01Bhima’s wife
The Adi Parva of the Mahabharata tells that when the Pandavas escaped the house of lac, Bhima killed the rakshasa Hidimba in the forest, and his sister Hidimbi took Bhima as her husband with Kunti’s blessing. Their son Ghatotkacha later gave his life for the Pandavas at Kurukshetra. The people of Kullu say this forest was hers, that she left the world through tapas on the rock that now lies inside the temple, and that she became a devi. Her footprints are shown on the rock; there is no tall murti, only a small brass image.
02Wood and stone
Raja Bahadur Singh of Kullu built the temple in 1553, and a carved inscription over the door records it. Three square roofs of deodar shingle rise one above the other, topped by a conical brass-capped fourth, over a base of stone. The doorway is carved with Devi, animals, Navagrahas and scenes of Krishna. Horns of sacrificed animals hang on the outer walls. Every May the Dhungri fair is held in the forest, and at Vijayadashami her rath goes down to Dhalpur in Kullu, where the Raja’s family must greet her before Raghunathji’s procession moves.
The life of this place
- 1553Raja Bahadur Singh of Kullu builds the pagoda temple over the rock of Hidimba.
The temple is a short walk uphill from Manali Mall Road through the Dhungri deodar forest; go early in the morning before the tourist crowds.
