JAMMU, Oct 20: A portion of the Ranbireshwar temple, one of the oldest shrines
in J&K situated on Shalimar Road near the new secretariat in Jammu, collapsed
amid lightning and heavy rains on Tuesday morning. No casualty was reported.
There was also no damage to the inner sanctum of the temple.
The police, State Disaster Relief Force, fire services and the civil defence
personnel arrived for rescue work.
RS Langeh, president of the J&K Dharmarth Trust, said the temple will reopen
after a structural survey of the complex. “Around 9.15 am, a lightning bolt possibly
struck the temple, causing significant impact to the front outer veranda. Remarkably,
due to Lord Shiva’s grace, the lightning strike resulted in no harm to the inner
sanctum of the temple. Nandi ji guarding the temple took the full impact of
the strike, shielding the main temple and preventing any harm to the temple’s
sacred artefacts including the Shivlings and Shaligrams” he said in an official
statement.
Following the mishap, the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) told reporters
it will hold a dimension stability audit of all of the religious places in Jammu.
The temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva, was built by Maharaja Ranbir Singh in
1883. It has an 8-foot Shiv lingam carved from black marble inside.
