The Adventure at Shikari Devi-Janjheli & Prashar Lake

The Shikari Devi Janjheli Adventure.

Shikari Devi, for me the traveling is all about adventure and thrill you come across in mountains with element of unknown waiting to happen just round the corner. Shikari Devi and Janjheli trip during the month of March 2018 in Himachal Pradesh was perfect fit to my idea of adventure and thrill.

Introduction.

Shikari Devi ( Hunter Goddess) temple near Janjheli is a remote place famous for its spectacular views and loads of interesting stories attached to it.

The town is in proximity to Mandi and Sundernagar in Himachal prudish and does not fall under main tourist map of Himachal Pradesh. This make it a perfect place to experience wilderness and nature at its best.

Myths around Shikari Devi.

The legendary Shikari Devi (Hunter Goddess) temple and forest around invites lots of exciting mythical stories.

The temple does not have roof over it. One stories says every attempt to make a roof over the idol of the goddess has gone vain as the structure collapse mysteriously. No bird or plane is able to fly over the summit as there is some power which does not allow to do so. Many a times villagers has found dead bird around the temple, which further proves the myth.

Second story goes back to Mahabharata times. The Pandavas were here during their exile, hiding in the woods. They were hunting a Reindeer, which mysteriously vanished in front of them. The Pandavas realised there was some power which was stopping them to hunt. During the following night they heard a voice of a women from forest. The lady asked them to find the symbolic idol of her in the forest and setup the idol in an appropriate place in the mountains. In turn she would fulfil their wish. They did as directed by the lady and soon went back to fight with Kauravas in the battle of Mahabharata.

Since then the hunters kept on coming to the forest to hunt for the animals and heard the voice of the woman. Soon the deity got popular amongst the hunter’s tribe and the Hunter Goddess Shikari Devi started worshipped by the locals.

My Adventure trip to Shikari Devi and Janjheli.

Shikari Devi trip was planned by me in the month of March duringHoli festival. The Plan was made and the same was shared among the friends to join.

The wait was finally over and the day had come to explore the wilderness of Himalayas. It was decided that I will start from Amritsar in the car and pick the other group member from Hoshiarpur railway station early in the morning. I started at morning before the dawn and experienced the beautiful ride through the country side of Punjab to reach Hoshiapur.

As decided with the first light I was at Hoshiarpur railway station and the station added to my excitement. My friends were waiting at the station and they were the only occupants of the platform. The station gave me feeling of old Bollywood setup where the hero disembark the train in a rural remote background and he is the only one present in the entire platform.

Veeru and Jai had arrived and Thakur had come to receive them in the car….hahaha.

We stacked our bags in the car and started driving towards UNA, Himachal Pradesh. The roads were empty as the city was about to wake up for the day, by then we were out of Hoshiarpur into Himachal pradesh.

Our first halt was at Una for breakfast and we landed into a local shop offering Samosa, channa and Bhathura for the breakfast. The journey ahead was hilly and full of Flora. We were heading towards Mandi, Ner Chowk to be precise. The route was well laid and road condition was good with almost no traffic as the same is not much frequented by locals.

With small breaks enroute, by afternoon we reached Ner Chowk and the route diverted towards right leaving the highway. The road got narrow and with lots of sharp bends. The real excitement had started to creep in with no sign of civilisation for miles all together.

The only thing that was accompanying us was music in the car, laughs from the friends and Optical fibre hanging at the edge of the road. Yes you read it right the JIO effect could be seen in the area as well, with 100% connectivity throughout the route that made one of our friend from telecom sector very curious.

The sumptuous thali at the Ner Chowk bus stand and given us enough energy to reach Janjheli town with out any further break. We reached Janjheli by early evening and settled into PWD guest house with dense forest at the back drop. The booking was made a month before the trip and we did not had any issue finding the same as it was bang on the main road.

The Local shops were closed Janheki due to cold weather. While strolling around Janjheli town we realised the town to be very basic and sleepy. There were hardly any places to stay, only few local guest houses around Janjheli main market. Evening dinner was a task to find as most of eating joints were not functional. We finally settle for a small dhabha around our Pwd guest house.

Janjheli is the nearest town to stay while going to Shikari Devi. I was told the town Janjheli was being considered as second choice as capital of Himachal Pradesh after Shimla. Knowing this I was expecting Janjheli to be a bigger town, but to my surprise it was small valley town with almost no infrastructure.

On enquiring from local about Shikari Devi Trek I was told the route may be closed for car as the snow has not been cleared for vehicle to reach the base point of the climb. Most of people around the village were not interested to engage into Shikari Devi discusion. That left us to our own judgement to figure out the road conditions and Temple status.

Next morning we were ready to start our journey towards Shikari devi. We decided to take car to the last feasible motor able point and then trek towards the temple premises.

We crossed the town and took the road on right towards the hill and came across some beautiful meadows on our way. Finally we came to a point where driving ahead was not possible due to snow. We spotted a safe spot and parked our car. The trail towards Shikari devi was very picturesque and breath taking. We walked for an hour on the trail and on snow to reach the base of the temple. From here the route had stairs to climb right upto the temple premises.

