Divine Kamru Nag Lake is situated in the lesser known Kasor valley of Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. The lake is situated at an altitude of around 2,900 m (as per our GPS), being famous for the temple of Dev Kamru Nag – ‘Lord of Rain’, at times also referred as ‘Bada Baba’. There is an ancient stone idol of Dev Kamru Nag near the lake, hence the name of the lake. Each year Dev Kamru Nag shows his divine presence in mid-June, during that period there is a big fair, where people in great numbers, mainly from the region flock to see and worship him and obtain his blessings. Dev Kamru Nag also participates in the seven-day famous International Shivratri Fair, held in March at Mandi, each year. During our visit to the lake, we noticed the stalls being set up for the big occasion.
The temple of Lord Kamru Nag, also known as “Bada Deo Kamrunag” – elder deity, has its own legends and folklore like other lakes of Himachal. Folklore, states that the lake has its connections with Mahabharata, and as per local belief, Kamru Nag being the Yaksha King of Mahabharata, was the son of Ghatotkacha, and grandson of Bhima. Dev Kamru Nag was earlier known by the names, Ratan Yaksha, Barbarika or Baburbhanji, a self-learned warrior, who would practice before Lord Vishnu’s idol, considering him his guru. He came to know about the Mahabharata being fought and desired to take part in the great war. Being brave and courageous, he decided to fight with the weaker party, which meant he was going to join the Kauravas. When Shri Krishna, came to know about this he decided to stop him from entering the battlefield, and went to him in the guise of a brahmin. Shri Krishna gave him a test to find out the potency of his arrows and said, that he would be convinced if he could pierce every leaf of a huge peepal (Ficus religiosa) tree with his arrow. While the Yaksha was preparing his arrow, Krishna plucked some leaves and hid them in his closed fists (some say he hid one under his foot). To his surprise, the arrow pierced even the leaves in his fists (or under his foot). Shri Krishna asked him about his guru, upon which the Yaksha replied it to be nonother but the almighty himself. At this point, Shri Krishna spotted an opening, transformed into his actual formless eternal form, and asked the young Yaksha for guru-dakshina, fee for services he had never offered. The Yaksha agreed to this, but desired one request from Lord Krishna, which was to keep the head alive until the battle was over, so that he could watch the Mahabharata. To which Shri Krishna immediately agreed and blessed him with the same. After the battle was over Shri Krishna blessed him, that he would be worshipped as Khatu Shyam and his body will be worshipped as Kamru. It is believed that his head was brought to the Kamru hill top, and today it is worshipped as Dev Kamru Nag. There is another belief that the Pandava originally kept the head at the Nalsar Lake of Balh valley in Mandi district, but because of the uncomfortable climatic difficulty faced by the head, it was shifted to the Kamru hilltop.
This holy destination, also has a unique tradition of offering gold, silver and currency coins to the lake by devotees on the fulfilment of their wishes by the deity, or even otherwise. It is not only the locals, but other folks from all over the country as well as foreigners, visit this lake and offer valuables to the lake for the betterment and fulfilment of their wishes. It is estimated that the lake contains riches worth millions, but that no one has ever tried to steal, for it is believed that misfortune will follow.
The people here believe that Dev Kamru Nag appears every year to give blessings to his devotees in exchange for their offerings of flowers, coins or paper currency which they toss into the lake with divine faith, a tradition that has been going on for centuries. However, nowadays people have also started putting in paper money, as a large number of currency in various denominations is seen floating in the lake surface. It is not possible to quantify the quantity of gold, silver, metal and currency that lie at the bottom and surface of the lake. There is a belief that a snake-like trees surrounds this hill (nature personified), which are snake deities who protect this treasure.
To visit the lake, one has to first reach Rohanda, a small hamlet, about 29-31 kms from Sundernagar or Mandi, on the Sundernagar – Karsog state highway 13. From Rohanda it is on foot, and all uphill along the much treaded narrow mountain trail, which later becomes well laid with measured stones for most of the walk. In the upper part, within the boundary of the lake management, the trail is laid with cobbled stones and well maintained. This distance of 5.5 kms from Rohanda road head to the lake normally takes 3 to 4 hours, as per one’s individual walking gait.
The setting of the lake and temple provides an amazing portrait, with the simple pent roof wooden temple at the far end, with tall majestic high-level conifers in the background. The lake is surrounded by good moist temperate forest of fir (Abies pindrow), spruce (Picea smithiana), yew (Taxus contorta), kail (Pinus wallichiana) and the broadleaved (Quercus semecarpifolia) and maple (Acer acuminatum). In the backdrop, the panoramic view of the snow clad Dhauladhar Ranges, and a peek downwards into the green Balh Valley, adds to the scenic beauty of the place.
