Bhaderwah: The Nag Bhumi known as mini Kashmir
Jammu, July 03: Bhaderwah, the most beautiful valley in Jammu division is one of the best places for tourism with the vast green valleys, huge mountains and cool atmosphere resembling the weather and topography of Kashmir and is also called as Naag Bhoomi or mini Kashmir in Jammu.
Bhaderwah valley is a town in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir state predominantly a mountainous town situated 80 km from Batote.
Bhadarwah is located on the foothills of middle Himalayas. The town is endowed with breath-taking natural beauty which is why it is popularly called “mini Kashmir”. Apart from having picture perfect scenic beauty due to beautiful forests, there are many small streams flowing through various parts of the town. The Halyan river flows through the main market of the town.
Bhaderwah also known as “Nagon ki bhoomi” means ‘land of Snakes’. The history is very little known to general masses. The Bhaderwah Town ( Nagar Bhaderwah ) was known as Hettary Nagar and prior to that, there were two other towns namely Donga Nagar and Udho Nagar. Both the Nagars was situated around villages Mondha which is about 3 km, in the East of present Bhaderwah town.
History tells us that once both the Nagars were flooded due to torrential floods from Himalayan Ranges, and the presence of the big boulders in abundance available in the present era reveal the story of disaster occurred then. Later on, the people of Bhaderwah selected a place for their rehabilitation in Seeri (from word ‘SEER’ meaning a vast piece of land), now known as Seeri Bazar, a vast field belonging to a Zamindar (Farmer) and reconstructed their dwellings around it.
The Govt. of Chamba once raided Bhaderwah but the forces under the command of Shagtu Kotwal fought with the forces of Chamba Raja at Padri Dhar for at least three days wherein the general Nathu Ram of Chamba was badly defeated.
A few days after repulsing the Chamba Force, he managed to present himself before Maharaja Gulab Singh at Jammu for accession of Bhaderwah with the J&K State. The Maharaja Gulab Singh gladly accepted the proposal and the brave General Shagtu Kotwal was awarded with a Jagir (Property) in Kailar named Droundi. It occurred during the year of 1902 Bikrami i.e. in about 1854, when the revenue of Rabi Crop was collected by the Chamba Rulers and that of Kharief Crop Revenue by the Jammu and Kashmir Rulers.
Apart from this Bhaderwah town is also having rich historical and religious perspective in which Nagas and Garuds have played a vital role thus giving it more historical and religious value which adds to the tourism potential of the area.
Even though the government has been making efforts to convert the town into a major tourist attraction the town has not been able to make its presence felt at the national and international tourism scene partly due to bad roads and infrastructure and partly due to threat of terrorism in the interiors jungles of Doda district.
It was the then chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad who gave a huge thrust on exploiting the tourism potential of the area as he represented the constituency also, but much more needs to be done to explore the tourism potential of the area and propagate it at the international level.
The town has the potential which can attract international tourists as well as pilgrim tourists due to its religious and historical value and replace Kashmir in Jammu division. To know more about Bhaderwah visit http://www.bhaderwah.com/history.html. (Compiled with inputs from various websites)