A Visit to Sangchul Maharaj, Divine Land of Shanger & Pundrik Rishi lake

Hi,

How you doing? 
This was a refreshing day when three of our bikes on which six of us, started from Sunder Nagar at 7:00 AM to reach at these two holy places in the district Kullu of Himachal Pradesh.

Shanger plane, Shangchul Maharaj, Kullu, India 

Shanger and a lake near Deyohari village are the two, where our plan was focussed, but these are not easy to reach at. We spotted a meal shop at Pandoh, and after having break-fast we started again on NH-21.

From right: Ankit, Amit, Karun(in helmet), Tarun, Ajay and the service men at a Tyre puncture shop, 3 km ahead of Pandoh.

Divine land of Shanger being linked to a tale from Mahabharata periods, is considered to be constructed by Pandavas. Locals say that Pandavas used sieved soil to construct the land and that is the reason that when you walk on this grassy land, you will not find even a small single piece of stone.

We came to know about lake only after reaching at the Community Training and Tourist Center, Ropa Complex  (Sainj-Jeewanala Valley), where a man advised us to visit this beautiful lake. We planned to visit the lake after coming back from Shanger.

Tarun enjoying photography and 4 of them enjoying being clicked, near to Larji, Kullu - clicked on 18th May 2014

To reach at Shanger, you have to take a right turn from NH-21, at the start of the Aut tunnel, its end being at Aut, towards Kullu. This right diversion will take you to the Panarasa, but ahead of Panarasa, at the bridge, you have to keep left on the road to the Sainj. Reaching Sainj is easy, because road is good but after Sainj starts the rough journey.

Larji Dam behind my back, on the way to Thalaut-Larji-Sainj.

We reached at Community Training and Tourist Center, Ropa Complex  (Sainj-Jeewanala Valley) and got the direction of the further route to reach Shanger. About 7-9 km long road from Ropa to Shanger was under construction, and therefore yet to be connected with HRTC bus service.

At the Community Training and Tourist Center, Ropa Complex  (Sainj-Jeewanala Valley), Kullu(Great Himalayan National Park)

I was sitting on the back seat with Tarun, with Ankit was Ajay, and with Karun was Amit and for a short stretch we had to get off the back seats due to the undergoing construction of the road. Road was surrounded by the dense jungle of the Kail trees and some others of new kinds to me.

As we reached the higher altitude of the Shanger, only Kail appeared to be standing, other disappeared. Kail trees were about 50 meters high, appeared as if touching the sky, they made the Shanger village look more beautiful.

At the entrance to the divine land of Shanger, there was a board hanging on a tree which warned the visitors of using the shoes, alcohol, police dress, making loud voices and playing any game on the divine land of Shanger. Penalty for not obeying was INR 1000 /- .

 I thought that warning was understandable and fair, except the penalty for the entrance in the Police dress.

Divine Land of Shanger, Kullu

The village being surrounded with the greenery and peaceful environment was totally wonderful. I think Buddha surely would have loved this place for the meditation practices.

We entered into the divine land of Shanger, a gentle sloped, curved plane surface, filled with a soil which can not be spotted with a single piece of stone. On top of the soil was a dense, 3-4 cm high grass which massaged our feet as we ran on top of it.

At some places the soil was saturated with the ground water, a good resource for the growth of that soothing grass.

Sitting at the Divine Land of Shanger, Kullu - clicked on 18-05-2014 

We talked to Mr. Hari Singh, an old man from the same village, who eagerly gave us the information about the place. Village has three temples of Dev Sangchul, a local deity of the village, which is popularly known as Sangchul Maharaj and is famous mostly in the entire Mandi and Kullu region of Himachal Pradesh. 



  

We entered into one of Pagoda Temples constructed for the deity, it was constructed with the wood, slate and a concrete floor for sitting on to and doing the havana(ritualistic worship).

Temple of Sangchul Maharaj at Divine land of Shanger, Kullu

For about 1 hour we enjoyed the walk on the divine land, clicked many photographs, and then we rolled back down to Sainj. We ate our lunch at a local restaurant on the bank of the Sainj river and planned for the next place. The Pundrik Rishi lake near to the Deyohari village seemed to be in our reach within the day.

So, Again we were on the bikes to our next destination, lake was at a distance of about 2km from Deyohari village, and at total of about 7 km distance from Sainj. This was again a Kutcha road from Sainj to Deyohari, but more comfortable than that from Ropa to Sangchul Maharaj temple at Shanger.

To reach the the holy lake, up from Deyohari, one has to walk a distance of about 2 km through the dense jungle of Kail trees. This took us 30 minutes to cross that trail and to reach the lake, and I found that the lake might be having a perimeter of about one kilometre.

Long green grass had popped out of the water of the lake, and made it to appear shallower in depth but we didn't inquire much about the depth of the lake, though. I think falling leaves and branches of the trees surrounding the lake were making it shallower with the days passing by.

With Amit at Lake near to Deyohar village, Sainj, Kullu on 18th May 2014

 We met Sohan, a village boy, and were guided to the temple of the Pundrik Rishi and Dev Jehar, or so called Jehar Devta. Pundrik Rishi temple was adjacent to the Govt. Senior Secondary school of the village, and at nearby was a place where Dev Jehar resided inside a cave in the dense Kail Trees jungle.

Pundrik Rishi Temple, Sainj, Kullu

Dev Jehar had been a mystery for us until we talked to Sohan, "he loves iron and is made of iron itself" told Sohan, about Devta Jehar. That was the reason that place was filled with the iron scrap of all household kind. "You are not required to give money to the Dev, he loves iron", he added further.

Dev Jehar, Sainj, Kullu

We asked Sohan about his higher studies and education, he told that he had been going to higher Senior Secondary school, Sainj, everyday. This seemed to be a difficult trek to walk along to reach the school at Sainj, but he was habitual of that daily school walk.

I remember that same kind of situation was at my home village, but after it got connected with road, I think the number of the children walking on the feet has become almost zero. Surely the situation had not changed for these children, but in the coming times, we can hope for the change.

I saw that the Cricket was being loved at this mountain village also, primary school children were holding a plastic bat and a plastic ball and surely were enjoying the game in their own way.

Fields spanned between the boundaries of houses and the nearby jungle,and were filled with the wheat crop standing at its harvesting maturity.

I was suspecting if these people ever had experienced a mosquito bite, and that was one of the reason that I had been thinking to live at this place in summer seasons, let's see if that happens.

This was a successful and memorable biking plus hiking on the Himalayas.

Thanks for your kind visit!