A view of old Himani Chamunda Temple touching the Dhouladhar snow range of Kangra, which shall be developed at par to Vaishnav Devi shrine of J&K.
City Air News photo: Arvind Sharma
Dharamsala, February 1, 2013: Urban Development Minister of Himachal Sudhir Sharma on Friday directed the officials of PWD at Dharamsala to prepare a DPR to link the old Himani Chamunda Devi Temple with the new one by a motor able road.
He said, “The temple which is situated at the height of 10,500 feet and touching the Dhouladhar snow range of Kangra, shall be developed at par to Vaishnav Devi shrine of J&K.”
The new Chamunda temple is just 5,000 feet above sea level and 13 kms down the foot track to the old one, on Dharamsala-Palampur road.
He said, “Once linked by road, Sidh Peeth Adhi Himani Chamunda temple shall become the most attractive tourist center of the area.”
It is said that Sidh Peeth Adi Himani Chamunda temple had been in a state of neglect till1992, and was not known to the people of the world outside Kangra valley. The temple has been a place of bliss for the spiritual seekers. The ruins of the Fort of Raja Chander Bhan were located 200 meters away from the temple was indicating that the area was lively hundreds of years back. It was believed that Pandavas had visited the place after the Maha Bharta War.
Pilgrims have to climb up the hill by circuitous 11 km route to reach the temple. Besides being a pilgrimage centre, the area has a great potential for adventure tourism, trekking, skating, mountaineering and paragliding. There is no population in the radius of ten kms of this shrine cause of the extreme cold atmosphere.