<Trip Report > Manali in the Monsoons (September 11)

Fascinating write-up and beautiful photos. Well done, Vaibhav. You have obviously inherited your father's love of botany. The description of the Roerich center makes me immediately want to visit it. The wood stove looks like the typical sompa that we use in Greece !

That's quite a time machine you have.


Great writing.

Oops

I've corrected it now! Thanks.

Acharyaji had suggested that of all the temples in Naggar, the Krishna temple at the top of a hill, in the village of Thawa is the least visited, the most ancient and the most revered as well and if nothing else, should be visited for the view of the hills from the temple. It would also give me the opportunity to get off the concrete and walk a bit in the jungle.

So, from the Roerich estate, I came back a furlong or so and took a steep left, after a few badly formed stairs, it was pretty much walking on raw hill side. Just before beginning the climb, spotted this beautiful Forked nightshade flower bunch hanging on the house at the edge of the steps.



The way to the temple goes through some forest and there are a few houses literally in the middle of no-where. The bright colors of this one contrasted very well with the surrounding green of the forest. The path I was climbing on may be seen at the right.



The path, approximately a kilometer, had plenty of shrubs on either side, laden with flowers, no doubt due to the monsoons. There were some purple lamiacae (wild) growing all over (see below). I saw a good sized rufus treepie as well but couldn’t take a photo (didn’t have the zoom on).



After about a half hour’s leisurely walk (people run up in ten minutes!), getting lost a bit in the wilderness area, I reached a muddy road and then the gate of the temple. The first glimpse of the Shikhara of the temple, amongst the clouds, was very promising!



The first thing that ‘hit’ me was the sweet, intoxicating smell. I thought it was the smoke from the inside of the temple that smelt so sweet. Two laborers were busy sanding and sawing wood. I learnt from them that this wood that they were salvaging was called ‘kayal’ wood. It is a conifer but different from Chir (pine) and Deodar woods – the two most common conifers in the Indian Himalayas. Apparently, this wood is used in temple, palaces and other important buildings as it doesn’t deteriorate with time, is not affected adversely by moisture for prolonged periods or by insects. The wood that was being prepared for re-use was supposedly one hundred years old! The laborers were happy to be photographed.




The Muralidhar Krishna temple does not (unfortunately) permit foreigners inside the premises. On the day I visited, there were no visitors anyways other than a couple from a village nearby and only the pujariji and his family were on the premises. I walked around a bit and from near the citrus tree, captured this (I have increased the color in the sky to show the outline of the temple properly). The temple is built on the ruins of an old stone temple and from the photo is evident that the rear portion is older and the front is newer, and wooden while the rear was exclusively stone.



The temple is built in the pyramid style and houses idols of Radha-krishna and few other hindu gods. The exterior was much more interesting though. On the left side wall of the mandap, I spotted this sculpture. Clearly, many ancient and medieval temples in India sport erotic sculpture. These ones, however, were mutilated at some point of time.



On the exterior left wall again, there’s beautiful carving such as this three faced idol (possibly Vishnu?). It indeed appeared very old to me and a little bit of subsequent research revealed that the temple was older than what the locals said (they attributed it to be as old as fifth century AD). A few books mention that the old stone carvings of this temple are datable to the Gupta era in India.



However, what caught my attention was a little cat – possibly domesticated. It wasn’t afraid at all, and I kept getting closer till I could pet her to my heart’s content. It just purred and closed its eyes!



The lovely scent that I had first noticed approaching the temple was all around and I felt that I should try to take the material back that caused it to be. I asked the pujariji what he was burning and it turned out that it was a special mixture (called ‘samagri’ in the method to perform yagna or yagya). We have used such mixtures comprising wood powder, sandal wood, various herbs and spices including turmeric, cloves, cardamom, etc, and other sundries that smell wonderful when the ‘ahuti’ (or homage) is given to the gods by dropping a handful of this material in the fire. This samagri appeared quite different as I could see dried flowers, an excess of tree-gum, dried fruits including some apricots. I thought, this must be what causes the scent and I requested him to pack some for me and he obliged.

I then went out of the temple walking around it to the back, and spotted this ‘rath’ (car) in which Muralidhar is carried out during the dussehra festival. This is thanks to the royal patronage that the Thawa-naggar temple enjoys and the temple’s participation in the dussehra.



I was now behind the temple and the wind certainly wasn’t strong enough to carry any scents from the inside to me and yet the sweet smell persisted. I looked around and saw another carpenter milling wood. There was about one hundred square feet of wood shavings in that area and then I had the blinding flash of the obvious. It was the smell of the Kayal wood that I had smelled all along! Feeling like a bit of an idiot I greedily filled a small plastic bag with it and continued onwards … and downwards …

Excellent narration.. Please go on..

The previous evening, my autowallah (whose name, regrettably, I cannot recall now) had mentioned in good spirits about a dhaba near a waterfall on the outskirts of naggar. He had called it ‘the last dhaba’ and I thought the name was rather romantic – reminded me of a frontier town or a risky outpost. After coming down close to the Naggar castle area, I started enquiring about the same. He also mentioned that the bollywood film ‘krrish’ was picturized at this waterfall. My expectations were raised accordingly.

