Overview
The samadhi of Shri Swami Advaitanand Ji Maharaj, known to devotees as Paramhans Dayal Ji, stands at Teri village in Karak district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, together with the Krishna Dwara temple built beside it. It is the resting place of the founder and first guru of the Paramhans Advait Mat, and so the origin-point shrine of a lineage whose later centres, including Nangli Sahib and Shri Anandpur Dham, all lie in India. This is a guru-samadhi, not a classical Puranic deity temple, and belongs to the same category of site as Nangli Sahib on this platform. "Krishna Dwara" is the tradition's own name for the ashrams founded by its first guru, and is therefore a category name rather than a name unique to this location.
History
Advaitanand Ji died on 10 July 1919 and was interred at Teri, where his samadhi and the adjoining Krishna Dwara temple were subsequently built. Teri is also the place where he initiated his successor, Swami Swaroopanand Ji Maharaj, who was himself born in the village, and where Swami Nijatamanand Ji first came to Swaroopanand Ji. The site is thus bound up with the earliest history of the entire lineage, and with all three of the first gurus.
Partition in 1947 left the shrine on the Pakistani side of the new border, and the tradition's living centre of gravity moved to India. The shrine itself remained.
The site has been damaged twice. The earlier episode was in 1997, when the temple was attacked and demolished; no cause is recorded for it in the sources consulted here. In 2015 the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered its restoration.
The second and much better documented episode was on 30 December 2020, when the samadhi and the Krishna Dwara temple were attacked and burned by a mob reported at around 1,500 people, led by a local cleric and including supporters of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F). The immediate trigger reported at the time was local objection to a planned expansion of the temple, for which an adjoining house had been bought. The Supreme Court of Pakistan again ordered reconstruction, this time within a fixed deadline and under government oversight. The rebuilding was carried out and the shrine reopened to pilgrims in early 2022, in better condition than before, with pilgrims from India, the United States and the UAE reported among those attending after the renovation.
Reporting on the site also records ongoing pilgrimage access being facilitated locally, and the shrine has an established place in the local landscape outside these episodes of violence.
Spiritual Significance
For the Paramhans Advait Mat this is where the lineage begins and ends in one place: the samadhi of the first guru, in the village where the second guru was born and initiated. Every branch of the tradition, whatever its position on the succession after the second guru, traces itself to the figure interred here.
Scriptures & Texts
Editorial note: Scripture references below are based on widely cited scholarly and traditional sources. Specific verse citations should be independently verified before publication.
The tradition's devotional material is its own guru-lineage literature rather than a Puranic text tied to this location. The Nangli Nitya Niyam prayers held in this platform's library, several of which address Paramhans Dayal directly, are the closest textual connection.
Prayers at Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj Samadhi, Teri (Krishna Dwara)
प्रणाम! तुझे श्री परमहंस दयाल। मोरी पल-पल, छिन-छिन कर सम्भाल॥
स्वामी जी मेरे परमहंस महाराज विद्या सागर परमानन्द॥
अखंड ज्ञान स्वरुप, निर्मल मनुष्य आकृति साक्षात परमात्मा जिनके मस्तक पर रत्न-जड़ित श्वेत मुकुट तथा श्वेत वस्त्रों से सुशोभित और मोतियों की माला से विशेष विभूषित हृदय सिंहासन पर विराजमान, भक्तों को वरदान देने वाले, प्रसन्न है मुखारविंद जिनका ऐसे जो श्री सद्गुरु है, तिनको मैं नमस्कार करता हूँ।
कोटि-कोटि मम वन्दना, कोटि-कोटि प्रणाम, आदि ब्रह्म पूर्ण पुरुष, श्री सत्गुरु सुख धाम।
ॐ जय श्री जगतारण
जै सत् चित्त आनन्द मूर्ति, स्वामी जी के चरण वन्दन। जो दे उपदेश कलेश नाशे, कलू के कलिश विभंजन॥
Pilgrimage Information
Access: Entry depends on the prevailing visa regime between India and Pakistan, and access has historically been arranged for organised pilgrim groups. Anyone planning a visit should begin with the relevant high commission and with the community trust well in advance.
Nearest centres: Karak district lies south of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Specific road access, current opening arrangements and local contact details require verification before publication.
Family Suitability
Not suited to casual family travel, given the visa and access constraints rather than anything about the site itself.
Accommodation
Not verified. Pilgrim arrangements have historically been organised through group visits rather than independent travel; details should be confirmed with the organising trust.
Local Services
Not verified for publication.
Do’s & Don’ts
Do
- Treat this as a guru-samadhi of the Advait Mat lineage, not as a classical deity temple.
- Confirm access, permissions and current status well in advance through official channels; conditions here have changed repeatedly.
- Describe the site's history accurately, including both the attacks and the court-ordered reconstruction that followed each.
Don’t
- Don't generalise about the local community from the actions of the mobs involved in 1997 and 2020; the reporting concerns specific groups and named organisers, and the shrine continues to receive pilgrims locally.
- Don't present current access arrangements as settled; they depend on the bilateral visa position at the time of travel.
Nearby Sacred Locations
- Teri village
Birthplace of Swami Swaroopanand Ji Maharaj, the lineage's second guru, and the place of his initiation.
Preservation
Reconstruction after the December 2020 attack was carried out under the direction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and with government oversight, and the shrine reopened to pilgrims in early 2022.
Giving Back
Support should be directed through the recognised community trust rather than informally; specific channels need verification before publication.
Sources
- 2020 Karak temple attack — Wikipedia other
- Pakistani top court orders rebuilding of destroyed Hindu temple — Al Jazeera other
- Hindu pilgrims visit Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj samadhi — The News (Pakistan) other
- Pilgrims from India, US, UAE pray at 100-yr-old renovated temple in Pak — The Tribune other
- Advaitanand Ji — Wikipedia other
Last reviewed: 2026-08-31. Scaffolding content: This page was seeded with well-known public information for development purposes and is pending full editorial review before publication.