Jandi Garden: A natural souvenir in Hiranagar tehsil situated

Jandi Garden: A natural souvenir

Jandi garden locally known as “Jandi baagh” or simply “baagh” is a beautiful sceneric place in Hiranagar tehsil situated in village Jandi which lies at 5 Km distance from Hiranagar Town. This splendid charming natural place is full of peace and is the best for meditation. Adjoined by the calmly flowing stream of Gupt Gang and a mango orchard, there are number of small stone pitched bowalies that remained filled with fresh water besides an ancient temple devoted to Lord Shiva. Numerous ancient stone with the images of devtas and gods carved on them can be found on these bowalies. A magnanimous temple of Baba Sehaj Nath ji with in the premises of the baagh has been recently constructed by the Jandials. It is surrounded by the villages Bassi Jamwal, Pantal, Jandi, Kattal Brahmna, Kattal Gujjraan etc.   One locally available legend says that that once upon a time this place started to dry up due to some curse. The wild animals and birds began to die. The water bodies started to dry up. All that became matter of worry for the villagers. Years passed but one day the dried up garden suddenly started to bloom, turned lush green and the birds started to chirp sweet songs. The villagers were quite astonished to see all it as they were not hopeful that this would ever happen. Whispers were heard as how has it happened? How a dried up garden turned green and birds begin to chirp? When the villagers went there, they saw a saint meditating there and it was the result of his spiritual power that had enabled the otherwise dried up garden to bloom. The dried up stream of Gupt Ganga began to spurt water and the Ghat once again turned into a viable aquatic ecosystem.       There are two routes to reach the garden from the Hiranagar-Rajpura link road; one from Jandi-Kattal road through a perennial nalla locally known as “cho” and other through the village Bassi Jamwal on Hiranagar-Jandi link road. The route through nallah is broad and is suited for the passage of large vehicles. Earlier the road was kaccha but recently it has been paved. At some places however, it is undulated and one has to pass through flowing water to reach the baagh. The second route through village Bassi Jamwal is metalled but narrow and suits well to the small vehicles including two wheelers. It is quite clear road. Most of the outsiders usually follow this road to reach the baagh.     There is a valiant stream originated from this place that is believed to be that of Gupt Ganga. On the occasion of ekadshi and amavasya people take holy dip in it. Taking bath at this ghat is considered as equal as at Haridwar. With this faith people throng the place at occasions to reprieve themselves of the sins and to get the spirit of devotion towards almighty inculcated in them. The ghat of this magnificent stream was earlier stne pitchd that has now been reinforced with cemented. One more peculiar feature of this divine place is that it hosts the devsthans of many biradaries and frequent congregations of the respective biradries are held here.
There are several small water bodies (Bowlies) in front of the lod Shiva’s temple which were earlier used to be the only source of potable water for adjoining areas. Few of them have been now abandoned. Whereas, some bowalies have been renovated and remains filled with the underground stream of fresh water and fishes. Fishing is completely prohibited here not by force but by faith.   One popular legend associated with these bowalies in the adjoining area is that that; one big golden fish lived in one of these bowalies with golden nose ring in its upper lip (Locally called naath) that was considered divine fish. One day a person from another village saw big and healthy fishes. He fished few and packed them in a bag. When he turned to go home he couldn’t see anything when he turned towards bowely he could see everything. Later he heard a voice that he had turned blind because of the sin he had committed and only he would be able to see if he puts all the fishes back in the bowly, begs pardon and performs pooja of it after taking a dip in the nearby stream of Gupt Ganga. He got scared and immediately put the fishes back into the bowley and performed the same. Miracle happened; his visual sense came back. Later he begged pardon for fishing in the Baagh and told the story to the villagers. From that day the legend begin to be popular.   Revered Dharamguru 1008 Swami Shanta Nand Saraswati Ji Maharaj lived at this charming place for more than twenty years from 1958 to 1980 and started the work of  repair and renovation of the lord Shiva,s temple, pitching of the ghat of Gupt Ganga and got constructed the initial infrastructure including an ashram in the baagh premises. This place was selected by swamiji because of its extreme natural beauty and peaceful atmosphere. Now the place has been managed by Jandial sabha which has got constructed a big community hall for the welfare of the people in the vicinity of the ancient Lord Shiva’s temple.   Undoubtedly, the natural beauty of this place adds charm to one’s life. The musical chirp of birds in the summer season and echo of numerous voices of koel fill the garden with magic. The sweet fragrance emanating from numerous mango trees in the baagh fills the surrounding with great a divine aroma. During summers there remains a heavy rush of the people who come here to take bath in the chilling water of the stream especially at evening. This splendid place has all the charm that is needed to make it place worth mentioning and a tourist attraction for the full scale tourist spot.

(By Dr Narinder Paul The Author is Scientist at SKUAST Jammu)

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