Editing Dharmic Circuits: Sacred Pathways – Part 2 (section)

==== Bharmaur: An Impossible Capital ====
The Mani Mahesh Jatra is the sacred lifeline of this region and this has been so for hundreds and perhaps even thousands of years. This is why the ancient kings of Chamba chose Bharmaur as their capital. The Chaurasi temple at Bharmaur is also an important center of pilgrimage. Bharmaur is also connected to the legend that binds the Chandrashekhar temple at Saho with the Mani Mahesh pilgrim route. It seems inconceivable that around 1200 years ago someone built a capital at this extremely remote and inaccessible place, right at the foothills of the Great Mani Kailash peak.

Bharmaur is hard to reach even today. It is at a great height and the road ends a few kilometers from here. The Mani Mahesh Lake is the source of the Mani Mahesh Ganga, once again the sacred geography repeating itself everywhere. The lake is the end point of the sacred Mani Mahesh Jatra.

In many ways, Bharmaur is the end of the line, the last post of civilization and yet it is here that our ancestors decided to build a capital, right at the feet of Lord Shiva, even though it was a very difficult place to live and to reach. Not only that, they also built eighty four temples at Bharmaur by clearing a great area at the edge of the valley. Two of the greatest of these temples are built in complete Nagari idiom and the largest of all is called the Mani Mahesh temple.

How great must have been their shraddha and how great their devotion and conviction to do this! What is unbelievable is that our ancestors kept the flame of bhakti alive even in these remotest of locations. Because of teerthas and jatras, the flame of Hindu dharma is still alive. The teerthas are still alive and wherever there are teerthas there is great flowering of art, architecture, sculpture, music, dance, and all other art forms and sciences. Culture remains alive where dharma remains alive, and teerthas and jatras keep dharma alive. Mani Mahesh Jatra with its various temples and legends is a testimony to this marvelous creation of Sanatana Dharma.

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