The Kalimath Temple in Uttarakhand

  We could see the temple from across the river,it was situated right on the bank of the river Saraswati .The temple stood in silence in sharp contrast to the river  flowing past it The river  gurgled zestfully even when the place and people around were receding into another cold winter night.  

A bridge lined with flags and bells guided us across the river straight to the temple.  Needless to say that  the temple was ancient ,the structure and the relentless work of the people to paint and and repaint it made it  obvious .

What was palpable was the people's belief and an effort to keep the mythology alive.

The shrine of LAKSMI and SARASWATI

It was late afternoon when we reached the place,since we started for the temple after a quick lunch at Guptkashi.  It was quite a hurried one , keeping in mind the shorter days in winters.This was the best plan we could make, to make most of the day,  since Kalimath was comparatively closer than the other places we had planned for,and save the next day for more.

We were little surprised to see artificial flowers in the pooja plate,

only to realise that there are not many blooms in this harsh winters

    The main shrine housed no idol,only a Shri Yantra on a silver plate,.We were told the idol was there underneath the silver plate in a pit,and is brought out only on Asthami  day to be worshipped. 

The priest explained the absence of the idol very patiently,and all four of us listened eagerly.    This is the advantage of visiting the mountains in the winters,the crowds are not to be seen,and we could get the whole place to us. 

The main shrine

 The Mythology

This is the only temple where Lakshmi ,Saraswati and Maa Kali is worshipped at the same place.this place is one of the shakti siddha peeth of goddess Kali .It was here that the goddess is believed to kill the demon Raktabeej,and licked every drop of his blood ,any drop of blood fallen on the ground would have given birth to several other demons.In an effort to destroy the evil the goddess lost her calm.  So lord Shiva had to come to her rescue,when the goddess found herself standing on her husband Shiva she sank down into the ground in embarrassment ,that explains why the temple has no idol to be seen.

While this was one explanation for the absence of the idol,an alternative explanation said that long back a flood washed away the upper half of the idol ,while the lower part of the idol remained here,under the debris.The upper half of the idol was fished out at Srinagar(Uttarkhand) where only the face of the idol is worshipped,giving rise to another Kali temple in Uttarakhand, which came to be known as the Dhari Devi temple

   By the time we left the place it was dusk.so we hurried to get back to the car,we were still not comfortable with the idea of riding after dark.we took a quick glance at the scars the devastating floods of 2016 had left behind.Parts of the temples courtyard was washed away while the rest was rescued with an embankment.

I rode back with lots of stories in my mind,

 Once i wondered about the demon Raktabeej,who was slain by the goddess, and then about the idol which was washed away. Then about Mahakavi Kalidasa who wrote Meghdoot after he was blessed by  goddess Kali here, or about Adi Guru Shankaracharya who restructured the temple after a massive flood. 

All the events and the stories  along with the terrain  had woven a wonderful tapestry  in my mind by the time i had left the place.

Kalimath is at  a distance of 4.5 km from Guptkashi,in the Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand.

there is a lot to see around this place,

The Shiva temple about 7 kms from here where Shiva is said to have calmed the Goddess,located in a very scenic place along the bank of a river.

The samadhi of Kalidasa,also the tree on whose branches Kalidasa would sit and cut the branch itself.

The best time to visit the temple is during Navratri .

Temples of the Himachal

Dipped in mythology that our country India is,there is scarcely a place here which is devoid of temples ,and The Himachals is no exception....... temples and temples every where  and they are all painted in bright hues,which stand out in the middle of nowhere.Seeing how well maintained each one of them was ,it is but obvious that the Himachalis loved their temples.In my recent visit to the state,temples formed a substantial part of our tour .This account will share some of the very noteworthy ones.

The Jakhu temple near Shimla  located on the Jakhu hills

Related stories- The Magic of Mcleodganj.
                         Kangra Fort-History in the lap of nature


a shaded area in the temple compound

The Jakhu hills are the highest peak in Shimla .The temple was too crowded to take a good capture ,so I had to be content with this.The temple can be accessed on foot from the ridge ,that is the mall end or one can hire a car and take the main road.Time being a constraint we had to go for the second option.

the statue of hanuman which is actually visible from the mall

If you are wondering why the temple has such a huge statue of lord Hanuman...this is a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman.It is believed that this is the place where Hanuman,while carrying the mountain which had the sanjeevini buti had rested for a short duration...the temple houses the foot prints of LordHanuman

Whatever the story might say ,this place definitely belonged to our simian cohabitants,who could be seen all over the place.I had to leave my DSLR in the car fearing the same reason.Nonetheless a temple worth visiting.

