Chamba Hill Station, Himachal Pradesh

Situated around 600kms from Delhi and with an ambience to be envious of, the Chamba Hill station is located in the Shivalik Ranges and is a great place of tourism in the northern part of India. With Himachali and Hindi as the main languages spoken here, the Chamba hill station was the discovery of Raja Varman who named the town as such after his daughter Champavati. This small town is situated amidst the mighty ranges of the Shivalik and is very popular for its temples. The temple boasts of an architecture that is very typical of the Chamba region and shows a great superior form of architectural finesse of the sculptures in India. Chamba has a beautiful ambience and is the main venue for the Minjar and the Sui Mata festivals.

Places To Visit In Chamba

Chamba Hill Station

Situated at a height of around 926 m Chamba lies around 56 km from Dalhousie to Khajjar and was a portion of the Mughal Empire and also became a part of the kingdoms of the Sikhs later. It was then taken over by the British and then became apart of the state of Himachal Pradesh. Raja Varman named the town and then also was the main reason why the town started getting prominence gradually.

While here in Chamba on tours there are many interesting places you could visit like Laxmi Narayan temple and enjoy the pleasures of this temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. There are three such temples here and these are entirely devoted to Lord Vishnu and Shiva.

Old Picture of Laxmi Tarayan Temple Chamba

Then there is the Brajeshwari Devi temple which is dedicated to Goddess Durga and is very popular for the lovely sculptures. With the style that makes it popular with the shikhara design the wooden amalaka is a great structure here in this land of Chamba.

Visit the Chamunda Devi temple which is in the quieenee valley and is a dedicated to the goddess Chamunda who is believed to be the aggressive form of goddess Durga. There are fine ceiling structures here which feature a lot of motifs with floral design and also animal patterns. Then there is the beautiful sight of the entire Chamba valley as this temple is situated on the top. The devotees come here and offer small bells made of brass and believe that their wishes would be fulfilled.

Then go to the Sui Mata temple which is found in between the Brajeshwari temple and the Chamunda Devi temple. It is dedicated to the local princess of Chamba Sui Mata who sacrificed here life for the people of this kingdom. There are colorful paintings found on the walls of the temple depicting the story of Sui Mata.

Chamunda Devi Temple, Chamba

Visit Gandhi Gate and experience a journey down history lane as you see the place where Lord Curzon had been given a grand welcome in 1900. A grand gateway had been built for his arrival and this is today the main entry to Chamba.

Bhuri Singh Museum is another lovely land filled with the greatest cultural pursuits. This is the place where you find the best of Kangra and Basohli paintings. Then there are the miniature paintings of the two schools which provide the greatest pleasures of Indian classical styles.

Bhuri Singh Museum, Chamba

Experience the pleasures of excursions here and see Dalhousie which is given by the Raja of Chamba to the British and is very famous for its illustrious public schools. It is around 42km from Chamba.

Then there are innumerable fairs and festivals for which the Chamba region is famous. So the Sui Mata festival and the Minjar festival are very popular here. In the Sui Mata festival the celebrations go on for around four days, and it is held in reverence of the Sui Princess.\

The Minjar festival is one that has the people of this region celebrating the harvest season with the harvest of the maize crop as the mainstay.

With Dharamshala as the nearest airport and Pathankot as the nearest railhead, Chamba is a must see in Indian travels.