Monday 18 February 2008

On the path again


Vijay Lal (l), Auntie Lal in the middle. and me right at the Judge's Court. Vijay's family has owned this property for 11 generations

Judge's Court at Pragpur

A lane in the Pragpur heritage village, Himachal Pradesh

The Dhaula Dar mountains taken last night just before we reached home.

I last posted on Sunday 17 Feb and after that. visited the very sacred Chamunda Devi temple. Yesterday, Monday, Anuj, Rikhy Ram and I went to Pragpur to visit the Judges Court and the Heritage village attached. It is owned by Vijay Lal and there is a histor dating back 350 years which I will tell you about when I fid time. Today another friend arrived, Ari, a Dutchman who loves travel, and tomorrow we go to the Chamba valley, which is sandwiched between the Dhaula Dar and Pir Panjal ranges. This is a beautiful and remote area. Early next week Rikhy Ram wants to take me up the Parvati Valley, to see its magnificent mountains.

It is so tranquil here and every path has at least one Buddhist monk walking along it as the Dali Lama lives just 20 minutes away and Gyto Monastry a short walk from our house. With Hinduism, Buddhism and strains of Sikhism coming through, it is a very spiritual region with all religions influencing the architecture. Yesterday at Pragpur you could see the influence of Sikhism merging with the Hindu architecture.

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