Purmandal-revered for centuries as Chhota Kashi-stands today as one of the most tragic examples of heritage neglect in Northern India. Once a flourishing religious and cultural nucleus of the Dogra kingdom, the ancient tirtha on the banks of the sacred Devika now lies in silent ruin. This is not merely the decay of monuments; it is the erosion of Jammu’s civilisational identity itself. Purmandal’s sanctity is rooted in mythic memory, where the Devika River flows northwards, an auspicious phenomenon shared only by the holiest rivers of India. Here, legends of Shiva and Parvati intertwine with the story of Rishi Kashyapa. Generations of devotees have bathed at its ghats and performed rites on its sands.
This sacred continuity found its greatest patrons in the Dogra rulers, elevating Purmandal into a spiritual capital, constructing temples, ghats, sarais, and satrams that welcomed scholars, saints, and pilgrims from the Siwalik foothills to the Gangetic plains. Their inscriptions still whisper of a time when Purmandal was nurtured as the cultural heartbeat of the kingdom. The grand murals, palm-leaf manuscripts, and intricate Dogra carvings once made it a famed centre of Shaiva scholarship and artistic expression. And yet, this sacred seat has been allowed to crumble. Eleventh-century temples stand mutilated; Dogra-era havelis collapse in neglect; ancient murals are destroyed under careless layers of whitewash-a travesty masked as “restoration”. Ghats are broken, pathways overgrown, and the Devika itself polluted with sewage and waste. That the river once called Gupt Ganga is now officially labelled a “nallah” is a telling symbol of this civilisational decline.
DPRs are drafted, visits conducted, and announcements made-yet not a brick has moved on the ground. While states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal, and Punjab aggressively revive their spiritual circuits, Jammu’s own Chhota Kashi languishes without direction or urgency. With hundreds of crores at its disposal, the Tourism Department has little to show beyond hollow assurances. History has a simple law: it never forgives those who forget their history. Purmandal’s decay is not an accident-it is a failure of vision and responsibility. Unless immediate, sincere efforts are made to restore its temples, revive its festivals, and reclaim its spiritual dignity, Jammu risks losing not just a heritage site but a vital chapter of its cultural soul.
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