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Kangra and Chamba - Town of Temples and History |
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Kangra Valley is one of the Himachal’s beautiful valleys. It rolls down the Southern edge of magnificent Dhauladhar Range in gentle slopes covered with forests of Pine, green tea gardens terraces fields. The Dhauladhar – The “White Range” rises up to 14000 ft. providing a dramatic backdrop to the hill resort of Dharamsala. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama resides here in Mcleodganj, which is now a major center for Tibetan Government in exile and Tibetan culture. It has a school for Tibetan studies with rare manuscripts and ancients texts, Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts and a handicrafts center Dharamsala has everything for a perfect holiday . Many ancient temples like, Masroor, Jwalamukhi, Bajreshwari, Chamunda and Baijnath ( Vaidyanath) lie on the plains below Dhauladhar.
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The unspoilt Valley of Chamba, lie ensconced between the mighty and snow clad mountain
Ranges of Dhauladhar, constituting the outer Himalayas, The Pir Panjal or the Mid Himalayas and the Zanskar Range or the inner Himalayas. Chamba in the middle is perched like some medieval Italian village. Fortress, on a flat mountain shelf and beside flows the Ravi River. In the center of the town there is a big spacious playground called Chawgan, this is where the famous Minjar Festival is held. Among the most interesting objects in Chamba are the number of richly carved temples, considered as the finest example of Hindu (Pahari) architecture. Three of these are dedicated to Vishnu and remaining to Shiva. All the shrines have shikharas or spires. Some of the temples dare back to 10th Century. The richly carved Laxmi Narayan Temple is the oldest one.
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Sixty five km Northwards from Chamba lies the Bharmour. Known as the home of the Legendary Gaddies, semi nomadic and semi pastoral tribes, who spend the summer on the alpine pastures grazing their herds of sheep and goats and in the Winters move down to the lower hills of Himachal like Kangra, Mandi and Bilaspur. The small town of Bharmaur is famous for the well known Chaurasi Temples complex , |
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| Main Town |
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Dharamshala (1387 mts) |
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To the north, the Kangra valley is flanked by the snow clad Dhauladhar ranges of the Himalayas, to the side which Dharamshala and Mcleodganj (1770 Mts.) (also called Upper Dharmshala) Founded in 1855, Dharmshala is the principal township of Kangra commanding splendid view of the surrounding country. Surrounded by deodar forests, it is set against a back drop of massive snow capped peaks on three sides. |
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Kangra Valley Sight seeing |
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Kangra Valley is one of the Himachal’s beautiful valleys. It rolls down the Southern edge of magnificent Dhauladhar Range. While the snow line remains close enough at all times and during winter month, the Northern part is swaddled in a blanket of freshly fallen snow allowing the magic of Kangra to take on yet another hue. Numerous ancient temples like Bajreshwari, Rock cut Temples of Masroor and Norbilingka Institute, lie on the plains below Dhauladhar. One can spent whole day, visiting these temples and Institute. |
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Norbulingka Institute
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The Norbulingka Institute is a registered Trust functioning under the chairmanship of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Established in Dharamsala, India it is committed to the preservation of Tibetan culture, which is threatened with destruction in its homeland. It is build according to traditional Tibetan style, following a ground plan based on the proportions of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion. Set amidst beautiful gardens, surrounded by the green fields of the Kangra Valley. The Institute promotes Tibet’s traditional arts and literary studies and comprises the following sections; the center for arts; the academy of Tibetan culture, the culture and literary research center, Publications and the Library. It also houses a wonderful doll museum showing the culture and tradition of Tibet. Thanka painting, woodcarving, metal work, silk screen painting, and center for arts, library, and culture Research centre.
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| Astronomical Medical Center |
About 8 km from Norbulingka Institute. The Tibetan medicine is made from herbs gathered from the high altitude of the Himalayas. This herbal medicine can cure many different diseases and are famous all over the world. |
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Bajreshwari Devi Temple |
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20 kms from Dharamsala, on the way to Masrur. One of the 51 Shakti peeths, in Hinduism the whole concept of origin of universe and its function is bases on Shiva and Shakti, where shiva is the universe and Shakti is the energy, by which all the laws of universe function. It was where the breasts of Sati are said to have fallen. Bajreshwari Devi temple is the most revered centre of pilgrimage in the heart of the Kangra valley. The main temple attracted many foreign invaders over centuries for its wealth in gold, diamond and pearls. Mahmud of Ghazni plundered it in 1009 and carted off a fabulous fortune which is said to be 7 lakh gold coins, about 25000 kg of gold and silver utensils, 25000 kg of sold rods, 80000 kg of silver rods and an unbelievable quantity of diamond and pearls. The temple was destroyed and a mosque was buit over the foundation. The temple was however restored by the Katoch ruler of Kangra. In 1337 it was sacked by Mohammed-din-Tughlaq and yet again destroyed by Khawas khan, army commander of Sher Shah. It was still able to recover and rebuilt several times in the intervening years but the earthquake of 1905 flattened it. Once again the temple received unusual offerings by the devotees, it was paved in plates of pure silver and the present temple was built in 1920and an idol of Bajeshwari Devi was enchrined. |
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| Masrur Rock Temple complex (800 mts) |
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47 kms from Dharamsala, this the only shrine in north India carved out of a rock (160 feet long and 105 feet wide)Masrur temples are known as Ellora of Himchal Pradesh. They form a group of 15 monoliths rock cut temples in the Indo Aryan style and are richly carved. Not a popular religious site, the temple is dedicated to the Vaishnav sect though the place was originally a Shiva shrine. The main shrine called Thakurdwara contains three stone image of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita and dominates the centre most of the sculptures are badly damaged and the complex is partly ruined. The ridges top position offers a superb view of the low valleys, gentle hill and the surrounding countryside. The carved panels have divine figures and images of the animals. Sculpturally the monument is a wonderful creation. |
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| McLEODGANJ |
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If you think about Lahsa (Tibet), the only other name comes in mind is, Mcleodganj. The name has almost become synonymous to Lahsa. This is where His Holiness Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan’s, resides and also this is where the head quarters of the Tibetan Government in exile are located. Here one gets amazed to see that how the Tibetan peoples in exile, have kept their culture resonant and going.. Here there are many gompas to visit and some of them house treasures of ancient and priceless thankas and scrolls. Tibetan Institute of performing Arts ( TIPA) preserves a number of musical dance and theatrical traditions of Tibet. |
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| Day hike in Dhauladhar foothills |
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We start our hike from Bhagsu nag. Passing through bhagsu water fall and the Bhagsu village we reach Dharamkot village from where we walk through dense forest of deodar. On the way we come across a Buddhist retreat centre in the middle of the forest where there is a stupa of one of the teachers of His Holiness Dalai Lama and many Buddhist monks live here in small meditation huts. After a short walk from here we come to Naddi village where from where we have beautiful views of the peaks of Dhauladhars. Drive back to Mcleodganj (7 Kms.). |
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Day Hike to Triund |
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This is bit strenuous hike as compared to the above, comprising climb all the way to Triund, the popular mountain meadow lying in close proximity to the mighty Dhauladhar, to the south , Triund offers magnificent panorama of the Kangra Valley all the way till the plains of Punjab. From Triund we descend back to Mcleodganj. |
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