Dwarka | Gujarat Series

It was around September 2017 when  I last visited Gujarat  and I was simply zapped by the beauty of Champaner UNESCO World heritage site.( To know more about Champaner you can check my Champaner Series Blog.)

The beauty of the ancient Mosques,Temples and stepwells stirred the wanderer spirit and nudged me to search for more such ancient sites in Gujarat and hence the quest to explore ended with plan to visit Dwarka-Somnath-Diu-Sasan Gir.

Once the plan was fixed I called up my friend Pooja and Nikhil who too wanted to come along and from my side my wife and daughter joined in and we were a team of 5 people all set to go

Gujarat here we come

As usual the programs are more of impromptu kind thus railway bookings in such situations are always a herculean task and this time too we ended up with RAC tickets. Gujarat trains waiting list are quite slow in moment hence even on the day of journey our tickets were not confirmed and upon that we were hit by another bomb when Nikhil called in to say that he cannot make it as some urgent work has turned up at his office. I take these kind of things in my stride because for a regular traveler these kind of situations are more of Deja Vu experience and like a seasoned traveler we have to work around all these obstacles, hence I requested Nikhil to meet us in Diu and this way he too can travel and only miss out on Dwarka.

We took Saurashtra Mail  which leaves at 21.35 from Mumbai Central and the train reached Dwarka in the afternoon at 4 pm ( Official time is 2:30 pm , our train was late)

After getting down from the station we took autoriksha to our hotel. During the auto journey to hotel I fixed up with my auto guy to take us for local sightseeing; Within an hour we were all ready and all set to explore local Dwarka today.

Dwarka is one of the Chardham, other three being Puri ,Badrinath and Rameshwar. Dwarka is also one of the Sapta Puri meaning that it is one of the seven most ancient cities of India. Dwarka is situated on the coastal strip of Gujarat.

There are so many tales connected with this city which we will keep narrating in the due course of my blog. For a start let us begin with the connection of Dwarka and the name given to lord Krishna "Ranchod Das"

 Jarasandha, the king of Magadha, had married his daughters Asti and Prapti to Kamsa, Krishna's maternal Uncle. After Krishna killed his Uncle Kamsa, Jarashandh was furious with him because his daughters were widowed due to Krishna. He decided to teach Krishna and the Yadavas a lesson. Since the Yadavas were concentrated in and around Mathura, he decided to battle them and destroy the race forever. 

These repeated attacks on Mathura forced Lord Krishna to move out of Mathura and settle at a new place. But to build a whole new city was not a joke but it was here that Vishwakarma the chief architect of gods in those days came to the rescue of Lord Krishna because when he was questioned as to how long it would take to construct a new city he smiled and replied that the city has already been built under water and can be raised above the sea water anytime on their approval. Infact behind this whole tale the was a name given to Lord Krishna i.e."Ranchod Das" meaning the one who ran away from the battle. Ran-Battle Chod-leave or run.( But one must remember here that lord Krishna didnt leave because he was a coward but because he was to save the subjects of his kingdom from the wrath of Jarasandha. 

Dwarka town is full of temples, you find temples at every nook and corner. "itne resturants nahi milege jitne mandir honge". 

As far as our journey was concerned we started our sightseeing the Laxmi narayan Mandir. It was a simple temple with not much to talk about. We had a darshan here and moved on to our next temple i.e Gayatri Sakhtipeeth Temple.

Gayatri Sakhtipeeth Temple

View from the Gayatri Sakhtipeeth Temple

Talking about Gayatri Sakhtipeeth, this temple is just next to the sea and is probably the only temple of Gayatri Mata in Dwarka. One Dharamshala next to the temple could be seem. I presume its associated with this temple to facilitate the religious pilgrims who come there.

View from the Gayatri Sakhtipeeth Temple

More than the temple I liked the beauty of the settings around it.

Impressive structures near the temple

The sea,the sitting area created across the temple, which of course is not the part of the temple looked very beautiful.

Sitting area near the Temple

Taking advantage of the ambiance we all took turns to indulge in photography.

Golden glow of the sun creating a picture perfect image

Trying different angles

Standing next to the temple one can also see Lighthouse which look very attractive with the combination of sea, stones and the sun.

Combination of sea, stones and the sun

From here on we moved toward the Gita mandir 

Gita Mandir is situated towards the Western Ghats of Dwarka, close to the Bhadkeshwar Mahadev Mandir. This temple was built by the industrialist family of Birlas in 1970. The temple is constructed using marble, which adds to the beauty of the temple. This shrine was built to protect the rich scripture, teachings and values of the religious book of Hindus, the 'Bhagavad Gita'.

