MANALI
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| Rohtang pass |
HIMACHAL PRADESH
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| Map of Himachal Pradesh |
Nestling in the Himalayas, Himachal pradesh is truly a tourist's paradise, with rugged snow peaks, , deep gorges, lush greenery and golden valleys, apple orchards, misty woods, fast flowing icy rivers, glaciers and awe-inspiring lakes.
The aura of mountains is overpowering. The mighty peaks at many places provide ample scope of adventure sports like trekking, river rafting, skiing, para gliding, ice skating, golf etc. Tibetan Buddhist culture can be seen in the ancient monasteries of Lahaul and Spiti, which provides a nice setting for those interested in Meditation.
The capital of Himachal pradesh is Shimla which is a major tourist attraction. Shimla is in far east of Himachal pradesh. In central Himachal, the captivating Manali and Kullu provide an excellent stopover for honeymooners and adventure seekers. It is also renowned as the "The Apple Land of India". It is situated in the north west corner of India, right in the lap of Himalayas. The state is bordered by Jammu and Kashmir on north, Punjab on west and south west, Haryana on south and Tibet in east.
Dussehera Festival in Kullu is very famous. The celebrations here are quite different as compared to other parts of country.
The Himachal pradesh was called 'Dev Bhoomi' or the Land of Gods. There are evidences of pre-historic human settlements in this region. It is generally believed that many inhabitants of this region migrated from Central Asia and the Indian plains. The first race to enter Himachal was was the Proto-Australoid followed by the Mongoloid and The Aryans. The Rig Veda about the Dasyus and Nishads living in this region and their powerful King Shambra who had 99 forts. (tour leader)
HISTORY
The Aryans came and settled here after defeating the local tribes Dasas. Subsequently, the region was controlled by successive India empires like Mauryans, the Kushans, the Guptas and the Mughals. Later, the British gained supremacy in this region and captured the areas of Shimla after the Gurkha War of 1815-16.The British established many hill stations here and Shimla became the summer capital of India.
After Independence, Himachal was declared an Union Territory in 1956, and it later became the eighteenth state of the Indian Union on 25th January 1971.
Places of Interest
Naina devi
Chail
Chamba
Dalhousie
Dharmshala
Kalpa
Kasauli
Kullu
Manikaran
Manali
Narkanda
Shimla
Kufri
Solan
My Diary
This time I got the opportunity to explore the Kullu & Parvati valleys.Day 1
Recently I went to Manali with a group of 32 corporates. We left for Manali from Hoshiyarpur,
The scheduled time was 5 pm but no one came on time. I reached at Ambuja cement office at 3:00 pm and I met officer their who was going to travel with me. His name was Mr Bharat Bhushan. This person was very interesting. He cracked jokes from the starting of our meeting. Then after making calls to every one finally all people came to meeting point.
07:00 pm. And we left for Manali.
We reached at Ropar at 09:30 pm. We had a stop at K surpal motel, Ropar for dinner. This Motel is very good neat and clean and very well decorated. Mr Indrapal the owner of this Motel is very kind person.
We had arrangement of dinner here. The food was delicious and everyone was happy with the food quality.
We left this place at 10:30 pm. And then strait to Kasol and Manikaran(Himachal Pradesh).
Kasol is situated on the banks of the Parvati river, Kasol is an ideal holiday destination. After few kilometers we reached to Manikaran. Manikaran is also well known pilgrim center and there is an ancient Hindu temple and a gurudwara here.
Kasol is situated on the banks of the Parvati river, Kasol is an ideal holiday destination. After few kilometers we reached to Manikaran. Manikaran is also well known pilgrim center and there is an ancient Hindu temple and a gurudwara here.
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| Manikaran |
Now this place is charismatic. Guru Nanak Dev traveled towards north region with brother Bala and Mardana. (in 1574 century)
He visited Kalanaur, Gurdaspur, palampur, Kangra then He reached District Kullu and after all he reached to Manikaran.
