BAIJNATH TEMPLE
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Location : 
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16-km From Palampur, Kangra District
Houses : Baijnath Temple Or Kirangam
Main Attraction : Shivratri Fair
Famous As A : Hindu Pilgrimage

Description
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One of the most remarkable monuments of the Beas Valley is the temple of Baijnath. The village of Baijnath is situated 23-miles east of Nagarkot, as the crow flies, close to the Mandi border and on the main road, which leads from the Punjab plains through Kangra, Kulu, Lahul, and Ladakh to Central Asia. 

Known as Kirangama, its name was changed after the temple was dedicated to Lord Shiva in his form as Vaidyanath or the "Lord of Physicians". The Temple is a good example of Nagri style of architecture. The Baijnath temple is orientated due west. It consists of a puri or adytum, 8-feet-square inside and 18-feet outside, surmounted by a spire of the usual conical shape, and of a mandapa or front hall, 20-feet-square inside, covered with a low pyramid shaped roof. 

The adytum, which contains the linga known as Vaidyanatha, is entered through a small anteroom with two pillars in antis. This linga enshrined in the sanctum is one of the 12 jyotirlingas in the country. The roof of the mandapa is supported by four massive pillars connected by raised benches which form, as it were, a passage leading up to the entrance of the sanctum. 

The architrave's resting on these pillars divide the space of the ceiling into nine compartments, each of which is closed by means of corbelling slabs. In front of the mandapa rises a stately porch resting on four columns. "The shafts of these pillars", Fergusson remarks "are plain cylinders, of very classical proportions, and the bases also show that they are only slightly removed from classical design". 

HOW TO GET THERE
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Road: Baijnath is only 16-km from Palampur and 132-km from Pathankot, is a motarbus terminus on the Palampur- Kullu road, and is easily accessible from Kangra and Kullu. 

WHERE TO STAY
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Kangra is well equipped with standardised accommodations, which vary from budget hotels to tourist lodges available at resonable rates. One can also stay at the hotels in Palampur.


