Pakistan declares over 1000-yr-old Panj Tirath Hindu religious site in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as national heritage

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

Pakistan on Thursday declared more than 1,000-year-old Hindu religious site of Panj Tirath in Peshawar as national heritage. Panj Tirath derived its name from the five pools of water present there. The site also has a lawn with date palm trees and a temple.

Those found guilty of damaging the ancient site will have to pay a fine of up to Rs 2 million and face five-year imprisonment. The ancient site comes under the ambit of Chacha Yunus Park and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The notification in this regard was issued by the KP Directorate of Archaeology and Museums under the KP Antiquities Act 2016.

Panj Tirath is situated at Hashtnagri and is believed that Pandu, a mythical king in Mahabharata, hailed from this area. And Hindus used to come and take a dip in these pools during the month of Karteek and worship for two days.

It was during the reign of the Afghan Durrani dynasty in 1747 that the site got damaged. However, it was restored by local Hindus in 1834.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has been asked by the archaeology directorate to clear the site of encroachment and permit archaeologists to do the preservation work.