Katas
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Katas
Sacred pool in the centre of the Salt Range, in Jhelum District, Punjab, situated in 32 degree 43' N. and 72 degree 59' E., 15 miles north of Pind Dadan Khan, at an elevation of over 2,000 feet. The pool lies at the head of the Ganiya nullah, a small ravine between low stony hills, and is fed by springs. From it issues a small stream which flows past Choa Saidan Shah into the Gandhala valley. It is visited every year by thousands of pilgrims who come to bathe in its waters. The Brahmanical story is that Siva being inconsolable at the death of his wife Sat!, ' the true one,' tears rained from his eyes and formed the two pools of Katas or Kataksha, ' raining eyes,' and Pushkar near Ajmer. The pool is partly artificial, the rock having been cut away to enlarge the natural basin in the bed of the ravine. Just above it once stretched a strong masonry wall which dammed up the stream, so as to enclose a large lake ; but the water now escapes through the broken rocks and ruins of the embankment. About 800 feet below the pool the Ganiya nullah passes between two low flat-topped hills, on which the ancient town is said to have stood. At the foot of Kotera, the west hill, are the remains of twelve temples clustered in a corner of an old fort. These are called the Sat-Ghara, or ' seven temples,' and are popularly attributed to the Pandavas, who are said to have lived at Katas during a portion of their seven years' wanderings. Their style is that of the Kashmir architecture which prevailed from the eighth to the thirteenth century, and they comprise a group of six small temples placed in pairs at regular distances around one large central temple. Facing this to the east is the basement of a great structure, which was in all probability a Buddhist stupa.
South-west of the village of Choa Saidan Shah, which lies 2 miles due east of Katas, extends the Gandhala valley, itself 2,000 feet above the sea, and separated by lofty cliffs from Katas on the north. On the bank of the Katas stream, which flows through the valley, lies the hill of Murti, rising on a base of solid sandstone to about 100 feet above the stream, its level top being 225 feet long by 190 broad. On this plateau is a small mound, the remains of a stitpa ; and close to it once stood a small Jain temple, from the debris of which a considerable quantity of highly ornamented architectural fragments (now in the Lahore Museum) were recovered by Dr. Stein's excavations in 1890. The temple has been identified with a famous Jain shrine where Mahavira was supposed to have obtained his enlightenment. The locality is also identified with Singha-pura, the Sang-ho-pu-lo of the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang, and described by him as the capital of a dependency of Kashmir about a. d. 630.
[Archaeological Survey Reports, vol. ii, pp. 88 and 90 ; A. Cunning- ham, Ancient Geography of India, pp. 124-8 ; Vienna Oriental Journal, vol. iv (1890), pp. 80 and 260.]
