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)

Champaner Series | Iteri Masjid | Part 3

After exploring the Shaher ki masjid(Click here to read), I enquired with the the security guy as to where the other mosques are. He advised me to check out other mosques like Kevada Masjid and Nagina Masjid first and in the end finish my exploration with Jami Masjid. In fact most of the tourist who come here generally go to  Jami Masjid first. 

As advised by the security guy I ventured to explore Kevada Masjid, Taking the directions from him I set out , little walk and on my left I saw this gate of custom house.

Custom House

 I think it housed Govt office so I didn't go inside to check out. Again a little walk into the village Yes! within the walls of Champaner you find these small village houses, reaching at a T section I turned left with the boundary walls of the heritage site quite visible on the right side.

Boundary walls on the right side quite visible

Its here I got little confused when a villager told me to turn around and take the route exactly opposite to where I was walking. I said but the sign board say its on this side. He mocked at me and said "Arre Is raste se jungle me kahan batak te rahoge", for a minute I was in two mind and turned back but I dont know what came over me and I started to follow my original instinct to walk through the thick vegetation route.(The thing he called jungle 😜 )

Exit to thick vegetation route

Actually only Shaher ki Masjid is within the fortified walls of the complex, rest of all the Masjids are scattered outside this complex hence I moved out of the complex from the exit door and began my solo walk.
Hey neele gagan ke tale, jungle ki aur chale 

Exit Door

 With only the sound of birds and not a soul to be around you, the feeling could be very eerie. 

Bole tho darr bhi lagta hai aur majja bhi aata hai

Dhadakta dil ek hi baat bol raha tha woh Sholay wala dialogue                                    "Bhai Itna sanaata kyo hai"

Itna Sanaata kyo hai bhai

Sunsan raste per chalte hue ek minute ke liye yeah khayal bhi aaya ki, yahan akele me koi loot kar legaya toh... 

well actually these are honestly the vagaries of a Solo backpacker, walking little more deeper into this lonely track I saw this board of Brick Masjid alias Iteri Masjid . "Arre but no one told me anything about this Mosque".

Sign board of Iteri Majid and Amir Manzil

I took the left turn from the signboard and walked further, Just because I had seen the sign board so I was feeling confident that I'll find the place otherwise the track was too lonely and dense for my comfort. In fact at one moment my heart came in my mouth when I saw moment in the bushes and next moment PLOP! out jumps the peacock and run over towards the bushes on other side. Sigh !

The path was getting more dense

Just when I was losing all hopes I see this hopelessly standing Masjid of bricks in front of me.

Iteri Masjid

But before I could jump with happiness at my find, I saw few of these Buffalos grazing and seeing an intruder like me with swinging camera and walking towards them must have startled them, Perhaps that is the reason  they gave me fierce and fiery looks which almost stopped me in my tracks. 

Aa Dekhe Zara moment

Sach pucho toh yeh "Aa Dekhe Zara kisme kitna hai dum" moment tha. Half shivering I bravely stood my ground and took the picture of Brick masjid from a distance. "Ab yeh pata nahi tha ki woh kali bhains mere se utna hi darr rahi thi jitna mai usse."

Mere angane me tumhara kya kaam

I took few pictures and started to walk further in search of Amir Mahal, but after walking for 10 minutes I came to a dead end hence I retraced my steps till I was again at the Brick Masjid.( Sadly I didn't find Amir Mahal) 

View of Iteri Masjid

Luckily this time those dangerous looking baffalos had moved out. Garnering some courage I candidly moved near this Mosque to have closer look.

Closer looks of the Iteri Masjid

I climbed on the broken wall to reach the mosque platform to entered the Mosque. As the wall was narrow hence I had be be careful and worst the bricks were unevenly place. Ek khayal aaya tha tab, ki agar gir gaya toh koi utane hi nahi aayega aur phir ghabrat me woh kali bhains bhi yad aayegi

Narrow broken wall from where I climbed 

Upon reaching the top of platform I realised that there is not much to be seen. So the next best thing that I could think of was to shoot this Mosque from different angle. 

