Ahmedabad
The
capital of Gujarat is a metropolis of almost five million inhabitants. Very
wide and crossed into two by the Sabarmati river, it is a city where the occasions
to lose oneself are not rare.
The monuments of Ahmedabad are not so numerous only it is necessary, except particular case, to spend more than one complete day in this city .
The Jama Masjid suffered from a seism into 1818 which decapitated its minarets. With its vast square in the centre of which an elegant house with columns rises, it remains still imposing. Towards the west, the hall of the prayers, punctuated of many decorated pillars, is announced by beautiful mihrab. One notices that the pillars are square at the base, then polygonal at six sides, then cylindrical.
The mosque Sidi Sayyad (Sidi Sayyad Masjid) is low-size. Built in 1572, it is announced by a superb jali (confined or openwork marble windows). That which represents a tree of life is a perfect work of art.
The Chawk Darwaza is a large door with three arches opening in the bazaar (chawk).
The mosque of Rani Rupmati dates from the 15th century. Built by the wife of Mahmud Beghara, it is the most elegant buildings with the ornamentation of its pillars and projecting balconies.
If one has additional time, one will be able to go to the mosques of Rani Sipri and Sidi Bashir (known as mosque with the oscillating minarets)...
The town of Ahmedabad is famous in the whole world near the specialists in the textiles for a single museum in its kind, the Banner Museum. The wooden building, a traditional Gujarati haveli which shelters it, in a pleasant garden of the north of the city (left bank), is exceptional. The fabrics presented, worked out according to various techniques, cover a whole range of dresses, châles, hangings, carpet, etc, very often under window. Lighting a little faiblard. But especially, and it is a pity well, guide I enfouttist, who supervises the visitor without providing suspicieusement the least explanation. .
Admirateurs of the Mahatma will not miss a visit with the ashram of Gandhi, on the banks of Sabarmati, out of right bank. Small very simple houses, red forks and spoons of tiles, are disseminated in a park ombragé.Des objects having belonged to the saint man are exhibited here: sandals of wood, the spinning wheel, his walkin stick ,clothes . One visits in the small part where he received his visitors, sitting on a thick mattress against a large cushion, his very low office table in front of him.
A person who stood by his belief of non- violence till the last and attained freedom for India.
In the suburbs of Ahmedabad, it is interesting to visit the it Akshardam temple Gandhinagar , harmonious and colossal modern pink sandstone building, which was set up in the honor of Swami Narayan. Born in 1779, this one left on the roads at the age eleven years like wandering ascetic. Extreme north in the extreme south of India, it travelled during more than seven years. On its return, it is established in Gujarat where it became quickly, at 20 years, Guru of a congregation of monks. A large gilded statue throne in the medium of the temple, offered to the admiration of the visitors and the devotion of the faithful ones. Significant crowd seems to come here. This spiritual branch asserts more than one million faithful.
Several halls arranged very well on various levels present tables of the stages of the life of Swami Narayan and areas which it traversed. One locates also scenes of legends of Mahabharata, épopées of saints, scenes of village evoking the simple life of people: blacksmith, potter, farmer, carpenter, etc... In a room of projection, fourteen simultaneous screens show the creation of the world, the human destiny, the spiritual life with a profusion of very beautiful images. Then still of other rooms with scenes of Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana (the exile of Sita, the fight to deliver it, etc). Epoustouflant, I say to you!
Enroute Gandhinagar a stop at the most beautiful old step well of Gujarat, Adalaj Vav is a must - step well built in 1499. One reaches up to the level of water by five stages. The pillars, the balconies, the walls dug of niches are excessively decorated with geometrical or floral reasons, of planks of elephants.
Uthelia et Lothal
Enroute
f Bhavnagar/Palitana, from Ahmedabad, one will be able to take
pleasure with a halt with Uthelia. A hotel-castle proposes an appreciable
comfort in these pastoral places. A few kilometres from there by a small
road, the site of Lothal, although now distant of the sea of several tens
of kilometers, was a harbour city there is more than 4000 years! Its rapid
decline would have been due to the change of bed of a river, because its economic
importance was related to the maritime trade with all Middle East. The vestiges
are not very evocative for non-specialists, but a small museum gathers some
objects of interest. Steatite seals representing of the Bovidae, fish, the
birds, the animal terra cotta figurines: dogs, oxen, rhinocéros, of beautiful
collars of agate, cornaline, jasper, turquoise which one wonders how one could
polish them finely ..
Borsad
Between Ahmedabad and Baroda, in Borsad, is an interesting modern temple, dedicated to Sûrya, the solar divinity. The temples of this god are rare in India.