Kangra - In Three Parts
Part I - Kangra and Masrur
Autumn arrives with its yellows and rusts, rousing the wanderlust in me so we decide on the Kangra circuit. This time again after many yeses and no’s, it is the same five, by now the famous five! (The famous five are- Inderjit Singh, Viteshwar, Gagan, Gurinder and I). The route we are to follow is circuitous. We are to reach Kangra from Anandpur, Nangal, Una, Dehra side and come back from Palampur, Mandi, Bilaspur and Swarghat. We have six days to do it and have planned some fun as there would be no off- roading or high altitude rides.
We make the first stop at Anandpur Sahib and pay our respects at the Gurudwara Keshgarh Sahib, where Guru Gobind Singh the 10th Sikh Guru baptised first Khalsa on 13th April 1699. From here we move towards Kangra but the road is a nightmare. They have laid a fresh layer of fist sized stones on the surface without any tarmac, so the bikes slither and slide all over the road!
We reach Kangra and the fort looms in to view. It occupies an entire hill. But now the almost impregnable citadel of Sansar Chand, which held many a foe at bay for long, lies in ruins. We ride up to it and walk all over. The fort is perched on a spur with the river forming an entrenched meander on the three sides. The cliffs formed by entrenchment are at least 150 meters high and inaccessible. This is what made the fort impregnable but it also left the fort estranged in case of a prolonged siege. The fort fell to Ghauri, Ghazni, Jahangir and Ranjit Singh in that order only to sieges but its battlements were never breeched. But what man could not do, was done by nature. The mighty citadel fell to the devastating 1905 Kangra earthquake.
Nothing remains... Nothing much remains except for the walls and gates. 
One wall of the palace temple complex stands in its carved glory and few giant banyan trees. 
Tourists trudge up and down the ramparts and guides paint graphic word pictures, describing the grandeur of a by gone era as if they were the reincarnates of the denizens!
Yet there are the springs and baolis (water storage tanks) which are intricately carved with religious devotion, for water must have been one of the dire necessities. 
Next morning we are off to Masrur. It lies 35 kms south of Gaggal and the road passes through some of the most beautiful region covered in forest with few patches of cultivated land. There is hardly any traffic on the road that early in the morning. Some where in the wilderness we take a wrong turn and loose ourselves in thick forests. 
The road is absolutely deserted and we spy a family of Red Jungle Fowls pecking on the roadside. They calmly walk away into the undergrowth before the cameras can be trained. Fortunately a party of grass cutters walk up to the road from a ravine and guide us back to the correct path. We meander our way on a lonely road that snakes its way through the mountains till we reach a small town called Lunj. We stop for breakfast of paranthas and dal. Then we move on to Masrur. 
We ride up to the most breathtaking view of the Monolithic temples of Masrur. They stand in all their grandeur and majesty on the shoulder of the mountain. They have braved ravages of time, earthquakes and human vandalism for the last 1200 years. These 15 temples have been carved from one very large rock and are the only example of monolithic temples in the Himalayas. Today they are a protected monument and have been dated by archaeologist to have been built in 8th century A. D. 
No one knows who carved these beauties from the formidable mountainside. All we know is that they were built from outside in. First the rock was cut from the top down and the spires and gopurams shaped. Then they were carved on the outside and hollowed from inside. In front of the temples there is a very large pool which has been excavated from the same rock. In their design and architecture, they resemble the temples of Helibid and Mahabalipuram. The Archaeological Survey official just gives us the tickets and does not have any information about the temples save that there are 15 temples in all with some collapsed and few incomplete. The rocks are crawling with iguanas which look like miniature dinosaurs.
I walk all around the temple complex taking pictures. The sculptures are exquisite and carved to perfection. 
The door lintels and side panels are elaborate stories in thousands of carved figures. I stand and ponder about who made them. Many questions come to my mind. The people who built them were either outsiders or were superseded by the present habitants for these temples are not a part of the cultural ethos of the locals. Who were the people? Where did they come from? Where did they go? Why did they choose this spot? Why are there no other temples of the same school in the Himalayas? How is it that they resemble the south Indian temples in so much detail? Where the builders from another cultural hearth? These are the mysteries of mankind that can not be solved in a hurry. What were the deities to be worshipped in them? There are no statues inside the temples but the exteriors have Shiva like figures,
a handsome god riding a human faced bird (Vishnu astride Garuda?), couples walking side by side or embracing, done in such a fine style that they come alive.
The shikhars have three faced figures carved on them (Brahma?) but these figures give place to Gandhara style Buddha on the westernmost temple which could be of a later age. The Buddha like face has long ear lobes and curly knobbly hair so typical to Gandhara art.
But these are all conjectures, derivations of my mind and the truth is only known to the stones.
Some of the temples have collapsed while the exteriors of some have been smoothened out by the winds and rains of the millennia they have stood there. They were discovered in early 1920s by an Englishman who was out in the forest hunting. They were smothered by vegetation and in utter disuse. It was his initiative which helped unravel these monuments but by then and even afterwards a lot of idols and carved stones were vandalised and stolen. It was only in the 1960s that the Archaeological Survey of India took over and declared them as protected monuments.
