Type: Monument - Temple
Province: Sindh
District: Umerkot
Period: Historic
Relative Chronology: 1857 - 1947 CE
Description: Located some 6km from Umerkot, Shiv Temple is one of the oldest and revered temples for Hindus living in Sindh. A neatly tiled staircase painted in yellow and red leads to a middle-sized courtyard and subsequently to the main temple. According to Cheetan Bhagat, a local Hindu leader, the temple, which has seen regular repairs and upkeep during different eras, is 5,000 years old, but this is purely exaggeration and has nothing to do with facts, because there was no such concept five thousand years from now. The current structure of the magnificent temple was expanded by a Muslim man a century ago. Inside the main temple, filled with the musky and rich fragrance of amber, a symbol of Shiva Ling is placed in the middle. The temple has a guesthouse and a community hall to accommodate the growing numbers of pilgrims who throng the temple in thousands to attend a three-day Shiva festival in March every year. Right behind the Shiv Temple stands a recently-constructed Durga or Mother Goddess, associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. A mural depicting the mother goddess is painted on the main wall of the main hall of the temple.Umarkot Shiv Mandir, also known as Amarkot Shiv Mandir, is aHindutemple situated near Rana Jaageer Goth, Umerkot is perhaps the oldest in Sindh. The temple is one of the most sacred Hindu places of worship in the Sindh province. According to the legend, thousands of years ago a man used to nourish cows here, where there were wide patches of grown grass. But eventually he noticed that one of his cows would go somewhere else and give her milk to a Lingam nearby. The man kept an eye on his cow and investigated her peculiar behavior. Subsequently, people visited the area and after checking they concluded that it was a Shiv Lingam. Thus, Shiv Mandir was built.The current structure of the temple was built by a Muslim man a century ago. The temple has magnificent Shiv Lingam, which is indeed one of the best in the whole world. Legend says that the Lingam kept growing itself until locals marked the height to literally observe the growth. The current structure of the temple was built by a Muslim man about a century ago. Every year on Maha Shivaratri, there is a huge three-day festival. On Maha Shivratri, many Pilgrims from lower and upper Sindh come and most of them stay for the three days of festivities. It is one of the biggest religious festivals in the country. It is attended by around 250,000 people. All the expenses are borne by the All-Hindu Panchayat of Umarkot. Om symbols welcomed the yatrisat the gate of the temple; its walls are decorated with posters of Lord Shiva and other saints of Thar.
Latitude: 25.416027778
Longitude: 69.776305556
Ownership: Private
Legal Status: Not Protected
Title of Publication: Miscellaneous
Published In: Miscellaneous
Year of Publication: 2022 (Retrieved)
Bibliography/Reference: Anonymous
