Most of the Shiva shrines are situated on the shores of Dal Lake in Srinagar e.g., Jaishthethwar (Presently Zeethyar Shrine), Sarveshwar (Presently Sarishwar), Sarsheshwar, Mahadev etc. Actually the entire Kashmir valley is Lord Shiva's Abode. Not only this the Gupt Ganga or Ishvihar (Presently Ishwar), Gupt Teerath (Presently Gopi Teerath) and Shat Dhara Teerath are also connected wilh Lord Shiva. Space does not permit mention of Rural Kashmir. Shiva Sutras: In early 800's, Vasugupta was living on Mahadeva Mountain in Srinagar-Kashmir. Tradition states that one night Lord Shiva appeared to him in a dream and told him of the whereabouts of a great scripture carved in rock. Upon awakening, Vasugupta rushed to the spot and found seventy seven terse sutras etched in stone, which he named the Shiva-Sutras. Vasugupta expounded the sutras to his followers, and gradually the old and lost philosophy once again spread. On this scriptural foundation arose the school known as Kashmir Shaivism. How old is Shaivism? Sages say Lord Shiva has neither a beginning nor an end. Shiva murtis and emblems of very ancient times have been discovered thus far in almost all countries of the world which include America, Africa, Australia, Europe and Saudi-Arabia. There are about fifty thousand Shaivists in Russia even today. The author of this paper is in touch with the chief contact person and some in Australia who prior to 1990 used to visit India on pilgrimage to Shri Amarnath Ji Cave in Kashmir. According to biblical chronology the present creation took place a mere thousand years ago (4004 B.C.). Since Maxmueller and others were good Christians but bad Vedists and Shaivists they naturally fitted the Vedas down that biblical time schedule at the 1500 B.C. Consequently all historians and even Sanskritists of the Maxmuellerian stamp still silently cling to that primitive biblical notion of the beginning of the universe. Today's scientists using radio-active-dating techniques have established that the Earth is much older, in fact it is about 4,600 million years old. Radio-active-dating is considered to be a very reliable technique since Radio-Active decay proceeds at a constant rate and is not affected by surrounding physical or chemical conditions. Shaivism, therefore, is as old as the mankind. COURTESY:TRINETRA.ORG.UK, S.N. TIKKU
