Dharamshala - Tours packages

Dharamshala is a major tourist and pilgrimage site in the state of Himachal Pradesh in the Kangra Valley. In this place, there are around 600 temples within the area of 100km.  There is also a large Tibetan community who have made this their home and also the headquarters of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is here. Numerous ancient temples like Jawalamukhi, Brijeshwari and Chamunda lie on the plains below Dharamshala.

Visitors are attracted to its traditional aura, soft spoken, ever smiling, god-fearing Tibetan people and, above all, the refreshing climate, the pines, deodars, oaks and rhododendron clad mountain.

Shirdi

Shirdi was the home of Sai Baba, a great saint who lived here for more than 50 years of his life. This small village is located in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra and close to the holy city of Nasik.  Sai Baba entered this village when he was 16 years of age. No one knows exactly when he was born and when he came first time to Shirdi, his early life is shrouded in mystery.  He lived for a period under a neem tree in the village of Shirdi until he moved into a mosque, which remained his abode and was engaged in a hard self-mortification.

The saint devoted his entire life for the upliftment of the poor and the suffering. Saibaba was essentially a Guru, a Fakir who was regarded by both Hindu and Muslim communities. He worshipped both at temples and mosques and encouraged tolerance between both the faiths. His life and teachings are wonderful semblance of both faiths. People came to Saibaba to fulfil the heartfelt needs, both spiritual and temporal and where blessed by Him. The place where Sai Baba came to Shirdi as a Bal Yogi is known as Gurusthan. There is a temple at this site and a small shrine in Gurusthan. Samadhi Mandir is the most important site, as it is here that we find the Samadhi or tomb of Sai Baba, to pay devotion to the Sai Baba. The small town of Shirdi is full of fragrance with the devotional intensity of devotees from across the world.

Jama Masjid

Jama Masjid, situated in the ancient town of old Delhi, 1 km west of Red Fort, is one of the grand architectural examples of the Mughal era. The mosque is India's largest mosque and the last architectural work of the Mughal Emperor Shajahan which is much simpler than his other secular buildings. The mosque is made of red sandstone and marble.  

Built between 1644 and 1658 AD, the mosque has three gateways, four angle towers and two minarets standing 40 m high. 5,000 labourers were employed for six years to complete its work in 1656. The mosque is surrounded a red stone square courtyard which can be reached from three gateways. The mosque faces west and the steps leads to the courtyard of the mosque are through east, north and south. The step that leads to the eastern gateway has 35 steps, to the northern gateway has 39 steps and to the southern gateway has 33 steps which are made of red sandstone. Out of the three gateways, the eastern gateway was used by emperors to enter the mosque and this gateway remains closed during the weekdays.

Today, the worshippers enter through this gateway and on the occasion of the two annual Id festivals to mark the end of Ramadan - Id-ul-fitr and Id-ul-Adha. There is also a fine view of the Red Fort from the eastern gateway. The closet in the North gate of the mosque contains a collection of Muhammad's relics - a copy of the Quran written on deer skin, a red beard-hair of the prophet, his sandals and foot prints installed in marble. The general public enter by either this gateway or sought gate. Shoes should be removed.  Shops, food stalls and street entertainers used to occupy these steps.

Tirupathi

Tirupathi is a famous Hindu temple of lord Venkatesware located in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, 704 kms from Hyderabad, 250 kms from Bangalore and 150 kms from Madras is the holy city of Tirupathi. It is famed for the shrine on the Seven Hills on the top of Tirumala, a cluster of seven hills known as Seshachalam.  This temple is also known as the Temple of Seven Hills and is the richest and the most visited place of worship in India.

This shrine is an important pilgrim centre for tourists in India and the temple has a self-manifested idol murti of Lord Vishnu, with the Lord believed to have resided here for the entire Kali Yuga. This is the God whose picture graces the reception areas of most lodges and restaurants in southern India. A lot of this money is ploughed back to help the poor and into providing shelter for pilgrims on their way to Tirumala. It is considered auspicious to have your head shaved when visiting the temple. The surroundings of the Temple and town are maintained very efficiently by the authorities to keep Tirupati beautiful and attractive for the visitor.