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.
It is really great. I do not know how I happened to reach this stuff, But the minutes spent reading the post and comments are worth it. The post is very informative. Reading comments was the best part of it because generally it is thought that Pakistan is not sensitive about Hindu Mandirs. But the concerns of the Pakistanis are welcome (I hope adverse comments have not been removed by the adminstarator)
hi everybody
i m from hoshiarpur in indian punjab
it is really nice that pak govt. is taking care of katas raj temlple as it will have strong effect to have nice relationship with our pak brother which have been seperated from us since1947 due to angreji hakoomat.
Assalam-o-alaikum. I have recently heard about Katas Raj Temples and the holy lake. I am surprised to know all about Katas Raj and I don’t know why I never heard about these temples before. Anyways, I have decided to visit Katas Raj in comming Eid vacations with my friends & family. I request you all to please guide me the rout (after reaching Kallar Kahan) through which we can easily reach there. Or is there any other public conveyance that brings us to Katas Raj easily. Waiting for prompt reply…..
This is a great post, I learned so much. I know that there are Hindu and Sikh communities in Pakistan, and to a lesser extent in Afghanistan. But I had never heard about these mandirs in particular.
Like the several comments here which express a wish that Pakistan should preserve these mandirs, I also believe that Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan should preserve and even nourish whatever communities and representations we have, regardless of what their origins are. Because the truth is that these diverse strands of our cultures are so intertwined that you cannot separate one from the other.
I’m also quite heartened to read the comments. If only people there were more people like those who commented above.
[quote comment=”41676″]Please muslim brothers and sisters respect the culture of pakistan and the History , there was and still is Hindu communities in Pakistan…please let them flourish.
On a vsist to ajmer i visited Darga and took chadar with me ..i put flowers and donated to poor….bombay i went to Haji Ali i served the poor and offered red ribbons and chadar to the tombs….
i respect all places of worship in India and we should learn to respect the same in pakistan and afganistan.
My grandfather is from Kabul , both my parents are born in pakistan and i see myself as ethnic pakistani …….
I feel sad that temples shrines and deities are smashed and brutally looted. Islam does not teach to hurt others feelings and be evil.
pakistan is still very wonderful my naani and dadi still tell me how they grew up and what things were beautiful.[/quote]
That is an absolutely beautiful post my brother, and I promise you that we Janjua Rajputs are trying our best to preserve the Katas Mandirs as best as we can. We are Muslims, but we have a great respect for our heritage and the heritage of our Hindu brothers also.
The Government of Pakistan has agreed to aid preservtaion, but the day to day preservation still falls on the locals. The Katas Mandirs are within our ancestral Malot Fort of Raja Mal Khan Janjua. Cunningham was right about the poor shape, it suffered much during the Sikh age, with quite a bit of damage to the top of the right Mandir (a watch post was shabbily made on the top of it…..)
If only there were more brothers like you, the world would be a much more honourable and peaceful place Inshallah.
hey i need your help plz plz plz… cz i am having an assignment on KATAS TEMPLES…in which we hve to provide our assessor with a plan dat whether we should RENOVATE katas temples or not … in order to make it phisibal for da tourisits… i my self hve visited da temples twice n sum how i hve came to knw dat KATAS TEMPLES is supposed to be KABATULLAH of hindus like it is one of HINDU’s best SACRED PLACES… I hve stated my email address and want you to gve me FULL FLEDGE info abt it.. HOPE U’LL NOT LET ME DOWN..:P
ahhhh 1 more thing my biography:
NAME: UMAIR AHMED
AGE: 17
DESIGNATION: STUDENT OF B-TEC NATIONALS
PLACE: LAHORE- PAKISTAN
INSTITUTE: STEP-Institute of Professional Development
Let us go to Salt Range Temples / Salt Mines
The access to Salt Range Mallot Temples Distt Chakwal is as follows,
Coming from Lahore / south-western parts of Pakistan or from Islamabad / Rawalpindi we will travel on motorway till Kallar Kahar interchange. From Kallar Kahar interchange toll plaza we will be taking turn going towards Choa Saidan Shah Distt Chakwal, leaving the other turn going towards “Soon-Sakeisar valley. From there about 2km away there is a right turning called “Karuli chowk� from here the road will lead us to Choi village after passing near by newly established Pakistan Cement Factory. After Choi village we will reach Mallot village where Mallot Temples are located which were built circa 900-1000 years ago. The total distance will be around 35-40 minutes from “Karuli chowk� to Mallot village.
The access to Katas Temples Distt Chakwal is as follows,
Coming from Lahore / south-western parts of Pakistan or from Islamabad / Rawalpindi we will travel on motorway till Kallar Kahar interchange. OR coming from GT road, we have to reach Chakwal from where we will be traveling towards Katas Temples via Chakwal-Kallar Kahar road. From Kallar Kahar interchange toll plaza we will be taking the turn going towards Choa Saidan Shah Distt Chakwal, leaving the other turn going towards “Soon-Sakeisar valley. From there about 20km away from motoway interchande Katas Temples are located on the right side of road leading to Choa Saidan Shah, a Tehsil of Distt Chakwal. The time distance will be maximum around 45 minutes from the Kallar Kahar interchange.
