Tilla Jogian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tilla Jogian is the highest peak in the Eastern Salt Range in Punjab, Pakistan. At 975 meters (3200ft) above sea level, it is about 25 km to the west of Jhelum city and 10 km west of the model village of Khukha. The view from the top of Tilla is highly rewarding. Rohtas, Pakistan Fort is located in the east of Tilla Jogian at a distance of about 7 km from Dina, a rapidly expanding town on the GT Road.

Tilla Jogian can be seen from districts of Mandibhaudduin, Gujrat, Jhelum and Chakwal. It is situated on a commanding place near the Jhelum River. From its height of 3200 feet, you can see a panorama unparallel in Pakistan..

For thousand of years it was a place of sun worship for the Hindus because the Sun can be seen here earlier and sets here later due to its height. It became a place of worship for Hindus. Tilla Jogian in Punjabi means the hill of saints.

Tradition holds that Tilla Jogian was founded 100 B.C.Tilla Jogian also means Hill of the Yogis and lies about 50 kilometers North of Bhera. This is where the Kanpatha Jogis, who pierced their earlobes, founded by Guru Gorakhnath have left behind a monastery.

Tilla Jogian also finds mention in the epic love poem Heer Ranjha of Waris Shah, and Ranjha spent his time on the rebound, sublimating his love & passion in the spiritual world, came here for consolation and got his ears ringed here as was the tradition of Guru Goraknath's followers.

For the Hindu and Sikh Punjabi there is also another significance to Tilla Jogian as Guru Nanak Dev ji spent 40 days in quiet seclusion of Tilla Jogian, Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikhism. The Sikhs in Ranjit Singh period made a stone pond here in his memory.

Moghul Emperor Jehangir visited this place many times. Ranjha, the famous iconoclast of Punjabi folklore Heer Ranjha. The British made a road and a pond here too for water. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited here and did some protective work for the safety of its pristine beauty.

Tilla Jogian comprises a complex of Hindu temples housing at least three baths and a network of waterworks with at least two minor dams. There are two ways to reach at the top: One from Rohtas Fort side and the other from Sanghoi / the Jhelum River side.

{{sources{{

Tilla Jogian Tilla Jogian is the highest peak in the Eastern Salt Range in Punjab, Pakistan. Tilla Jogian in Punjabi means the hill of saints. At 975 meters (3200ft) above sea level, is located at 33°24′N 73°18′E , it is about 25 km to the west of Jhelum city and 10 km west of the model village of Khukha. The view from the top of Tilla is highly rewarding. Rohtas, Pakistan Fort is located in the east of Tilla Jogian at a distance of about 7 km from Dina, a rapidly expanding town on the GT Road. Tilla Jogian can be seen from districts of Mandibhaudduin, Gujrat, Jhelum and Chakwal. It is situated on a commanding place near the Jhelum River. From its height of 3200 feet, you can see a panorama unparallel in Pakistan.. Hindu Temple at Tilla Jogian: For thousand of years it was a place of sun worship for the Hindus because the Sun can be seen here earlier and sets here later due to its height. It became a place of worship for Hindus. Tilla Jogian in Punjabi means the hill of saints. Tradition holds that Tilla Jogian was founded 100 B.C.Tilla Jogian also means Hill of the Yogis and lies about 50 kilometers North of Bhera. This is where the Kanpatha Jogis, who pierced their earlobes, founded by Guru Gorakhnath have left behind a monastery. Tilla Jogian also finds mention in the epic love poem Heer Ranjha of Waris Shah, and Ranjha spent his time on the rebound, sublimating his love & passion in the spiritual world, came here for consolation and got his ears ringed here as was the tradition of Guru Goraknath's followers. For the Hindu and Sikh Punjabi there is also another significance to Tilla Jogian as Guru Nanak Dev ji spent 40 days in quiet seclusion of Tilla Jogian, Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikhism. The Sikhs in Ranjit Singh period made a stone pond here in his memory. Moghul Emperor Jehangir visited this place many times. Ranjha, the famous iconoclast of Punjabi romantic folklore Heer (female) Ranjha (male). It is said that Ranjha became a Jogi (ascetic) when he discovered the Tilla (hill) of Jogi Gorakhnath while he was wandering the villages of Punjab in a state of despair and heart-break. Could it be that the Tilla Jogian or hill of ascetics refers to a complex of temples built under the auspices of the Nath tradition of Hinduism, in the days of the great Baba Gorakhnath in around 11th century or 12 century AD (or even 8th century when some believe Gorakhnath to have lived)? The British made a road and a pond here too for water, Pond in memory of Guru Nanak Dev who was born on 5 November 1469 in a Bedi family of Hindu Khatri clan,[5] in the village of Rāi Bhōi dī Talvaṇḍī, now called Nankana Sahib, near Lahore (in present-day Pakistan). His father, Mehta Kalu, was a Patwari—an accountant of land revenue in the government. He worked for the Muslim landlord of the village, Rai Bullar. Guru Nanak's mother was Tripta Devi and he had one older sister, Nanaki.. The Janamsākhīs recount in minute detail all the circumstances of the birth of the guru. They claim that at his birth, an astrologer who came to write his horoscope insisted on seeing the child. On seeing the infant, he is said to have worshipped him with clasped hands. The astrologer is said to have remarked that he regretted that he should never live to see young Guru Nanak's eminence, worshipped as he should be alike by Hindus and Muslims, and not merely by Hindus. At the age of five years Nanak is said to have begun to discuss spiritual and divine subjects. At age seven, his father Mehta Kalu enrolled him at the village school. [8] Nanak left school early after he had shown his scholastic proficiency. He then took to private study and meditation.] All the Janamsākhīs are unanimous in stating that Nanak courted the retirement of the local forest and the society of the religious men who frequented it. Several of them were profoundly versed in the Indian religious literature of the age. They had also travelled far and wide within the limits of ancient India, and met its renowned religious teachers. Nanak thus became acquainted with the latest teachings of Indian philosophers and reformers. History states that he made four great journeys, traveling to all parts of India, and into Arabia and Persia, visiting Mecca and Baghdad. He spoke before Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Parsees, and Muslims. He spoke in the temples and mosques, and at various pilgrimage sites. Wherever he went, Nanak spoke out against empty religious rituals, pilgrimages, the caste system, the sacrifice of widows, of depending on books to learn the true religion, and of all the other tenets that were to define his teachings. Never did he ask his listeners to follow him. He asked the Muslims to be true Muslims and the Hindus to be true Hindus. My friend Salman Rashid, a famous traveler of Pakistan, writes,” the first time ever I trod the hallowed ground of Tilla Jogian was in October 1974. Young, callow and utterly unread, I had no idea regarding its history or how sacred that hilltop was. But even as my friend Shahid Ahmed and I wandered among the deserted ruins, there was a feeling, more than palpable, of the holiness of the site. We spoke in whispers, we walked on tiptoes. And we half expected some grizzled old guru, his snow-white beard reaching down the navel leaning on a crooked and gnarled staff to appear from somewhere and denounce us for violating the inviolable with our frivolous visit.

