HIMACHAL PRADESH - - - - Modes and More - - - - -

 HIMACHAL PRADESH

                                    

             

                 "Among the Immoveables,I am the Himalayas"

                                                     -Lord Krishana in the Bhagavad Gita

             Combining the awesome and the beautiful, and the 50 million years, the youngest, but the highest mountains on the planet, the Himalayan Range lie like an immense crescent in the heart of Asia ,extending over 2500 km from Afghanistan to Burma, bringing to mind all the poetry of 
Kalidass linked with imagery of all the inhabitants led by Shiva and Parvati with their encourage of goblins, elves and demons. Home of the Gods, here lived too ,Yakshas, Kinnaras ,Ghandarvas and other demigods in its lofty mountains and valleys.

             

             Flanked by the lofty mountains of Jammu and Kashmir in the west and the snow-clad peaks of Gharwal in the east, Himachal Pradesh ,one of the most beautiful states of India,lies at the foot of the King of Mountains, Himavan. nestling in the lap of nature, it is endowed with the lush green forests ,bubbling streams, emerald meadows, enchanting lakes and the eternal snows. The state coincides generally with the old Jullundur Khand of the Pauranic conception and can be further sub-divided into three parts--the outer Himalayan, the inner Himalayan ,and the Alpine pastures.

 

              Accessible from the rail terminus of Pathankot in the west and from Chandigarh,  Kalka in the South,  the tourist can also motor up to Shimla via Nahan from Dheradun in the east. Air services link Kangra (Gaggal) Kullu and Shimla in the vary heart of Himachal with the rest of India It came into being in 1948 as a ' Party C state ' with the integration of 31 princely states, and attained full statehood with the re-organisation of the then p;unjab in 1966, when the hill district of Kangra, Kullu , Lahaul-Spiti and Shimla of the Punjab were merged with it, increasing the geographical area of the Pradesh from 28192 sq km to 55700 sg km and the population from a mere 1.35 million to 3.42million.   

               

  

             

Kullu. ---The Valley of the Gods---

Enclosed by the last new range of the Himalayas, The Dhaula Dhar and Pir Panjal, running parallel to the south of it, is a valley that leaves the spectator awe-struck as the breath-taking grandour of its mountains, it's torrent and vast expanses of snow in it's upper regions. Fascinating, calm, placid and gourgous, this is the Valley of the Gods, who in turn can be benign, angry and capricious.

It is fascinating when the gold of the mourning sun flatter the snow-capped mountain tops, it is  cal and placid when the gentle breezes move the wispy clouds over the blue vault, making the pine whisper secrets that the gods alone know and it is gourgous when the breath-taking beauty of the Fall (Autumn) colours, gold, red and scarlet turn the valley into a veritable paradise. When the gods benign, they bathe the Valley with the kindly Sun gently giving energy and sustenance below ; when they are angry they pour down torrents of rain which brings down whole mountain sides making access to the Valley impossible and when they are capricious, they are dangerous - the rivers rise and carry away bridges, houses, sheep and even men who propitate them in every hamlet, every village and even town.

The vary approach fills the traveller with vary sense of majesty of God, as he proceeds along a norrow and winding road that turns along the Beas through a gorge, where the rocky walls tower menacingly, perpendicular above over a thousand feet high, and the raging torrent is barely a few feet below. Blasted through solid rock the road runes for 40 km through the Mandi-Larji gorge till finally it opens out and every mile up the river reveals the changing beauty of the heavenly region. This is Kullu Valley ; travellers have rapsodied over the unique character of the journey up-the region, Not more than a kilometre wide, in most parts, and 31 km in length.