Haryana Governor Visits Srinagar’s Vachar Nag Temple | 10 Apr 2024

Why in News?

Recently, Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya visited the ancient Vachar (Vichar) Nag Shiva temple in Srinagar and joined Kashmiri Pandits in a special puja on the occasion of Navreh, the Kashmiri New Year.

Key Points

During the visit, he released a special calendar to commemorate 5,100 years of the ‘Saptarishi system’.
The Vachar (Vichar) Nag temple was closed in the 1990s when Pandits left the Valley in the wake of rising militancy.

Navreh

It is celebrated on the first day of the bright half (Shukla Paksha) of the month of Chaitra (March–April) in the Kashmiri Hindu calendar.
It is the Sanskrit word ‘Nav-Varsha’ from which the word ‘Navreh’ has been derived.
Kashmiri Pandits dedicate the Navreh festival to their Goddess Sharika and pay homage to her during the festival.