On reaching the Shikari Devi we experienced abandoned shelters and rooms. The area was full of snow but the main sanctum of Shikari Devi was clearly accessible. On reaching the top the 360 degree view of himalayas was breath taking. we could see miles and miles ahead of us from the top with Himalayas all around us. The view of himalayas from the summit took off all our tiredness and filled us with new energies.

After spending an hour at the Shikari Devi temple, We had our plans to continue our trek towards Kamrunag lake temple, but due to heavy snow around the area the trail was not visible and the depth of snow was not certain so we decided to return back to Janjheli.

We started our descent in few minutes it started to snow. The area around us soon converted into a white valley. The walk while snowing was exciting and enthralling. Soon we reached our car and realised the safe spot we had chosen had turned into sinking soil due to snow and water. We started our car but were stuck as the ground beneath the car was too soft that it could not give enough traction to the wheel to move forward.

We some how managed to bring the car to the metal road and drove back. The road adventure had just begun, soon we realised our car tyres had gone flat. To my surprise two tyres on the right side were flat and we had only one spare to replace. We were stopping every car on our way down to ask for air pump but with no success. Driving at snail speed we reached the town and found none of the shops was open or willing to inflate the tyre. We some how manage to inflate the tyre at welding shop, but without any gauge to check the pressure.

After this ordeal we were tired enough and decided to take rest at the Janjheli PWD rest house. Next day morning we decided to leave for Mandi and further to Prashar lake to fill in the extra day we were left with. On way back we took a de tour via Pandoh from Ner chowk which was a good decision as the drive was through untouched interiors of Dhauladhar ranges over a ridge leading to Pando at the bottom.

The impromptu itinerary.

The Closure of routes towards Kamrunag Temple lead us to think for an alternative place to visit as we had extra days in our hand.

We decided to retreat via Prashar Lake and then towards Kangra to finally reach Jalandhar.

We started early in the morning leaving Janjheli towards Mandi to reach Prashar Lake by afternoon. From Ner chowk we took a internal state highway going towards Pandoh to enjoy the breathtaking view of Dam and river Beas. The route was clear calm and quite entertaining as the small village enroute were quite welcoming and impressed us with their simplicity and rural landscape.

Prashar Lake and snowy Welcome.

The ride to Prashar was steep and offered an exciting flora. The meadows and the forest lead us to the entry point of Prashar Lake and moment we reached Prashar lake premise it started to snow heavily. The lush green meadows around the lake turned into white sheet of snow. The experience was breath taking and the experience was new. This intensity of snow we had never seen before. Luckily we had umbrellas in the car which came handy protection against the flaky snowfall.

The decision of going to Prashar turn out to be an exciting and adventurous. We stayed overnight at the temple premise in the wooden shelter with basic blankets and mattress. The night was cold and the temperature dipped to subzero making the night long and exciting.

Next day morning after exploring the lake and temple we decided to reach back to Jalandhar via Kangra from Prashar. The ride was long and mainly through mainland of Himachal Pradesh. We turned towards Pathankot highway crossing Mandi, Jogindernagar and Palampur to reach Kangra.

The time was in our favour so decided to stay back for the night at Kangra city and explore the old legendary town and fort of Kangra. Starting early in the morning we manage to reach the old Kangra fort on time and were quite surprised with the magnificent ruins of the legendary Kangra kingdom.

Google Maps of Shikari Devi

Below is the Google map of the Shikari devi area for your reference and planning. You can click the map to plan your itinerary as per your requirements.

Google Route Map Amritsar to Shikari Devi

Google route map we followed to reach Shikari Devi Janjheli from Amritsar via Hoshiarpur, Una mandi.

Route map Janjheli to Prashar lake and back.

Below is the route we followed from Shikari Devi devi and to Prashar lake, Kangra and back to Amritsar.

Itinerary of road trip from Amritsar -Shikari Devi- Prashar lake- Kangra- Amritsar

The following Itinerary we followed during our trip to Shikari Devi Janjheli, Prashar lake, Kangra and back.

Some facts about the trip and Shikari devi

The road trips are exciting and fun.

The road trip are always exciting as you unwind yourself from your chaotic routine. The friends and masti with never ending roads add to the flavour and excitement. The nicknack of friends , good music and the wheel makes any trip enjoyable and fun. My road trip to Shikari Devi is full of good memories when three friends were rediscovering themselves far from the city and figuring the life ahead. Away from thoughts of being worldly wise.

Nothing went as plan and the instant switching to new options and opportunities made it even more exciting. The journeys which started for Shikari Devi and trek around, was converted into a road trip to explore the places around and fresh snow surprised us all in a very pleasant manner.

I always recommend a road trip to all as it binds you and family in manner which is not thinkable. You joke around, laugh at things which are unimaginable. The mountain and trees in it serene form takes away all your stress and makes you realise the importance of your BEING…

Happy trekking and road tripping to Shikari Devi to all my readers.

Life is a long Road… we all have to walk along…