Badar Kol

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (Retd.)

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Map of Badar Kol

Bhadrakali Temple Handwara is located between Dudi Pora & Bata Pora Magam, Kupwara, Kashmir

Kupwara-district-map

Badar Kol () is a village in Kupwara tahsil in Kupwara district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Variants

• Badra Kali
• Bhadrakal
• Badrakali
• Baderkali

Location

According to Census 2011 information the location code or village code of Badar Kol village is 000218. Badar Kol village is located in Handwara tehsil of Kupwara district in Jammu & Kashmir, India. It is situated 5km away from Handwara (tehsil office) and 25km away from district headquarter Kupwara.

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Baderkali is a Village in Rajwar Block in Kupwara District of Jammu & Kashmir State, India. It is located 9 KM towards South from District head quarters Kupwara. 79 KM from State capital Srinagar, Jammu. Baderkali is surrounded by Ramhal Block towards west , Trehgam Block towards North , Tangdar Block towards East , Kupwara Block towards North . Sopore , Baramula , Bandipore , Srinagar are the near by Cities to Baderkali.

History

Badrakali - Ancient holy place of Hindus located on a motorable road leading from Handwara to Rajwar. There is a dormant volcano in the vicinity and Hindus revere it and is known by the name Soyamj.

Bhadrakali temple

An ancient idol of Mata Bhadrakali was reinstalled at a famous temple in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district years after it was brought back from Jammu. The ancient temple at Bhadrakali Village in Handwara wore a festive look as the original idol of the presiding deity, Maa Bhadrakali, was restored to its original abode in a simple ceremony yesterday, a temple panel member, Bhushan Lal Pandita, said.

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Mata Bhadrakali Temple is situated on a rich and thick coniferous deodars forest hill top in Bhadrakal about 8 KM from Handwara and 4 KM from Wadipora towards west in District Kupwara. The ancient temple is worshiped since millenniums and has been a sacred place of worship from time immemorial. Mata Bhadrakali also called Siddhidhatri is worshiped in Kashmir from the period of Nagas and Aryan Sarswat Brahmins as mentioned in Nilmat Puran. Shaivte Scholar Sh. Abhinav Gupt (933-1015 AD) was an ardent devotee of Mata Bhadrakali. Sir MA Stein who stayed in Kashmir from 1843-1888 AD visited many places and has made a mention of Mata Bhadrakali Asthapan. He recorded Bhadrakali Tirtha as a small village about 4 miles South-East of Kramhar marked by a spring and old linga’s which confirm the antiquity of Shila idol.

Bhadarkal:- Mata finally comes to Bhadarkal and rests on Hilltop of Forest (presently Compartment No;- 6 of Rajwar Forest Range) under a deodar tree . The Devtas led by Vaishnu reach the spot and thanked the Goddess Bhadrakali for eliminating the Demons. It is the time the idol (Shila) of 6 ft in height , carved of rock stone ,seems to have been installed on the Hilltop adjacent to a spring , just under the shadow of deodar tree. Besides three Rock idols (Shila) of other God/Goddesses smaller in size like Ganesha also were installed in front of main Shila. As per the directions of Mata, Reshi Muneshwar settled at his original place near Ganesh Kund.

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