Bharmour - The Abode of Lord Manimahesh

Beauty of  Pir Panjal at Bharmour

Bharmour or Brahmapur was the erstwhile capital of the Chamba kingdom, before it was shifted to Chamba. The town now is the home of Gaddi’s – the nomadic shepherds of the Himalayas. Gaddis driving their herd of sheeps and goats are a common sight in the streets around Bharmour.

We visited Bharmour during the summer of 2018. The road to Bharmour from Chamba is extremely scenic and exciting. The road winds its way alongside the river Ravi or Iravati. It passes though beautiful villages of Chamba which are situated on the banks of Ravi.

Entering Bharmour

We drove till Kharamukh, a small village around 40 km from Chamba, it is where we left the mountain river, and then started climbing the lofty hills of lower Pir Panjal.

The road from Kharamukh to Bharmour is quite narrow, and as we gain altitude, they started loosing vegetation. On one side of the road is a deep ravine, through which Budhil river (originating from the Pir Panjals) flows like a silvery ribbon.
As we drove closer to Bharmour, the snow laden mountains of Pir Panjal started appearing, including a distant view of the famous Manimahesh Kailash peak. Within 2.5 hours we reached Bharmour market. We had our reservation at HPTDC Hotel Gaurikund, which is situated at the Bahrmour helipad – the highest point in Bharmour.

HPTDC Hotel Gaurikund Bharmour

From market a very steep and narrow road lead us to the helipad, the road is so steep, even the experienced local drivers also find it difficult to negotiate the switchbacks.The helipad gives a panoramic view of the lofty hills that surround Bharmour. Even in mid summer, most of the hills had some amount of snow at the top, which looked enticing.

View From Bharmour Helipad

HPTDCs Hotel Gaurikund is pretty nice. The hotel only has 6 rooms. It’s a 3 storied building with the second floor having the Deluxe and Super Deluxe rooms.  We stayed in the deluxe room, which was value for money @1800 per night.The room was big enough with a clear view of the snow peaks, it had a clean bathroom. The staffs are extremely helpful. The food in the hotel is also extremely homely, a rarity when we are travelling.

We had a sumptuous lunch with home-style chicken curry and mixed vegetables.

On the afternoon we visited the famous Chaurasi temple complex, which is a 5 minutes walk down from Hotel GauriKund.

Temple Dedicated to Lord ManiMahesh at Chaurasi temple complex

The famous Chaurasi temple, situated at the centre of the town, represents the rich history and culture of Bharmour. Dated back to 7^th century this temple complex has 84 temples dedicated to various gods and goddesses, and hence is named Chaurasi. The main deity here is Lord Manimahesh, who has the biggest temple dedicated to him. The temples are built in typical Pahari style with one main shikhar and a wooden umbrella type crown on top of the stone structure.

The temple complex is an oasis of peace in the town of Bharmour. The temple complex not only serves as a place for rituals, but also serves as a place for community building, it’s the place where people of Bharmour come down, meet each other and discuss their day to day life and culture. It’s the neucleus of Bharmour.

The temple complex is squeaky clean, which certainly adds to the scenic appeal of the place. With lofty snowy mountains on the backdrop the temple complex is definitely the prime attraction in Bharmour.

Our next destination was the Bharmani Mata temple.

Thick Deodar - Bharmani Mata Temple

Bharmour was the abode of Bharmani Mata, and hence the name of the town. According to the legend, when Lord Manimahesh wanted to make Bharmour his abode, the goddess graciously agreed to shift her abode to the upper hills. In return she asked Lord Shiva for a boon- that all his followers who are going on the Manimahesh Yatra should first visit her and take a dip in the pool for their yatra to be valid . This custom is still followed by the pilgrims.

Situated 6 km. uphill and almost 2000 feet above the main town, Bharmani Mata temple overlooks the town and provides some stunning views of the snow clad Pir Panjal range.

We took a cab from the market, to reach the temple. The road to Bharmani Mata temple is extremely treacherous. It’s a narrow and dirt track that climbs uphill like crazy.

