Kashmir's oldest living shrine of Goddess Sharda. A Satya Yuga Asthapan at Gushi, Kupwara, where the Goddess is worshipped in her rare dual forms of Shila and Jal.
Located 3.5 kilometres from Kupwara town, Shri Sharda Asthapan of the Satya Yuga at Gund Gushi is a sacred abode of Maa Sharda, the presiding deity of Kashmir and Goddess of Learning (Vidya).
Maa Sharda rested at Gushi and placed her holy feet here before proceeding via Tikker to Sharda Peeth, now in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Shri Sharda Asthapan at Gund Gushi served as the base camp for the annual Yatra to Sharda Peeth until 1947.
At Gushi, Maa Sharda is worshipped in her rare dual form: Jal (sacred water) and Shila.
Devotees unable to visit Sharda Peeth (PoK) can have darshan of Maa Sharda at Gushi and seek her divine blessings (phala) with the same faith and devotion, preserving the timeless spiritual connection between these two sacred sites.
A sacred Shila marking the exact spot where Mata Sharda placed her divine feet, worshipped here for centuries in unbroken tradition.
A holy spring beside the shrine, symbolising the Goddess's nurturing, life-giving energy, a form of worship found nowhere else in the Sharda tradition. This is the same place where the mother of Reshi Pir had the darshan of Maa Sharda.
While most Sharda temples in Kashmir belong to the Dwapara Yuga, Shri Sharda Asthapan at Gund Gushi originated in the Satya Yuga. It is the most ancient Sharda Asthapan in Kashmir and among the most ancient centres of her worship in India.
Pran Pratishtha · 2025
Following the turmoil in the Valley, the temple's original Shiva Lingam was damaged, and its rituals gradually fell silent. On 30 March 2025, the Sharda Asthapan Trust performed a Pran Pratishtha ceremony, the first in 36 years, consecrating a new idol of the Goddess before hundreds of devotees who returned to their ancestral village for the occasion.
The same year, a grand Shiv Trishul weighing 45 kg and a Damroo weighing 15 kg were installed at a height of 25 feet. No other temple in Kashmir has a Trishul of this scale.
Read the Full HistoryOn 24 September 2026, MyGov Hindi, the Government of India's citizen platform, released a film on the Sharda tradition of Kupwara that is still alive today. The post tagged the Ministry of Culture and was shared across X, Instagram and Facebook.
“कुपवाड़ा में आज भी जीवंत है शारदा परंपरा की वो प्राचीन विरासत, जिसकी जड़ें सतयुग से जुड़ी हैं।”MyGov Hindi · 24 Sep 2026
The old temple, before restoration
Shila Swaroop of the Goddess
Rebuilt sanctum, 2019
Gushi · Tikker · Sharda Peeth: a single sacred line