Sharda Peeth

Sharda Peeth is one of the most historically and spiritually significant of all the Shakti Peethas — an ancient seat of learning and Shakti worship on the banks of the Kishanganga river (now called the Neelum) in the Sharda valley. The site is presently located in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (Azad Jammu and Kashmir) and has been inaccessible to Indian Hindu pilgrims since the partition of 1947.

Historically, Sharda was one of the greatest centres of Sanskrit learning in ancient India — comparable to Nalanda and Takshashila. The Sharda script — an ancient script system of the northwestern subcontinent — is named after the goddess. Adi Shankaracharya is traditionally said to have visited Sharda Peeth and installed one of his four cardinal Amnaya Peethas (or alternatively, debated at the Sarvajna Pitha here). The goddess Sharda is a form of Saraswati, the goddess of learning, arts, and wisdom. The ruins of the ancient university and temple complex are still visible. A small number of Pakistani Hindu pilgrims and Kashmiri Pandit delegations have occasionally visited in recent decades, but the site remains effectively closed to Indian pilgrims.

Sati's right hand (dakshina hasta) fell here — the hand of blessing, of writing, of knowledge. The goddess who arose, Sharda, embodies Saraswati — the flow of sacred knowledge. The ancient name Sharda comes from Shar (the autumn season) and da (giving) — the goddess who gives during the season of ripening. The Sharda script, the Sharda temple, and the Sanskrit university that flourished here are all expressions of the divine feminine as the source of all knowledge and learning.