Srinagar, July 24 -- By Syed Nissar H. Gilani

The road out of Lal Chowk climbs gently for ten minutes before the city falls behind and the Zabarwan range takes over.

Pine gives way to rock, and rock gives way to a wooded slope known as Takht-i-Suliman, the Throne of Solomon, also known as Shankaracharya Hill.

Somewhere in these forests, nearly four centuries ago, the mystic Roop Bhawani, born Alakeswari in 1620 to the respected Dhar Pandit family near Khankah-e-Shokhta in Srinagar's Nawakadal, is believed to have spent twelve years in meditation.

A small temple near Cheshma Shahi still marks the place where devotees believe she spent years in penance. Above it, on the summit reached through these forests, stands an ancient shrine beli...