Traveling is good
We reached straight at Mughal Garden Shalimar, Srinagar at 2.20 pm. As we were touring during Id festival, plenty of local people were there. All the fountains were in operation. The garden was flooded with glowing flowers.
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Like every other travelers in Ladakh, we too spent our second day in Leh. It is advisable to spend a day or two in Leh for acclimatization before going to any places of higher altitude like Khardung La or Pangong Lake. Leh has many great places to offer to its visitors including stunning landscape views, palaces, monasteries, stupas, war memorials and river Indus at Sindhu Ghat. We decided to visit the palaces and gompas on our second day in Leh and first to visit by us was the Leh Palace and Namgyal Tsemo Gompa.
The erstwhile royal residence of Leh locates around 2 Km from the main market place. Though the Palace locates on a hill top overlooking the Leh town it can be reached by car. As we reached the Palace we saw wandering young monks on bike!
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The Khajuraho Group of Temples are reportedly constructed during 10th& 11th century by the Chandelas and dedicated to the Hindus & Jains. Most of the temples are constructed by hard sedimentary rocks and erected in an advanced geometrical technology avoiding cementing mortars. A few are constructed by granites too. This was perhaps to enhance the longevity and religious faiths. The architecture is “Nagara-Style” and rock cut sculptures are similar to wooden carvings during the earlier ages. The intricately expressive figures and designs are profusely available in all the structures. It is believed that there was originally 85 temples constructed around 25 km out of which only 25 survived within 6 km now. They are divided in three zones viz. Western Group, Eastern Group & Southern Group. A brief of these exquisite temples are compiled herewith for reader’s delight.
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The landscape around the lake is astounding but heartening simultaneously. Hundreds of very well sculpted rocks, some of which still in better shapes were lying scattered at the lake side and around. A huge round sculpted “Amalaka” (the stone disk/rim fitted atop a temple) is an eye catcher, depicting pathetic demise of its glorious past. The invaluable chiselled rocks and the sculpted remains of a temple were once an integral part of an exotic masterpiece, perhaps as good as the marvels in Khajuraho. Can it be restored now! Sadly, no or not to its original shape.
Descending through the broken stepsand balancing cautiously we reached at an open balcony. An alley of beautiful rock carvings and finely chiselled rock figures of different deities and symbolic, made the sweating effort worth.
Our next hunt was the hidden gems in the jungle at Ajaigarh. Our prime reason to visit the fort was to see those exclusive Khajuraho style Jain Temples in the forest. After some rest&normalising the respiration, we again started our stroll & soon reached a fenced arena. Our guide gestured to say, here is the Jain Temples. Where! In the woods we could havea glimpse of the structures only on reaching close enough.
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The Bhairav temple had that the mighty pandavas had gone to their heavenly abode after renouncing the kingdom for which they had fought a battle. It has also seen the gradual deprecation within the kingdom that continued upto the reign of Janmejay. The question about the ultimate fate of descendants of Yudhisthira always remains unanswered to me.
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Waiting was a waste so we reached at the other site where a tigress with her cubs was reportedly roaming on the other bank of Ken. The river snakes inside the entire forest adding mystical beauty on one side and the Vindhya Range of hills on the other side, enhancing the charm naturally. A team of National Geographic was camping with sophisticated equipment of photography. Waiting patiently in silence & clicking at times mysteriously, I understand they were filming the tigress and the cubs. I tried to aim my 50x imitating their style on the same direction but could find nothing but rocks and bushes till infinity. In 10 mins I was restless and gave-up. Those guys were still on job and may remain there for months, as informed. Not our cup of tea. We may enjoy watching, if anything they will produce in their channel some day at the leisure of our cosy living rooms or bedrooms.
Down thereafter, we stopped at the banks of Ken River where one can enjoy boating in the wild with occasional sighting of Gharials. Boating in the serene landscape was experimental but the weather didn’t support & soon it was dark & started raining heavily.
Though enquiries about destinations, main attractions and places of interest are very common about any tourist place but they seem to be meaningless for…
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Long ago when I saw a photo of ‘Moonland’ I was very much impressed and keen to see the place. But where it is? Though “Moonland’ does not have any Indian postal code or a milestone but it locates none other than in the mystical land of Ladakh, a village called Lamayuru! The moonlike landscape of ‘Lamayuru’ is popularly referred to and called by the traveler as ‘Moonland’!
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After having good time watching all above, we moved to the left side of the premises, to see if there was anything left. And there found a small handicraft shop, a tiny farm where white pigeons, rabbits and ducks are being kept and an astonishing view point, from where we could see whole of Sanchi’s wheat fields. It was completely mesmerizing.
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At Jyotisar, I was standing at the very centre of the battle, which had taken place centuries ago. The atmosphere was peaceful, serene and totally religious with no sign of remorseness connected with the battle. It was certain that the war cries of the famous battle of Kurukshetra have given way to the mass religious sentiments in as much as people had forgotten that it was ultimately a battle field.
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The defeat of Marathas ultimately proved to be beneficial to the British, who took advantage of the power vacuum. It is said that the third battle of Panipat had paved the way towards the British domination of the India as a country.
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Do take hotels near Lake Pichola as it’s the best place to live in Udaipur. Lake Pichola Hotel (Government Approved) and Ambrehi Haveli are other hotels which I can suggest and are worth staying(Under INR 5,000 per night). Enjoy the lake side small cafes which serve you Italian, Mexican, Indian snacks. The price fits your pocket and the light music along with lake pichola view makes your morning more lively. One of such restaurant is Jasmine Restaurant.
Boat rides are available from many places across lake Pichola which can take you to Jag Mandir and Lake Palace situated at the centre of Lake Palace. Lake Palace can be entered by only those persons which have their room booking at the palace or else boat will just go around the same. As it is the most famous and most visited lake it is very polluted and smelly from some shores.
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