Dharmashala : A Savari with tourist Vehicle

           In Base Camp, Seobagh, Vineeth took a mobile number of tourist guide from someone. So we called him and hired his vehicle for one day Dharmashala visit for 2500 Rs.  We had different list of places to visit and he suggested different places. We went with his suggestion.

         Morning 9:45 AM we left hotel in Tourist vehicle, which we booked. Our fist destination was St. John Church, one of the oldest church in Dharmashala

St. John Church :

 Built in NeoGathic architecture this Church dates back to 1852. It lost its bell tower in 1905 earthquake and it is the rest place of Lord Eglin who was viceroy of during 1861-63.

From entrance

Bell

It is located and surrounded by Doedar forest and it has one of the heaviest bell. We went inside the church and did prayer for 5 minutes.

Inside church

Right View of Church

Front view

In front of Marry statue

We took some photos outside church and backside of the church. This place is very calm and a right place to start with our exploration.

Naddi Village

Naddi Village

Naddi Village is very near to Dal Lake and is famous for its scenic beauty. Earlier we decided to book hotel near Naddi village but since it was expensive we left the idea. If you are choosing a calm place, this can be the best choice. There are Himachal tourism hotels nearby Naddi Village. You can see beautiful view of Dhauladar mountain range to the North and Lush Kangra valley to the south.  We stood for 15 minutes and enjoyed calm beauty of Naddi and moved to Dal lake.

Dal Lake 

Don't confuse this Dal lake with Kashmir Dal lake. It is situated 2 km away from MecLeod Ganj and on the way to Naddi village you will get it. It is regarded as a sacred place as Shiva madir is there. In the winter you will see the beauty of dal lake since it will be frozen in surrounding.

Vineeth @ Dal Lake

Kunal Patri Mandir

Located in the lap of the Dhauladhar Ranges this temple is dedicated to goddess Kapaleshwari. Due to the historical and spiritual significance this temple has been one of the famous place to visit in Dharmashala.

Entrance

Kunal Patri madnir

Mythology :

It has been mentioned in the Shiv Maha Puran that Daksh Prajapati the father of Sati had once organized a Yajna. He did not invite Lord Shiva to this Yajna. Sati could not bear the insult to lord Shiva and in retaliation jumped into the fire of the Yajna. Lord Shiva was shocked to learn about the death of Sati. He started roaming in a state of madness with the body of Sati on his back. On seeing this Lord Vishnu used the Sudarshan Chakra to Destroy Sati's Body and a part of her skull is believed to have fallen here. The locals here call this place Kunal Pathri. (Source wiki Travel)

Devi Kalpeshwari

Devotees worshiping.

Surrounded by Coffee plantation

Guru @ Coffee plantation

Other than temple you find tea plantations which are good as Chikka-Mangalore or Coorg coffee plantations. Guru bought a Kangra tea powder here. He paid Rs 220 for 100 gm tea powder

Sheetal Park 

Sheetal Park Entrance

Shahid ke Naam

aircraftmodel near entrance

Respect for Martyrs

 That covers memorial

Looking at the pictures you can get to know how important was this place during our Dharmashala visit. It made us little bit emotional and bit active also. This covers large area and people come here and enjoy their stay inside park. The entrance fee of 10 Rs might go in maintaining the park. Its a good place to cover.

Dharmashala Cricket Stadium

Indore Stadium

DCS entrance

By the time we went to Dharmashala Cricket Ground, we were hungry. We ate roasted corn in front of stadium. One of the high altitude stadium, DCS (Dharmashala Cricket Stadium) is famous for its scenic beauty surrounding stadium.

 We had lunch at Ranital Sharma Dhaba on the way to Kangra. They have put picture of CSK team having lunch there. And also they have kept their food junction as MS Dhoni junction. A crazy business tectic I must say. Food was good and we had authentic himachali food.

Jwala Devi temple 

Jwala devi temple of Kangra is one of the ancient temple in India along with Vaishno devi. This temple is 55 km away from Dharmashala.  There is an eternal flame always burning. It is very near to the highway and no need to take auto.  A local told it is one of the 3 major Devis worshiped in North India. We took the darshan of eternal flame and also Goddess Jwala and then climbed to see Vajreshwari temple. There are 4 more temples on top of Vajreshwari temple. By the time we left Jwala devi it was already late. We had plan to visit Kangra fort.

Kangra Fort : The best in Savari

By the time we reached Kangra fort it was about to close. We requested for 10 minutes and we took more than an hour. It was nicest fort I have seen. We felt we should have come to this place before visiting Jwala devi temple so that we should have spent more time here.

 The Kangra fort, one of the oldest fort in North India. It is one of the main attraction place near Dharmashala. If you are visiting Dharmashala, don't miss two places, one is Truind and another one is Kangra fort. There is Dalai Lama temple, but that is for out of curiosity but not as a picnic spot.



The first gate is known as Ranjit Singh Gate. We found many gates named after some king or subject. Ahani Gate, Jahangiri gate, Ganga, Yamuna,
 Different kind of names of gate indicate it is ruled by different dynasties.

We climbed some steps to reach the top of the fort. Such an amazing creation it was with a beautiful view.

Whole Kangra city can be visible from the top of fort. Fort is heavily damaged by the earthquake which you can easily find out. There is a temple on the top of the fort and a priest will be there to do pooja. Since we went at the closing time we couldn't go inside the temple. As the priest was in hurry to close the gate, we climbed down and reached the entrance. Outside the fort, on the right side there is a room where royal members used to get hot water.

There is also a water source which locals say, they come from the top of the hill. Outside the gate there is a Shiva temple which people worship daily.

Brajeshwari Mandir 

After Kangra fort, we went to Brajeshwari mandir Nagarkot which is on the way to Dharmshala.

 I thought all beautiful girls of Kangra have come to this temple to pray Goddess Kali Mata to get a good husband.  

 Temple has been reconstructed in 1920 after the 1905 earthquake. There is dinner also available for devotees. We wanted to have prasad but I thought we are already late. So we left the idea and said good bye to Nagarkot. This was our last visit of our Savari.





After coming back from our Kangra visit we had awesome dinner at Bhagsu hotel where we stayed. 8th May 2014 will be remembered for such a memorable time we spent around Kangra. We missed the Kangra museum which was our top priority. But we were satisfied with our plan. Next day we had an exploratory trek to Truind on which I have already written my experience in one of the post. Third day we wanted to cover places which we have skipped in MecLaud Ganj and that experience I will be writing in next post.

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