Day 5 (16th Sep 2014)

The day started with the usual packing routine of the entire luggage, we assembled everything in our room. Since we will be coming back the same route after visiting Trilokinath there was no need to carry all our stuff. We started our ride towards Trilokinath and reached at the point of detour. After a km or you cross the metal bridge over river ChandraBhaga and the metaled road starts and stays that way all the way up to Trilokinath temple.

Route Map

Trilokinath temple on the rock cliff

The road is narrow but in good condition; with river Chandrabhaga on your right and road rising gradually, you get an outstanding view of the valley down below. While creating this route I’ve heard about the Trilokinath temple but did not do an extensive research on it.However, once I was back i was able to find some good information.

On the way to Trilokinath Temple

Trilokinath is one of the names of Lord Shiva which means ‘lord of the three worlds’. The marble idol of Trilokinath is revered as Lord Shiva by Hindus. Buddhists worship the idol as Avalokiteshwara which is crowned with an image of Amitabha Buddha- the Buddha of Boundless light.

We found this at the entrance of the temple

There are various speculations about the origin of the temple. According to one school of thought, the temple was originally dedicated to Lord Shiva which was later transformed into a Buddhist temple by Padmasambhava. Another assumption is that the temple is an example of Kashmiri-Kannauj style.

Temple view

The surrounding village to the temple

Temple view from the top

Though differences persist about the Hindu or Buddhist origins, the temple follows tradition which doesn’t clash with both the religions. The tradition of celebrating Pauri festival is the perfect example of syncretism.
The temple attracts tourists because of its architecture too. The stone carvings on walls, doors and pillars on each side of the door are exemplary. The pillars are believed to stand for and are called Dharma and Paap.Photography is prohibited inside the main temple hence no pictures from inside.

The location of temple above rock cliff is simply amazing

A closer look

When we reached the temple complex the pujari ji was not around so we waited for some time. While we were waiting, we noticed that this is a very unique temple in its own way. This is a Shiva temple and temple pujari is a lama, there were number of Buddhist and Hindu writings on the walls and a huge prayer wheel like you have in many Buddhist monasteries.

The outstanding view of Trilokinath Temple from the road below

Once the pujari Lama was there we entered the sacred temple and again noticed the combination of Buddhism and Hinduism. The central hall is surrounded by path which has prayer wheels all around like in Buddhist monasteries, while the Nandi bull sits in front of the main idol, like in many Shiva temples.

A closer shot from a different angle

This is probably the only temple in world where Buddhism and Hinduism co-exists in such a way. We spent around an hour in and around the temple, also went to one of the house rooftop to see the 100 meter straight drop into the river. We went back to our guest house in Udaipur, picked up our luggage and moved on towards our next destination for the day Killar which was about 80 kms from Udaipur.

Adi with Trilokinath temple in background

Since it was a small distance to be covered today we took it rather easy. Little did we knew at that time that these 80 odd kms will be so tough that it would take us almost the entire day to reach Killar.

On the way towards Killar

The road, if you can call that, was only a track of loose stones with water stream gushing thru the road around every corner. After about 15 kms we reached a small place called Tindi and found a small shop open. We took a tea break here; while we were here the other motorcycle group which we have seen yesterday also came. We chatted for some time and talked about our ride so far and where we have been riding earlier and stuff.

Tindi view

The other biker group

Their support vehicle

Few locals having a good time clicking pics

We resumed our journey after 30 mins and moved slowly towards Killar. There was no respite from the bone shattering ride and sometimes it felt like if we were actually on the correct road or not?We reached a section where there was fresh landslide and the road clearing operation was in progress.It took 15-20 mins to clear the road.Gave us an opportunity to click some pics while the clearing operation was in progress.

Road clearing in progress

The valley views

Can you spot the road in-between the mountains

Its pose time for me

and one for Adi

Some of the road sections were like this

One with the machines

Finally, after a grueling 8 hrs of ride we reached Killar. Our first task was to get accommodation for the day hence we headed straight to PWD guest house. As we approached the PWD guest house we found that there was a govt official on visit hence no chance of getting accommodation here.

Rest a while

The view from Killar

We moved back to the main market and found a decent accommodation, however the room rent was on a higher side. We were too tired to look for other options hence decided to settle in the same hotel. The rest of the evening was spent at the hotel resting and watching TV. No phone calls today as mobile signals were out since we left Udaipur in the morning. However, BSNL works here, so in case you have BSNL connection it will work. Tomorrow is a big day for us, we will be riding to Sach pass and if all goes well will cross over to reach Chamba.