Nowshera, Jammu and Kashmir

"Proceeding to the east of Andbhavan for about a mile we come to the large village of Sudrbal situated on a deep inlet of the Dal known as Sudrakhun. The name of the village and the neighbouring portion of the lake make it very probable that we have to place here the sacred spring of Sodara (see note Rajat. Bk. i. 125-126). An ancient legend related by Kalhana represented this spring as ... an Avatara of the Sodara Naga worshipped Close to the mosque of Sudrabal and by the lake shore are two pools fed by perennial sprigs.originally near the sacred site of Bhuteshvara below Mound Haramukata (For this Sudara the present Naran Nag see notes I, 123; v. 55- 59). Stein further says Close to the mosque of Sudrabal and by the lake shore are two pools by by perennial springs. These, according to a local tradition were in old times visited by numerous pilgrims. Now all recollection of this Tirtha has been lost among the Brahmans of Srinagar. But the name of a portion of the village area Battapur points to a former settlement of Battaas or Purohitas. It is curious, too, that we find only half a mile from the village the Ziarat of Hazrat Bal, perhaps the most popular of all Muhammadan shrines in the Valley. It is supposed to be built over the remains of the miracle-working Pir Dastgir Sahib. Is it possible that the presence of the rathr ubiquitous saint at this particular spot had something to do with the earlier Hindu Tirtha?î Rajat. Vol. ii, p. 457. Commenting on verses 125 ñ 126 of Bk. i of Rajat. Stein states in the footnote as this: In order to give full sactitity to Jyeshtharudra, which Jalauka of the lake, but according to the uniform statementg of by the water vered cohad established near Srinagar, the presence of the Sodara spring was also needed. The Tirtha which the legend represens an Avatara of the latter, must after what has been said regarding the position of Jalaukaís Jyeshtharudra (Note C), be loked for in the vicinity of the present Srinagar. I have, therefore, no hesitation in connecting the name Sudar, which appears in the designation of a portion of Dal, called Sudarkhun and in the name of neighbouring village Sudarbal, with this legend. The Sudrakhun (khun from Sanskrit kona) is a narrow inlet on the west side of the Dal strettheching between the suburban villages of Arampor and Sudarbal. ... On visiting Sudarbal in June 1895, I was shown on the very shore of the Sudarkhun, and close to the village Masjid , two small pools which were then covered by the water of the lake, but according to the uniform statement of the villagers, which I gathered fatement of the villagers, are fed by two perennial springs. A tradition, whfrom the old men of the village, relates that many hundred years ago Brahmans were in the habit of making pilgrimage to these springs. The name Battpor, which survives to this day as the name of a now deserted part of the village area was pointed out to me as evidence of the former habitation of Battas, i.e. Purohitas (Skt. bhatta). No ancient remains can now be traced near the springs, but large carved slabs are said to have been carried away from that site to serve as building material for the new temple erected by Maharaja Ranbir Singh at Ranvor in Srinagar. I cannot find any reference to the Sodara spring of Srinagar in the texts accessible to me nor can I trace any tradition relating to it among the Brahmans of the capital. The marginal gloss of G (Sodarabal Gagaribal), however, indictes that the same identification as proposed already has been made by some modern reader of the Rajat."