role the motorway M2 has played in bringing Ketas Raj to the forefront. I must admit that while growing up I was not aware of Ketas Raj existense. All the limelight was put on Potohar/Salt range area around the GT road. The most I’d heard of Potohar area’s heritage was about Rohtas Fort. It is in the past 10 or less years that Motorway has really opened up the Kallar-Kahar and Chakwal area to tourism. One regularly hears about Ketas Raj temples and pilgrimage to them in the media now. I hope and wish that this heritage is well taken care of by the govt of Pakistan.
Hi, this is not about this particular post so I apologize. But I’d like to turn everyone’s attention to Cowasjee’s latest column:
http://dawn.com/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm
He wrote:
“Since 1979, there have of course been other Muslims â€â€? two were awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, Naguib Mahfooz in 1988 and Orhan Pamuk in 2006; one for Chemistry, Ahmed Zewail in 1999; and seven additional Peace Prize winners â€â€? Yasser Arafat in 1994, Shirin Ebadi in 2003, Muhammad ElBaradei in 2005, Mohammad Yunus, Kamal Jacqui, Muhammad P Dofile and Rag Headiv in 2006.”
Okay, I actually respect Cowasjee quite a bit but I think this is hideously apalling. Being involved in scientific research, I, like many other nerds, actually look forward to the times when they announce Nobel prize winners. Anyway, I was reading this column when I thought, hmm…I have not heard these names before.
There is no ‘Muhammad P Dofile’ and no ‘Rag Headiv’!! In fact, ‘raghead’ is a racist slur used for Muslims and Arabs. As soon as I realized these ridiculous names, I just knew that he HAD to get them from Wikipedia, the user-run encyclopedia. And sure enough, I found the exact same names in the history of an article about Muslim Nobel prize winners (which has since been corrected, by the way).
What is shocking is that he failed miserably to check his facts against the Nobel website…it would have taken less than five minutes to do so. For a person who has criticism for everyone, this is pretty shabby!