Poo, or Pooh, also known as Spuwa (altitude 2,662 metres or 8,736 ft), is a small town in

Kinnaur district Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative he ...

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. The approximate population given within a 7 km radius of the town is 1,192. Poo is 58 km from Powari village along National Highway 22. It is known for its natural environment, green fields, apricot orchards, vineyards and almond trees. Inscriptions suggest that Poo was an important trading center in the early 11th century. When A. H. Francke arrived in Poo from the south in July, 1910, it was the first village he found where the language was "entirely Tibetan". There is an ancient temple, the Lotsaba-bai-lha-khang, dedicated to Shakyamuni or

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

and attributed to the translator (or ''Lotsaba''),

Rinchen Zangpo __NOTOC__ Lochen Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055; ), also known as Mahaguru, was a principal lotsawa or translator of Sanskrit Buddhist texts into Tibetan during the second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet, variously called the New Translation School, ...

(958–1055). The shrine has wooden columns supporting a high ceiling. It has murals and a painted door from the period of Rinchen Zangpo (10th to 11th century), though they are in a poor state of preservation. There is a local pre-Buddhist deity, Dablā, who has no dwelling or altar in Poo (although he has a

devata ''Devata'' (pl: ''devatas'', meaning 'the gods') (Devanagari: देवता; Khmer: ទេវតា (''tevoda''); Thai: เทวดา (''tevada''); Javanese, Balinese, Sundanese, Malay: ''dewata''; Batak languages: ''debata'' (Toba) ...

temple devoted to him at Kanum). His only manifestation is a pole with a small idol set on its upper portion and adorned with yak tail hair and long pieces of coloured cloth.Kinnaur / Pooh
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References

Bibliography

*Francke, A. H. (1914, 1926). ''Antiquities of Indian Tibet''. Two Volumes. Calcutta. 1972 reprint: S. Chand, New Delhi. *Handa, O. C. (1987). ''Buddhist Monasteries in Himachal Pradesh''. Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi.

External links

Map and coordinates of Poo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poo (Town) Tourism in Himachal Pradesh Cities and towns in Kinnaur district Hill stations in Himachal Pradesh