TULUMULLA (GANDERBAL): Kashmiri Pandits visiting a temple in central Kashmir are heaving a sigh of relief after the spring on the premises “changed its colour” from red to pink.According to the priest, the spring at Kheer Bhawani temple in Ganderbal district had turned red — signifying bad omen — after the killing of Kashmiri Pandit employee Rahul Bhat by militants last week. However, the water body has become pinkish recently, signifying peace.
The temple, devoted to Ragnya Devi, is much revered by Kashmiri Pandits. Thousands of Pandits visit the temple every year on the occasion of the annual Zeshta Ashtami festival, to be held next month.As per the priest and the Pandit devotees visiting the temple, the spring exhibits changes in the colour of its waters from time to time, which are ascribed to different manifestations of the goddess. “If the spring gets red or black colour, we see it as a bad omen,” said Rakesh Pandita, a Pandit devotee from Jammu.
Priest Pandit Kalbushan Sharma told this newspaper that the colour of the spring had turned red last week and it remained so for a day. But it has changed since then and now the spring has pink colour. “We see pink (colour) as a good omen. It is an auspicious colour and signifies peace,” Sharma said, claiming that pink is the goddess’s personal colour. “There will be peace in the world”. Maintaining that the change of colour of the spring is natural, the priest said, “Water of the spring was tested in the past and it was found that no outside stuff had been put into it.”