Mantalai Temple

Mantalai lies in Chenani tehsil of Udhampur district at about 1,450 m, with deodar forest and mountains behind it. Inside the complex is a pond that legend identifies as the Homa Kund, the sacred fire pit of the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, and local people regard its water as holy. The name is read as 'lake of the Manta herb', after a medicinal plant common in the area.

Next to the pond stands the Aparneshwar temple, named for Aparna, another name of Parvati. Its main deity is a Shiva Lingam, and it also holds an idol of Parvati as a young girl and images of Shiva with Parvati and with Ganesha. Two Nandi figures face the lingam: the smaller is taken to be original, while the larger was recovered in an excavation. A stone kept near the deities is linked to the divine wedding.