But no one appeared. Save for several hedgehogs in the thickets and the droves of birds singing in the tall trees we met with no one. The decrepit rest house built sometime in the 1890s had lost part of its roof. Once it was used by the Deputy Commissioner of the Jhelum district as the summer headquarter. In those pre-electricity days, the 1000 metre (3300 feet) height of Tilla Jogian above sea level meant comparatively milder summers. And so every year in May the DC moved up to the cool, pine-shaded hill to hold office and dispense justice. There he stayed until the beginning of September.

That was also the time when the monastery of Tilla Jogian thrived. Its hostels were home to acolytes of the Kunphutta (pierced ears) sect of jogis from all over India tutored by dozens of accomplished masters of the creed. That had been the way since its inception in the 1st century BC. That was when the great guru Goraknath lived and established both the sect and the monastery. History tells us of two illustrious ones among the guru's disciples: Raja Bhartari, the philosophical prince of Ujjain, who gave up the throne early in the 1st century BC to become a jogi. And in that same period, Puran the prince of Sialkot much wronged by his libidinous step-mother. Both found spiritual fulfillment in the tutelage of Guru Goraknath. Over the years I returned again and again and saw modern Ahmed Shah Abdalis systematically doing their work: yet another floor uprooted, another samadhi destroyed, the British milestone that said 'Jhelum 25 miles' stolen, dozens of the ancient olive trees cut and burnt and more and more buildings defaced with graffiti. But what not even the most vicious vandal has been able to damage is the aura of Tilla Jogian. The tangible feel of it being a special place; a place much favoured by higher beings. And even if the hum of religious worship may never rise above the sound of wind soughing through the pine trees of Tilla Jogian; even if no jogi ever returns here to seek his own nirvana, that is one thing no vandal will be able to remove from the monastery of Guru Goraknath. “ As mentioned above, established in the 1st century BC by Guru Goraknath, the founder of the sect of Kanphatta (pierced ears) jogis, the monastery thrived for two thousand years. For two thousand years followers of different persuasions resorted here to become jogis. Most names are lost, but we know that Guru Nanak spent the prescribed forty days worshipping his Lord in the quiet seclusion of Tilla Jogian. Tilla Jogian is the highest peak of the Salt Range, which is known for its temples, forts and fossilized rocks and trees. This peak is famous for its ruins of Hindu temples dating back to the time when Alexander the Great came to this part of the world as the head of a military expedition. Scenic and beautiful, Tilla Jogian is a pleasant picnic spot from where one can have a magnificent view of the river Jhelum and the vast landscape of the Potohar Plateau.

The remains of the monastery which Guru Goraknath, the founder of the Jogi tradition in India during the reign of Raja Salvahan of Sialkot in the first century BC, established to spread Hindu education with special emphasis on meditation.

