Himachal Diaries: Part Three

Day Three (03.07.2024): Road trip from Rampur to Sangla via Sarahan

I woke up at 6am, got ready for the day, had upma breakfast at 7am. 

Luggage was loaded in the vehicles and we left the hotel at 8am. Sarahan serves as the gateway to the stunning Kinnaur Valley, offering breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains. We drove to Sarahan to visit the Bhimakali temple, reached the venue at 9:30am. Hrishikesh briefed on the temple history.

Bhimakali temple

It is an 800-year-old shrine dedicated to Goddess Durga, locally known as Bhimakali, and is revered as one of the 51 sacred Shakti peethas. The ear of Sati devi fell here when lord Vishnu cut the pieces of her body carried by heartbroken lord Shiva. The temple is built in Kath-kuni style, traditional technique that uses alternating layers of wood and stone masonry, held in place without using mortar.

We entered the main open space. There was shiv temple on the right. We climbed the stairs to the left to visit the main temple. We had to keep our belongings in a locker and wear the himachali cap in order to visit the main temple. We climbed two floors, in circular direction to reach the main sanctum. We then walked downstairs to the museum and visited the local deity temple. 

We got back to the open space and then visited the Shiva temple. 

Post the temple visit, we had a tea, coffee, washroom break. 

Few did some shopping from the spread of souvenir shops outside the temple, few played with the dogs, etc. 

We left at 11am and drove straight towards Sangla. We passed by the Karcham Dam, the hydroelectric power station built on the Sutlej river. We reached Hotel Prakash Regency at 3pm and had lunch. 

Post lunch we were allotted rooms, my room no was 405. The hotel surroundings were full of apple trees and hotel entrance had sitting area full of dark red roses. We were going to explore Sangla on camper vans at 4pm. More on this in next post.