A visit to Mata Jalpa Temple in the vicinity of Kamrunag Temple(Sunder Nagar)

Hi, 

How you doing?

Yesterday i.e. 25th May 2014 was Sunday, another fine day for another short trip to the adjacent beautiful lands of Himachal Pradesh. On this day, we rode our bikes from Sunder Nagar to Mata Jalpa Temple, at a distance of about 35 km. 

Let me give you a short introduction of the crew of the day, Tarun, Karun, Amit, Ankit, Ankush and me, being a new entry, except Ankush, we are the same duds from the last trip.

Along the BSL(Beas Sutlej Link) Canal towards Baggi and Chail-Chowk

 Ajay was having some work, so he was absent. We all work at the same place. To read about our last trip i.e. a visit to the Shanger and a lake near to Deyohari village in Sainj, Kullu(H.P.), you may go through the link given below:

A visit to Divine land of Shanger and Saint Pundrik.

At Chail Chowk

Before entering into a local Dhaba, adjacent to the Chowk at Chail Chowk, Tarun's and Ankit's bikes were put on stands adjacent to the rain shelter.

We were charged 60 rupees for a simple lunch meal which at the adjacent places is charged only 40 or 45 rupees. We didn't eat at the other dhabas at Chail-Chowk but this one, adjacent(on left) to the public toilet building was the one about which we tried to complain with the local policemen who were present and on duty at the Chowk.

 Refusing to listen to our complaint was the first but they were having another surprise for us, they filled the challan form claiming our bikes to be wrongly parked. Reason they wrote in the challan forms was 'Idle Parking'.

There was no sign board showing us 'No Parking'. Giving 100 rupees challan for each bike was a way to make it quick but we warned them of taking the matter to the higher authorities through the e-samadhan facilities.

We felt that we were wasting our time by talking to those ignorant policemen, so we clicked the area where our bikes were standing making sure that, photographs did catch the reality of the situation, means the absence of any 'No Parking' sign board.

Monastery at a distance of 4 km from Chail Chowk

Monastery at Chail Chowk

Apart from this bitter experience at Chail-Chowk we enjoyed the whole trip. We started our bikes and our next stop was a newly inaugurated monastery at a distance of about 3 to 4 km from Chail Chowk on the Chail-Chowk Rohanda road. 



  

We spent about 30 minutes at the monastery, clicking on the wall paintings and each other. We were joined by a monk, he opened the monastery door to let us have the look of inside.

That is me in front of the monastery Gate at Chail Chowk, Sunder Nagar

We saw the statues of Buddha and other deities, the speciality of the Buddha statue was that he was holding a black bowl in his left hand while being seated in the lotus posture. 

Although, I read nothing about this black bowl in the book 'Old Path White clouds' by Thich Nhat Hanh but was told a short tale by Tarun about the four lords of four directions, who offered this bowl to Buddha.

Buddha with black bowl

Tarun recently wrote an article on this particular topic which you can read through the link below.

Reaching out to God with Thankgas and Mural Paintings

After saying good bye to the Monk we were again on our bikes on that serpentine mountainous road. At Kukdigalu, at a distance of about 4 km on this Chail-Chowk to Rohanda road, we had to take a left turn to another single lane road.

Jalpa Mata Temple

The name of the road was written as Kukdigalu, Kutahachi Saroa sadak. I think the village where temple is, is named as Saroa. To reach the Jalpa Mata Temple, sign board read a total of 8 km distance.

Entering the Gate of Jalpa Mata Temple

Along this single lane road, jungle was filled with the conifers, Rhododendron and Kafal(Bay-Berry) fruit trees. 

Some of the Kafal trees were filled with the the Kafal and we enjoyed them on our way back. Except the last 1 km journey road was surfaced with bituminous mix, so we were comfortable on our bikes.

Beautiful view of Jalpa Temple (Sunder Nagar)

As we reached the temple the first sight of it was refreshing and then as we entered into the gate, we felt to be locked in a trance state. The air was blowing fast enough to make a meditative sound with the small wooden pieces hanged to the end edges of the roofs of this beautiful wooden Pagoda temple of Mata Jalpa.

Karun clicking Ankit in front of Jalpa Temple

Adjacent mountains were higher but still it has a beautiful view of the BSL(Beas Sutlet Link) and a part of the Sunder Nagar Lake. Compared with the area of the temple the density of the visitors which were present while we entered into the temple was more than enough. People were clicking and making videos of themselves, making it sure to capture the memories.

The priest of the temple seemed to be modest and selfless person, otherwise offering a full banana piece as prasad to the each visitor was almost impossible at such remote places and that too at such highly priced state when a dozen of bananas is priced INR 60.

A view of BSL(Beas Sutlej Link) and Sunder Nagar Lake from Mata Jalpa Mandir

In recent past years, it costed only about 30 rupees per dozen. So my thoughts about this temple priest were just opposite of that owner of that Dhabha at Chail Chowk. I liked this place, clicked numbers of shots.

Sky was changing its color and showed us the surety of pouring the water, so after another 30 minutes we started to roll down.

It sprinkled very cold water, comparable to snow, thankfully, when we were finished with the Kafals,  this stopped. It started again for 15 to 20 minutes, but we managed that time by drinking the tea at Ropari. Next stop was at Chinnar Hotel at chatrokhery at Sunder Nagar where we ate our Goodbye meal of the day.

Thanks for your kind visit!