Modhera Sun Temple Tour Experience by Ashok Sir and Team

The trip to Modhera Sun Temple, Patan’s iconic rani ki vav, Patola House, Sidhpur’s Bohra haveli, Bindu Sarovar and Rudra Mahalay with the team Pikniks was the beyond and above our expectations. We all 8 members are happy and very thankful to the Pikniks Team (Myahmedabad.blog) along with the Executive Hardik to make our day very memorable for a lifetime.

Modhera Sun Temple is one of the popular trips from our many trips from Ahmedabad. We had a great trip with a group of 8 from IIM Ahmedabad. It’s our privileged to make their trip memorable.

Everyone including our drivers, Guides, and Patola house’s owner delighted after meeting each person in the group.

Generally, Patola house does not allow photography but the owner of Patola house allowed them also take photos with the group with their family.

What a great trip it was!! It was not only for them but it was great for all of us… Here are the wordings of the Ashok Sir…

Booking Process with Pikniks

On 27th May 2022, I had a called Pikniks (myahmedabad.blog) after reading clear-cut details about the Modhera – Patan – Sidhpur Trip. On-call, Piknik’s executive Hardik explained the price and schedule very precisely. I do not have any confusion in my mind. I have discussed and explained with my group of other 7 people and decided to hire the 8-seater Innova Crysta AC Car for our trip on 29th May 2022 Sunday.

They have not asked for a single advanced amount to confirm so we are in dilemma that whether the driver will come or not as we have not seen anywhere that booking can be done without any advanced amount. He shared with me Driver’s number, details and other related information on WhatsApp including the what to carry, schedule, destinations, amount and thanks note. I loved it. Then we got confidence that the driver will become for sure.

The Travel Day

At 4:30 AM sharp the Ganeshbhai came and we all tried to seat in the Innova Crysta.

Starting with hurdles

Ganeshbhai told that 8 people are not allowed in the car as it’s not suitable for this. He denied starting the car as his car modal has a capacity of 7 people. I was worried that all 8 are waiting for this trip and how it can be possible to say no at the last moment? I have requested Ganeshbhai a lot but he is not ready. We all tried to convince till 5 AM but nothing worked out.

Solutions

In the last call, I asked Hardik that is it possible to have 2 cars instead of one. If so, we all can go at least. He quickly said yes. Let me check. In 15 Mins around 6:00 AM, the Sedan AC car came with the driver. So I have asked laughingly driver Purvesh should we all 8 will go in this car? He smiled and shared that Ganesh’s Innova is coming back.

Somehow Hardik forced him to come back and continue the journey with less than 8 people. I have asked all the other 7 to come outside from the dorm. I have called Hardik and said, what will be the charges for this extra sedan car. He replied it’s complimentary for you!!! We look at each other’s faces forgetting all that happened in the last 1 hr. We started with our Fingers crossed!!!

Journey Begins

We are all hungry and wanted to do hangout by having tea. Stopped over at the Honest hotel after the Mahesana for the Breakfast. It was a delicious Hot Gujarati breakfast like Khaman, Fafda, Tea and Coffee. We had filled our stomachs with good breakfast and moving towards the Modhera

Modhera Sun Temple

Around 9 am we reached Modhera sun temple and enter the complex. The fee was nominal Rs. 50 per person. We have little background knowledge about the temple but it did not work because the structure was amazing and we were all confused and had a doubt about our understanding.

Guide @Modhera Sun Temple

We had a call to Hardik and arrange for the Guide to explain everything. He gave us Jayeshbhai the guide’s number and we connected him.

In our group, 2 persons know only English they don’t know Hindi or Gujarati. We had a taken demo of the explanation skill of the Jayeshbhai. He explained well in the demo thus we have decided to keep him for the guidance. We agreed to pay Rs. 500 for the whole group of 8 persons.

Key Facts he shared about the Modhera Sun Temple on which we all were stunned

• He showed that Temple’s diety is exactly located on the Tropic of Cancer at 23.5 degrees. We wonder how our ancestors know about it?
• 365 Elephants sculptures around the temple and each has a different position
• The knowledge of the direction and Vastu implemented in the temple
• The arts and crafts and engineering marvel of the temple. It was giving us goosebumps and given moments of pride.

