Over 30,000 Kashmiri Pandits on Friday visited the Tulmulla in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir to celebrate the Kheer Bhawani festival on the occasion of “Jyeshtha Ashtami”.

Mela Kheer Bhawani is celebrated every year at the Kheer Bhawani. The festival is considered one of the most important for the Kashmiri Pandit Community. Authorities said over 200 buses carrying the devotees have reached Tulmulla to participate in the festival. The authorities not only make sure to provide all the assistance to the devotees visiting but also secure the whole road and highway that connects to the temple.

The devotees lit up hundreds of lamps near the temple as a ritual of the “Jyeshtha Ashtami” festival and also participated in night long prayers and wished peace and prosperity of Jammu and Kashmir.

Scenes of communal harmony were witnessed at the shrine in Tulmulla as the local Kashmiri Muslims greeted the Kashmiri Pandit devotees.

A Pandit woman devotee said, “Kashmir is the land of Reshi’s and Peer’s and on the same soil so many big names like Nund Reshi, Lallded and Mata Maha Ragnya Devi who are here at the Tulmulla temple”,

“Everything is in the hands of God. There is some fear but people have come here in large numbers. Faith is more powerful than fear,” Sunny, a Kashmiri Pandit from Delhi, said as he and several others from the community congregated at Rangya Devi in the central Kashmir district for the Mela.

Terrorists attacked a bus carrying pilgrims in Reasi district on June 9 killing nine persons and injuring 43 others.

As devotees jostled with each other to move closer to the main temple complex, walking barefoot and carrying rose petals, the chants of hymns echoed through the temple compound here.

The devotees offered tribute to the goddess as men took a dip in the stream close to the shrine. They paid obeisance to the deity while offering milk and ‘kheer’ (pudding) at the sacred spring within the complex.

It is believed that the colour of the sacred spring water flowing beneath the temple here reflects the conditions in the valley.

While most of the colours do not have any particular significance, black or darkish colour of the water is believed to be an indication of inauspicious times for Kashmir. However, the water in the spring was clean and milky white this year.

“We pray to Mata Kheer Bhawani that make us live like we used to before in peace and brotherhood. We want to return to our homeland,” said a Pandit devotee Sunil Dhar.

“We are thankful to our Muslim brothers for the arrangements and facilities. This is the live example of Kashmiriyat,” he said.

The footfall of yatris had increased this year.

“More than 30,000 devotees visited the Kheer Bhawani temple. Jammu and Kashmir administration and those who have faith in the deity, have done best arrangements. The devotees were ferried in around 200 buses from Jammu. Some people have come from Delhi also,” Lt Governor Manoj Sinha told reporters after visiting the temple.

Political leaders, including former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah, BJP’s J&K president Ravinder Raina, and CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami, also paid obeisance at the shrine.

The authorities had made elaborate arrangements for the visiting pilgrims. Three tier security arrangements were put in place to thwart any untoward incident.