Gondhla Fort, Lahaul

What it is

A tower of seven storeys in the village of Gondhla on the Chandra valley road, built the way the hills build — alternating courses of stone and timber, the kath-kuni that lets a wall flex in an earthquake. It stands over the flat-roofed houses like nothing else in Lahaul. It was the seat of the Thakurs of Gondhla, the family who governed this valley, the Tinan, as the Kullu rajas' representatives. Some sources put its building at around 1700 under Raja Man Singh of Kullu, who married a Gondhla Thakur's daughter; local tradition says it was raised earlier by a Thakur who came from Kangra. The painter Nicholas Roerich, who summered in Lahaul in the late 1920s, painted it.

Above the village is the Guru Ghantal monastery, which tradition says Padmasambhava founded in the eighth century, with wooden idols rather than the usual clay. The tower and the monastery together are the reason to stop at Gondhla rather than drive through it.

Getting there

About 51 km and roughly 76 min from the Manali bus stand: through the Atal Tunnel, past Sissu, and on along the Chandra towards Keylong. No permit anywhere on the road. It is a stop on a Lahaul day — the Sissu and Lahaul overnight takes it in on the second morning, with Koksar on the way — rather than a day of its own from Manali.

What to see

The tower from the lane and the road, first: its height against the valley wall, the timber bands in the stone, the balconies. Then the village, which is flat-roofed and Lahauli and nothing like the Kullu side. Then the monastery above, for the idols and the view down the Chandra. Whether the tower itself is open on a given day is for the family who own it to say; ask in the village, and take no for an answer.

When to go

May and June, when Lahaul is edged with snow and the Chandra is loud; September and October, when the sky is clearest and the poplars along the river turn. The road is open through the winter behind the tunnel with closures for a morning after heavy snow, and the valley is white and silent then; July and August bring slides that close it for hours.

Around it

Sissu below, with its waterfall and lake; Koksar back towards the tunnel, where the old pass road comes down; Keylong on up the valley, which is the next night of a Lahaul trip. The stopover plan passes here on the way north; the where to go after Manali article puts Lahaul against the other valleys.

Plans that include this

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2 nights · 3 days · FriendsRoad trip

Manali to Sissu and Lahaul — three days with a night across the ridge

Three days from Manali with two nights at Sissu: the tunnel and the meadow on the way, the Chandra valley to Koksar and Gondhla's tower house, the gorge home.

Best May–Jun · Sep–Oct

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