Hadimba Devi Temple, Manali

The Hadimba Devi Temple was built in 1553 by Maharaja Bahadur Singh in the cedar (deodar) forest above Old Manali. The temple is dedicated to Hadimba — the rakshasi sister of Hidimba and wife of the Pandava prince Bhima — who, after Bhima killed her brother in the Mahabharata, retired to this forest to perform tapas. The shrine is built around a 7.5-cm rock footprint said to be hers. The temple's architecture is a four-tiered Himalayan pagoda style with a 24-metre cedar-wood roof — one of the tallest wooden temple structures in India. The intricate wooden carvings on the doors and lintels depict deities, animals, and Mahabharata scenes. The deodar grove around the temple is sacred and protected from felling. The Dhungri Forest, in which the temple sits, has been a sacred grove for over 500 years and contains some of the oldest cedar trees in the western Himalaya. The Ghatotkach Tree shrine 70 metres away is dedicated to Hadimba and Bhima's son Ghatotkach.