Besides, the walls of the temple are carved with the hymns of Bhagavad Gita. We were informed by the priest that the temple ceiling is designed is a special way so that every voice heard in the hall is echoed.( I felt it was more due to emptiness of the hall). (Sorry don't have the pictures of this temple due to some malfunction with my camera here) 

The sun was on the verge of setting

The sun was almost on the verge of setting so we rushed toward the Bhadkeshwar temple , as I didn't want to miss the beauty of the setting sun on the horizon of the Arabian sea.

Bhadkeshwar Mahadev temple

Bhadkeshwar Mahadev temple as the name suggest was Shiva temple which is little away from the land mass joined by the cemented path built from land to the temple. The Badkeshwar darshan timing are from sunrise to sunset. The best time to visit Bhadkeshwar is around sunset when you get enchanted by the golden sheet of sea bed and the towering temple in that backdrop.This spot is so beautiful that you can indeed have panoramic view of the coastline with small boats blinking in the view on far horizon.

boats blinking on the horizon

Our first day at Dwarka was drawing to close and with heavy heart we had to bid adieu to the magical sea,Gentle breeze and those exotic birds but not before hogging few Panipuris, Bhuta and yummy Kesar pista Kulfi and finally boarded autoriksha to our Hotel.

Exotic Bird

Tommorrow we shall be visiting Nageshwer Jyotiling (Click here to read the next part), one of the famous Jyotiling out of the 12 jyotilings spread across the length and breath of our country India. To know more check my next blog on Nageshwar Jyotiling temple.

Traveler Tips:
1. Do your train booking well in advance.
2. Autorikshas are available from outside the station. some are big and can accommodate more than 5 people.
3.Autorikshas are not metered so do collect some info in advance as to the fare charged.
4. We paid Rs 300 for local city sightseeing.(year 2018)

DurgBhandar Trek, Nashik : Part 2

We had just finished our Bhramgiri Trek (You can click on this link to read), the source of Godavari river. We rested a bit,snatching few moments for early morning breakfast which extended from chapatis to pickle and nimbu pani and tea.It was now time to move towards our next destination, DurgBandar Fort. We left the temple premise and started walking along the railing towards the Shiv Jatta Mandir.

 The colossal plateau offers some of the most amazing views

each scene unfolded just like a picture book in front of us.

The undulating mountains left me speechless.

But just like a true traveler I cannot afford to fall in love with the place, got to move on..... Kyo ki  Nazaaro ke liye rukh gaya toh Manzil bura maan jayegi. 

Enroute to Bandardurg we first come across the Shiv Jatta Mandir. Its a small temple on the opposite corner of the Bhramgiri Temple.

Shiv Jatta Temple in other corner

Outside view of Shiv Jatta Mandir

Inside view of Shiv Jatta Mandir

 Now there is a folklore associated with this temple. It is believed that after the sin of Gau hatya (Killing Of the cow) was committed by Rishi Gautami he was advised to pray to Lord Shiva who will absolve him from his sins by releasing the river Ganga so as to wash away his sins, pleased with the penance Lord Shiva gave river Ganga to him, however Ganga was very attached to Lord Shiva so she refused to let go his hairs where she resided.Lord Shiva was infuriated and he started his Tandav Nritya and dashed his jata(Hairs) on the stone,frightened by this the Ganga appeared there.(Source of the story Internet)

Another thing that I noticed were these small stones kept one over the other, The locals told me that people do this so that there wishes are granted.I remembered seeing this at Bhimashankar Temple and yes even at few of the Himalayan treks that I did.Its all matter of Faith....Jider baat Vishwaas ki hoti hai.... toh koi logic nahi chalega

Peculiar Stone stacking ...its all about Prayers and wishes

Next to the Shiv Jatta Temple is a small water cistern or well, I was told that it has a potable water, Seeing the water I wont take the chances but on lighter note I would say as Indians we can drink any kind of water and nothing can happen to us.(Disclaimer: Don't take this observation of mine too seriously 😃) 

Water well next to Shiv Jatta Temple

 It was now time to move on from here to our next thrilling experience, hence we started to walk between the Shiv Jatta Mandir and the water well as seen in above picture, but towards the back side of the temple  to our next destination, that's Durg Bhandar.

View from backside of the Shiv Jatta Mandir

The walk from here was through dense vegetation with the valley on our left side our walk was through thick vegetation as we had gone after the rainy season.

Walking through the thick vegetation though irritating and dangerous  due to danger of snakes giving a sweet little peck on our feet 😅 ) but felt interesting due to the presence of lovely yellow flowers all around us.

and picturesque surroundings and the inviting looks of the dome shaped  Bhandardurg ahead.
 .

