Prashar Lake:  Tranquil beauty in Mandi hills

At the verge of the fall of winter, I got the opportunity to visit Mandi. It was IIT- Mandi (Indian Institute of Technology, Kamand) where I was attending the National Conference. Three days conference was organized with the theme ‘Rural upliftment through science and technology’. A month ago, I have been registered for the conference along with my project colleague ‘Suru’ at Palampur. It was going to be a three days trip to Mandi. So, we already had thought of visiting Prashar Lake within these days. A day before the conference, we started our journey at noon from Palampur-IHBT Gate no. 2 by HRTC-Bus. Through crossing the Jogindernagar city, we reached Mandi bus-stand nearby at 4 O’clock in the evening. The bus-stand the area from inside to its perimeter was conducive clean and organized. And why shouldn’t be? Our chief-minister belongs to this area.

After waiting an hour, a local bus came for Kamand village with a front route-board highlighted with ‘IIT-Kamand’ on it. We traveled with the Kamand denizens toward the hilly village after a long wait. That village is surrounded by large mountains adjoining ‘Uhl-river’ (Tributary of Beas) on its base. Like all other IITs across the nation, Himachal had laid the stone for IIT in district Mandi, during the year of 2009. Institute is situated within a beautiful village ‘Kamand’ at Prasher road with its two campuses, North and South campus. We got our stay in the newly constructed hostel at the bank of the fanatic noisy Beas River. That noise was intense at night and set us in calm sleep. Whenever we were there, those nights were relaxing therapies for us to beat regular afflicts.

Prashar Lake and Temple

The next day was with the cold serene morning. We duped our warm dresses which have been already decided for each day. Then we moved toward the conference site. At the entrance of the auditorium, the registration team was busy instructing delegates. We registered and interacted with other research scholars of various Institutes. That first day was an interactive and introductory session about the theme of the conference. An inaugural ceremony of the conference was held under the shadow of some local ministers and administrators. The first day was the same as that of every other conference. They highlighted the works in enthusiasm to impress the audience. After that the whole concept changes in between or with the ongoing days. At the end of the first day, the tired audience had already sat down in auditorium for the dinner. In the last, the valedictory day was sulky for the certificates and prize conflicts.

I was there to visit and explore the pure beauty of the hills. The whole time Prashar Lake was in my mind, sneaking in my daydreams during the conference. That epic picture of a blue lake with a floating island near the temple was fixed in my head as I read a lot about it. Three years ago, I was trying but didn’t get any chance to get there. But this was a chance of a lifetime. The next morning, Surbhi and I walked out of the campus after attending an inexplicable speech. We started moving toward the campus entrance gate which took 15 minutes by walking.

There at dabba (tea cum food stall), we asked for the bus to Prasher Lake.  Dabba-bala was making alu-parantha (boiled-crushed potato-filled chapatti) in dhesi ghee. The ghee smeared bursting potato allured us. We ordered it with dahi (curd) and were waiting for the bus. He started making parathas and his wife was chopping vegetables for lunch.

 He replied while filling potato in handful dough, ‘Madam, there is only one bus for Prasher’. And trekking is another way which is impossible right now...

 After listening to him that we have only one overloaded bus with no chance of space. And thinking of 16 km impossible trekking at midday for Prashar, we had lost our hope. 

Immediately we got our order - alu paratha with fresh dahi. We ate it for energy with dreamy hope for Prashar Lake. That was fortune when we were hogging paratha and a car stopped near to dabba. A young married lady recognized Suru and asked for the lake visit. She was with her husband, moving to Parashar also. They were localities of mandi and had attended the yesterday conference session with Suru. We finished our parantha immediately. There, we shared the car with a wonderful couple. That gentleman was adventurous and caring, driving with his 7-month pregnant lovely wife. They told about their love story and marriage

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We had crossed many small Pahari villages with different folk lifestyle. As we were moving toward height, we saw a gradual change in culture and vegetation. The road was with twists and turns consequently after one. We were leaning in the car right-left like the shape of the snake. With every turn, we were crossing the forest canopy. Dominant tree crowns were highly distinguishable when viewed from the above road. That road was naturally roughed path surrounded by striking green foliage conifers. After every 5-6 turns, tree stands were changing with different species. Up to the Prashar, it was the whole set of vegetation together which was changing with altitude. That time, I remind my Forestry and Silviculture concepts. Finally, it was grassland at the top of about 2700m amsl, Seghali village  (near to Kulong village) after crossing coniferous vegetation. The Landscape was turned yellow because top-soil and grasses were drying.

All land turfs were yellow where Prashar lake and the main temple were prominent. Sky color was reflecting on the lake water surface making it blue. A rotating small land piece was in the lake with grass on it. The whole lake is preserved using iron grills and colorful flags were waving on it at some distance. The lake depth is still unmeasured. Earlier pilgrimages collect this lake water as prasad (Blessing) as they considered it as an elixir.

Three storied wooden temple side view

A reflection of wooden Art on deodar wood

Then we entered the deodar wooden temple where ‘Maharishi Prashar Muni’ did meditation and worshiped Maa Tunga (a form of Durga Maa). It was the divine feel inside the temple. Three storied pagoda style temple has been built with a single deodar tree (Cedrus deodara). A beautiful carving has been done on wood with inscriptions of old facts. There is no record of the date of its establishment. The priest gives a random amount of rice on Pooja. If the count holds odd number 3,5,7…. which symbolize that wish will be fulfilled by Prashar Muni. According to mythology, Prashar muni was the grand-grandson of the Universe creator- Brahma ji. He was the son of Shakti muni whose father was Bashist muni. It was believed that Prashar muni stayed for 12 months in her mother’s womb. Isn’t it amazing!!!

Prashar muni was the wise sage of that yug (era) and emerged as a writer of Jyotish Sashtra which describes the natural and human changes with time/age. This holy script also contains ‘forecasting methods’ based on planets and stars calculation to know the information on past, present and future time. Locals say that the temple was constructed by local king Ban Sen. People gather here during ‘Fagni’ fair for the blessing of Rishi Muni. The colorful cultural fair attracts tourists around the world.

Floating island (Phumidi) at the bank of the Prashar lake

 It was the time where hill vegetation was ready to feel the snow. Lake surrounding flora turned yellow before the commencement of snowfall. Most of the grasses and herbs were unidentifiable and were in dormancy already. In the shrub patches, red-colored flowering plant - Potentilla atrosanguinea was identified.  Its outer foliage morphology looks like wild cherry. After a search on Google, it was found that this plant contains a unique enzyme Pa-SOD which is a superoxide dismutase. This enzyme control oxygen toxicity arising out of oxidative stress in any living system.  

For more details- Go to Research Gate ...

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268982068_Engineering_a_thermo-stable_superoxide_dismutase_functional_at_sub-zero_to_50C_which_also_tolerates_autoclaving

Potentilla atrosanguinea