The stone lingam inside the temple at Bajaura

temple21 min from Kullu

The stone temple at Bajaura

The stone temple at Bajaura stands off the highway 15 km below Kullu: carved outer faces, a lingam inside, and the oldest building on the valley floor.

Photo: Ms Sarah Welch · CC0

What it is

A stone temple in a walled courtyard at Bajaura, off the highway 15 km and about 21 minutes below Kullu. It is the oldest building standing on this part of the valley floor, and it is stone — which in a valley that builds in deodar and slate is the first thing you notice. The outer faces carry carved figures; inside there is a lingam.

Photos: Ms Sarah Welch (CC0) · Ms Sarah Welch (CC0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.

Getting there

On the highway between the town and Bhuntar, set back from the road among fields. Any bus down the valley passes the turning, and the walk in from the road is a couple of minutes. It is 13 km and 19 minutes from Bhuntar's airport, which makes it a sensible last stop before a flight.

What to look at

The carving on the three outer faces, which is the reason art historians come; the shape of the tower, which belongs to a tradition from outside the valley; and the quiet, which is the reason everyone else stays longer than they meant to. Fifteen minutes is enough to see it and twice that is not wasted.

Around it

Bhuntar and the confluence of the Beas and the Parvati are a few minutes down the road. The town, the bazaar and the Raghunath temple are 21 minutes back up it. The two-day plan ends here on its second afternoon, and the river plan does the same on its way to the airport.

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Questions people ask

Where is the Bajaura temple?

At Bajaura on the highway south of Kullu, 15 km and about 21 minutes from the town and 13 km from the airport at Bhuntar. It stands back from the road in a walled courtyard among fields, and is easy to drive past without noticing it.

What is there to see?

A stone temple of a kind the valley otherwise does not build — the houses and temples here are wood and slate. The outer faces carry carved figures and the sanctum holds a lingam. It takes ten or fifteen minutes to walk round and look at properly, and it is usually empty.

Is it worth stopping for?

If you are passing — flying out of Bhuntar, driving south, or on the river plan — then yes: it is the oldest thing standing on this stretch of the valley floor and it costs a quarter of an hour. It does not justify a separate trip from Manali on its own.