The access to AmbTemples Distt Khushab is as follows,
Coming from Lahore / south-western parts of Pakistan or from Islamabad / Rawalpindi we will travel on motorway till Kallar Kahar interchange. From Kallar Kahar interchange toll plaza will be taking the turn going towards Soon-Sakeisar valley, leaving the other turn going towards Choa Saidan Shah Distt Chakwal. We will come across towns like Bochal Kallan—Miani-Noorpur—-Manara—-Padhrar—Pail—Sodhi—- Noshera—Uchali—Sakeisar ( here we have to seek permission to enter from the PAF base) and will reach Amb Sharief after crossing the PAF base of Sakaeisar on mountain top. The same road will lead to Qadirabad of Distt Khushab. The time spent will be around 2 hours from Kallar Kahar interchange till PAF base Sakaisar. After driving down in an hour from the mountain top, the access to Amb temples is by a dirt road stretching for about 4km to the metalled part of a road which is another 4km upwards to Amb village. REMEMBER, this dirt road will start from about 500 meters crossing a small bridge and this bridge comes immediately on down road at ground-zero level. The dirt road is on the left side of the same road which leads to Qadirabad, about 28km away from the bridge. The other access to Amb temples is from the interchange of Khushab, traveling on Khushab—–Qadirabad link road and from Qadirabad we can ask anyone for the road linking Amb village. The access from this option same is traveling on the same dirt road and onwards, as mentioned above.
The access to Sangni Fort located in Tehsil Gujar Khan is as follows,
The link road taking us to Sangni fort is located on the right side of GT road coming from Rawalpindi / Islamabad. On our right side from the GT road Gujar Khan we will take left turn towards a locally well known village of Bewal. We will cross Bewal in half an hour with low speed as the road is medium wide with a lot off traffic on it and will reach a road side village of Takkal located on our left side. From Takkal village after 5 minutes drive we will face the grandeur of Sangni Fort built during Sikh dominance era. The distance from the GT road Gujat Khan Town is about 25km.
The access to Salt mines Khewra located in Tehsil Pind Dadan Khan Distt Jhelum is as follows,
Coming from Lahore / south-western parts of Pakistan or from Islamabad / Rawalpindi we will travel on motorway till Lilla interchange. From Lilla interchange toll plaza will be taking the turn going towards Pind Dadan Khan, Khewra, leaving the other turn going towards Lilla Town. The distance is about 30km from the interchange. After traveling for about 30km we will reach near T-section of roads. Here we will take left turn which is going towards PMDC, ICI soda ash factory and Khewra salt mines in 05 minutes drive while the right turn we left is going towards Pind Dadan Khan. We need at least 02 hours to visit the place including 3rd world asthma therapy hospital located near these world 2nd largest sat mines after Poland Sat mines.
The access to Tilla Jogian summit of Salt Range near Domeli in Distt Jhelum, is as follows,
Coming from Lahore we will take Domeli turning on our left. This turning is about 10km onwards from Dina, a town which comes after Jhelum. Coming from Rawalpindi we will take a U-turn on GT road for going towards Domeli turning on our left side. This U-turn is about 12km away from Sohawa located on main GT road. The Domeli village is about half an hour or slightly more onwards from Sohawa. From Domeli village we can spot sign board indicating a left turn towards Gattar village, here we will take left turn. After about 3km from this turning we will take another left turn which will lead us to village called Gattar, in about 15 minutes drive from the left turning of Domeli village. The roads from hereon are broken and narrow which is subject to improvements from time to time. So do not worry, you may find a better road then the roads I traveled on last, in February 2007. As soon as we will reach near the shops of village Gattar, we will take right turn towards village Baith (do ask some local if you are not clear). This will lead us to reach within 10 minutes at our final destination called village Bhaith located in the foothills of Tilla Jogian. Here we can park our vehicle near a school or a dispensary which is a safe place and may ask, if needed, some local to guide us to show the starting point to climb the 1.15 hrs hike which will starts immediately after the walk.. The access to Tilla Jogian Mountain is beyond description. Just excellent. Go and visit religious ruins of Sikh era including a dilapidated famous Baba Guru Nanak’s “Baithak� a sitting place for thoughts and meditation, ponds of Mughal period and feel the presence of Baba Gorakh Nath (circa 70BC) in the nook and cranny of place once a centre of spiritual nirvana. The Govt of Pakistan and Govt of the Punjab must preserve the dilapidated sitting place of Baba Guru Nanak and improve the over all historical ambience of the ruins with out changing its original outlook..
The access to Tilla Jogian summit of Salt Range near Domeli in Distt Jhelum, is as follows,
Coming from Lahore we will take a left turning just short of a small railway underway road bridge and opposite to it there is another indication of a sign board showing towards right hand side a short cut leading to Mangla via a village Ladhar Manara. This turning is less then 15km onwards from Jhelum. Coming from Rawalpindi we will take a U-turn on GT road after crossing a small road bridge for railways under passing. This U-turn is about 1km away from Dina Town located on main GT road. As soon as we take a U-turn we will read an indication for take a left turn towards Rohtas fort about 15km away. The access to Rohtas fort is very scenic and arresting. The fort belongs to Sher Shah Suri times but it is said that there was another fort built at the same place may be of smaller size but had no significant cite in the annals of history.
Shahid Nadeem
Please muslim brothers and sisters respect the culture of pakistan and the History , there was and still is Hindu communities in Pakistan…please let them flourish.
On a vsist to ajmer i visited Darga and took chadar with me ..i put flowers and donated to poor….bombay i went to Haji Ali i served the poor and offered red ribbons and chadar to the tombs….
i respect all places of worship in India and we should learn to respect the same in pakistan and afganistan.
My grandfather is from Kabul , both my parents are born in pakistan and i see myself as ethnic pakistani …….
I feel sad that temples shrines and deities are smashed and brutally looted. Islam does not teach to hurt others feelings and be evil.
if you respect these wonderful pictures and frescoes tourists will visit pakistan to see this wonderful staues and frescoes…….islam cannot show pictures as is against their fAITH, Although you can show other faith’s temples and picutres.
pakistan is still very wonderful my naani and dadi still tell me how they grew up and what things were beautiful.