Salt Range Plus Hindu Temples Ruins

The Khewra Salt Mine (or Mayo Salt Mine) is located in Khewra, north of Pind Dadan Khan, an administrative subdivision of Jhelum District, Punjab Region, Pakistan.  which rises from the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is Pakistan’s largest, the world’s 2nd largest and the oldest salt mine in the world. It is a major tourist attraction, drawing up to 250,000 visitors a year. Its history dates back to its discovery by Alexander’s troops in 320 BC, but it started trading in the Mughal era.  The main tunnel at ground level was developed by Dr. H. Warth, a mining engineer, in 1872 during British rule. After independence, the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation took over the mine, which still remains the largest source of salt in the country, producing more than 350,000 tons per annum of about 99% pure. Estimates of the reserves of salt in the mine vary from 82 million tons to 600 million tons.

The Katas Raj Temples, also known as Qila Katas are several Hindu temples connected to one another by walkways. The temples form a complex surrounding a pond named Katas which is regarded as sacred by Hindus. The complex is located in the Potohar Plateau region of Pakistan Punjab province. The temples are located near the town of Kallar Kahar, 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 Mahabharata, where the temples are traditionally believed to have been the site where the Pandava brothers spent a significant portion of their exile. 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.

The temples were visited by India’s former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani in 2005. In 2006, the Pakistani government began restoration works at the temples, with further improvements announced in 2017.