Talai Village

TALAI TEMPLE (MASHOBRA)

HUMBLE REQUEST TO EVERYONE :-

(Not to pollute the nature beauty)

-Be part of the solution, not the pollution.

-Forests are green, oceans are blue;
keep the Earth clean, for me and you.

TALAI Is located in :-

(+91) India,
Himachal Pradesh,
Shimla(171001),
Mashobra (171007),

DISTANCE & TIME :-

By train – Take the Shimla Kalka train and drive 25 km from Shimla Railway Station.

By road -

Shimla to Talai- (12km) & (33min).

Kufri to Talai - (9km) & (27min).

Mashobra to Talai - (2.5km) & ( 12min).

Shimla airport to Talai - (34.2km) & (1:08hours).

BUSES :-

-You can take bus from Old bus stand or Lakkar bazzar bus stand to mashobra .

-You need to take a bus till Mashobra 2 only .

-After that you neend to walk for 25 min(2.5km) to visit this place .

-If you have a car then you don't need to walk.

INTRODUCTION :-

Driving into a village called Talai, near Mashobra was like climbing the stairway to heaven, and reaching paradise, sitting on the clouds.
A few miles from shimla(the famed ski destination in Himachal Pradesh). Talai is a perfect destination to relax your mind and is surrounded by Shimla, Mashobra, Kufri, Fagu and Sunni & Tattpani.

Located at a height of 7041 ft, it is cool in the summers and is snow covered during winters.
Spend a few days at this place to revive your mind from the worries of city life. It is so serene and peaceful.
Brilliant hues of blue streak the sky with an occasional gleam of gold reflected from the mountain ranges. If it is slightly overcast, the clouds float down to where you are, and you can almost feel them. Sometimes, they also float down to the valley and you may feel like an omnipotent looking down at the world from the heavens.

HISTORy :-

About this place what i heard from the local folk and Chaman Lal, who runs a tea-shop there, he said that and what i have also seen in my personal experience there were used to have a "Bullfight" every year at the time of mid-september. According to the folks Bullfight was started about 500 years old, i.e., it was started during the times of Gopi Chand, who was the 10th Thakur of Koti state in the 16th Century. The prince of Koti state got the title of Rana during the times of Hari Chand (1838-1873), when the prince supported the British during the first war of independence in 1857.

Here we have to understand that the princely states who participated in the Bullfight — Theog, Koti, Ghund, Madhan and Ratesh — were feudatory to Keonthal (Junga) state. These feudatory states liked to follow the practices of Keonthal. Jhote ka Mela at Talai was also the replica of what Keonthal used to do at Ashwani Khud during mid-September or Sair. Sair is a fair celebrated all over Himachal during mid-September.

ABOUT THE EVENT :-
-Event used to start at 10:00AM when the sun come up.
Here in Koti, the Rana, his Ranis and officials would set out for Talai accompanied by a pahari band playing local tunes. Thousands of villagers would assemble to enjoy the buffalo fight. Being near to Shimla, many urbanites also would come to Talai.
- It used to be like any other pahari mela — swings were set up; sweets, commonly, jalebi was sold; haberdashery articles were purchased by women and there were he-buffalos, well-reared for the purpose, ready to fight.

- One strange rule was that no offender was arrested or fined on this day, if he committed disturbance with impunity at the mela.
-The fair used to be during the day time. The he-buffalos were set to fight in pairs. The owner of the winning buffalo was given Re 1 as reward by the Rana. The fight would end at five or six in the evening and then, the legend says, that the loser he-buffalo in the finals would himself go to Taradevi temple, 25 km away from Talai to be killed by a Gurkha in single swing of khukhri. Is it true? I feel it could be true that the loser buffalo goes to Taradevi to be slain there. But why to Taradevi? This devi is the family deity of the Raja of Keonthal. She is, therefore, revered by all his subjects, including the feudatory states. In the olden days of no-immunisation, the devi, it was believed, protected people against epidemics, such as cholera and small pox.

END OF THIS EVENT :-

After few incident causing grivious hurt to animals and as well the people around it.
Due to which the (Jhote ka Mela ) is not celebrated anymore , buffaloes do not fight any more. The fight stands banned under law by the government in the year 2017.
How Animals Think and Feel’ says: “I’ve always been struck by how similar to us they are. I’ve always been touched by their bonds and been impressed-occasionally frightened-by their emotions.”

WHAT DO THERE ?

Relax! Such places are the best way to take time off from the hustle and bustle of our exhausting lifestyle.

Have a romantic stroll through the foggy pine forest or explore it to feel the glory of nature. There is a lot of flora and fauna to take note of in the forest nearby.

If you go during the festival time (Navratra or other Hindu festivals), there is a mela and local wrestling bouts that take place very close to the home-stay, which you can just walk down to.

If sitting at one spot is not your thing, drive down to the number of temples strewn around the hamlet. They are located at spectacular locations and have their own folk tales behind their origin.

WHAT TO EAT ?

The home-stay owner provides you with delicious vegetarian home-cooked meals. If you want to savour non-vegetarian food, just get to the nearby hotels and resorts which offer fine dine options. However, with the delicious Himachali cuisine, you probably wouldn't need it.

WHEN TO GO ?

Talai is divine almost all through the year. The only time to avoid it is the Monsoon, as hilly areas are prone to landslides and you might get stuck at one point for quite some time.

The area faces below freezing point temperatures during the winters and it would be snow covered throughout the season. But the cosy hamlet looks impressive in white.

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SNOW VIEW :-