It turned out that the Autowallah was somewhat right– the dhaba was far and save the waterfall the village has little to boast of. It was over twelve kilometers from the town of Naggar near a village called ‘Jana’. Getting there is possible by private car or by government bus – I opted for the latter. A couple furlongs from the castle is the turn for Jana village and I reached there and waited for the bus. It was supposed to arrive ‘sometime after’ 2 pm. I spotted a lovely Geranium in front of the lodge at the turning and then got chatty with a government worker who was instructing a truck driver not to block the road completely.



My wait grew longer and longer and I was getting weary (the spider spinning the web made considerable progress, I imagine) and the govt worker speculated that perhaps the bus would not come in that day as it was the second Saturday of the month. That was seriously bad luck for me as I had no way to get to the waterfall then.



Then, a taxi stopped and a couple asked me if this road would lead to Jana, and I said it would. I also asked them if they had space and would consider giving me a ride, which they very welcomingly accepted! We stopped only once where the road was under construction and I had the opportunity to quickly take a photo of this butterfly on the thorny bushes.



The hills looked lovely and closer to Jana village, there were rain clouds that had come so low – they appeared to touch the road. This lonely conifer stood out.



Looking back, I could see the village of Jana perched on the hill-side. The white and grey clouds in the far horizon provided shade while the sunlight shone on the village - it was all quite dramatic.



We walked closer to the falls and one look at the falls, I could see that it was definitely a photogenic one.



Over the years, the villagers had constructed a wooden bridge across the falls as well (perhaps for the hero and heroine to run across chasing each other singing songs). The fall is not too large but it had a nice, calm air about it. There were only a few collegiate visitors that day (other than our group) and the silence definitely added to the charm.



I walked around the falls and then a bit further down the road. The monsoons had certainly caused life to burst forth from every tree and rock – there was plenty of fungus and some of it in such a shade of green, it reminded me of Kermit the frog.



I came back closer to the falls and went under the wooden bridge and snapped this one using slower shutter and then another one that showed the waterfall in its entierty (seen earlier).




Then came back up, ordered some himachali food that the cook whipped up with great relish. It was a dish resembling momos and the name eludes me now - it is eaten with ghee (!). The owner is himachali but the cook was a nepali with a mischievous smile and definitely didn’t mind getting a photograph taken!




The return journey was uneventful save for the fact that I got down at Jagatsukh to explore the temple while the couple continued onwards to Manali.

So nice.....

Loved the Geranium, the fungus, the spider, the fall and the 'mischievous cooking'....

wonderful photographs, vaibhav.

Beautiful log..!! Your words are very nicely put and simply transported me there.. The photographs are just amazing..I must say you have very keen eye for details..!!! Keep it coming..!!

The feline in post 19 was simply lovely.

Great capture, Vaibhav. Hope to see many more such wonderful shots through your posts.

Thanks both of you for your kind words

I'll try to post the next one when i get out of this sudden deluge of work...

What was the date in september that you went to manali...i hv heard that from june to sept the weather is very bad in manali and shimla..landslides occur over there......???????

9-12 september 2011. its in the trip report title!

Hi Vaibhav,
Wonderful writeup, Wonderful writeup, Wonderful writeup (Endless...)
I am planing for a Manali trip at the end of Oct this year and browsing through the threads for reports and found this jem
I am feeling like I have already been there while reading your log. Still this poor fella have some q's
1. Do you recomend staying 4 days at Manali and visit the neear by places like - Vashisht Ashram,Rotang Pass,Naggar,Kothi,Rahla Falls,Solang Vally(Pls suggest if anything more can be added )
2. What would be the weather at the last week of October? (I will travel with my 3 year old son)
3. I am planing to have a room at Tourist Hotel on Circuit House Road, Manali (near to Hidimba temple) - any idea about that place ?

Excellent pics and Wonderful report.

Thank you! I should come around to writing the remaining soon - the best part is yet to come

I'd suggest staying at Manali for two days and Naggar for one and Kasol for one. Or if this much moving around is difficult for you, and Kasol (which involves more of hiking so not sure how that would plan out with a little kid), is not appealing then stick with one place.

Vashisht Temple, Hadimba temple and Manu temple will take at max half a day even with family.

Rohtang and Solang will take an entire day. You can contact Swagatam Tours in Manali mall road. They operate good and economical tours that pick you up from mall road and take you all the way up and bring you back.

Naggar is in a different direction and depending on how inclined you are to enjoy the peace and quiet of naggar, time can be spent accordingly. I spent a day and covered all the spots. I'd suggest hire a car from Manali if you stay in manali only.

Should be very nice but cold. Protect yourself and the young one appropriately.

No I do not, sorry. Overall, I'd suggest avoid the mall road. Other than restaurants and a bus pick up point, there's limited advantage to staying there. You can look at HPTDC hotels, they're a bit run down but do not inflate prices and are decent. I stayed in beas hotel and liked it.