Kalpa to Sandhu Village
Day 4:
Morning we woke up at Sunrise to have a clear view of the
Shivaling atop Kinnaur Kailash. Kinnaur Kailash with an elevation of 6050msl is
considered sacred by Buddhists and Hindus and held in high reverence. People
embark on parikrama of this range which takes about 7-9 days. A 79 ft vertical
rock regarded as Kailash Shivalingam standing atop this peak is mythologically
considered as the abode of Lord Shiva. On a bright sunny day the Shivaling
changes colour over a period of time. Legends say that this Shivaling has come
into existence since the times of Bhasmasur who upon great penance received a
boon by which if he touches the head of any person, the person will turn into
ashes (bhasma). As he wanted the possession of Goddess Parvati he wanted to
turn Lord Shiva into ashes with his boon. Lord Shiva upon learning about his
evil intentions tried to hide from him and he eventually came to Kinnaur
Kailash and started mediating for Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu promised to slay the
demon. So he tried to bewitch the asura by appearing as a beautiful woman
(Mohini Avataar, one of the forms of Dashavatara) before him and made him place
his hand on his head. The highest peak in these ranges is Mount Jorkanden
6473msl. The Shivaling was not clearly visible to us during the sunset as thick
clouds enveloped the ranges.
Kinnaur Kailash
The Divine ranges
appeared stunningly-close and spread out as a canvas before us unfurling its
mystical beauties. The unperturbed calm permeating the village had a magical
effect and all of felt rejuvenated. Watching the snow capped peaks we had hot
paranthas and later set out to explore the village. Kalpa’s centrally located
temple group encompasses the Lo Chawa La-khang (Samdub Choeling) Monastery also
called as Hu-Bu-Lan-kar Gompa, the ornately carved Narayan- Nagini temple and a
recently built tower styled Brahma Vishnu temple beyond it. We drove through
the narrow lanes of the village, parked the car and then reached temple complex
by foot.
Lo Chawa La-khang
Few stone steps led to the porch of the Monastery founded by
Rinchen Sang Po. A white chorten in the centre is surrounded by rolling praying
wheels engraved with holy inscriptions all around. Heavy brass doors led us to the sanctum
sanctorum whose walls are empanelled with paintings of Buddha and Mahakala and
marble statues of three deities were enshrined. The porch of the monastery
provided uninterrupted view of the mountain ranges. As we walked past the
monastery, we came across the Narayan-Nagin temple. The temple’s entrance had
ornate wooden dragons coiled around porch pillars. The brass doors which open
into the temple’s court yard were etched with images of Hindu Gods. We managed
to glance through the mesh of locked doors of the sanctum sanctorum to have a
peek at the idol of the Lord mounted on a palanquin.
Sanctum sanctorum
Out of curiosity I enquired a head lady about the local
traditions. She informed that the idols of God are carried to the houses of the
people during auspicious occasions to invoke Divine blessings. These events are
marked by huge processions. It is also mandatory that Pujari of the temple is a
resident of the village. He must be a pure vegetarian and he is ordained to
follow a moral code of conduct. Then we visited the Brahma Vishnu Mandir whose
architecture and style of construction displayed traditional ambience. Since
the idols were taken out for a procession we couldn’t see them. The tower-style
temple is reconstruction of the 1869 temple that fell down in 1930 and rededicated
in 2014.
Narayan-Nagin temple
The resplendent beauty of the place, simple lives of
Kinnauris and their friendly demeanour left a deep impact on all of us. With a
promise of revisiting the state to explore other rarest jewels draped in the
mountain terrains we embarked on our return journey. We learnt from local
newspaper that Shimla has been experiencing traffic jams lasting for hours. So
we decided to travel by the NH-22 highway till Kufri and go to Chail bypassing
Shimla and join the highway again at Solan.
Brahma Vishnu Mandir
Bestowed with spectacular landscapes, lofty snow peaks, deep
gorges, lush green valleys, fast flowing rivers, enchanting mountain lakes,
flower bedecked meadows, fabulous temples and Monasteries steeped in times.
Kinnaur district is indeed a traveller’s paradise.
View from hilly terrain
Having travelled along the dangerous terrain the previous
day, we were doubly cautious and alert. Luckily the steep road from Chooling
Nallah via Urni to Tapri was devoid of heavy vehicular traffic so drove past
the hilly terrain without much difficulty. Just before leaving the Kinnaur
district we stopped at Tanda Devi temple in Sundarnagar. Driving past Jeori,
Jhakri, Rampur, Sainj we briefly halted at Kumarsaini for a much needed car
wash. We just sat there watching the busy workers and relaxed for an hour. We
bought some fruits as well in between and as we neared Narkanda, we thought of
checking into a decent room and explore the picturesque village. But all the
accommodations were sold out. Local hotelier suggested us a Hotel cum
Restaurant at Sandhu village, the place we stopped for lunch the previous day.
Drive from Narkanda to Sandhu was exhilarating as the road goes through a
valley of lush green dense legendary deodhars. We steadily drove to Sandhu
before the dreary darkness of the night began to engulf us. After a sumptuous dinner we tumbled into bed.
Valley of Deodhars
Photographs Courtesy Dr. T. L. S. Bhaskar
@ Copyrights reserved.
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