Ahhh, Vashishat Town. Wonderful People. Gorgeous Mountains. Aromatic Gardens. Cowpoo underfoot in the narrow alleys.
We're back at Amar's Guest house in the valley where Cannabis grows like dandelions and surprise! surprise! There are loads and loads of tourists & holy men here. In Amar's words, some holy men are sincere, others are jost joking. I wonder why smoking up is a pre-requisite to enlightenment for so many. Could they just be engaging in further illusion? For many of the tourists we've run into here, this is the first and last stop in India with nada in between. They get stuck here "enlightening" themselves. Not that I'd even consider putting their intentions for travelling here down, I just question whether their money was well spent to come all the way to India to sit in a hotel room or in the rooftop terrace restaurants(which do have spectacular Himalayan views) surrounded by other foreigners, and smoke up. What a waste of vacation time.
Back to the real story - Vashishat is an enchanting little Himalayan valley-town just outside the larger city of Manali. This is the endpoint of the Leh-Manali Road, and so we are back to rest and recover for a few days before we head south to Delhi for a landmark immigration paperwork runaround. Over the course of our time in India so far, we've spent a majority of our time in this town. We first came here to see the sights with Amy Minkley before we shot off to UttarKashi for the Yoga Ashram. Then, after Amy's departure from Rishikesh, we came back to Manali to embark on the great challenge of the overland voyage to Leh, Ladakh in Kashmir & Jammu State. At that time we stayed a few weeks, and now at the end of our time in the Himalayas, we are once again relaxing in Vashishat.
Vashishat is a small town where all the locals know each other and which of the non-local vendors and shopkeepers are crooks. And they'll tell you who to go to and where to steer clear. The town's centerpiece is the Temple and the Hot Springs contained within. In addition to providing the townsfolk with an endless supply of boiling water for outdoor laundry, etc. the baths that have been set up within and just outside of the temple complex are routinely used for (non-nude)bathing. The origins of the Hot Springs and temple has four versions, according to the locals we've been talking to.
Version #1: Twenty to Thirty years ago, the Spring was cold water. At that time Guru Rama came to Vashishat and he "pulled the hot water out of the ground" so that he could have a nice warm bath. Then the town grew up around after that. (Many of the businesses and family homes date back far past 30 years ago, so, I'm not sure we can believe this one. Amar is in his mid 40s and his family runs a farm and guesthouse here. He's been here his whole life.)
Version #2: Long long ago, Siva and Parvati(a hindu god and his wife) were on a pilgramage to Manu temple(in old Manali) and they stiopped here to bathe. When Parvati stripped to wash in the water, she took their maney purse out of her hair and put it beside the water so it wouldn't get wet. After her bath, they couldn't find the purse anywhere. Fearing that it had fallen into the Spring, they searched frantically until Siva became frustrated. Because he couldn't find his money, he raised the water in this spot to a boiling temperature. If he couldn't recover his money from the Spring, no one else would be able to take his money from the boiling water either. The teller of this tale said that at that time the old tower of the current temple was built and said that it was four thousand years old. (Not so sure about this one either. The tower looks old, but not that old.)
Version #3: Long ago, the site where the temple now stands used to be under the ground level of the mountainside that is now Vashishat. At that time, there was a cave where the temple is now. A holy man decided to stay in that cave because of the nearby hot spring which was a convenient source of water. In time, his teachings became popular amongst the villagers living in Manali, and many people moved up the hillside in order to be close to their teacher. When the teacher died, they built a shrine around the small cave where he used to sit and meditate. Over time, the surrounding area eroded and was excavated to form the town that now has grown up around that shrine and hot spring.(This to me, is the most believeable version of the story.)
Version #4: As told by a transplanted Nepali married to a local, living here and running a restaurant. "The scientists say that the Himalayas are at the edge of a continent plate and that because of this, there're many pools of molten rock close to the surface under these mountains. They say that the hot springs are a kind of release valve, letting out gas and pressure. If there isn't a release valve, the pressure would cause an explosion. I don't believe that Rama Guru pulled the water out of the ground or that Siva went around boiling the local fish. There are hot springs around the world! Did they go everywhere and pull the hot water up? No! Impossible. I believe the scientists."
So there you have it. Make your own mind up.
Jen and I, by the way are doing fine, although not looking forward to our next week in the offices of doctors and embassies doing paperwork. Love to you all!
