Dharamkot (aka Dharmkot) is a small hill station in

Kangra district Kangra is the most populous district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Dharamshala is the administrative headquarters of the district. History Kangra is known for having the oldest serving Royal Dynasty in the world, the Katoch. In 1758 ...

in the state of

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. On the crest of a hill above

McLeodGanj McLeod Ganj, also spelt McLeodganj, (pronounced ''Mc-loud-gunj'') is a suburb of Dharamshala in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is known as "Little Lhasa" or "Dhasa" (a short form of Dharamshala used mainly by Tibetans) because ...

, Dharamkot is a spot with wide views of the Kangra Valley and the

Dhauladhar Dhauladhar ( hi, धौलाधार) () is a mountain range which is part of a lesser Himalayan chain of mountains. It rises from the Shivalik hills, to the north of Kangra and Mandi. Dharamsala, the headquarters of Kangra district and t ...

ranges. Dharamkot also has the Vipassana meditation centre, Dhamma Shikara, as well as the

Tushita Meditation Centre Tushita is a centre for the study and practice of Buddhism from the Tibetan Mahayana tradition in Himachal Pradesh in northern India. It is located in the forested hills above the town of McLeod Ganj in village Dharamkot. The centre offers Intro ...

which is a centre for the study and practice of Buddhism in the Tibetan Mahayana tradition. Past Dharamkot, at a distance of 9 km from McLeodGanj, much of which is a steady climb, Triund is at the foot of the Dhauladhar ranges and is at a height of 2,827 m. The snow line is the most easily accessible in the entire Himalayan range starts from Ilaqua, 4 km from Triund.

Mini Israel

Dharamkot is a locality known as 'Tel Aviv of hills'. It is the only village in the state with a Jewish community center – the

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...

house, which stands in the middle of the village and looks like

770 Eastern Parkway 770 Eastern Parkway ( yi, 770 איסטערן פארקוויי), also known as "770", is the street address of the World Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, located on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brookly ...

. Restaurants serve Israeli dishes :

falafel Falafel (; ar, فلافل, ) is a deep-fried ball or patty-shaped fritter in Middle Eastern cuisine (especially in Levantine and Egyptian cuisines) made from ground chickpeas, broad beans, or both. Nowadays, falafel is often served in a p ...

shakshuka Shakshouka ( ar, شكشوكة : šakšūkah, also spelled ''shakshuka'' or ''chakchouka'') is a Maghrebi dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, peppers, onion and garlic, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper ...

and

hummus Hummus (, ; ar, حُمُّص, 'chickpeas'; full Arabic name: ''ḥummuṣ bi-ṭ-ṭaḥīna'' ar, حمص بالطحينة, 'chickpeas with tahini'), also spelled hommus or houmous, is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made fr ...

with

pita Pita ( or ) or pitta (British English), is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely known version with an interior pocket, als ...

. Over time, locals have also acclimatised and many can now fluently speak

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. Signage and boards in the village are also written in Hebrew, and keyboards in Internet cafes have Hebrew letters. Israeli people every year mark ceremonies here to celebrate Rosh-Hashana.

Triund

The trek to

Triund Triund is a small hill station in the Kangra district in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. Triund is a part of Dharamkot. Triund is at the foot of the Dhauladhar ranges and is at a height of . See also *List of hill stations in Indi ...

starts from Gallu Devi temple in Dharamkor, where people going for this trek register their names. The trek mostly is a straight route up to Triund. The distance is 11 kilometers and usually takes about 4–5 hours.

Gallery

File:Gaddi woman cutting grass c. 1980.jpg, Gaddi woman cutting grass, Dharamkot. By

Alfred Hallett Alfred W. Hallett (1914–1986) was an English painter, who spent most of his adult life in north India. Life Early life Hallett wanted to study art from the time he was young but his parents were members of the Exclusive Brethren sect and h ...

c. 1980. File:View from Dharamkot. 1980.jpg, View from Dharamkot looking west. 1980 File:Carlton Cottage.Dharamkot. 1980.jpg, Carlton Cottage. Dharamkot. 1980 File:View from Magic View Cafe on the Triund trail, Gallu Devi.jpg, View from Magic Cafe; one of the 4 cafes on the way to Triund. File:Snowline.png, alt=November 2015, View from just outside Snowline Cafe. November 2015

References

{{Kangra district Villages in Kangra district Hill stations in Himachal Pradesh Dharamshala