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Religion in Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh can send you to sleep about Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. If anyone has the Ultimate Dossier on this region, it is he, after years of running about India`s northernmost state, administering and adventuring his way around its valleys, peaks and rivers. He once decided to climb up a steep, almost sheer, mountain, and trek through forests of the nearly extinct burza/bhoj patr, to check tribal chief Haji Muhammad Rafique Bockens report that his son-in- law, Ghulam Quadir, had seen a cave temple dedicated to Lord Shiv... Some Shiite Muslims in Trespon told him that, unknown to the world, Kartse Khar, which was some distance away, had a seven-meter seventh-century, Bamiyan-style Buddha carved in stone... Some Ladakhi Buddhists informed him about the remotely located Wangchuk Chhenmo (Lord Shiv) cave, which could be the Amarnath of Ladakh. And on his own he noticed a Kargah-style Buddha sculpted into a sheer, impossible rockface on the highway near Khaltse. All this was possible only because of the Almighty One who also made sure that as the Convenor of the state Haj Committee Parvez was able to send almost three times as many people for Haj as the quota allotted to the state-a feat not even remotely equalled before or after. As the founder-CEO of the Sri Amarnath ji Shrine Board, he saw offerings at the shrine triple in his first year-and grow exponentially after that. The annual All-India Devotional Songs Competition that he founded at the base camp of the shrine of Sri Mata Vaishno Devi ji -a year or two before American Idol went on air-has become a national institution.The first competition was won by a Muslim (who won again later) and the second by a Sikh. And then there has been the unbelievable growth in pilgrim traffic to Shiv Khori...In this book, which covers (almost) every aspect of religion in Jammu,Kashmir and Ladakh, Parvez Dewan shares in detail his excitement and interest in the fabled land.ISBN - 9788170494324
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