Main Temple of Mata Bharmani

The road goes past famous apple orchards of Bharmour around the Malkote village - a gaddi hamlet situated on the higher slopes of the mountain. After crossing Malkote it climbs a further 2 km to reach the ridge where Bharmani Mata temple is located. Since it’s situated on a ridge, the 360 degree view of the surrounding Pir panjal range from the temple is mesmerizing. With the backdrop of thick deodar forest, the temple really looked like the custodian of Bharmour’s rich history and tradition.

Bugyal at Bharmani Mata

The temple complex has the famous Bharmani Kund, where pilgrims take a holi dip, before venturing to the Manimahesh Yatra. The deity of Bharmani Mata is simple, with a divine aura in her eyes. A weeklong langar seva was going on  when we visited the temple. The friendly people of Bharmour didn’t let us go, without having the food at the langar. The Pahari style mixed dal and vegetable curry was delicious, and it tasted even better because of the love and passion with which it was served.

The vistas around the temple was so beautiful that one can spend hours at the top. Pir panjal snow peaks could be visible all around us. The mountain top was actually a green bugyal with domestic horses, grazing on it.

There is another trekking route of 2.5 km that goes down straight from the hilltop to Bharmour Helipad. The vistas on that route is also surreal. So we decided to leave the cab, and started our way back downhill through the trek route. The trek route actually goes down through the Malkote village, which gave us a great opportunity to witness the intricately carved wooden village homes, and the lifestyle of the villagers. Each family boasts of quite a few numbers of Cow, goat and sheep. The wool and milk that they generate from these animals are the main source of their income, along with the apples from the orchards.

The people of the village are so friendly that some of them wanted us to visit their home, and have a tea with us when we were passing through the village. We would have loved to do that, but since it was already late, we wanted to reach our hotel before it gets completely dark, so we had to politely turn down the offer. When we reached our hotel, it was almost dark. It was a long day for us with full of activity. So we had our dinner early and huddled under the quilt for a warm sleep.

Malkote Village Bharmour

The next day, our plan was to visit Kugti Village. Kugti almost 25 km away from Bharmour is the last inhabited village of the Gaddis. The landscape after Kugti is extremely rugged with lofty mountains that rise upto Kugti pass , which is more than 5000 meter high, and separates Chamba from Lahaul.

Pir Panjal near Hadsar

We set out early enough by 8 a.m. It was a sunny day with clear sky, which made the vistas around us even brighter. The road to Kugti goes till Hadsar, the last motor able stop, on the Manimahesh Yatra route. Then an unmetalled road goes down till Dharol, which is a further 7 km from Hadsar. The road from Hadsar to Dharol runs along the Budhil river. After Dharol, it’s another soft trek of 3 km to reach Kugti.

The road from Bharmour to Hadsar is an uphill climb, with Budhil river flowing down the gorge below. The vistas were spectacular, as more and more snow laden mountains started giving us company. We reached Hadsar within 30 minutes. From Hadsar one trek route goes uphill towards the Manimahesh peak. We could see that trek route climbing its way up through thick deodar forest. The route goes alongside a mountain stream named Manimahesh Ganga, which originated from the Manimahesh Kailash peak and meets with Budhil River at Hadsar.

We drove further, crossed Hadsar, and took the unmettaled road that goes to Dharol. However a bad news was waiting for us in the next bend. A landslide which had happened early morning had completely blocked the road. We saw a part of the mountain, which had completely come down to the road. From the magnitude of the slide it looked like the debris couldn’t be removed within a short time, and might take almost a day. We enquired with the local, and they also agreed in unison. More over, some stones were still falling from the mountains, so until it stops completely,  the PwD workers won’t be starting their work to clear the debris.

Manimahesh Ganga at Hadsar

It was a real heart break for us. The road to Kugti looked absolutely enticing, with languid Budhil river on one side and thick deodar forest in the other side. We knew some spectacular vistas were waiting for us in Kugti, but we had to abort our plan. We went down to the Budhil river, enjoyed the icy cold water, took a few snaps and decided to return.

Even though we couldn’t visit Kugti, Bharmour with its natural beauty and friendly people had already won our heart .

The evening was spent on the Chaurasi temple, and the Sandhyarati with the chants and the chimes of the bells made a perfect end note to our soujourn at Bharmour.