SOME INTERESTYING STORIES Many traditional stories have been attributed to Tilla Jogian.  One of them relates to Raja Bharthi, also known in history as Puran Bhagat, the elder brother of Raja Vikramaditya of Ujjain, who left his throne to his brother to join the monastery as a disciple of Guru Goraknath. A samadhi (grave) on the top of the mound is said to be that of Puran Bhagat, a legendary character in Punjabi folk.  According to another tradition, the legendary romantic hero, Ranjha, joined the fraternity of jogis at this very place after his heart was broken because Heer was forcibly married off to someone else. He travelled all the way from Sial in Jhang, the village of Heer of Sialan, to Tilla Jogian away from Jhelum, to become the ‘faqir of Heer’. Dressed in saffron robes with ears pierced and wearing wooden slippers, Ranjha resumed his journey to find his beloved from this mound carrying a begging bowl.  Another story links Tilla Jogian with Hakeem Abu Rehan Al-Bairuni, the mathematician and scholar of the Mahmood Ghaznavi period, who spent 13 years in this area to discover the circumference of the world. He first sat on Tilla Jogian and then the Nandna Fort to accomplish his rare scientific feat, which is to date acknowledged as the correct measurement of the global circumference. The scientist, historian and philosopher from Afghanistan, considered to be a rebel by the rulers of Ghazna, has narrated his visits to the Salt Range in his famous book Kitabul Hind.  For Mughal monarchs, the pine-strewn heights of Tilla Jogian must have been a welcome respite from the summer of Punjab as they usually stopped here during their journey between Lahore and Kashmir. It was because of this stopover that Emperor Akbar got a water tank built here. It is said that Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, spent 40 days to complete the ‘chilla’, worshipping his lord. For the British rulers of Punjab, Tilla Jogian served as a summer resort and the deputy commissioner of Jhelum stayed here for weeks when hot weather in Lahore would become unbearable.  The mound area has three groups of old structures at its top. Twelve temples, a shrine and a monastery, all in ruins, stand out among them. A central water tank and a well built in the Central Asian style from the Mughal period also adorn the historic site. The water tank, made for storage of rain water from the catchment area, is square in shape with 10 steps on all four sides. Also standing here is a ramp from the floor in the northern wall having semi-hexagonal minarets and walls on both sides. Each minaret has a kiosk on top surmounted by a fluted and ribbed dome finished with a lantern. The eastern parapet is separated by a wall for women bathers and cross-legged deities which are a special feature of this part of the tank.  The shrine commemorates the visit of Baba Guru Nanak and its damaged structures can be seen on the peak of the hill. There is also a cave underneath. The monastery, a lonely clump of weathered buildings, is located in the forest peak. Most of its buildings are roofless hulks and are in ruins. But the temple of Lord Shiva has a roof and is, by and large, intact. Noted archaeologist Sir Alexander Cunningham, who visited this site in 1864, believes that Guru Goraknath was the transmutation of Lord Shiva. The monastery survived and thrived for more than 2,000 years with Goruknath and his disciples imparting learning and the art of meditation to the followers of the Kunphatta (torn ears) sect of ‘jogis’ from all over India.  As for temples, they are 12 in number and are clustered on all sides of Tilla Jogian. All are built with stones and are square in shape. Three of them are to the west of the main tank. A complex of seven temples is in the north-west and two of them stand on the eastern side.  Tilla Jogian has for centuries been the site of a great annual congregation of ‘jogis’ from India. Now this mound is a deserted place where the wind sighs through hundreds of pine trees. It has a colonial building where British officers used to spend their pastime. The building is now serving as a rest house for tourists besides a camping site where cooking facility is available.  Tilla Jogian is located 24kms from the Rohtas Fort, built by Emperor Sher Shah Suri which is now listed by Unesco as a world heritage site. The tour package offered by the Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab (TDCP) includes a visit to the 16th century citadel which has majestic fortification walls on the contours of the hills unparalleled in the world.  Tilla Jogian was the last frontier of Achaemenid Empire and for its conquest Alexander the great reached Tilla Jogian from Greece. Moghual Emperor Jehangir visited this place many times. Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism spent some time at this holy place. The Sikhs in Ranjit Singh period made a stone pond here in the remembrance. Ranjha, the famous iconoclast of Punjabi folklore Heer Ranjha came here for consolation and got his ears ringed here. The British made a road and a pond here too for water. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited here and did some protective work for the safety of its pristine beauty.  Tilla Jogian comprises a complex of Hindu temples housing at least three baths and a network of waterworks with at least two minor dams. There are two ways to reach at the top: One from Rohtas Fort side and the other from Sanghoi / the Jhelum River side.  By mere observation it can be deduced that the complex of temples was home to a population of religious elite, at least in hundreds; the lifestyle practiced here was one of luxury and affluence. Though no record can easily be found of the ruin's purpose and position in history, it can be ascertained that this would have been a site of at least some religious significance in its prime.

SHAHID NADEEM---0320-5133351(Please Feel free to ask regarding the article)