Jakhoo Temple (1.3)

Although Christ Church is the icon of Shimla it is dwarfed by the mountains all around, the geography of Shimla mall soars up behind Christchurch like a wall which leads to Jakhoo peak, home of Hanuman. Now, Jakhoo temple can’t really be seen from the Mall, or the lift, unlike Christ Church, because it is hidden behind a covering of sacred deodars. To get there involves abandoning modern transport even more, no car, no lift, instead most people walk up the path that winds behind Christ church and through the forest. Jakhoo then does not stand (as Christ Church does) proudly for all to see as a man made construction that reminds us of Divine creation, rather it sits engulfed in the Divinity of the natural world. As such it mirrors the mountains that are visible surrounding Shimla, many of them topped with temples whose beauty and serenity far surpasses that of Jakhoo in my opinion, but nevertheless operate in a similar way. Nearby there is Tara Devi, from which the peace of the mountains begins to descend on you, as the wind toys with your hair. Behind the old temple is a newer Shiva temple, which is beautifully carved from the scared deodar trees that can be seen all around. Even further away, yet more /or less visible from Shimla mall on a clear day lies Hatu peak, a place where it is possible to stand and see nothing but trees stretching out bellow. And here two a new temple is being skilfully crafted by Himachali artists from sacred deodar wood. These temples then point to the divinity of nature in a far more direct way than Christ Church and like Christ church they point to the past as well as existing in the present.
My point is perhaps made stronger if I return my wandering gaze to Jakhoo hill once more. Here we have a place that, unlike the elevator area and temple, clearly engages with Shimla’s colonial history. As with Christ Church there are wonderful tales of Characters from the Colonial period who worshiped there. I am thinking particularly of that fellow who one often hears about (a Brit I think) who converted to Hinduism and lived on the mountain, in the forest of Jakhoo, it is said taht he was able to talk to the monkeys... it is frutstrating not remembering all the details and many of my notes are lost in transit (one box of books shipped from Shimla arrived here several weeks ago, yet the other sent at the same time is still to arrive, we know it made it to Delhi and then the expensive tracking system we paid for seems to fall apart, although no one is saying this, i worry that it has be lost or stolen along the way) . Anyway if anyone knows the details of this fellow and can provide them I would be grateful. The point is that Jakhoo temple intersects with that period, but it also points back beyond it. It points back to the founding of Shimla and even beyond to the mythical age when it is said That Hanuman stopped there on his way back from collecting the Sanjeevani booti. Jaknhoo hill moves us closer to nature again and connects the postcolonial period back through the colonial period to the pre-colonial period.