Samatva

Perfect setting for the soul. Baijnath

Baijnath, Temples of Himachal…16

Timeless, grand, picturesque, popular, clean and peaceful. Very few temples have the perfect mix that Baijnath has. It is the setting for the soul.

It is perched 50 meters high from the undulating Palampur fields. The river Binduka cuts a shallow valley along the edge of the hills. The temple has a recorded and verified history of 800 years; and possibly a timeless one before that. Shiva is worshipped as the Lord of Physicians in Baijnath.

The temple is about fifty feet tall, very grand for this region. The architecture is impressive, with several elements of temple design integrated. Unlike most other temples of Himachal, it also has two balconies at the ground level.

The sculptures are a delight. They are richly carved; and the style and proportions of the sculptures are very uncommon. A standing Nandi and a slightly kneeling Ganpati are wonderful. A dash of hibiscus on the Ganpati; that sight alone captures the joy of idol worship.

It overlooks the entire Dauladhar range that rises from 500 odd meters to almost 5000 meters in a single vertical span. In between is the shallow valley with a gently flowing Binduka. There are only a few temples that can match the setting, like Kedarnath, Mahabalipuram, Tiruchendur, Somnath..

It is maintained by ASI, so there is a nice clear grassy perimeter; and photographs are allowed. The temple excels in cleanliness even for Himachal standards. The  calm of the temple is incredible even though it is on the highway.

For a complete temple experience, Baijnath is one of the places to head to.  

I first went to Baijnath in Himachal with my in 2013. I have been there twice since then, once for gratitude and the second time with son; and there will be more times.

The region around has so much to offer; the grand paragliding experience at Bir, the tea estates (overrated) of Palampur, the calm of Kanbari ashram, and the temple stretches of Chamunda and Kangra. It is an endless list.

Then the incredible views of Dhauladhar hills from Andretta. Then there is the Barot valley and its funicular which I hope to see one day. The piece de resistance is the toy train that runs from Joginder Nagar to Pathankot. The train travels through unparalleled (and totally underrated) variety of landscapes overlooking lakes, rivers, gorges, snowclad mountains. It is actually a train that transports, without the touristy character of other hill trains. 

If you have a chance to spend two or more days out of Delhi, head to Baijnath region. Gaggal airport of Dharamshala is 50 kms from Baijnath.

A short beautiful drive through tea gardens; and then you are at the perfect setting for your soul.

Hatkoti, on its own

Hatkoti, Temples of Himachal… 5.

Shimla is over visited, so is Dehradun-Mussourie. Surprisingly, the region between Shimla and Dehradun is not. There are several routes, some as short as six hours.

Hatkoti is in one of them, a 100 odd kms east of Shimla. This is the start of the Yamuna river territory. Every drop of water that falls on this side finds its way to Yamuna and eventually to Allahabad and Varanasi and Bay of Bengal. The road passes through Karapathar: a hill station that Himachal tries to hide for its own good. You can see all the snow you want, and also leave behind the crowds of Kufri and Shimla.

The Hateshwari temple is at Hatkoti, where the road meets the river Pabbar. At Hatkoti, Pabbar opens up into a wide valley and the temple overlooks the valley and the rice plains.

On an idle day, there is so much to do around. You can wander in any direction and into any field as guests are assumed to be non threatening. There was a dam under construction and I even slithered up the spillway without anyone objecting.  The depth of knowledge in the chit chat within the temple; the extent of their global awareness stunned my assumptions.

The route from Hatkoti towards Dehradun is bliss. It snakes along the Pabbar river at level; jumps over the confluence of Tons and Pabbar; and then runs along the Tons for several miles. There is not an outside soul and no Gujarati, South Indian, Chinese Vaisnavi Dhaba. I stopped at the riverside and was served fresh milk tea, by a Gujjar family.

Temples, rivers and hospitality, Hatkoti, Himachal Pradesh

Coming out of Mud, Dhankar

Dhankar. Temples of Himachal….7.

Spiti is sparsely populated. It is part of a district that has 3 people per sq km that makes up for less than a percent of India’s density. I was sold on this area by one of the earliest outlook travellers books on Himachal. It had a trek called Spiti left bank trek. I stepped out with an ambition to do it solo.

Once I reached Spiti, I quickly gave up on the trek idea. The heights, landscape and desolation scared me off the solo idea. The trip became a slow travel over ten days or so. Dhankar was one of the stops.

It is a monastery on a ridge line and makes for spectacular views. It is on a mud cliff, all sides and edges ragged by raging winds; and then snow that drags the mud down every season. It looks like a giant termite mound as a result. The location overlooks the confluence of two great rivers, Pin and Spiti, which eventually become the Sutlej.

I reached by afternoon and then ran into a small group of very serious young photographers from Karnataka. They use only the morning and evening sunlight and were maniacal in their attention to detail.

Next morning, they decided to climb up the mountain further to get an early morning shot of the monastery and I went along with them. The monastery itself is at about 12500 feet and we went some bit higher. The Sun slowly crept up on the ridge line and the shadows receded, lighting up the monastery.

Dhankar has other distractions, a short hike to a mountaintop plateau with a lake. An abandoned Santro car, since towing it to Manali is not worth the salvage value, a really cost monastery hostel, budding monks and great food.

I also realised that Hrishikesh Sagar, one of the serious photographers, is a wonderful wildlife enthusiast, and his photos are a pleasure to see, everytime.

Coming out of Mud. Dhankar Monastery, Spiti, Himachal Pradesh