Mendhar Tehsil

Mendhar is a tehsil in the Poonch district of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is located in the foothills of Pir Panjal range within the Himalayas. Mendhar Tehsil headquarters is Mendhar town. It is located 60 km towards South from District headquarters Poonch and 210 km from State winter capital Jammu.HistoryAs per the "History of India" by R.K Mukherji and "2500 years of Budhism" by P.V Bhapat one Greek Governor Menander I (known in Indian Pali sources as Milinda (165 BC-130 BC) was the ruler of Punjab. Mendhar also included the western foothills of PirPanchal that formed part of his kingdom. Menander initially a Governor of the Greek empire had revolted and declared himself as an independent ruler. Since the entire population of Menander's kingdom were believers of Buddhism, hence, his interest in the faith became natural. He, however, had many questions in his mind about Buddhism. He interacted with a number of Buddhist scholars and monks seeking clarifications about his concerns regarding the faith but none could convincingly respond to his queries, the Malinda Panha. In the process he happened to meet a Buddhist monk by the name Nagasena who is believed to have answered all his questions. At the end of this discussion Menander became a disciple of Nagasena.Mr. A Koul in his book 'Buddhism in Kashmir' writes that the discussion between Nagasena and Menander was held in the southern side of Kashmir valley about 20 yojans from the valley. P. V. Bapat writes that Menander had built a monastery in memory of his discussion with Nagasena and named it as Menander Vihara.