We had taken the spicejet "no-frills" flight to Ahmedabad. The next day arriving at the Akshardham temple complex it dawned to me that the "no-frills" travel was truly over. Akshardham with all its opulence, is built by the followers of the Swaminarayan pantha. There is no Puja, Garbha-griha etc the hallmarks of hindu temples. Fortified due to the terrorist attack, I could not manage a single photograph. The massive complex entertains massive populace. And the temple celebrates the Swaminarayan cult as seperate religion, away from Hinduism. Though the hindu gods are all present, the cult seems to be in this inebriated state due to the wealth amassed by its followers abroad. Had the terrorists known this, I guess they would have targeted the CM's residence instead (a stone throw away from the temple) and allowed such divisions to perpetuate.
Sometimes in travels, its the unexpected destinations that remain etched in ones mind. One such place for me from this trip was the Adalaj vav. The Sabarmati ashram is serene and a must see for its collection of photographs.
After the Ahmedabad sight-seeing, we headed to Lothal early next morning. To my surprise we ran into the CPM's inutile AB.Bardhan in the small museum. He seemed to be getting tutored on the lack of resemblance of today's deity's with those found on the old mud bricks kept there. I reflected within if I would see the day when the commie's AIT would be as extinct as lothal's rhinos. But as a place, lothal is all for ones imagination. We rushed to Palitana next. Starting the climb up at close to 3PM I was apprehensive if my mom could complete the climb up and back (4000X2 steps) before dusk. As always she beat my expectations. With more than 1000 Jain temples, all carved out of marble, this Adinath shrine lives up to the expectations of the hundreds of perspiring young men climbing barefoott after days of fasting.
Next day we headed to Gir, the sole natural habitat of the Asiatic lion. Entering the safari late evening in the open jeep, the joke which went round was that we were probably the first decendents in our family with Lord Narasimha as the family-patron-god, to actully see lion in the wild. For more than an hour all we saw was deer and neel-gai. The initial excitement due to close proximity of these fellows also died down. What we were looking for was so camouflaging that in an hour my mom had spotted a dozen lions and panthers, with our guide shaking his head vigorously in disbelief. But finally we spotted one. My binoculars helped. I guess we were the only ones, in almost a dozen jeeps to really see the king of the forest. It was far and was with its mate. But it was not until the next day when we saw few lions in captivity that we were satisfied.
The evening of 26th Dec, we reached Somanatha. Somanatha caught my imagination when Sri Advani embarked on the historic Rath-yatra. I heard of its history from my mother. And I read about it later in the words of KM Munshi. Till Hinduism stands, Somanatha will.
The chorus bhajan at the dawn and dusk are easily the most magnificent pujas that I have seen in any temple in my life. The atmosphere can melt a stone. The view of the new temple from the beach is fantastic. The facilites by the temple trust are as good as can be. The temple built by Ahilaya Bai Holkar with the linga hidden in the basement to preseve from the invading muslims is right opposite to the destroyed old temple. The late evening sound-n-light show, beamed on the temple itself and in the booming voice of Amrish Puri, left the packed crowd emotional. The next morning we visited the museum which preserves the remains of the destroyed temple.
After a brief jaunt at Nageshwar, a jyotir ling, we headed to Dwaraka. The real Dwaraka of Sri Krishna, bet-dwaraka, is today under sea. Discovered by the research of the great Sri SR Rao. For some reason I found Dwaraka to have the same aura as the other hindu religious sites in UP. After a visit to the temple and having participated in the wonderful evening bhajan, we witnessed the Dhwaj changing atop the gopuram. A man climbed up to the tip of the gopuram balancing on a 15 feet bamboo stick hoisting a 50 feet flag. A new flag for each day donated by competition. The Dwaraka Shankaracharaya peetha is present inside the temple complex.This trip was confined to the Kathiawar region of Gujarat. One the most prosperous country sides. I bide my time to come back to this region again...