After that, we did get time to see the museum as the temperature went up. We were moving forward towards the Patan Patola House

Patola House of Patan

We heard little about this only from the Piknik. So we follow the schedule and decided to include it in the itinerary. If we did not decide this, our trip did not have the charm that we felt.

Have you ever visited the Living Heritage in Arts? Which live for 1000+ Years? You must visit some monuments, houses, and sculptures but ever heard about Heritage Arts or 1000 years old arts?

When we entered the Patola house, we paid nominal fees of Rs. 10/Person. The old uncle was on the work of Patola and the young boy started explaining about the patola and shared its history of it.

When we heard about the Saree and observe the museum, our curiosity has been increased. That is noticed by the Savli family (Owner of the Patola house). The old uncle explained everything with the Passion.

Surprisingly he was allowed to take photographs with him which generally did not allow for anyone. They were impressed with our curiosity and showed in-depth. We had taken photos with the young boy too. We had taken almost 1.5 hrs in Patola house which was not we decided.

Key Facts about Patola Saree

• Its 1000 years old arts to make Sarees.
• It is made by only 3 families (Salvi family)
• The saree took 1 to 6 months to build
• Its price starts from Rs. 75000 to Rs. 5,00,000
• Saree’s lifespan is around 100 years
• It can be worn from both side
• The kind of Patan brought the Saree maker from Maharashtra 1000 years back.

After the patola house, it was very hot temperature around 1 PM. We had a take Sugarcane Juice just after for getting cool

Rani ki Vav

The temperature was high on top and we spend quality time in the Rani Ki Vav. We had some background knowledge about the Rani ki vav so it was looking familiar to us. We explored the things and were amazed by the sculpture inside it

Key facts about it

• It was made by Rani Udaimati in memory of his late husband
• It has 5 degrees cooler than the outside temperature
• It was saved and remains intact because it was filled with Saraswati river’s mud
• It was re-discovered in 1963 and excavated properly

After It, we went to the Carrefour hotel for the Delicious Punjabi food. It was very tasty.

Bohra Haveli

Then we went to Bohra haveli where the famous song Ghammariya has been filmed. It was the Italian-style Bohra haveli in the Sidhpur town. Our car has been parked in the middle of the Havelis and Driver explained about the facts about this haveli. It is called Zampli pol too.

Key Facts about Bohra Haveli

• It was made 100 years back in the Italian style
• All are in rows
• Nobody leaves here nowadays. Once a year the owner comes here to check

Rudra Mahalay

Rudra Mahalay stunned us a lot to us because it is older than the Modhera’s sun temple and more carved than that. It was created by king Sidhhraj Jaysinh to show devotion to lord shiv. Legend says that it was about 11 stories tall Shiv Temple. It is in ruined condition. Currently, it is protected and anyone is not allowed to go inside. Everyone can enjoy the beauty from the outside. Its replica is created and installed at the Shree Sthal Museum.

Bindu Sarovar, Matrugaya and Shree sthal museum

All three places are in 1 location. It is recently re-developed and touched to the highway. Bindu Sarovar is the only place where you can do the shradh of Mother. Due to this, it is called Matrugaya. Due to this, Sidhpur is considered the Kashi of Gujarat. The Kapil Rushi did the Matrushradhh here. In the Puran, Sidhpur is mentioned as ShreeSthal (Devine place). Every year Lacs of people come here in Kartik month (Diwali time) and perform the final ritual of mothers.

There is a beautiful museum Shree Sthal just next to it and it has lots of things to see about the place and find. It has a miniature of Rudra Mahalay.

After visiting this we started our returning journey.

Happy Ending/Trip conclude

In return around 6 PM we had taken a tea, leave for the Ahmedabad and around 8 pm had reached back to Ahmedabad. We pay the amount and thanks to Pikniks and relax in a dorm with lots of memory.

Please read about Schedule, Plan, Pricing and Schedule on this link about Modhera – Patan – Sidhpur one-day trip from Ahmedabad

Modhera – Patan – Sidhpur (One Day Tour)

Thanks – Ashok Patil (From Pune)
Travel Date: 29 May 2022

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