BADERWAH

Bhadarwah is a town and tehsil in the Doda district, in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It has now been given the status of subdistrict. The town is governed by a Notified Area Council (city council). The Bhadarwah valley is located in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, 80 km (50 mi) from Batote. The town is nicknamed, mini Kashmir. The town has forests and a number of small streams flowing through it. Bhaderwah is also known as Nagon ki bhoomi, which means “land of snakes.The place that Mahanju Daru and Harappancivilization has in Indian history, the same place with history of Dugha Nagar and Udha Nagar civilization has in the history of Bhaderwah. With capital at today’s Garh, Sungli, the ancient Bhaderwah had been a sovereign and prosperous state . Its famous cities were Dugga Nagar and Udha Nagar, which was situated where village Mounda and Sartingal are situated today. According to Vasuki Puran, when Pandavas perform the Ashumegh Yagna, the Samkaran horse that would graze upon the meadows in the surroundings of holy Sonabainwas taken from Sawan the then king of Bhaderwah. It is also said that a University with capacity of lodging and boarding for about ten thousand students existed exactly where the Bhaderwah University campus is built. But as has been the universal truth, the glory of Dugga Nagar and Udha Nagar did not live forever. Both perished under the red hot material of the volcano that erupted on the near by Kailash Mountain . The ruling clan however, survived.