Dharamsala Diary Day 8
For my last day in Dharamsala I decided to explore the area a bit more widely and embarked on a tour with a set itinerary and price organised by the Dharamshala Taxi Operator‘s Union. I picked a 6 point itinerary (whittled down from 8, no zoo, didn’t fancy the cafe stop).
The object for me was as much to go out for a drive into the hills and have a general nose around as it was to bumble my way round another half dozen temples.
The first stop was a bit different to previous Hindu temples I have been to in that it was quite old. The Baijnath Shiv Temple was built in 1204 CE and looks in pretty good nick. As luck would have it I turned up on a festival day so it was pretty busy. There was a group of men burning things off to one side whilst someone MC’d and the whole place had been garlanded for the occasion.
A person can very quickly get used to the Swastika as a none-Nazi symbol here, they are all over the place from house gates and people’s cars to massively adorning great temples through to the popular Swastik brand rice which is for sale at every Mikel John. I have tended to keep them more or less out of the pictures on this website but they seemed to be particularly associated with this festival and people were queuing up for selfies with a massive one so I thought it merited inclusion.
I’m really glad we came here – it’s a bit different to everywhere else I’ve been and helps to contextualise Hinduism as having been around for so long (a lot longer than this temple) when most of the Hindu places I have seen have been built around or since Independence.
Next Stop Palampur! A small town that was conveniently between other stops I think. I had a walk round a market. We moved on quite quickly to Saurabh Van Vihar which is a nature park established in the name of a local soldier Saurabh Kalia who died in the Kargil War (India/Pakistan Kashmir based fracas in 1999). The park itself features a memorial to Kalia, a kids playground, an aquarium and a lake and a cafe. The main attraction is the setting, it is off to side of a huge boulder strewn river bed with the mountains in the background. The taxi driver kindly parked about half a mile away and insisted I walk over a ‘beautiful’ bridge (which was shut) so I walked over the directly adjacent less beautiful bridge. I saw some lizards!
I was not surprised to learn the park had recently reopened after being washed away in floods – that river must look fierce when it is properly up. The landscape was the best part of this stop.
Next we stopped at a Tea garden. These litter the hillsides in the area. This one had a little souvenir and snack shack nearby which must be what merited incision on the itinerary. It’s noticeable how manual all the labour still is across the parts of India I have visited and rural agriculture is no exception. People carry things on their heads and move things by hand and barrow.
About time I saw another temple then — Stop 5 — Shri Chamunda Devi Mandir — the main edifice here is about 400 years old, but some of it is falling down and some of it is quite modern. There’s a large paddling pool with deity statues and due to the festival mentioned earlier seems to be a good feature of a family day out. Here too off to one side a group of men are burning wood, so smoke hangs in the air.
Last stop! Guess what! A temple/ashram. A holy man built this place because of the belief the God’s exist in the tall mountains and clear streams of the Himalayas. I’m paraphrasing. The Chinmaya Tapovan. There is a very holy sacred temple bit, some buildings associated with living and study then a massive statue of Hauman a monkey faced deity. It is beautifully situated with the mountains behind.
No evidence of any festivities here. A very calm and well tended place. Sagar the driver pointed his minuscule Suzuki back in the direction of Dharamsala and that concluded a fun day out and time here in the Kangra Valley. A really immense place that I have enjoyed hugely. Back to Delhi tomorrow! Short update hopefully!
