Tuesday, June 2, 2015

North Gujarat


  • Maa Ambaji

    Ambaji is an important temple town with millions of devotees visiting the Ambaji temple every year. It is one of the 51 Shaktipeeths. The full moon of Bhadrapad is one of the four most important festival days of the year, when farmers and agriculturists come to Ambaji.
  • Gabbar Hill

    Gabbar (or Gabbargadh), a small hillock about four km to the west of Ambaji village, is believed to have been the original seat of the goddess, the site of Krishna's tonsorial ceremony (ritual head-shaving), and the abode of the divine Mahishasur-Mardini. The hill is very steep and difficult to climb. There are 300 stone steps at the foot of the hill after which the pilgrims have to climb through a narrow dangerous track. On the flat top of the hill there is a small niche facing the temple of Ambaji, in which a well-protected lamp is kept constantly burning, and can be seen from the main Ambaji temple at night. There are footprints of the Goddess under a pipal tree, which are worshipped.
  • Shri Koteshwar Mahadev

    Shri Koteshwar Mahadev Temple is situated 8 km from Ambaji near Saraswati River. As per a legend there was an Ashram of Rushi Valmiki, the author of Ramayana, near Valmiki Mahadev temple and the King of Mevad, Maha Rana Pratap had renovated this holy temple, It is said that during the Mutiny of Independence in 1857, Nana Saheb Peshwa had taken his abode in the cave of this temple. This Place is a beautiful & peaceful in forest.
  • Kamakshi Mandir

    Kamakshi Mandir is situated in the vicinity of Kumbhariya Jain Temple at a distance of 3.6 km from Ambaji. Tourists visit the temple to learn about various incarnations of Adhya Shakti Mata. Tourists can also receive the blessings of one of the 51 Shaktipeeths at this location. The temple is finely decorated during the Navratri festival celebration and is visited by tourists and devotees in large numbers.
  • Kumbhariya Jain Temple

    Kumbhariya Jain Temples are a group of Jain temples, constructed about 900 years ago. The temples are situated at a distance of 2.2 km from Ambaji in the district of Banaskantha, Gujarat. The group of temples is devoted to the five Jain Tirthankaras namely, Mahavira, Parshvanath, Neminath, Shantinath and Sambhavanath.
  • Kailash Hill

    Kailash Hill Sunset is a famous picnic spot and a pilgrimage site, which is about 1.5 km away from the Maa Amba Bhavani Temple. It has a Shivalaya on the top of the Kailash tekari, which can be reached only by climbing steps carved on the hill. A huge artistic stone gate has also been constructed at the Mahadev Temple by Shri Arasuri Ambaji Mata Devasthan Trust.
  • Taranga Hill

    Taranga is distance at 50 Kms from Ambaji, it is a three peaked hill in the Mehsana District of Gujarat. The river Rupen flows along the Taranga Hills; and to the east flows the river Sabarmati. Taranga tirtha is considered one of the most important Shvetambar Jain temples, one of the five most important mahatirthas of the Jains. Of the 108 places known as Siddhachal, where holy people have attained enlightenment, one is called "Tarangir". Temples of such magnitude as this one are generally built at a siddh kshetra, a holy place where saints are said to have attained enlightment. It is popularly believed that 35,000,000 munis, including Vardutt and Sagardutt, attained moksha here. Under the guidance of renowned Jain scholar and poet Hemachandracharya, the Solanki King Kumarpala (1145-72), ruling from the capital in Patan, converted to Jainism and laid the foundation for this colossal temple, adding it to his growing legacy, along with the restoration of the ruined Somnath temple and the construction of the walls of Vadnagar. It was renovated on a large scale in the 16th century during the rule of the Mughal emperor Akbar, who supported diversity of religions.
  • Ranki Vaav

    Rani (Queen) Udayamati commissioned this vav or stepwell, in 1063 in the memory of her husband King Bhimdev I of the Solanki dynasty. The vav was later flooded by the nearby Saraswati river and silted over until the late 1980s, when it was excavated by the Archeological Survey of India, with the carvings found in pristine condition. Rani Ki Vav is amongst the finest stepwells in India, and one of the most famous legacies of the ancient capital city. Ranki Vaav's distance is 1 hour from Mehsana The vavs of Gujarat are not merely sites for collecting water and socialising, but also simultaneously hold great spiritual significance. They were originally constructed quite simply, but became more intricate over the years, perhaps to make explicit this ancient concept of the sanctity of water by carving it out in stone deities. You may thus enter Rani Ki Vav as if it is a subterranean temple.
  • Modhera Temple

    As one traverses the length and breadth of Gujarat, one constantly stumbles across architectural legacies of the' Solanki' rule. You keep coming across, living spaces and monuments of another time, offering an eclectic glimpse of the artistic and ingenious beauty that makes this exotically state vibrant. A soothing drive amidst green farmlands just 35 km away from Mehsana on the way to the temples of goddess Bahucharaji reposes the village of Modhera. Set along the backdrop of River Pushpavati, surrounded by a terra-formed garden of flowering trees and songs of birds, rests the famed Sun temple of Modhera.
  • Vadnagar Kirti Toran

    The town is famous for its torans, a pair of 12th century columns supporting an arch, about 40 feet tall built in red and yellow sandstone, just north of the walled town. They stand majestically on the bank of Sharmistha Talav, on a road going down from Arjun Bari. They are among the few surviving examples of the entrance gates, once a regular feature of the architecture of Gujarat in Solanki period. The carving style is similar to the Rudra Mahalaya at Sidhpur. Perhaps erected after a war victory, the architecture is embellished with carvings of battle and hunting scenes. The one to the east is in better condition and has been used as a symbol of Gujarat in recent times. The torans might have served as an entrance to a large temple complex, but there are no remains found here. distance: By road: Mehsana (47km), Ahmedabad (111km). Local Transport: Non-metered auto rickshaws.

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