Rewalsar (town)
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Rewalsar or Tso Pema in Tibetan is a small town and a pilgrimage place in a nagar panchayat in Mandi district in India. It is located in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The local name for Rewalsar is Tri Sangam.
Rewalsar Lake Rewalsar Lake, also known as Tso Pema, is a mid-altitude lake located in the mountains of the Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh, India. It is located 22.5 km south-west from the town of Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi, at an elevation of a ...
is a tourist spot in the area.


Demographics

As of the 2001 India census, Rewalsar had a population of 1369. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Rewalsar has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 73%. In Rewalsar, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.


Geography

Rewalsar is located at an altitude of 1360 m above sea level. It is connected to
Mandi Mandi may refer to: Places * Mandı, Azerbaijan India * Mandi, Jammu and Kashmir, a town on the Mandi River in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir * Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, a city in Himachal Pradesh ** Mandi State, former princely sta ...
by a motorable road and is about 25 km from Mandi. Lying in the Southern Himalayan belt, winters in Rewalsar can be freezing, while summers are generally pleasant.


Religion

Rewalsar is sacred to adherents of three major
Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
religions - Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.


Hinduism

Seven lakes associated with the Pandavas of Mahabharata are located above Rewalsar. Also associated with Rewalsar are the legends of Lord Shiva and Lomas Rishi. There is also a famous Krishna temple in the town. The Hindu history of Rewalsar is found in Skanda Purana. A Hindu sage named Lomas was searching for place to worship. He traveled and climbed the top of Drona mountain, from the top of mountain he saw a lake surrounded by trees, flowers and birds. He decided to meditate at the bank of the lake, written as Hridayeshwar in Skanda Purana. He meditated here, and Lord Shiva and Goddesses Parvati blessed him by imparting the secrets of this place where all the
Devas Devas may refer to: * Devas Club, a club in south London * Anthony Devas (1911–1958), British portrait painter * Charles Stanton Devas (1848–1906), political economist * Jocelyn Devas (died 1886), founder of the Devas Club * Devas (band), ...
and Ganas are in the form of flowers, and trees.


Sikhism

The tenth Guru of Sikhs,
Guru Gobind Singh Guru Gobind Singh (; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), born Gobind Das or Gobind Rai the tenth Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was executed by Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Sing ...
visited Rewalsar to consult with kings of the
Hill states The Hill States of India were princely states lying in the northern border regions of the British Indian Empire. History During the colonial Raj period, two groups of princely states in direct relations with the Province of British Punjab ...
seeking support against the Mughal Emperor
Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
. He stayed at Rewalsar for a month. Raja Joginder Sen of Mandi built a gurudwara at Rewalsar in 1930 to commemorate the Guru's visit. The place is particularly sacred to Namdhari Sikhs due to its mention in '' Sau Sakhi'' as a sanctuary.


Tibetan Buddhism

The famous Rewalsar Lake, or Tso Pema to Tibetans, is associated with Padmasambhava (also known as ''Guru Rinpoche''), recognized as a second Buddha. One version of a legend has it that the King Arashadhar of Mandi had Padmasambhava burnt alive after rumours that the Guru had attempted to teach his daughter, Princess Mandarava the Dharma, which was not accepted then. The pyre burned for a full week, with great clouds of black smoke arising from it, but after a week, a lake appeared at the spot where he was burnt and Padmasambhava manifested himself as a 16-year-old boy from within a
lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
in the middle of the lake, with Mandarava in his arms. The king, repenting his actions, married his daughter to Padmasambhava. It was from Tso Pema that Padmasambhava went to Tibet to reveal Vajrayana Buddhism, after Padmasambhava and Mandarava went to Nepal. Rewalsar is a sacred place for Tibetan Buddhists and there are two Buddhist monasteries; the Drikung Kagyu Monastery and Tso-Pema Orgyen Heru-kai Nyingma Monastery. More than 50 nuns also live in the sacred caves, practicing in retreat. Buddhist practitioners are drawn to the Sacred Caves, as are tourists, coming from India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, and the west. The present head of the
Drukpa Kagyu The Drukpa Kagyu (), or simply Drukpa, sometimes called either Dugpa or "Red Hat sect" in older sources,
lineage of Tibetan Buddhism,
Gyalwang Drukpa The Gyalwang Drukpa () is the honorific title of the head of the Drukpa Lineage, one of the independent Sarma (new) schools of Vajrayana Buddhism. This lineage of reincarnated masters started from Tsangpa Gyare, the first Gyalwang Drukpa and fou ...
, was born here in 1963. There is a Colossus (37.5 m or 123 ft) of Padmasambhava that was consecrated, blessed and inaugurated by the
14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
of Tibet on 1 April 2012. The Tsechu fair was held in Rewalsar in 2004 to commemorate the birthday of Padmasambhava, Guru Rinpoche. The fair was inaugurated by the
14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
and was attended by the 17th Karmapa Orgyen Trinley Dorje along with 50,000 other Buddhist pilgrims. The fair was held after a gap of 12 years.


Interests


Rewalsar Lake

The lake around which the town of Rewalsar is established has a maximum depth of 16.5metres. The lake is oligotrophic in nature. It is rectangular in shape, with the catchment area situated to its north and west.


Spiritual sites

At Rewalsar there are three
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
temples. These are dedicated to the ancient Hindu sage Lomas, to Krishna and to Shiva. There are three Tibetan Buddhist monasteries located at opposite ends of the lake, and a shrine to Mandarava. Rewalsar Lake itself is a spiritual site created by the practice of Mandarava and Padmasambhava. Also, there is a Gurdwara which was built in 1930 by Raja Joginder Sen of Mandi. It commemorates Guru Gobind Singh's visit, when he sought to evolve a common strategy with the hill rulers against the Mughal emperor
Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
.


Colossus of Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche)

On April 1, 2012, a monumental statue (37.5 m or 123 ft) of Padmasambhava was consecrated, blessed and inaugurated by the
14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
. The building project, spear-headed by Wangdor Rinpoche took nearly 10 years to complete, with the foundation alone taking 3 years to construct. It was constructed almost entirely by hand by tradespeople from the immediate Rewalsar area as well as master artists from Nepal and Bhutan.


Naina Mata Temple

The Hindu temple of Naina Devi sits upon the hilltop, which provides views of the town and the surrounding hills. The 'seven lakes' as well as various Buddhist temples are on the way to the temple. A PWD guest-house is located besides the temple.


Other interests

The forest department maintains a small zoo at Rewalsar. Above Rewalsar, the 'Seven Lakes' including the 'Kunti Lake' are also of interest.


Accommodations

There is a Himachal Pradesh Tourism Hotel, and private hotels in Rewalsar, while guest houses are located near the lake.


References


External links

Media:
Rewalsar photo gallery


Vanamali Ashram Pilgrims Guide to Rewalsar
Rewalsar Lake Picture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rewalsar (Town) Cities and towns in Mandi district Colossal statues in India