During the trek uphill, you encounter the stately deodars (Cedrus deodara) in pure patches and at times in association with the other conifers, and with tall and small broadleaved trees of chirindi (Neolitsea pallens), kainth (Pyrus pashia), Euonymus tingens, Rhamnus purpurea, jamu (Prunus cornuta), khanor (Aesculus indica), and ban oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) and, occasional walnut (Juglans regia).
The undergrowth is also luxurious, with an admixture of hill bamboo, shrubs and herbs. In the lower deodar zone the undergrowth is mainly of Sarcococca saligna, Coriaria nepalensis, Daphne cannabina, Deutzia staminea, Lonicera myrtillus, L. quinquelocularis, Ribes glaciale, Rubus paniculatus, R. macilentus, Berberis lyceum, B. chitria, Buddleja crispa, Elsholtzia fruticosa, Indigofera heterantha, Isodon rugosus, Piptanthus nepalensis, Spiraea canescens, Prinsepia utilis, Rosa brunonii, R. macrophylla, R. sericea, Viburnum cotinifolium, V. grandiflorum, etc. Prominent woody lianas and climbers documented include, Parthenocissus semicordata, Hedera nepalensis, Clematis buchananiana, C. montana, Rubia cordifolia, Strobilanthes atropurpurea, etc. The hill bamboo is dominant in the upper part of the forests, and is represented by Thamnocalamus spathiflorus, locally known as gharo, with sporadic occurrence of Cotoneaster acuminata.
Surprisingly, the herbaceous vegetation was still (May end) in a vegetative phase, this peculiarity related to the wet weather and prolonged cool temperatures this year. The species in flower were few, and included Androsace lanuginosa, Capsella bursa pastoris, Crepis japonica, Potentilla indica, Epilobium royleanum, Acanthophyllum cerastioides, Gentiana argentea, Hypericum oblongifolium, Micromeria biflora, Viola pilosa, Decalepidanthus racemosus, Delphinium denudatum, Ranunculus hirtellus, Rumex hastatus, Stellaria media, and Thymus serpyllum. The other herbs in vegetative form included Ainsliaea aptera, Aquilegia pubiflora, Arctium lappa, Cirsium arvense, C. wallichii, Potentilla fulgens, Primula denticulata, Valeriana jatamansi, Geranium nepalense, Galium aparine, Polygonatum verticillatum, etc.
There are also several medicinal plants reported from the area, and along with the habitat of specific native trees in the area, makes this forest worthy of special attention. Therefore, the Himachal Pradesh State Biodiversity Board (HPSBB) have taken a good decision to recognise the lake and the surrounding area as a Biodiversity Heritage Site (July, 2020). The idea being that the Biodiversity Heritage Site status, along with the religious sentiment of people, will help in protecting the rich biological diversity of the area. Besides, the trek is also good for bird watchers, and I as a botanist was able to capture around 17 birds in my camera, during the trek. Sightings included bush chats, treepie, tits, thrushes, tree barbet, oriental eye, babblers, jays, parakeet, kaleej phesant, etc.
The visitors to the lake comprise mainly the people of nearby Jhenjali, Jeoni, Balh and Karsog regions of Mandi, while it is still unknown and explored by people from other regions of the state and country. It is a relatively lesser-known Himalayan trek, and is not even listed properly in the official tourism websites of the state. The lake besides its religious and spiritual significance protects the rich native biodiversity of the region. The government needs to advertise such amazing, mysterious locales of the state for strengthening the much-needed tourism potential, and also to divert numbers from the few select overcrowded locations like Shimla, Manali, Kinnaur, Spiti and Dalhousie.
My visit to Kamru Nag was personally a great satisfying experience, both for its religious importance, as well as the experience of rich diverse vegetation. I acknowledge the company and support of my research scholars, Brij Bhushan, Monika Chauhan and Pankaj Kumar who were with me on this botanical survey, under the All-India Research Coordinated Project on conservation of Forest Genetic Resources, besides Vikas, the Forest Guard from Suket Forest Division.
Dr. Vaneet Jishtu, a field botanist specialising in high altitude himalayan flora, conducts a wide range of research at Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI), where he works. At Shimla he has pioneered in setting up an arboretum, a botanical garden where a vast collection of Himalayan trees have been planted. He lives in Shimla