That's the place where we want to go....Bhandardurg
Here I come

this walk through the vegetation lasted for hardly a 10 minutes and we come across a small water cistern and little further walk as we start to really feel the presence of being near our destination and we see the dome shape of the Bhandardurg ahead 

Sanjog here trying to capture the
Dome shaped mountain of Bhandardurg.

Our trek is like walking on top of the mountain till we reach the stone steps.The picture below will help you understand our trek.

This walk abruptly comes to an end near a narrow passage with stones steps going down  20-30 steps and giving almost mystical experience as you descend to the bottom.

Mouth of the stone steps going down.

Narrow stone stairs 

Climbing down these narrow stairs were making me feel very claustrophobic, I actually hate close spaces but thankfully I was immersed in the eerie feeling of the place that I didn't realised when I had reached the bottom of this stairs but before I could let out  sigh of relief I saw this small hole like stone doorway through which I had to crawl to get out of this place. Hey Ram! ab yeh kya naya stunt ! 

OMG ! Am I got to crawl through this....No way

yes that's what my first reaction was.. Omg! am I to crawl through this...No way 😰, someone from the gang tapped on my shoulder and said "buddy this is the only way! well, ab marta, kya na karta, so Chal pada" a little crawl and I come out on the other side in a bright sunlight.

Uff...out in the sunlight again

Standing here I could see long ridge on which I had to walk to reach the outer side.

Ready to walk on this ridge

Walking on the ridge is always a thrilling experience as you can feel the breeze and the thrill factor is always on top form.As soon as this ridge walk ends We see another small entry door , something similar that we left behind so crawling time again 😄😄

Crawl time again

Crawling through this small entry door we again reach the narrow passage of stone stairs. so this time we got to climb to reach the top. 

Climb thru the dark stairs

Coming out of this narrow stairway we reach the top of bhandardurg but still little walk through narrow stone cut rocks were awaiting us.

Narrow stone cut rocks

Walking through this narrow path was quite awesome because the view of the lake and the civilization below looked very beautiful from here 

Beautiful views

There is a small bastion , where we all assembled together and had mini breakfast break with a group selfie thrown in and some personal photo shoot.

Selfie Time

I was here....Moment !!! 

It was now time to go back and the return journey was quick albeit the monkey scare that we got on our way back to the base.It was a fun trek which can be easily done in a day.

 

Bhramgiri Trek-Part 1

The biggest happiness that one can derive is when an often failed plan materialises and becomes a reality, Some thing similar happened with me when most often my plan to Bhramgiri trek used to get cancelled. Four years I waited and finally it happened for me. Thanks to my friend Sanjay Khadeji who informed me that they are going for this trek and I readily jumped upon this opportunity.

Me and Sanjayji

We left at 11.pm from Kalyan and it was 3.30 am when we reached the base of Bhramgiri trek. We felt it would be too dark so thought it wiser to catch a small cat nap and start around 6.00 am.

What I like about treks and especially the one like Bhramgiri is the stories attached to them.Now whether the stories are true or not is not my concern, it excites me and in a way help me to feel more about the place that I am visiting.

Time For Some Story Time:
Bhramgiri as the name sounds means the hill of Brahma, According to the mythology Saint Gautam and his wife Ahalaya resided on this hill.It so happened that saint Gautam unintentionally killed a cow ( Hai ! Gau Hatya)  so to wash away his sins he worshipped Lord Shiva to bring Ganga on earth from the heaven. Lord Shiva was impressed by the devotion of Gautam and hence requested Mata Ganga to to flow down to earth in form of Godavari to wash away the sins and purify him. Perhaps due to this reason the river is also called Gautami river.

Then there is another story which considers Brahmagiri Hill as a huge form of lord Shiva and hence climbing this mountain was considered to be a sin.(Hai! Paap).

In the year 1908 seth Lalchand of Karachi (dont forget pakistan was once part of India) and sheth Ganeshdas built 500 stone steps at the cost of Rs 40000.

Now our Story:

We started our trek from these Rs 40000 worth stone stairs which are thankfully reconstructed. It was still dark so we had our head lamps on, As the initial route was from the stairs so there was no worries of falling from the cliff.This been a holy pilgrim place so its not uncommon to find devotees climbing like us in wee hours of the day.

Trek starts from the stone stair case (with Niraj and Sanjog)

Early morning climb accompanied by cool breeze was the perfect recipe for us, laughing cracking jokes and some of us trying to take pictures in low light was the order of the day till now.As we were climbing through proper stairs, so hike was not at all a tough preposition.

Narrow passage before the first Darwaza

After climbing for an hour or so these stone stairs bring you to spot where there is a narrow passage and the first Darwaza. Enclosed passage with high stone walls can give eerie feelings. 

Mountain and a lake...a perfect union

 However just before entering this narrow passage the scene looks absolutely amazing, red skyline atop the mountain range and a lake below was a perfect setting, the time stood still.

