Cradled in the lap of the snow-capped mountain peaks of the Himalayan ranges, in the proximity of the river Ravi, lies the mystic valley of Chamba with the sacred Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva. Raja Maru Varman, who founded the state of Brahampur in what constitutes part of northwestern India, captured the vally in the 6th A.D. In the 10th century AD, Sahil Varman, his great grandson, built a secon capital and named it Chamba after his only daughter Champawati.