I do not know who built them but I certainly know that they are one of the most beautiful sights that I have laid my eyes on. They bewitch me, enthral me and fill me with wonder and transport me to a realm of faith which literally carved the mountains in to icons of veneration; the kind of faith that one aspires for.
We make the first stop at Anandpur Sahib and pay our respects at the Gurudwara Keshgarh Sahib, where Guru Gobind Singh the 10th Sikh Guru baptised first Khalsa on 13th April 1699. From here we move towards Kangra but the road is a nightmare. They have laid a fresh layer of fist sized stones on the surface without any tarmac, so the bikes slither and slide all over the road!
We reach Kangra and the fort looms in to view. It occupies an entire hill. But now the almost impregnable citadel of Sansar Chand, which held many a foe at bay for long, lies in ruins. We ride up to it and walk all over. The fort is perched on a spur with the river forming an entrenched meander on the three sides. The cliffs formed by entrenchment are at least 150 meters high and inaccessible. This is what made the fort impregnable but it also left the fort estranged in case of a prolonged siege. The fort fell to Ghauri, Ghazni, Jahangir and Ranjit Singh in that order only to sieges but its battlements were never breeched. But what man could not do, was done by nature. The mighty citadel fell to the devastating 1905 Kangra earthquake.
Nothing remains... Nothing much remains except for the walls and gates. One wall of the palace temple complex stands in its carved glory and few giant banyan trees. Tourists trudge up and down the ramparts and guides paint graphic word pictures, describing the grandeur of a by gone era as if they were the reincarnates of the denizens! Yet there are the springs and baolis (water storage tanks) which are intricately carved with religious devotion, for water must have been one of the dire necessities. Next morning we are off to Masrur. It lies 35 kms south of Gaggal and the road passes through some of the most beautiful region covered in forest with few patches of cultivated land. There is hardly any traffic on the road that early in the morning. Some where in the wilderness we take a wrong turn and loose ourselves in thick forests. The road is absolutely deserted and we spy a family of Red Jungle Fowls pecking on the roadside. They calmly walk away into the undergrowth before the cameras can be trained. Fortunately a party of grass cutters walk up to the road from a ravine and guide us back to the correct path. We meander our way on a lonely road that snakes its way through the mountains till we reach a small town called Lunj. We stop for breakfast of paranthas and dal. Then we move on to Masrur. We ride up to the most breathtaking view of the Monolithic temples of Masrur. They stand in all their grandeur and majesty on the shoulder of the mountain. They have braved ravages of time, earthquakes and human vandalism for the last 1200 years. These 15 temples have been carved from one very large rock and are the only example of monolithic temples in the Himalayas. Today they are a protected monument and have been dated by archaeologist to have been built in 8th century A. D. No one knows who carved these beauties from the formidable mountainside. All we know is that they were built from outside in. First the rock was cut from the top down and the spires and gopurams shaped. Then they were carved on the outside and hollowed from inside. In front of the temples there is a very large pool which has been excavated from the same rock. In their design and architecture, they resemble the temples of Helibid and Mahabalipuram. The Archaeological Survey official just gives us the tickets and does not have any information about the temples save that there are 15 temples in all with some collapsed and few incomplete. The rocks are crawling with iguanas which look like miniature dinosaurs.
I walk all around the temple complex taking pictures. The sculptures are exquisite and carved to perfection. The door lintels and side panels are elaborate stories in thousands of carved figures. I stand and ponder about who made them. Many questions come to my mind. The people who built them were either outsiders or were superseded by the present habitants for these temples are not a part of the cultural ethos of the locals. Who were the people? Where did they come from? Where did they go? Why did they choose this spot? Why are there no other temples of the same school in the Himalayas? How is it that they resemble the south Indian temples in so much detail? Where the builders from another cultural hearth? These are the mysteries of mankind that can not be solved in a hurry. What were the deities to be worshipped in them? There are no statues inside the temples but the exteriors have Shiva like figures, a handsome god riding a human faced bird (Vishnu astride Garuda?), couples walking side by side or embracing, done in such a fine style that they come alive. The shikhars have three faced figures carved on them (Brahma?) but these figures give place to Gandhara style Buddha on the westernmost temple which could be of a later age. The Buddha like face has long ear lobes and curly knobbly hair so typical to Gandhara art. But these are all conjectures, derivations of my mind and the truth is only known to the stones.Some of the temples have collapsed while the exteriors of some have been smoothened out by the winds and rains of the millennia they have stood there. They were discovered in early 1920s by an Englishman who was out in the forest hunting. They were smothered by vegetation and in utter disuse. It was his initiative which helped unravel these monuments but by then and even afterwards a lot of idols and carved stones were vandalised and stolen. It was only in the 1960s that the Archaeological Survey of India took over and declared them as protected monuments.
I do not know who built them but I certainly know that they are one of the most beautiful sights that I have laid my eyes on. They bewitch me, enthral me and fill me with wonder and transport me to a realm of faith which literally carved the mountains in to icons of veneration; the kind of faith that one aspires for.
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