Himachal Pradesh's motorable tunnel bypasses revered Hanogi Mata temple!

Manali, Oct 11 (IANS) Unlike a must-visited temple for several decades, the revered Hanogi Mata temple, a "compulsory" stopover for almost every motorist on the Chandigarh-Manali highway along the mighty Beas river, in Himachal Pradesh dons a deserted look even during the nine-day Shardiya Navratri -- a Hindu festival celebrated with fervour across the country involving fasting and rituals. 

The reason: A motorable tunnel on the highway bypassing the temple. Also, the old highway that passes through the temple has been shut down at Davada following a monsoon downpour.

The newly constructed 12.5-km-long twin tube tunnel built between the Pandoh dam and Aut as part of the Kiratpur-Manali four-lane highway project bypassed the landslide-prone stretch that passes via the Hanogi Mata temple which falls in the Drang Assembly constituency of Mandi district.

The temple of the Hanogi Mata dedicated to Goddess Saraswati is located on the road where all drivers stop over for a few minutes with a belief that the goddess fulfills the wishes of those who pray there.

In a first as per the living memory of old-timers, the temple wore a deserted look during the Navratri.

Temple priest Acharya Vivek Sharma told IANS that earlier, the devotees thronged the temple around the year, especially on festive days like Navratri, and the temple remained open even at night.

"After the four-lane highway was opened for traffic last year, the temple is lying empty. Now only a handful of people are coming here. Before the construction of the four-lane, all the traffic used to pass through the temple courtyard and every person used to go ahead after taking blessings of the Goddess," he said.

Former BJP local legislator Jawahar Thakur, who often comes to the temple and prays, said the government should restore the old highway passing through Hanogi temple.

After the old highway's closure, people of some local panchayats are also facing problems and the devotees are not able to reach the temple.

"The government should restore this highway so that the number of devotees in the temple increases and the people also benefit from it," he added.

Himachal Pradesh has been aptly called Dev Bhoomi since ancient times as it is the home to ancient temples and 'shaktipeeth'.

In the past, the Hanogi Mata temple near Pandoh remained in the news owing to heavy landslides that led to snapping of the road link for days between Mandi and Kullu towns.

Even on normal days, motorists are advised to travel with precaution between Mandi and Kullu owing to landslide-prone, narrow and sinking stretches due to loose rock strata and vulnerable to being flooded by the Beas River that runs along the highway.

At the closure of the road link, the Hanogi temple authorities were at the forefront of running community kitchens for stranded people, mainly lorry drivers.

The famous temple was partially damaged in a terrible landslide in 2020. However, the sanctum sanctorum of the temple was safe.

A mound of boulders and debris from the hill atop dislocated and hit the Hanogi Mata temple and shops near it.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is executing the four-lane road project that will shorten the distance between Kiratpur in Punjab and Manali from 232 km to 195 km, reducing the travel time by three hours.

This month NHAI opened an eight-km-long bypass, part of the four-lane road project, of Mandi town constructed at an outlay of Rs 725 crore. It has three major and seven minor bridges, along with four tunnels.

"On every road trip to Manali, we briefly halt at the Hanogi temple to seek blessings and pray for our safe onward journey," remarked Sarika Ghosh, a tourist from Kolkata heading to Manali.

"This time our cab driver told us that we have already crossed the temple as the new highway zooms through several tunnels, bridges and underpasses," she added.

The main temple of Hanogi Mata is at the edge of a cliff across the Beas.

As per locals, since trudging the hilltop for devotees across the river was tough and time-consuming, a replica of the original temple was built alongside the highway so that the travellers can visit the temple and be blessed for a safe onward journey.

Worried over the drastic drop in the number of devotees visiting the temple, priest Sharma said during the peak tourist season in previous years, the daily offerings at the temple ranged between Rs 30,000-50,000. It has been dropped to a meagre sum of Rs 200 to Rs 500 a day.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at [email protected])