Here at Manikaran it was cold night and everything was freezing. There one of his followers Mardana said how should I cook the food, here no wood or stone or any article is available by which we can cook food. How God has created such thing where living is so impossible. Hearing the words of Brother Mardana, Guru Nanak laughed and said , “it is alright Mardana, if you want to see the festivity of Creator then remove this stone from this place. “ When Mardana removed the stone a fountain of hot water sprouted. Evryone was astonished to see the miracle. Guru Nanak said again, “Throw your unripe breads in this water. And pray to god folding your hands, that you will offer one bread to almighty. When Mardana prayed God then all the loaves appeared on the surface of the water.
This is how Guru Nanak manifested the fountain of boiling water.
Temperature of the water -
In winter when snow falls then temperature of water remains at 94 c. In summer also remains same. The water is beyond the effect of hot weather or cold weather. This hot water is better than the other places.
Saint Narain Hari
(1909-1989)
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| Photo of Saint Narayan Hari |
In 1940 AD he reached Himachal Pradesh and found out this great place and constructed Gurudwara(Temple of sikhs) here. Saint Narain Hari served this place for fifty years. With the help of devotees he constructed the holy Gudwara of Guru Nanak.
Sri Dewa ji
She is elder daughter of Baba Narain Hari ji. After his demise she has been serving the devotees of Gurudwara Guru Nanak Dev ji. She has been working on rules and manuals of Saint Narain hari.
All basic amenities are available over here. Small guest houses are also here to stay.
Come any time you can get fresh and enter into the Gurudwara.
It is only 2 kms away from Manikaran shahib while returning for Manali.
We leave this place at 09:30 am for Manali.
We reached at our hotel “Holiday Inn” at 11:00 am. The first day was the free day for my group. And I also had the time to do the rest in my room. This was the day when I did photography of beautiful views of Manali.
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| Hotel Holiday Inn |
Day 2
Next day at 08:00 am we left hotel for Rohtang pass. And now the most exciting part of my journey come “snowfall”. It was only 5 or 6 km we covered and snowfall started.
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| Sandeep Kumar |
It was an amazing experience. Snow was falling from sky. Everywhere you could see the snow, snow on trees. houses, cars , plains. Now I understand why the yogi and Rishis used to go at Himalaya for meditation.
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| Solang Valley |
After enjoying snowfall we returned back towards Sholang Velly. This place has lots of stuff to do. Like Paragliding at cost of Rs 700 to 1000. You can drive snow motorcycle also. You can enjoy cable ride, they charge Rs 500/person. It is a 5 km long cable ride. They drop you at a peak from where you can see beautiful view of Manali peaks.
They have restaurant also over there
Next day
We went for Manali sightseeing – Vashistha Kund and Hidamba temple.
We started our sightseeing at 02:00 pm at afternoon. First we went to Guru Vashistha Kund.
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| Vashisht kund |
Vashisht is a small picturesque village near Manali. Primarily the village is famous for its hot water springs.
The water here is believed to possess medicinal properties. The temple dedicated to Sage Vashisht is another attraction here. Vashisht was, according to Hindu mythology, the spiritual master of Lord Rama.
The temple is a pyramid shaped one. There are two hotwater pools inside the grounds of the Vashisht temple and it is why the shrine is known as Vashisht Kund (Kund is the local name for pool).
This is the place where other gods also come to have bath before the winter season in November. I was lucky to see one occasion like this. Devotees from other villages brought their god(deity) over here to get bath. I heard some good local music and also saw the dressing of local people during festivals like this.
After Vashistha Kund we went to Hidimdi Devi Temple
It is an ancient cave temple dedicated to Hidimdi Devi, sister of Hidimba,who was a character in the Indian epic, Mahābhārata.The temple is surrounded by a cedar forest at the foot of the Himālayas. The sanctuary is built over a huge rock cutting out of the ground, which was worshiped as an image of the deity. The structure was built in 1553
Over here you can also ride a yak
Then it was time for shopping at mall road, so I left my group for shopping after giving them a final time to come back. And I went on to a Buddhist shrine to do meditation.
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| Sandeep Kumar |
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