Maharishi Prashar is believed to have meditated for a long time on the bank of a small legendary lake of Prashar, known for its floating islands. With the passage of time, Parashar has become a sacred place of pilgrimage for thousands of devotees drawn from Mandi, Kulu, Kangra, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and other parts of the State and beyond.
Three fairs are held here during the year when thousands of devotees dressed in their best costumes along with hill gods and goddesses ascend to the wonder vales of Prashar. The picturesque place wears a festive look when white sheet of snow envelops the high mountains around it. Here one can have a pleasant glimpse of far-off places in the Himalayas due to its high altitude.
Prashar lake’s location on the lap of the Himalayas at a height of 9000-ft from sea level amidst lush green forests and gorgeous pastures, has become a dreamland and enchanting tourist resort where hikers, trekkers and tourists from home and abroad enjoy to scale and ascend the unbeaten and peerless valleys far from the madding crowds of the metropolis and camp here for days and even for weeks.
According to the mythology, this lake was formed by Pandawas when they were on their way after Mahabharata with Deity Kamrunag (based on which this entire valley is know by Kamru Valley today) to find best place for their teacher, Dev Kamrunag and Deity loved the isolation of this place so much that he decided to stay here for the rest of his life. On his request, Bheem, one of the Pandava brothers formed the lake by pushing his elbow and forearm on the peak of the mountain. And that is the reason believed by locals after oval-shaped lake with depth unknown.
This place is available for visitors throughout the year except for winter months —December through March when heavy snowfall cuts it off from the nearby areas.
On the lake's edge is a three storied Pagoda-like temple dedicated to the sage Prashar. Capped with a roof of slate tiles, the temple has a wealth of wood carvings. An old temple, it is said to have been built by Raja Ban Sen of Mandi in the 14th century. An entire panorama of snowy mountain ranges is visible from this location.
The shooting of a famous English film The Frog had been done in the panoramic and splendorous backdrop of the snowy vales of Prashar. The stars of the film The Frog used to go up and down daily from Munish Resorts at Mandi.
Villagers in the vicinity and others who want tourism in Himachal Pradesh to grow at a rapid rate, find it distressing that Himachal Pradesh Government has failed to link this place properly through a better road network which could work round the year.
“This place could have become a world tourist resort but is yet to be connected with a metal road since last 68 years. It speaks volumes about the lack of vision and evasive attitude towards harnessing infinite and vast potential of tourism of the enchanting hill State," said a hotel owner in Mandi, the district in which the enchanting lake falls in.
A 20-km portion short of Prashar still remains to be tarred. A recent cloudburst has further damaged the road and the bridge connecting to Prashar forcing the adventurous tourists to go through the small rivulet in their vehicles in a bid to reach the lake.
Groups of tourists from abroad particularly Europe, America, USSR, China and other countries are surprised and intrigued to observe how India which had been aspiring to become a world power, failed to harness the infinite tourism potential of this place even after decades of independence. A US citizen, after visiting Prashar lake said that had this place existed in their country, it would become a tourist hot potato.
Tourism can be the biggest source of income of the State if irritants like cement plants and unwarranted intervention by other agencies is stopped. They wonder if India could launch ambitious space ventures why it cannot embark upon projects to promote tourism, for which Himachal has tremendous potential.
Unfortunately Himachal Pradesh, according to economists, has adopted a suicidal course of development by succumbing to the pressure of rich and politically powerful cement lobby. This powerful lobby has influence on political parties Congress.
The cement barons, who are callously turning the green hills of Himachal Pradesh into desert grey are further fleecing the poor people of the State by charging higher cement rates. In fact, much cheaper cement should been sold in the State due to virtually no freight expenses incurred by the companies.
Ram Kumar Gupta, noted environmentalist of Shimla, laments that if the policy of setting up of new cement plants was not abandoned in HP and the old plants are not closed in a phased manner, this “grey gold’ was bound to ruin Himachal Pradesh by converting the green valleys and panoramic hill State into grey mountains destroying the foothills into a veritable desert.
The common man is sore to see that even the so-called National GreenTribunal (NGT) also seemed to have turned blind eye to the big sharks and mighty business houses causing colossal environmental degradation fearlessly.
Tragically it is only prowling on the petty persons like tea-sellers, taxi owners and petty business men who eked out a bare living during the short tourist season, who were recently hit hard in Manali when deterrent heavy charges were imposed on vehicles going to Rohtang Pass.
Those in tourism business say that there are many wonderful sites in Himachal Pradesh where cable skyways can be constructed on the pattern of world famous Gentling Highlands in Kaula lumpur, capital of Malysia, which was built with strict Swiss regulations, in February 21, 1997. It can carry 2,000 people per hour with capacity of 10 persons in each gondola (cable car). It had been designed by leitner Rope and its length is 3.5 km negotiated by two power stations. Its elevation on the top is over 6000-ft above sea level.
This system is the most powerful and equipped with the latest high tech electronics in the world. There are many hotels at the top where in the sprawling several square km area are located over 200 hotels with a total capacity of 10,000 rooms besides numerous other centers of entertainment. Huge income flows from this daily.
There is no dearth of fantastic locations for installing such skyway systems in Himachal Pradesh, now reeling under poverty and backwardness. According to some economic experts a single such project under the public sector can go a long way in achieving economic viability.
Even within the country many Indian States including Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh have fully or partially developed tourism. However, Himachal Pradesh has lagged far behind.