Ranakpur, temple town of Rajasthan

From Jodhpur we proceeded towards Ranakpur which is located in the remote valley of Aravali range. It is situated in the Pali district to the North of Udaipur. It has one of the largest and most important Jain Temples in the country. The place is well connected through a road network to other places in the region. Ranakpur is named after Rana Kumbha whom Dharna Sah, a Jain businessman, approached when he had the vision of his great temple to ask for the land for its construction. Renowned for some marvelously carved Jain temples in amber stone, Ranakpur is one of the five holiest places of the Jain community and exceptional in beauty. ( Click on the images for the bigger view).

Jain Temple

Ranakpur is one of the five holiest places of the Jain community. It is famous because of some marvelously carved Jain temples in amber stone, of exceptional beauty. The dating of this temple is controversial but it is largely considered to be anywhere between the late 14th to mid-15th centuries.

This temple is dedicated to Adinatha. The temple occupies an area of approximately 60 x 62 meters. The temple, with its distinctive domes, shikhara, turrets and cupolas rises majestically from the slope of a hill. The temple is designed as caumukha—with four faces.The construction of the temple and quadrupled image symbolize the Tirthankara's conquest of the four cardinal directions and hence the cosmos.
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Entering the temple one is overwhelmed by the the lavish abundance of marvelous stonemason works on white marble. There are four subsidiary shrines, 24 pillared halls and all in all 1444 columns each from one piece and all rich decorated with most elaborate sculptures. The pillars, carved in exquisite detail, support the temple. The pillars are all differently carved and no two pillars are the same.

Also all the statues face one or the other statue. The artistically carved nymphs playing the flute in various dance postures at a height of 45 feet are an engrossing sight. In the assembly hall, there are two big bells weighing 108 kgs. whose sound echoes in the entire complex.

There is one beautiful carving made out of a single marble rock where there 108 heads of snakes and numerous tails. One cannot find the end of the tails. The image faces all four cardinal directions.

Carvings in the ceilings are not alike. There are approximately 6 big ceilings and many more smaller ones. The carvings in the big ceiling are amazing and they are very different from each other.

One of the smaller ceiling has carving of Ohm. It is impossible to count number of ohms carved into it. It is a beautiful carving one should not miss.

Sun Temple

Ranakpur is widely known for its marble Jain temple, and for a much older Sun Temple which lies opposite the former. It was built around the 13th century and renovated in the 15th century. Built of white lime stone in the classic Nagara style, the temple shows a profusion of intricate sculptural work. It consists of a sanctum crowned with Shikhara and an octagonal mandapam which has six verandas. Exterior of the sanctum contains the sculptures of Sun God seated on a chariot.

From Ranakpur we traveled to Mount Abu, Hill of Wisdom

Distance: Ranakpur ---> Mount Abu 181 kms

P.S: December is the month when lot of tourists land in Rajasthan. So if you really want all the arrangements to be done properly this has to be done before October end.

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Kumbalgarh, the Unconquered Fort

Next day early morning we left from Mount Abu towards our journey to Udaipur. On the way we visited quite a few marvelous places. One among them is Kumbhalgarh.

The most important tourist attractions here are:

The Fort

Rana Kumbh built this massive fort in 15th century in the Aravali ranges. A few kilometers of zigzag road through deep ravines and thick forests leads one to this fort. This massive fort stretches across 36 kms of the Aravali Mountains and is 1100 m high from the sea level. This is surrounded by thirteen mountain peaks, guarded by seven great gates and seven ramparts, strengthened by rounded bastions and immense watchtowers. This mountain fortress has been through many battles and has remained un-conquered.

The fort has seven gates and the last gate leads one to the palace. The first one is Arait Pol, where you can trace the watch-tower and Other gates are Hulla Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ram Pol, Bhairava Pol, Paghra Pol, Top-khana Pol and Nimboo Pol.

The seven ramparts folded with one another with designed walls toughened by curved bastions and huge watch towers. The strong structure of walls of the Fort made it unbeatable till date. The hefty walls of the fort are broad enough to stand eight horses side by side.

There are many palaces, temples and gardens inside this huge fort complex. It is believed that there are not less than 360 temples inside the complex of the Fort. Amongst all of them, Shiva Temple is worth visiting that comprises a huge Shivalinga (Phallic form).
On top of the fort is the Badal Mahal Palace or the Palace of Cloud. It encloses beautiful rooms with pleasant color schemes of green, turquoise and white. This palace is very different when compared to rest of the raw and grim fortress. The palace was rebuilt by Rana Fateh Singh in the late 19th century. The legendary Maharana Pratap was born here.

The Wildlife Sanctuary

Sited in the flourishing green zone of Udaipur, Kumbalgarh is the only sanctuary of Rajasthan, where one can see one of the rarely found wolfs. This is one of the few parks that allow people on horseback. The best time to visit the reserve is from October to June.

We did not visit this as we had not planned for this.

From Kumbalgarh, we traveled to Udaipur, City of Lakes.

Distance: Kumbalgarh ---> Udaipur 64 kms

P.S: December is the month when lot of tourists land in Rajasthan. So if you really want all the arrangements to be done properly this has to be done before October end.

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