KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, December 28,2003: The years of war in Afghanistan
has
damaged or completely destroyed ancient temples in the country. For
instance, the Shor Bizar area of old Kabul -- once the Indian heart of
the
city -- is now in ruins. And the area boasts of a 500-year-old Shiv
Mandir.
Jitender Sharma, the priest, succeeds his father and grandfather, who
have
been pujaris at the temple. "It is a Bhaironath temple. Religious
threads
used to be tied here and kirtans used to be sung, but for years all
that has
stopped," said Jitender Sharma, priest. The temple was destroyed by the
forces of the northern warlord General Dostum in the mid 90s. But there
is
renewed hope for the temple, as it will soon be re-built by the
government
of India. "The government of Afghanistan has approached us for help in
the
reconstruction of places of worship of all faiths and we are responding
positively to that," said Vivek Katju, Indian Ambassador to
Afghanistan. But
it's not just places of worship. Shor Bizar used to be the old Indian
quarter of Kabul and as many as 60,000 Indians once lived in the area.
Now,
there are less than 20 families and they fondly remember the days when
the
area was known as the Hindu Guzar.