Katas Raj Temples

The Katas Raj Temples, also known as Qila Katas, is a complex of several Hindu temples connected to one another by walkways, protected under antiquities Act, 1975. The temple complex surrounds a pond named Katas which is regarded as sacred by Hindus.

The complex is located in the Potohar Plateau region of Pakistan’s Punjab province. The temples are located near the town of Choa Saidanshah, and are near the M2 Motorway.

The temples’ pond is said in the Puranas to have been created from the teardrops of Shiva, after he wandered the Earth inconsolable after the death of his wife Sati. The pond occupies an area of two kanals and 15 marlas, with a maximum depth of 20 feet. The temples play a role in the Hindu epic poem, the Mah’rata, where the temples are traditionally believed to have been the site where the Pandava brothers spent a significant portion of their exile.

The smaller temples, built in pairs around the larger central temple, were built around 900 years or so ago, although the earliest of them dates back to the latter half of the 6th century AD.

It is also traditionally believed by Hindus to be the site where the brothers engaged in a riddle contest with the Yakshas, as described in the Yaksha Prashna.

Another tradition states that the Hindu deity Krishna laid the foundation of the temple, and established a hand-made shivling in it.

Location