Kangra Valley And Around View Entire This is amongst the longest and my most memorable trips in the Himalayas. Ever since I did the Kailash Mansrovar Yatra 1998, my tent mate Jayant Doshi and me were planning this trip. It eventually happened in July 2001. Spread over about 23 days our travel schedule was –
• Mumbai to Jammu/Katra by train.
• Jammu to Dalhousie by train/taxi. Saw Dalhousie, Chamba Valley and Khajjar.
• Dalhousie to Mcleodganj by taxi. Saw Kangra Valley and around as well.
• Mcleodganj to Manali/Rohtang Pass.
• Next stop was Keylong in Lahaul Valley.
• From there to Kaza in Spiti Valley.
• To Kalpa and Sangla.
• Took a twenty three hour bus drive from Kalpa to Hardwar.
• Rishikesh to Govindghat the base camp for Valley of Flowers.
• From there to Badrinath.
• Last stop was Kedarnath returned to Rishikesh.
• Took Shatabdi Express from Hardwar to Delhi and train to Mumbai.
Between Jayant and me we spent about Rs 18,000/ per head. Jayant was from London and could not believe that we spent so less. It is not that we compromised in any way. We travelled by taxi and bus and stayed at budget hotels that were amazingly clean as well.
We hired a taxi from Mcleodganj to visit Kangra Valley. The valley rolls down the southern edge of the magnificent Dhauladhar Ranges – the White ranges. Dharamshala is the main town in Kangra. There is a lower and upper Dharamshala. The latter is known as Mcleodganj. We left at about 7.30am and were back by 5ish. Our first stop was Jwalamukhi temple 56 kms from Dharamshala. It is the famous temple of goddess Jawalamukhi or the Flaming Goddess. It is built over some natural jets of combustible gas believed to be the manifestation of Devi Bhagwati Jawalamukhi. Mughal Akbar tried to quench the flames but failed, became a devotee thereafter. The interior of the temple consist of a square pit about three feet deep with a pathway all around. In the middle the rock is slightly hollowed out on applying the light the gas burns into flames. There is no idol of any kind. The flaming fissure is considered as the fiery mouth of the goddess whose headless body is said to be in the Bajreshwari Temple Kangra.
The temple building is modern. Many people esp. women take a vow that if anything they ardently wish is obtained they will go on yatra to the temple. Pandit Rajmani Tugnait of the Himalayan Academy wrote about the importance of Jwalamukhi. Cannot remember the book where he wrote. When find will share. Next we went to Kangra Fort. It has an icon of one of the Jain Tirthankaras. Kangra was the ancient capital of the powerful hill state – fort of Nagarkot. It stands witness to the ravages of conquerors from Mahmud of Ghazni to Mughal Jahangir. There is a Adhinath Temple opposite the fort. We went to Bajreshwari Temple, Kangra is known for its legendary wealth, robbed in 1009 by Mahmud of Ghazni. Destroyed by the earthquake of 1905 it was rebuilt in 1920. Next was Chamunda Devi Temple the slayer of Chand and Mund. It is 15 kms from Dharamshala. The goddess is said to grant boons requested to her. The picture you see is a cave like scoop where a stone Lingam under a boulder represents Nandi Keshwar (Shiva).
Lastly we went to the Chinmaya Tapovan Trust i.e. about 9kms from Dharamshala. It was founded in 1978 by Swami Chinamayaji. It is a large complex with number of classrooms and meditation centres. There is a 9 meter high image of Lord Hanuman, a Rama Temple, a meditation hall and a school. We also saw para gliding facilities at Biling in Kangra. See the Kangra Art Museum as well.
You can also see the following places. 35 kms from Dharamshala is Palampur famous for its tea gardens. 16kms from Palampur is Baijnath the chief temple of Shiva Vaidyanatha (Lord of Physicians). According to tradition this is the shrine where Lord Ravana supplicated Shiva for the boon of immortality. 13 kms from Palampur is Andretta where the famous artist Sobha Singh created most of his famous works – Heer Ranja and a host of religious paintings.
It was a hectic day. By about 4ish Jayant got unwell and started vomiting. I too had a splitting headache. Bottom line it was an interesting day, we enjoyed ourselves.
Acknowledgement: www.esamskriti.com
