Bhimakali Temple : A beautiful Temple in Sarahan town surrounded by snow covered hills of Kinnaur region in Himalayan State of India (Himachal Pradesh)

During sabbatical we were roaming around Shimla and Kinnaur regions. While going towards Kinnaur, we stayed at Jeori which is 25 kilometers away from Rampur Town in Shimla district. After one night stay at Jeori, one of our friend planned for day trip to Sarahan which was not on the way to Kinnaur. This Photo Journey shares some of the moments from the same day and mostly about Bhimakali Temple in this town.

Sarahan town is just 30 minutes away from Jeori town. Jeori town is on main highway which connects Chandigarh with Kinnaur via Shimla, while Sarahan town is 30 minutes away from main highway. It takes approximately 45 minutes by bus. It's a steep climb from Jeori through various villages and some army cantonments. Whole stretch has lush green orchards of Apple, Peach and dry fruits. Not sure if cherry is also grown in those orchards or not, while cherry is found in abundance in Shimla region. Especially Kotgarh orchards are known for amazing quality cherries.

During this Joureny, Aneesh was accompanying me. Both of us were travelling on his brand new KTM. Although I think that KTM is not a bike for longer travels, especially for two people. It could be a very good bike for riders, but seats are not that comfortable. In fact, while going from Jeori to Sarahan we got a pillow to fix it on our seat and travel further :). It was really a painful experience for first two days and slowly things settled down. It was not new to Aneesh but for me, it was really a disappointing experience.

The most popular place in Sarahan town of Shimla is the famous Bhimakali Temple, whichis centrally located in the town. As we enter into the town, there are some old houses in the beginning followed by some budget hotels, guest houses & few shops etc. After that there is a downhill of 200 meters to reach Bhimakali Temple parking. Main entrance of Bhimakali Temple is just in front of this parking area. We parked the bike here, handed over our stuff to one of the shopkeepers there and entered into the temple campus. 

After depositing our shoes outside the temple and cleaning our hands we entered into the temple. It's a huge campus and during that time some construction was going on in one of the temples. There is a huge cafeteria within the campus which serves different kinds of snacks and breakfast. When we reached, breakfast time was over. So we planned to have darshan first and then have something to eat in the market. 



Above photograph shows the silver carved gate of Bhimakali Temple. It is second door of the Bhimakali temple. The first one is golden colored with exceptional height. There are few lines written over these gates - few in Hindi(devnagari) and some in Tibetian script.

Every section of Bhimakali Temple has huge space all around and a very decent place to spend time with your family and friends. In fact, temple authorities have built a beautiful park on one side of the temple. This park is approachable through temple only, although can be seen from market through boundary-walls. Although we were wondering that why an artifical green place is required in such a beautiful place surrounded by forests and green areas all around.

This is a view which we get on looking back from second gate of the temple. After 10-15 stairs we reach to the second gate of Bhimakali temple. The gates were really beautiful of Bhimakali Temple and it applies to most of the stuff being used inside the temple. There is a museum kind of setup inside temple where we also huge steel pots. Security folks didn't allow us to click the photographs, so unable to share the size.

Here is the view of Bhimakali Temple from Shrikhand View Palace.

There is a beautiful palace in Sarahan town which belongs to Raja Virbhadra Singh, present Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. To know more about this palace, just click on the link above which shares an amazing Photo Journey of this palace surrounded by apple orchards.

It was a great trip to Bhimakali Temple in Sarahan town of Shimla district in Himachal Pradesh. Looking forward to my next visit in this region and explore more around Sarahan, Jeori and Rampur...

If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -

1. Manage your waste well and don’t litter
2. Use dustbins. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
3. Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
4. Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
5. Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite