Places of Pilgrimge in Jammu Region: Jammu “The City of Temples” has numerous temples in its lap. The famous places of pilgrimage in Jammu region are Raghunath Temple, Ranbireshwar Temple, Bahu Fort or Bawe Wali Mata, Mahamaya Temple, Peer Kho, Id Gah, Purmandal, Budda Amarnath, Nangali Sahab, Shahdra Shariff, Church, SudhMahadev, Krimchi Temple, Mata Vaishno Devi, Baba Jitto Shrine, Shiv Khori, Sukrala Devi, Pingla Devi, Chichi Mata, Kol Kandoli and many more.
RAGHUNATH TEMPLE
The temple is more than 164 years old. The foundation stone of the temple was laid by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1831 AD and later was inaugurated by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1857 AD. The temple was named after the main shrine which contains the images of Shri Ram, Devi Sita and Laxman. It is believed to be the largest temple complex of North India.You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. Lingams of 33 Crore God and Goddess of Hinduism can be found in the temple that remarks it history.There is a very interesting story related to how the Raghunath temple was built. It is said that Maharaj Gulab Singh got the inspiration for the construction of this temple from Shri Ram Das Vairagi. It is said that Ramdas Vairagi had prophesied that Gulab Singh would become the king. Which later turned out to be true. Ramdas Vairagi was a devotee of Lord Rama. He had come to Jammu from Ayodhya to propagate the ideals of Lord Ram. Sui lived by making a hut in Simbli. Ramdas built the first Ram temple in Jammu region at Sui Simbli.
RANBIRESHWAR TEMPLE
Located on the Shalamar Road near the Old Secretariat, this temple was buit by Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1883 AD. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. It has one central Lingam measuring 71/2 feet in height.BAHU FORT / MAHAKALI TEMPLE – AKA BAWE WALI MATA
Approximately 5 Kms from Jammu City, it is the oldest fort and is dedicated to Goddess Kali. Constructed on the banks of River Tawi this fort is constructed by Bahu Lochan, founder of Jammu named Jambu Lochan. A popular Hindu festival is known as “Bahu Mela” is held during the Navaratras in the fort area, twice a year, during March–April and September–October. This attracts a very large number of pilgrims.MAHAMAYA TEMPLE
On the bypass road behind the Bahur Fort, the city forest surrounds the ancient Mahamaya Temple. It is dedicated to Goddess Mahamaya. If you want to see the entire Jammu city at a glance, then move towards Mahamaya Temple. Streams of Tawi River below, Hari Singh Palace in front and Mubarak Mandi and Khilona Basti on the other side of Tawi, the entire Jammu city is visible.PEER KHO AKA JAMWANT GUFFA
Peer Kho is a cave shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva. There is an ancient ShivLing inside the temple. This cave is in amidst dense forests. Local people believe that this temple is associated with temples and caves outside India. Some also believe that the cave connects to Baba Amarnath and Budda Amarnath. Thousands of devotees visit the temple every year to worship.EID GAH
Ziarat Baba Budda Shah is located in the outskirts of Jammu area in Chatha Area. This Ziarat is very popular among all sections of society. Large number of people throughout the year visit this place.PURMANDAL
About 40 Kms from Jammu, PurmandalTemple Complex is on the banks of Sacred and mostly underground Devika River. It is also known by the name of Chotti Kaashi. The trunk of the idol of Lord Ganesha that has been installed in Purmandal is turn the other way to the left. The idol of Ganesha like this is only in the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Delhi. In the rest of the temples, the trunk of Ganesha is turn the other way to right. You can see here a total of 1337 Shivlings here, while 1400 in the entire Purmandal and 1.25 lakh Shivlings have been installed in the entire Jammu. A living samadhi of a Mahatma is also there in the temple premises. People bow down at his tomb.BUDDHA AMARNATH
In the north-east of Poonch Town is situated an ancient temple of Lord Shiva. This is unique in its own style. It is located on the foot hills but not on the hill top. Also there is a self formed white stone Shivling inside the 100 meters long cave. It is believed that the story of immorality narrated by Lord Shiva to Goddess Parvati begins here.NANGALI SAHAB
Situated on the left bank of Drungli Nallah, Guru Bai Mela Singh establish this Gurudwara.SHAHDRA SHARIFF
It is in Rajoiri District of Jammu and Kashmir. It was built in the 19th century on a beautiful hillock in Thaana Mandi area. This ziarat has a great importance. Thousands of devotees every year visit this place.CHURCH
The city has a number of historic churches like Protestant Church on wazarat roads, Catholic Church on Jewel Road and Presentation Church of Virgin Mary.SUDHMAHADEV
This highly revered Shiva Temple is located at the approximate distance of about 40 Kms from Udhampur. It has black marble self made lingam. The biggest feature of this temple is that there are three pieces of a huge trident (Trishool) in the ground, which according to mythology belong to Lord Shiva himself. It is belived that Lord Shiva used that trident on Demon named Sudhant to save Godess Parvati. Sudhant get the blessing from Lord Shiva and the place get fame by the name of SudhMahadev. This happen because Sudhant wishes to get Moksha from Mahadev itself.KRIMCHI TEMPLE
About 15 Kms in north this is highly important archaeological site. It is a complex of Seven ancient temples in Udhampur. This temple complex claimed to be of 8th or 9th century. The construction style of these temples is similar to the temples of Chamba, Bhubaneshwar and Bharmour.According to legends, the city of Krimchi was settled by King Keechaka, who lived during the Mahabharata period. There is also a believe that the Pandavas had spent a year of exile in these temples. This is the reason why these temples are famous as Pandava Krimchi Temple.Krimchi is just 30 minutes drive from Udhampur. Out of Seven Temples, Four Large temples Faces the East and Three Small Temples faces the West.
