Ayodhya Nath Kerni
Chiryayi is located in North-West of District Headquarters Udhampur at a distance of 22 km. The road leading to Muttal, Sarnole and Jangal Gali passes through this village. A Boys High School and Girls Middle school are located on the road side. A dispensary functions from double storeyed building located on a hillock. It is generally noticed that there is a great hue and cry for potable water every where. The constant depletion in ground water table, lack of recharge to mountain aquifers in Himalyan and Shivalik regions, large scale tapping of natural water resources by artificial means are the alarming factors for scarcity. Nature has blessed Chiryayi with availability of enough natural water resources and none of them have lost discharging capacity. There are three Baulis existing near the schools of the water which students enjoy cold and sweet water for drinking during the school hours. This point is also known as Girihar, falling under village Chiryayi. All the springs and baulis located at Girihar are believed to have been constructed by the maid servants of queen Charak.
There is a small hilly pocket of approx 900 meters radius in the eastern portion of Girihar known as Ghagga. There are temples of Lord Shiva, Rama and other gods. The natural spring water pours into a round shaped tank and out flow is connected with a stone gorgle. There are big trees near temples and around. Chinar, Chamba, Banyan, Ashoka and many other varieties serve the area as canopy. There are three more big baulis at Ghagga called as Chambe wali bauli, Manjali bauli and Bari bauli. Prior to Maharaja Gulab Singh there were more than three thousand small principalities and tiny jagirs in Jammu and Kashmir. Like wise there was jagir of Jij Rajputs comprising of village Chiriyai and some other adjoining villages probably during fifteenth century. King Ghaggar Singh was the ruler of this jagir. Ghagga is named after that local king. The place where his palace was located is called Uparali Sarkar. There was a dilapidated hut of a saint known as Brahamchari during the first quarter of nineteenth century. He happens to be a revered guru ji of Maharaja Gulab Singh. It is believed that Maharaja visited this spot many times to attain the blessings of Brhamchari. Even now a Bhandara is organized by the villagers once a year to commemorate the memories of Brahamchari. Thousand of devotees participate in the Bhandara.
There was a cave named as Chaundiyan Khoo in village Samole where lived two sadhus popularily called as guru chela. The guru never met or addressed any visitor. The visitors used to meet only chela when ever they visited that cave. It is given to understand that king Amar Singh along with some members from Chiriyayi village visited those sadhus and requested them to shift to a secluded, beautiful hill pocket located above Ghagga known as Gyankot. Accommodation including an underground room and Sadhus shifted to Gyankot. King Amar Singh got 70 kanals land allotted in his name and same was attached to Gyaneshwar Mahadev temple of Gyankot. There was plenty of spring water available and large number of trees was planted. There were ashoka trees, Banyan trees, mangoes trees etc. Some rarest trees like Kabuli Toot, Napthine trees were also planted. The mystery about sadhus is believed that Tantya Tope was living in the guise of sadhu. It is also given to understand that he escaped from hanging in 1859. Chhajju Ram Shastri a veteran scholar and retired teacher of village Chiryayi states that during his student life in 1930’s there was an old man of 110 years who well remembered 1857 Freedom movement and all subsequent major developments of the country. He also knew those sadhus at Gyankot. Perhaps with the fear of losing their identity those sadhus left Gyankot and further whereabouts were not known. Later on Swamy Nityanand a scholar and yog guru also stayed at Gyankot for a considerable time and afterwards shifted to Painthal. The natural water resources and trees are the beauty of Gyankot. At present there are more temples constructed and a priest is living at Gyankot.
There was a famine like situation during the beginning of seventeenth century in some portions of Rajasthan. Some people alongwith their families shifted to Ghagga (Chiryayi). They were provided food and shelter by local king. They stayed here for a considerable time. They were very grateful to local king for showing humbleness towards them. They requested the king that they were specialists in stone work. Therefore some task should be assigned to them to prove their skills. Above stated three Baulis i.e Chambe wali bauli, Manjali bauli and Bari bauli seem to be contemporary and were constructed by them. Natural water from round shaped tank was made to flow through the stone gorgle of Chambe wali bauli. There were Chamba flower (Sculpyts) trees near the Bauli. At present this bauli is completely ruined. The water has been diverted to flow to other side. Manjali bauli has separate spring water. Ground water gushes out in sufficient quantity in Manjali bauli. The tank of this bauli was connected in a way that water may flow to Bari Bauli through a lion mouthed gorgle fixed in a stone wall of of 8 mtrs height. The stone wall was made of chiseled stone having two small doors and two large doors to cross over from one side to the other. The water fall was arranged to pour into a tank of 40’X40′ size with the depth of 20′. All the sides of tank were provided stone steps from within. The three sides were covered with stone walls of height of 5′ and above these walls leaving the 4′ space again strong and wide stone walls were provided with chiseled stone. There were round shaped and beautifully designed two show pieces of beautifully carved stones erected on both front side walls of Bauli.
There are a large number of carved stone murals fixed on the stone walls of Bauli. There are Sun gods, serpants, different avtars and other symbols of scenic beauty. A statue showing posture of man carrying Hukka and other man smoking tobacco has been depicted on the stone slab.
Bari Bauli is in a bad State. The tank of Bauli is filled with garbage and stones. Weeds have grown up in the tank and in surrounding area. The wall portion, finest specimen of architecture, from where water was made to fall into tank is also damaged. Archaeological Survey of India has declared these baulis i.e. Chambe wali Bauli, Majali Bauli and Bari Bauli as Protected Mounments but nor repairs or maintenance has been carried our so far. A survey by a team of State Tourism Department was conducted during June 1993 but no further action was taken on the recommendations endorsed on the report. Recently during the month of August 2013 teams detailed by state tourism department have also visited the spot and convinced the locals that they will carry out the necessary repairs of these baulis to give them the original shape. They have also assured that they will further explore the possibilities of tourism by creating certain infrastructural assets at Chiriyai. About three kilometer strip from Sundrani temples to Dokhada via Muttal have tourist potentials. Natural bounties, scenic beauty and many natural water springs along the road side have the attraction for tourists. If some tourist huts are constructed, the devotees visiting Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine can be diverted to spend a restful day . Laying of grassy plots and flower beds with a little masonry work may add to its beauty and comfort.
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