Sharing some photographs of two great historic monuments.
Katas Raj Temple
The temple of Katas Raj, located in the salt range 18 miles south of Chakwal, is found in Maha Bharat written in 300 BC. The etymology of this place as narrated in the old edition of Tarikh-i-Jhelum (History of Jhelum) is that according to Brahaman belief, Shiv Devta wept so profusely on the death of his beloved wife Satti that two holy ponds – one at Pushkar of Ajmair and other at Katak Shell – came into being with his tears. In Sanskrit, Katak Shell – means chain of tears which later on was pronounced as ‘Katas’
Rohtas Fort
A 16TH Century Monument Built By Sher Shah Suri --- A UNESCO World Culture Heritage.
The Rohtas fort lies sprawling upon a low rocky hill north of Jhelum in a bend of the river Ghan (mostly spelled as Kahan). It occupies an uneven piece of land cut up by deep mountain torrents of which the ChandWali Kas and Parnata Kas are the most important. The eastern wall of the Anderkot follows the edge of the former whereas the corresponding walls the outer fort follows that of the latter.
The fort was built in compliance with the orders of Sher Shah (actual name Farid Khan) son of Hassan Khan, son of Ibrahim Khan, and Afghan of the Sur section of the Lodhi tribe. The project was financially looked after by Todar Mal, the finance minister of Sher Shah; it was executed by Shahu Sultani who acted in the capacity of what may presently be called a superintending engineer.
The project took many years to complete (perhaps 10 years) and was finished during the reign of Sher Shah’s son and successor Jalal Khan who assumed the title of Islam Shah at the time of his accession to the throne in AD 1545. The expenditure is variously recorded by the Tahrik I Daudi as eight crores five lace five thousand and two and half dams i.e. Bahluli’s and Tuzuk I Jehangiri as sixteen crores , ten lacs of dams and a little more. Both the source refer to inscribed to a stone slabs fixed on gates as their source of information, It is likely that the estimate if the Tahrik I Daudi pertains merely to the Anderkot and that of Tuzuk I Jehangiri to the outer fort.
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