Angle Play

The plaster of this mosque has come off, exposing the bricks , probably that is the reason for the name Brick Masjid.

 Though on the minarets of the centre entrance few dilapidated carvings could be seen.

There was hardly anything behind the structure except for few ruined walls of the rooms and some overgrown grass.

Ruins behind the Mosque Facade

I wanted to explore little deeper but got worried that some snake may pop out from the grass to greet me Good morning 😅😅😅😅 

Socha aaj ke liye Bhains aur peacock ka fright kafi tha....


This mosque is in total neglected state, No ASI sign, no gate, no caretaker.

Dilapidated Walls of masjid

Probably it may not be so significant structure of its times. But who cares!

Hum toh woh hai , jin ko Dewaar toh chodo, Giri Dewaaro se bhi pyar hai, Hence enjoyed the moment and moved on.

Thank you for reading the blog hope you enjoyed the journey and be prepared to read about another beautiful Mosque i.e Kevada Masjid in my next blog, till then stay tuned.

TRAVEL TIP:1.Please carry your food and water.
                      2.Cap and Sunglasses could be quite handy.

Champaner Series | Shaher ki Masjid | Part 2

After the topsy turvy ride from Vadodara station to Champaner I was all set to explore the treasures of the past.(To know about the Champaner and my interesting journey click on this link Champaner Series- The journey-part 1

Entry Gate

It was 8 am when I reached the gates of Champaner world heritage site. My joys were dampen when I saw huge crowd of people at the gate, blowing those crazy horns, donning goggles and taking selfies,for a second I thought coming in navaratris was a bad idea specially with Pavagadh Kalkaji temple just opposite this site.

Lekin ab aaye hu toh dekh kar toh pakka jaunga

The gate through which  I entered the site is known as South Bhadra Gate. 

Plaque outside the Entry Gate

Passage

I walked through a passage with a big partition wall and then came across a huge second gate.

Huge second gate

When I entered this gate I saw the fortification wall on the left.

Fortification wall

 Actually this fortification wall runs around this Champaner site and the two mosques Shaher ki Masjid and Jami Masjid lies within this complex.The other three mosques i.e Brick Masjid , Kevada Masjid and Nagina Masjid on the outer side of the fortification wall.

One can see the Fortification wall in the picture

Moving towards the right side I come across a beautiful mosque Saher ki Masjid. Just outside the mosque there is this small ticket office where I paid Rs 30 as entry fee,I was informed by the office bearer that I have to retain the ticket after visiting this Masjid as the same ticket has to be shown at the entry point of Jami Masjid also. 

Beautiful Shaher Ki Masjid

Shaher ki Masjid, if literally translated means " Mosque of the city". Basically it's a private mosque built for the royal family and nobles of Gujarat Sultanate during 15-16 Century.

Mix of Indian and Islamic Architechure

Talking of the architectural aspects of this masjid, it's a mix of Indian trabeate consisting of pillars and beams and Islamic arcuate consisting of columns and arch.

Me standing on the raised platform
on which this mosque is built.

This Masjid is constructed on a raised platform.with well maintained lawn in front of the mosque. ASI has done the good job of maintaining this heritage.

 The Mosque has a large prayer hall admeasuring 56x40 metres.

Large Prayer Hall

This prayer hall has five Mirhabs and can be accessed through a central arched entrance flanked by two minarets on both sides.

Two Minarets

Central gate 

In addition to this there are two arched entrances on either side of the central one fringed by Jharokhas.

Jharokas next to the entrances

There are large domes on top corresponding to each arched entrance. The Minarets have some exquisite cravings which appears more hindu in nature than islamic. 

 Exquisite cravings

Absorbing the beautiful sight of this amazing mosque I moved on to explore the next gem Jami Masjid. Please stay tuned for my next blog on Iteri Masjid.(⇐ click here to read)

Thank You

Champaner Series | The journey | part 1

This is how it began.....

It all started during my trip to Jodhpur (you can read from this link about my Jodhpur Series) last month, when a co passenger in the train dropped this name Champaner near vadodara, a sucker that I am for any new off beat destination I was kind of all ears to him. I could see the joy on his face as he was describing the place to me.

