THE Punjab Archaeology Department is setting up a museum at Katasraj near Chakwal to highlight the culture and history of this fine historical treasure. A team consisting of ex- perts and a few Punjab University Archaeology Department students is working on the site these days looking for archeological fragments found in and around Katas.
The research- ers are also working on the archi- tecture in the area and will re- cord their findings in a report. The site is famous for its temples, the most famous among them the one dedicated to Shiva. It has ex- isted since the days of Mahabharata and the Pandava brothers spent a substantial part of their exile here.
Punjab Archeology Department Director Shahbaz Khan says the
museum would have a pictorial gallery in which Hindu mythology will be high- lighted through historical refer- ences. Another gallery would he on architecture in which frag- mented pieces found from Katas will be put on display Other exhi- bition areas will also be estab- lished in the museum.
Mr Khan tells Dawn the muse- umwillbeset upeidneratflari Singh? Haveli located inside Katas and has been conserved or at the Bayragi House. The work is being doneon the finalisation of the loca- tion for museum, he added. The temples were abandoned by local Hindus when they migra- ted to India in 1947. It has always been the site of holy pilgrimage for people of various faiths. Even today, worshippers from all faiths perform pilgrimages to the tem- ple every year and bathe in the sacred pool here.
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