Muslim man helps in Murti Astapan prayers at a temple in Srinagar

A group of Kashmiri Pandits today held ‘ Murti Astapan’ prayers after 25 years at a temple in Srinagar, with a Muslim man helping place the idol.

The temple at Yatri Bhawan in Lal Chowk- – the nerve centre of the city– reverberated with the sounds of conch shell and vedic hymns after the idol of Goddess Durga was placed inside after 25 years.

” There was a small idol inside the temple, but we have placed a large ‘ murti’ now after 25 years. We bought the idol from Jaipur,” Sharad Khosla, who runs a religious organization ‘ Sanatan Dharam Pratap Sabha’ which organised the puja, told PTI. A Muslim man, Ghulam Qadir, of downtown area of the city helped his Pandit brothers set up the idol at its place in the temple.

” I was working here ( on a construction of a building) when they got this idol. It was heavy, so I went up to help them and lent my hand,” Qadir said. He said the brotherhood between the two communities has been there since ages and it was not lost. ” This ( brotherhood) is nothing new. It has been here since ages. The world needs to see that we live peacefully here,”

Courtesy Greater kashmir

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