Himachal Pradesh

Mutton cooked in a tangy gravy of yoghurt and gram flour with whole spices, a festive dish of the Kangra valley.

Chickpeas cooked slowly in yoghurt and ghee with whole spices, a rich dish of the Chamba and Kangra dham feast.

Fried dumplings of urad dal simmered in a spiced spinach gravy, the signature dish of the Mandi dham.

Whole black urad dal cooked slowly with mustard oil and whole spices, a dark, thick dal of the Himachali dham.

A sweet-and-sour dish of chickpeas or pumpkin with tamarind or dried mango and jaggery, served towards the end of the Kangra dham.

Rice cooked with sugar, ghee, saffron colour and dry fruits, a sweet served at the Himachali dham.

A deep-fried bread stuffed with spiced black gram paste, often eaten with tamarind chutney; Himachal Pradesh’s answer to the kachori.

A steamed bread of leavened wheat dough stuffed with poppy seed or walnut paste, eaten with ghee in the Kullu and Shimla hills.

Thin pancakes of wheat flour and milk, often lightly sweetened, from the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh.

Fresh trout from the cold streams of the Kullu valley, lightly spiced and pan-fried in mustard oil.

A spiced pulao of rice, lentils, potatoes and yoghurt from Chamba, cooked with whole spices in mustard oil.

Potatoes in a light yoghurt gravy flavoured with whole spices, a mild dish of the Kangra feast.

Himachal Pradesh’s best-known folk dance, in which long lines of men and women link arms and move slowly in a circle to drums and pipes at fairs and festivals.

A slow, graceful group dance of Kinnaur in which men and women in Kinnauri caps and shawls move in a long curving line.

A ritual masked dance performed by Buddhist monks in the monasteries of Lahaul, Spiti and Kinnaur, showing the victory of good over evil.

A lively dance of the women of Kangra, performed at weddings with songs, teasing and laughter.

A night-long open-air folk theatre of Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur, with dance, music and short comic and satirical plays.

A week-long festival in Kullu valley that begins on Vijayadashami, when deities from hundreds of villages are carried to Dhalpur to pay homage to Lord Raghunath.

A Shakti Peetha at Jwalamukhi, Kangra district, where Sati's tongue is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Jwala (Ambika).

A Shakti Peetha at Kangra, where Sati's left breast is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Jayadurga.

A Shakti Peetha at Bilaspur district, where Sati's eyes is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Mahishamardini (Naina Devi).

A Shakti Peetha at Una district, where Sati's feet is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Chhinnamastika.

The capital of Himachal Pradesh and the summer capital of British India, with colonial buildings, the Ridge and Mall Road, and forests of deodar and oak.

A narrow-gauge mountain railway that climbs from Kalka in the plains to Shimla through more than a hundred tunnels and many arched bridges.

The Kullu valley along the Beas river, with the hill town of Manali at its head, orchards, adventure sports and the Kullu Dussehra.

Twin hill towns below the Dhauladhar range, home of the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration since 1960.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kullu district, protecting high mountain forests, alpine meadows and glaciers, home to the western tragopan and the Himalayan musk deer.

A cold mountain desert on the Tibetan border, with ancient Buddhist monasteries, high villages and wide river valleys.

A group of temples carved out of a single sandstone ridge in Kangra district, thought to date from about the 8th century.

A large hill fort, traditionally counted among the oldest in India, the seat of the Katoch rulers of Kangra, standing above the meeting of the Banganga and Patal rivers.

The old hill capital of Chamba on the Ravi, with its stone temples, and the nearby meadow of Khajjiar ringed by deodar forest.

High mountain forests and meadows with rare Himalayan wildlife.