The Sharada Peeta of Ashtadasa Peeta is in LoC between India and Pakistan,80 km from Srinagar.
As it is not possible to visit this shakti peetha, one can visit the famous Saraswathi temple in Basara in Nizamabad district of Andhra Pradesh. Basara is 200 km from Hyderabad.
“It may be noted that Goverments of both countries, India and Pakistan have allowed muslim population of Kashmir to cross the line of actual control and have allowed trade as well across the border , both these countries are not allowing Kashmiri Hindus to visit the above shrine despite many requests.”
Any updates on this position?
Varanasyam Vishalakshi, Kashmire tu Saraswati /
Ashtadasha Shakti peethani, Yoginamapi durlabham // Ashtadasa Stotra of Adi Shankaracharya.
Devi is called Kashmirpura vasini,one who lives in Kashmir and there is a script called Sharada resembling Devanagari .
” Kashmir was a high established centre of learning of vedantic works until Muslim invaders from central-Asian countries came and destroyed it.
Indegenious script of Kashmir is named after the deity Sharada Devi.[2]
Kashmir was sometimes called Sharada Desh because of this temple and Sharada was called Kashmira Puravasini (resident of city of Kashmir ).[citation needed]
The Kashmiris are highly devoted towards this great deity[1] addressed as Bhagavathy.
During their daily worship they often say
“Namastey Sharada Devi Kashmir Pur Vasini Tvam Ham Prartheye Nityam Vidya Danam Che De hi mey”
meaning,
Salutations to you, O Sharada, O Goddess, O one who resides in Kashmir. I pray to you daily, please give me the charity of knowledge”
It was a centre of great Sanskrit scholars and Kashmiri Pandits and was a famous centre of Hinduism and Buddhism
. According to the Prabhāvakacarita, a Jain historical work dated 1277–78, the Śvetāmbara scholar Hemacandra requested grammatical texts preserved here so he could compile his own grammar, the Siddhahema.[10]
The Vaishnava saint Swami Ramanuja traveled all the way from Srirangam to refer to Bodhayana’s vritti on Brahma Sutras preserved here, before commencing work on writing his commentary on the Brahma sutras, the Sri Bhasya.
Near Sree Sharada Devi temple, there used to be famous Sanskrit university.
Kashmir was also called “Shardapeeth” (the base of Sharda), the name being derived from the temple. We can take this to be an allegory of all the struggles Shankara had to face in his life. Ascending the seat of Sarvajna situated in Kashmir of the North is a symbol.
The meaning of it is that Shankara reached the peak of spirituality. We can get an idea of his greatness from the fact that a person of just thirty had ascended the throne of all knowledge.
The series are Adi Shakti Peetas by Adi Sankaracharya is just concluded.
I would like to thank the readers for their interest in urging me go on on this subject.
I would be posting on the other Shakti Peetas apart from continuing a series on DevUpasana and Tantra Shastra.
Citations.
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