Panchvaktra Temple in Mandi Town
By 2050 XP · · 3 min read
Photograph: Aranya Kar / CC BY-SA 4.0
Panchvaktra Temple stands in Mandi town, where the Suketi joins the Beas. If you are spending time in town, come for its carved stone walls, two towers and five-faced image of Shiva. This is a town visit, not an excursion like Prashar or Rewalsar.
Getting to the temple
Set your destination to Panchvaktra Temple, not simply to Mandi. It looks very close to ISBT Mandi on a map, but the route through town goes around the river crossings. If you arrive by bus, ask at the stand for the way to the temple or take a local auto. If you are driving, give yourself time to park in town. The temple is not a quick roadside stop on the highway.
Take a closer look at the stonework
The main shrine has a tall stone tower and an entrance framed by carved walls. A smaller stone shrine stands beside it. Look at the sculpted panels around the doorway and across the outer walls before going in. The entrance hall rests on four carved stone pillars. Inside, the shrine houses an image of Shiva with five faces.
The temple is both a protected monument and an active place of worship. Let people praying have their space, and check before taking photographs inside.
Flooding damaged an earlier shrine here in the early eighteenth century. The temple standing here now was rebuilt at the same spot. It remains a place of worship, not just a stone monument.
If you are only passing through
Make this part of a Mandi town visit, but do not squeeze it between closely timed buses. You need time to get to the temple and back, and we would not plan a connection around a promised short walk or fixed opening hour.
For more of the town, Bhootnath Temple is at Chouhata Bazar and the Ghantaghar is at Indira Market. These are separate places, not parts of Panchvaktra Temple. Prashar Lake and Rewalsar Lake are outings beyond Mandi town and deserve their own plans.
Photograph: Panchvaktra Temple, Mandi by Aranya Kar, taken on 1 September 2018. Cropped, resized and converted to WebP by 2050 XP. The photograph and this adaptation are available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
