Shiva in the high Himalayas: Between Heaven and Earth.

 JAI MANIMAHESH

THE TEMPLE DEDICATED TO LORD SHIVA WITH THE MANIMAHESH KAILASH IN THE BACKDROP

The Manimahesh lake also known as the Dal Lake is situated in the Pir -Pangal range of the Himalayas at an altitude of 4080 m. The Manimahesh kailash or the Bharmouri Kailash is the abode of Lord Shiva. 

I started from Shimla and took a bus to Chandigarh from where I was to catch a bus to Chamba at 9 PM but I was late and reached Chandigarh after 9, may be I was late by 15 min. Now the bus that I took was all full as it was coming from Haridawar and there was no seat available, I took the bus ultimately despite the warnings of the conductor that it would be hard to travel to Chamba. I thought that the testing time has started and now there is no scope for me to step back. I was standing right beside the front door till Una where the conductor offered us (three more except me) the cardboard sheets to sit on the floor which I accepted and sat right there on the stairs of the front door and it was a big relief. For the rest of the journey I was relieved and happy that I'm going to Manimahesh and also that I'll meet Sandy in the morning. After 10 hours of journey I reached Chamba at 7AM in the morning. I hired a taxi to Sandy's place; he was ready to leave for the office with breakfast ready for me courtesy Shipra, who was also leaving for office. After freshening up I rested for whole day. In the evening when Sandy came from office we went for the ongoing Minjar fare. The famous Chaugans of Chamba were hosting a wide variety of activities on the occasion of the Minjar. It was fun. The next day we planned our trip to Manimahesh, and decided to pack ourselves with the necessary goods. We went shopping and loaded our bags with dry fruits, chocolates and many other energy food and other necessary items like torches, extra batteries, rain coats (a must for this trek) etc.

Bharmour

Sandy and I left for Bharmour (64kms) at around 8AM the next day, had our breakfast at a place called Rakh which is just 22 kms from Chamba. We just move along the Ravi River through out our course till Bharmour. Then there comes a place called Lahala from where one gets the first glimpses of the Manimahesh Kailash. Bharmour is a beautiful village with lodes of apple trees and lush green valleys. It is said that the ancestors of Mehru Verman setup this village as their capital and named it Bhramapur, which gradually changed to Bharmour. It is called 'Shiv Bhoomi' (Land Of Lord Shiva) or 'Shiv Gaddi' (Where lord Shiva resides) thus the people here are called Gaddies, the true disciples of Lord Shiva.

The Manimahesh Mahadev temple at Chaurasi Temple Complex

Bharmour is famous for it’s 'Chaurasi Mandir Complex’ (84 temple complex), with the main temple dedicated to Manimahesh Mahadev with lots of other temples in the courtyard. Another main temple in this complex is of 'Dharamraj Mahadev' and it is said that this is the only temple dedicated to Dharamraj in India. It is believed that after death Dharamraj himself decides here only that you are a pure soul or a sinner. There are two and a half steps right in front of this temple about which it is said that the two full steps are for pure souls and sinners respectively where as the half step is for ones who could not complete their life and died unnaturally, they spend rest of their life on this half step. In the early part of the seventh century an emperor named Sheelbhram came, who was hunchbacked and was treated by lord Shiva himself. He then made these temples again which were in ruins previously and formed his capital here and named it Bhramapur. He was later ordered to shift his capital from here so he again setup his capital on the banks of river Ravi naming it after her daughter Champavati as Chamba.

Bharmani Mata Temple

 Another old tradition is to visit the Bharmani Mata temple atop the same hill on which Bharmour is situated. The distance to this temple is around 4 kms on foot, although a road has been constructed but is seldom open. There is a belief that one must visit this temple before heading towards the Manimahesh Kailash otherwise the yatra is not considered to be complete. Sandy and I started for the Bharmani Mata at around 12 noon and it took us an hour to reach the temple. The place is just awesome, with you walking firstly in the village and coming out of it right into the middle of the apple orchards. The heartwarming scene from the top is such that it never fades away from ones memory. On reaching the top there is a pond of water which is fed by another pond situated right in the front of the Bharmani Mata temple known as the Bhram Kund. The ritual is to take bath in it and offer prayers to the goddess, and we both did the same. The tough part was taking bath in the chilled water. It was bone chilling water and it took both of us a little time to gather our guts and had a dip in the water but in all it was all awesome. The pandit ji (priest) at the temple told us the story of the Mata and its relation to the Manimahesh yatra, and the legend goes like this, Maa Bharmani resided where now stands the Chaurasi mandir complex. One day when she was away in the nearby jungle Lord Shiva with his 84 disciples halted here for an over night stay. Mata Bharmani on returning and seeing all this got annoyed and told Shiva to leave immediately, as this place belonged to her. But somehow Lord Shiva convinced her to allow them to stay for a night. The trick here was that Shiva had to leave behind all his disciples one by one, but knowing that they all would be safe in this very same place, he buried them all in the earth and left early in the morning for Kailash. When Bharmani Mata came to know about the trick played by Shiva, she was angry and made all the 84 disciples come out from the earth and they all came in the form of Shivalingam. Knowing this Shiva returned and Mata, furious and angry, tried to curse Shiva and said that she now cannot live in this place as there are too many Shivalingams here and that now no one will ever offer prayers to her. Shiva then told Mata that whenever someone will come to Kailash, firstly, will bathe in your waters and offer prayers to you before coming to me, otherwise the yatra or pilgrimage will not be complete. Hearing this Mata told Shiva that she will move to the place from where she would not be able to see these Shivalingams and thus she moved up to the top of the mountain, and believe it or not the Chaurasi Mandir courtyard and the village of Bharmour is not visible from the Bharmani Mata temple and also the place where she used to meditate is still empty in the courtyard of the Chaurasi temple, although a temple has been setup there but their is nothing in it.

The rout map of the trek to Manimahesh

                      After hearing this story and having Maggie at a nearby shop we started for Bharmour again and reached at 4PM, from where we hired a taxi to Hadsor(16kms). This is the place from where trek to Manimahesh starts. At Hadsor we had snacks and left for Dhancho, our first halt, which is 6kms from Hadsor at around 5:30PM. The trail is mild and it goes along the Manimahesh Ganga originating from the Manimahesh Kailash Mountain. The Manimahesh Ganga was in full flow with deafening sound of water striking against the rocks. Two and a half hours of hike and we were at Dhancho, the trek is mild and the gradient only takes toll when you reach Khada nala from where Dhancho is 2 kms.

Dhancho as seen from Bander Ghatti

It is a beautiful place and at dusk it’s even better. There were almost 100 tents for stay already, no matter there will be more once the official yatra commences. We stayed in the tents provided by the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Bharmour. They provided us with sleeping bags and blankets at a reasonable price of Rs 100/- each, and extra charges for food, and trust me the stay there was comfortable and satisfactory. There was a foreigner girl staying in the tent adjoining ours with her guide and we got to interact with her and came to know that she was here for the cleaning of the Manimahesh trek when yatra commences and was surveying the area for the same. 

The Garbage Girl with her Guide and locals

She is the founder of the organization '  The Mountain Cleaners'    situated in Dharamshala and carries the tag of         ' THE GARBAGE GIRL'  her real name is Jodie Underhill,  a British National who came to India on a tourist visa to sponsor the education of  some Tibetan children and soon got involved in the cleaning of the mountains after seeing the piles of garbage destroying this beautiful hill state. After talks with Jodie on dinner we went to sleep, talking about the stupendous beauty of the place. We had decided to leave early but it was raining when we woke up at 4AM and decided to sleep again. At around 7AM the rain stopped and after completing our morning routine we left for Manimahesh an hour later. There are two ways to reach Gauri Kund from here; one is Bander Ghatti route named so, as in previous times one had to climb like a monkey on the cliffs. The other one is Phuwara Marg named so as there is a waterfall on the way known as the Dhancho waterfall; this one is easier but longer than the Bander Ghatti route. 

Dhancho Waterfall

The Dhancho waterfall is said to be the place where Lord Shiva entered when Bhasmasur was behind him and appeared at the top of the Kailash where the Mani (Jewel) of the serpent in his neck The Sheshnag fell and this Mani reflects the moon rays from the jewel and can be seen from the lake on full moon nights and thus is known as The Manimahesh Kailash. After a 2 kms walk from Dhancho there is a place called Shiv ke Gharat where one can hear the sound of grinding, as someone is using the grinder. From here one can see Gauri Kund, moving further we reached Sundrasi, from here two tracks again split, one is via Bhairo Ghatti which is short and tough, so most of the people take the longer easier route.

Bhairo Ghatti

 Small houses of stone can be seen in Bhairo Ghatti as it is believed that one who wants to build his own house makes out a replica of a house using the stones and Lord Shiva helps them make one in reality. After almost 3 hours of hike from Dhancho we reached Gauri Kund. Here only ladies are allowed to take bath and here too one can find tented accommodation and food stalls. The distance of Manimahesh is just 1km from here and one feels excited and it takes no time to cover this last kilometer. At 13,500 feet we finally reached the Manimahesh Lake and a sense of satisfaction prevailed. We took bath in the lake as it is believed that it frees you from all your sins and trust me the water was so cold that it felt like a slap from Bholenath himself for our sins and that yes he is making you free from all yours sins by slapping you through the bone chilling water of the lake. Compared to this the water at Bharmani Mata was hot.  All our tiredness vanished and we were as fresh as we were born today.

Me and Sandy at the sacred Manimahesh (Dal) Lake

There is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva where we offered prayers and circled the sacred lake, we then waited for the clouds to clear up. At 19,000 feet high Kailash mountain it is just an ordinary thing to have clouds but we felt like they were our enemies hiding Shiva within them, we waited and waited but all in vain and decided to descend back to Hadsor. As we reached Gauri kund again, we had tea and Maggie there and after that decided to move at a brisk pace as we had to catch a bus to Chamba which was to leave Bharmour at 6PM and it was already 3PM. We tried but couldn't accomplish the task and reached Hadsor at around 7PM. When we were to reach Hadsor we met an old lady around 70 - 80 years old  from Lahaul and was moving very slowly and asked for our help in walking and we said that why didn't you hired a mule and she said that yatra is done on foot no matter what and I thought one with strong will can do anything no matter how big or difficult the task may be. I'll never forget her. That day we had to stay at Bharmour as no one was willing to go to Chamba, as we had missed our bus already and the taxi operators were not interested in driving on that road at night as it was raining.  The next morning at 6AM we left for Chamba. All in all it was a perilous journey.

JAI MAHADEV!

MANIMAHESH KATE KALESH