Beautiful temples in Himachal (Dhauladhar range)

Baijnath

Baijnath is a small town in Kangra district and hosts an ancient Shiva temple. This Shiva temple is an ASI site, located by the banks of river Beas. The temple has nice artwork and is a rock temple. We spent around 15-20 minutes to visit the active temple and then around the temple to admire the beauty of the surrounding mighty Himalayas and the temple.

Chamundeswari temple

We drove all the way back to Chamundeswari temple near Dharamshala before we stopped for lunch. Post lunch, we visited the temple of Chamunda Devi. When we visited, the temple was undergoing renovation and available for darshan - The name is a combination of Chanda and Munda, two monsters which Devi killed. The temple is around 10 km after crossing Palampur. There is also a small temple of Shivalinga in a small cave below the temple - climbing down few stairs. We had a very good darshan and left in 15 minutes.

Kangra Devi Temple 

Bajreshwari Mata Temple or Kangra Devi Temple or Vajreshwari Mata Mandir is located in Kangra. This temple is one of the Sakthi Peet temples out of the 51 of such. This temple was rebuilt several times as it was ransacked during various invasions and then an earthquake. The current temple is approachable through narrow lanes across thousands of shops from the parking area. The temple is open from 5 AM to 9 AM in summer and 6:30 AM to 8 PM in winter. There are times intermediate pooja happens during which darshan shall be halted for 30-45 minutes. There are quite a lot of shops around for eating, snacking, and pooja items. We had to wait for close to 20 minutes to have our darshan and the darshan was very peaceful with no rush to get out.

Other places of interest to see in the region - Sakthi Peet temples of Bhakalamukhi, Chintpurani, and Jwalamukhi.