Dev Kamrunag temple is situated at a height of 3300m in district Mandi of Himachal Pradesh. Kamrunag is also know as the rain god of Mandi. It is believed that only after the prayers have been offered to the lord, the rainy season marks its presence in the valley. Lake remain frozen in winters but when we reached it was partially frozen.
The lake holds religious importance to the people of Mandi and every year a 3 days fair is also organized in mid June. Pilgrims to there religious beliefs offers various coins, gold and silver ornaments to the lake. At the time of fair people travel from Kamrunag to Shikari Devi (sister of kamrunag). Distance from Kamrunag to Shikari Devi is approximately 16kms.
We started from Sundernagar at 7am and started our trek from Rohanda at about 9am. To reach Kamrunag from Rohanda it is about 4.5 kms of walk. The hike from Rohanda is very tedious as it is a very steep climb and can take about 3 hours to reach at the top for a normal man. Kamrunag temple lies on the bank of the lake.
The trail is covered with cedar tree and apple orchards. We reached the gate of the temple premises and to a surprise snowfall started. We reached at the top an witnessed mother nature at its best. One can travel to Shikari devi and to Jalpa devi temple from Kamrunag.
Read: 10 unxplored places to visit in Himachal Pradesh
How to reach Kamrunag
Sundernagar to Rohanda : 40kms
Rohanda to Kamrunag : 4.5k
Story of Ratan Yaksh
This is a story about the history of Dev Kamrunag. Ratan yaksh was his name. Yaksh was a warrior, self learned. He learned all his skills by keeping the idol of Vishnu in front of him, considering him as his master, the guru. He also preached lord Shiva and meditated for a very long time. Happy with his dedication lord shiva gave him his blessings in type of 3 arrows which can destroy whole of the generations.Ratan yaksh came to know about a war taking place in far place of Bharat (India). He had never been to war and wanted to check his warrior skills, so he decided to take part in that war. The war is commonly known as Mahabharta. He decided to join the weaker side of the war i.e. the party of Kaurav’s. He was so blessed that even with his sight he can make the side win the war. Lord Krishna got to know about this that a warrior named yatan yaksh wants to join the party of kaurav’s. Lord Krishna terrified with the thought of loosing the war wanted to stop the self learned warrior before reaching the battlefield. Lord krishna appeared in front of him disguised as a yogi and gave him task to pierce all the peepal tree leaves present their. When yatan was preparing his arrow lord Krishna hid some leaves in his closed fist. To his surprise Ratan yaksh pierced every leave even the ones in hand. Impressed lord krishna asked him about his teachings. To that he replied was the almighty itself. Listening to this lord krishna came out of his disguise and asked for guru dakshina (fee of service). Lord Krishna asked for his head on which yatan agreed and gave krishna his head as fee of service which Krishna never offered to his student. Yaksh had a urge to witness the war so Krishna took his head to the battlefield. After this his head was brought to Kamrunag and and today its known as Kamrunag temple. Some say that his head was kept at Nalsar lake in Mandi. Shikari devi is present at the highest peak of Mandi district and 15 to 16 kms far from Kamrunag as his sister. Trail from Kamrunag to Shikari devi is a pilgrimage.
Orginally posted in wandereravi.blogspot.in
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Nice post