I did not know that they could pose so well for the camera

a small temple on our way to Chail

heres another on the way to Masobra

These are some of them about whom I know nothing of ..no sign of any priest or any worshipper...just an idol in the middle of nature...Is that why I found them so interesting?






This one was on the way to Rohtang

The little known Gayatri Temple in old Manali was another which caught my fancy.This is located in the small village near Manali named Jagatsukh

this is a temple few hundred years old...a structure in wood and stone 

But what I found more interesting was this small little village school ,singing the National Anthem in perfect discipline right behind the temple

yet again. another........



The Ram Laxman temple in the village of Naggar near Manali





a  closer view of the same



Basisth Temple, Manali

      The above picture is of Vasisth temple in old Manali ,this is among the few most popular

 temples of Manali.Rishi Vasisth is worshipped here as the main idol.Legend has it that Laksmana of Ramayana had come here to visit rishi Vasisth ,when he saw the sage going for a bath in the chill waters of the river.On seeing this Laksmana shot an arrow in the ground for him ,and out came hot water springs.  These springs can be seen flowing even till today all over the place.Taking bath in this water believed to have medicinal values is a common practise here.The temple area has separate bathing areas for men and women.



        The picture above is that of the famous Hidimba Devi temple.This temple finds itself in a prideful place in the list of temples in the Himachal by its own right.Situated in a very picturesque location amidst deodar trees ,it does not fall behind when it comes .to  mythology too.Named after the demoness goddess Hidimba who  married Bhima after the latter escaped from the wax house ,this temple bears the shape of a conical pagoda.This place definitely has a old world charm to it .It is so said that Hidimba gives birth to Bhimas son Ghatotkacha ,but when Bhima returns from the hills to his family, the princess renounces her kingdom in the hands of her son Ghatotkacha and starts meditating in this very place,which now bears a carved footprint of Hidimba.It was only in the 16 th century that king Bahadur Singh built this beautiful temple at the same spot.

A yak ride  at the temple gates



the furry angora rabbit which formed the fondest memories for my children

a lady waiting for customers with her angora rabbit

This place is a stones throw from the Manali mall road .I could not stop clicking once I entered the temple gates,though my children found the yak ride and the angora rabbit most interesting

A view of the deodar forest around the temple campus

VIEW OF THE TEMPLE FROM THE GATE END

 We visited Hidimba temple  in our second day at Manali.Our driver insisted that we visit the Hanogi Mata temple after this but we were drained by this time and decided to call it a day

.

From Manali we headed towards Dharmashala,which is in the Kangra district of the Himachal.On the way to Dharmashala we visited the Baijnath temple

An inscription in one of the stone slabs tell that this temple was built in the ninth century by two local merchants.This temple is built in the shikara style which is not very common in this part of the country.We reached this place in the afternoon,the place was beautiful with well manicured lawn,but with the sun shining bright right above us we ended our visit in haste.

Dharmashala , a quaint place with the snow capped Dhauladhar constantly watching over us,was awaiting us with the Kunal Pathri temple.We visited this place early in the morning,as this was our first point in our tour around Dharmashala.

I would say that the Kunal pathri temple  is a must visit place and considering our time of visit,we were the only people there,which made it even more pleasing for us.This place is located in  a beautiful cliff a few kilometres from Dharmashala.This place is consecrated to goddess Kapaleshwari and is considered by some as a Shakti peeth.I personally feel it is not so because this temple is not listed among the 52 Shakti peeths in the subcontinent...the only one Shakti peeth in the Himachal  being the Jwalaji  temple .

The deity inside the temple

The word kunal in the local language means the shallow vessel in which flour is kneaded,and pathri of course means a stone,  and this is how the place derives its name.The shallow stone above the deity as can be seen in the picture is believed to collect water all the year round through an opening in the roof .This water strikingly can be found fresh always by divine blessing.

The Bhagsunath temple 

From Dharmashala ,on our way up to Mcleodganj,we visited the Bhagsunath temple,a shiva temple ,the famous Bhagsu waterfall is a few metres walk from here.This temple is a medieval

one.The first Gurkha rifles on the Gurkha light infantry was moved to Dharmashala in 1860. It is then that Bhagsunath their kul devta  was established  here and  the temple was patronised by the Gurkhas. I found this to be an unique one with lots of pools around, though I could not figure out the reason behind them.

Add caption

The above are all pictures of pools around the temple

    I am not a religious type of person and visiting a temple would always be the last thing in my mind, but that was till I went for my tour in the Himachals.The picturesque locations of most of the temples in the Himachals so  enticed me that I ended up craving for more.The Bijli Mahadev temple ,the Hanogi Mata temple ,The Jwalaji temple and few more which could not be visited ,remain in my wish list...........maybe in my next visit.....