BhagsuNag Shiv Mandir and Bhagsu Waterfall
History of Bhagsu Nag and Shiva Temple :-
Dwapara Yuga (द्वापर युग) is the third yuga in Hindu religion and which came to its end, when Lord Krishna returned to Vaikuntha, his eternal abode.
It was this yuga when the King of Demons Raja Bhagsu had his capital in Ajmer and which faced the callous drought of its time.
The Chiefs of villages in Ajmer requested Raja Bhagsu to make an arrangement of water for his people; otherwise they’ll be forced to leave his country. Hearing that, Raja Bhagsu decided to find water himself. Since Raja Bhagsu had magical powers and being a demons king, he travelled alone and after two days reached the Lake Nag Dal, which is still about two miles wide with enormous depth and situated at an approximate height of 18000feet in the mountains of Dhauladhar. Raja Bhagsu was pleased to see the Lake Nag Dal with plenty of water and with his magical powers filled all of the water in a pot. While he was on his way back to kingdom Raja Bhagsu decided to rest at the foothills of Dhauladhar, since it was already dark.
While Raja was in deep sleep, up there in Dhauladhar Mountains, Nag Devta was on his routine visit to Lake Nag Dal. He found the Lake empty. Surprised and furious he noticed the footsteps of Raja Bhagsu, followed them and challenged Raja Bhagsu for a war. In the fight, Raja Bhagsu was severely wounded and dropped his magical pot as a result Lake Nag Dal was again filled with water and in that place the natural fountain of water started to flow. While Raja Bhagsu was on his last breath he sincerely prayed Nag Devta. Seeing his faithful prayers Nag Devta happily granted him a wish. Raja Bhagsu wished that the drought in his kingdom should come to an end and his name is honored by all. Nag Devta fulfilled his wish and now there is enough water in Ajmer also Nag Devta named this place with the name of Raja Bhagsu prefixed with his own name.
Centuries have gone after this incident and this is how this place got the name of Bhagsu Nag. With the beginning of Kali Yuga, Raja Dharamchand ruled this place. Since this place has the holy water of Nag Devta, one day while Raja Dharam Chand was in sleep Lord Shiva appeared in his dream and ordered him to construct a temple for him. Raja Dharam Chand constructed the Shiva temple here and it’s about 5080 years old.
Today people from across the country and even from all over the World come to see this holy place.
Bhagsu Nag is just 2km from McLeodganj, you can either walk up to here or reach by bus/autorikshaw. There is a beautiful waterfall a few meters away from Shiva Temple. Because of climate change the density of waterfall has considerably shrunk and now there is lesser water. Even during monsson, the waterfall rarely reaches its actual height of about 30feet.