Nearly 30,000 devotees, mainly Kashmiri pandit expatriates, are expected to arrive in the Valley from across the country next week to attend the famous Khirbhawani mela at Tulla Mulla, a village 27-km north of here. They would be joining their co-religionists who chose not to leave the Valley in 1990s to pray at sacred Khirbhawani shrine coinciding Jyeshtha Ashtami.
The revered place of worship and the fair held to mark the occasion have attracted thousands of devotees during past few years following the improvement in security situation and passionate calls emanating from the Valley. The participants seek blessings from goddess Ragnya Devi at the historic temple, which sits next to a sacred stream. Top government functionaries, local religious leaders, social activists and even some separatist leaders also make beeline to the temple site.
During the heyday of militancy when the majority of the pandits had already migrated from the Valley, only the few lef-tover families and the security forces would converge in Tulla Mulla for the annual event. Lately, pandits have begun to return to their ancestral homeland for similar other religious events and rituals at historic temples and other places of worship as well. Also, hundreds of families have moved back to the Valley as the intensity of militant violence has also decreased since then.
Khirbhawani is the most revered place of worship of Kashmiri brahmins and the fair marks the annual pilgrimage to the sacred spring to seek the blessings of goddess Ragnya Devi.
The spring is on an island and in the centre of it (spring) is a small marble temple.