LAND of GOD - KANAM 4.15

Kanam. (On a side road from Spillo. 40 km from Powari, 2699m). This is a complete monastic village and its Buddhist monastery is of considerable significance and dates back to time of Rinchensang-po. This is located at the base of the Nessang valley and is on one of the old trade routes that led to Tibet. It is 47 km from Recong Peo. In Kanam (Kinnaur) monastery there are 7 big and small monasteries built by Rin-Chan-Sang-Po. The principle one is situated at the top of the village. There are about 25 rooms in the monastery. They contain copies of Kanjur and Tanjur, the great encyclopaedia of Lamaism. The image of Buddha in the shrine is of gilt Bronze with blue hair.

Kanam a beautiful village in Kinnaur District of Himachal Pradesh. Kanam comes under pooh tehsil and village is divided into two parts- upper & lower Kanam. KANAM is known as the land of god. This village is famous for its own beauty, land of sangyas( kanguer & tanguer) , local deity DABLA-SHU (jo- chhenboji) . For its cultural & religious prosperity kanam is also known as land of god. To visit this village till Spillow we need to follow NH22. There is separate route from spillow to Kanam nearly 4-5 km from Spillow. The bus service is limited, one in the morning & one in the evening. The private vehicles are available from spillow. In view of education, there are two primary schools here. The agriculture & farming is the main source of income here.









DABLA -SHU is just like head of the village and people of Kanam village have great faith in him. He is famous in Kinnaur because of his power. It said that DABLA-SHU himself is Buddhist by religion. He came from TIBET (neighboring country, which is currently under control of Chinese government). DABLA-SHU travelled from tibet to Kinnaur along with his seven brothers & only sister. He left all his brothers to the villages where he visited on the way, one in Tibet & others are in Kinnaur. He finally reached Kanam village along with his one brother and only sister. After reaching here he noticed that there is some disturbances in the peace of neighboring village-Nesang. So, he sent his brother to that village. DABLA-SHU & KHANDOMA-API(only sister of DABLA-SHU) are still in Kanam Village. Whenever people of Kanam face any difficulty in their life, they prefer to visit him to find solution. There are seven gomphas in each corner of village. All have their own history. One gompha is on the top of the village named as SURPOO Gonpha; one gompha is for all lama resident named as KHAACHE Laghaang; one for all jomos; other two are in the middle of kanam named as LOCHA LABRAANG & kanguer (famous for kanguer & tanguer) & two more are in lower kinnaur :- dabla shu's house & laghaang. Laghaang located at the end of the village. It is believed that whole village is surrounded by these gonphas to protect it from evil spirit.

People follow Buddhist calendar (lotoh). All the celebrations and festivals are celebrated according to Buddhist calendar. One of the famous festivals of Kanam is LOSER. Loser is new year celebration which falls in the winter season. People from different part of Kinnaur love to attend this festival.

As we know that being Buddhist we respect Rinpochhe's. People of Kanam give great respect to LOCHA RINPOCHHE and Rinpochhe has his own Gonpha in Kanam (Locha-Labrang). Whenever Rinpochhe visit here, people of Kanam village give warm welcome to him.

People here are religious and have faith in god. They are hard working, having sense of responsibility toward development of the village. It has one combined PANCHAYAT & MAHILA MANDAL for both upper & lower Kanam.