Raghunath Temple, Jammu & Kashmir

Dedicated to Lord Rama, who is worshipped as the 7th avatar of Lord Vishnu, Shri Raghunath Temple is situated in the Jammu town in the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir. The town is north of River Tawi at an average elevation of 350 m. There are 7 shrines in this temple complex whose construction was initiated by the first Dogra ruler Maharaja Gulab Singh in the year 1835 which was completed by his son Maharaja Ranbir Singh during Dogra rule in the year 1860. This complex consists of shrines where many gods are worshipped although the presiding deity is Lord Rama, who is worshipped as Shri Raghunath here.

The temple is built over a platform raised at a height of 1.5 m whose shape is octagonal. The front fascia is 12 m in width having three entry doors while the main shrine is set 15 m away from the entrance. All the spiral-shaped towers were made out of brick having gold plated spires with each tower crowned with bright Kalashas in the shape of shikhara. The main temple’s inner wall is covered with a gold sheet on the three sides. The niches in the wall of the shrines are decorated with around 300 well-crafted icons of gods and goddesses such as Ganesha, Surya as well as a vast gallery displaying various “Shivlingams” and “Saligrams” is made for the general public viewing. The Raghunath Temple is of great historical importance with some renowned depictions of Ram Leela and Krishna Leela in their beautiful paintings. These paintings are based on the theme of Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Bhagavad Gita present in the 15 panels of the main shrine.

According to Hindu Ithihas, the temple was originally built by Maharaja Jagat Singh of Kullu in order to get rid of his wrong deeds through his devotion to Lord Rama. However, according to an inscription in Brahmic script at the entrance of the shrine, it is believed that Gulab Singh and his brother Dhyan Singh have built this temple in honour of Mahant Jagannath in the year 1827. The principal deity of this shrine is believed to be brought back from Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, according to Purana “Ramayana”. The temple also has peeps of the Mughal masonry that can be visualized in the architectural splendour of the Raghunath Temple.

The temple complex started a pathshala and a library that preserves over 6000 manuscripts in many notable languages,  with a notable collection of Sarada script Sanskrit manuscripts during the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh. The pathshala was started with a great initiative of welcoming students from all castes and classes. The manuscripts present here were translated in Devanagari from the original Sarada scriptures, by the scribes employed by the library management in the 19th Century. The collection as indexed by Stein, included Sanskrit manuscripts, predominantly Devanagari of Vedic literature, grammar, music, rhetoric, Kavya, drama, fables, dharmasutras, Mimamsa, Vedanta, Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Jyotisha, Architecture, Medicine, Epics, Puranas, Bhakti and Tantra. This temple has always been praised for its inter-religious initiatives by adding Hindu and Buddhist texts of the Kashmir tradition along with an effort to translate texts in Arabic and Persian languages into Sanskrit. ‘Ramnavmi’ is the major festival celebrated here, which lighten up the spirit of this town and the devotees present over here.