Sir this place was lost to people for more than 500 years !

You must see this wonderful confluence of Islamic, Hindu and Jain culture in the construction of these monuments and

above all this Champaner was declared as UNESCO world heritage site !

It was then and there I knew that I won't be able to sleep peacefully if I don't visit this place. Well I asked few of my friends if they could join me but every one  was busy , Friday night I decided that I'm going what may come , so I packed my backpack which consists of bare necessities and of course my love my camera and I was off to Mumbai central station to catch late night Vadodara Express which departs at 11.40 to Vadodara.

All set to go on a night train to Vadodara

Due to unreserved journey I had tough time managing to sleep and when I was all set to go to sleep Vadodara Station has arrived. It was 6:30 am when I reached Vadodara station. I quickly had khaman for breakfast at the station and then moved on to the Vadodara Central bus station which is very near to the Railway station. 

Vadodara Central Bus Station (Pic source internet)

Catching bus from ST stand are the real challenge, Though I enquired at the bus counter for the bus to Champaner I was told to take pavagadh bus from platform 16,  Upon reaching the bus  platform 16 when I saw the name pavagadh I asked the conductor whether this bus go to Champaner he said no, but you go from there to Champaner, so all confusion.

Platform no 16 at Vadodara Central Station( Pic source internet)

Just then I saw a Rajasthan roadway bus and people jumped from the bus in which I was sitting to the Rajasthan roadways bus going to pavagadh, I too jumped and got in it. When I asked for the ticket to Pavagadh ,the conductor told me that this bus will drop me to Halol and from there I'll have to take an auto or bus to Pavagadh. I was like Hey Bhagwan, Meri maddat karo. Anyways this journey to Halol lasted around an hour and luckily I found a bus going to Pavagadh from there. This time I didn't take a chance and kept the GPS On, on my phone and as soon as I read Champaner I told the bus guy to stop he said Arre saheb, Bus stand 1 min hi door hai . So I quitely sat down and indeed realised that the Pavagadh ST bus station is just opposite the Champaner World heritage.

Pavagadh ST bus Station( Pic source internet)

 See the irony that Vadodara station have this large poster in their waiting room and yet the locals are unaware of this treasure in their back yard.

Poster at Vadodara Waiting Room

At last this topsy turvy journey of mine came to an end and I was all set to step into the world of Ancient era of UNESCO World heritage site of Champaner. So what is this Champaner all about well here is little info you can use.

Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park

It is a concentration of largely unexcavated archaeological, historic and living cultural heritage properties cradled in an impressive landscape which includes prehistoric (chalcolithic) sites, a hill fortress of an early Hindu capital, and remains of the 16th-century capital of the state of Gujarat. The site also includes, among other vestiges, fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, residential precincts, agricultural structures and water installations, from the 8th to 14th centuries. The Kalikamata Temple on top of Pavagadh Hill is considered to be an important shrine, attracting large numbers of pilgrims throughout the year. The site is the only complete and unchanged Islamic pre-Mughal city.

Justification for it been a World Heritage site

Criterion (iii): The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park with its ancient Hindu architecture, temples and special water retaining installations together with its religious, military and agricultural structures, dating back to the regional Capital City built by Mehmud Begda in the 16th century, represents cultures which have disappeared.

Criterion (iv): The structures represent a perfect blend of Hindu-Moslem architecture, mainly in the Great Mosque (Jami Masjid), which was a model for later mosque architecture in India. This special style comes from the significant period of regional sultanates.

Criterion (v): The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is an outstanding example of a very short living Capital, making the best use of its setting, topography and natural features. It is quite vulnerable due to abandonment, forest takeover and modern life.


Criterion (vi): The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park  place of worship and continuous pilgrimage for Hindu believers.

 Aren't you excited like me to know the history and explore the grandeur of the past era consisting of some of the amazing Mosques,Jain Temples and cenotaphs.

Well then stay tuned till my next blog on amazing Shaher ki Masjid.

Thank you