Time stood still

 As I stood admiring the beauty around me I was jolted to reality when something happened which I was wishing away, Someone shouted "Arre dekho Bandar aage" Yes it was the attack of monkeys. Actually I don't know who was more afraid they or us. There were monkeys all over the rocks ready to pull ambush on us. Thankfully Nikam sir had borrowed stout stick from the tea seller at the base and like a trained warrior I must say he started hitting the stick  on the rock and ensuring that we all keep moving safely. It was not a long battle but when it lasted it did lasted and before we could realise we were at the first Gate.

 Photography was done under the most stressful conditions and once we entered the gate we could breathe easy.These rock stairs keep going even after the Darwaza.

Ancient Stone Entrance

Little climb and we could see a plateau. Just out of the stress everyone took out their Cameras and we had our photo session Koi pattar per chad kar toh koi fence par. Sanjayji had to push everyone to move from there and finally we moved our bums and started further walk towards the right side after coming out from these stone stairs and one can see the hanuman idol.

Walking through this part was really a joyful experience especially when you see yellow, white, purple flowers smiling and waving at you in sheer happiness ( Ab yeh mat bolna ki fake mar raha hai....arre kabhi william wordsworth ki Daffodil padhi hai kya, bas woh wala ahsaas tha...Kya samjhe !!)   

phoolo ke dere hain, saaye ghanere hain ,
jhoom rahi hain havaayen,aise nazaaro mein,
 khilti bahaaro mein pyaar mile to ruk jaayen

Nazare ka luft lejiye hazoor...
Oye Niraj mudkar kya dekh raha hai

I must have hardly moved out walking from this blissful experience of flowers and country side view and taking this stone laden path,that another mesmerising moment was waiting to happen.

Stone laden path going towards the Temple

 Yes!! The moment that I always look forward to with a baited breath, the moment when the sun rise, cutting across the maze of clouds and spilling the golden gleam over the humanity.... ( kuch jyada toh nahi ho gaya na... arre bhawnao me bah gaya yaaro.)But just have a look at pictures and tell me ...Kon nahi hoga yamlaa pagala deewana.😄

Thank God for such amazing morning

Sunrise at mountain top 

After enjoying the Mountain top sunrise we reached the plateau which spreads like a big playground sloping downwards and standing atop from here on our left side is the Bhramagiri Temple and on the right side is Jatayu temple.

Amazing view from the Plateau

Bhramagiri Temple on the left from where we stood

Jata Mandir on the right side 

There are actually stairs leading towards the Bhramgiri Temple. one has to descend little and you reach Bhramgiri Temple. 

View of Bhramgiri Temple

The temple is almost perched on the edge and standing along the railing one can see the Harihar, Basgad Forts.

 I was told that in Shravan season one can see hordes of pilgrims coming to this place, luckily for us it was deserted today. Once you enter the temple you see a small kund and on the right side of the gate the sacred Shivling is there and as usual the nandi outside it.

Shivling of Bhramagiri Temple

Nandi 

And just opposite this Shivling  is the idol of  Devi Godamai and just below that there is Goumuk from which the river originates and pours into the Kund. 

Devi Godamai with water flowing from Goumukh

We paid our respect and moved on to another temple little ahead of this.Few steps forward  and on our left we see another kund , though neglected in today's time, I couldn't find any historical reference to it. Probably it may be a storage tank in the olden days.

Old neglected Pond

After checking out this enclosed water pond and taking the picture I moved out from here and I come across the Mulganga temple, purported to be the source of sacred River Godavari.Source situated at an altitude of 1298 mts.

Mulganga..Source of Godavari River

If you ask me I was very excited to come and watch the source of Godavari River  but Yeh kya such ill kept place , Arre I really felt bad for Mother Godavari. With so much Pilgrims coming and visiting I dont understand why can't they maintain it in a much better manner.Such holy place aur yeh haal...Uff 

Oh! Is this the source of Godavari River

One look around this temple we see different idols all around. Most prominently perched on a slab is the idols of Rishi Gautam and his wife Ahalya.
 

Rishi Gautam and Wife Ahalya

You must be wondering what significance does this Idol of Rishi Gautam and his wife holds at the spot of source of Godavari River, Well India is country of tales. Ab yahan bhi ek kahani hai (here is also there another story) Ab jaise film Kahani pasand aayi thi toh aap ko Kahani 2 ka intezaar tha , waise hi agar yeh blog pasand aaya ho to intezaar kare meri bhi Kahani 2 ka.

So Stay tuned and wait for the folklore of Rishi gautam , Shiv Jata Mandir and finally the Thrilling DurgBandar in my next blog.

Thank You