Visit to Shrinathji Temple in Nathdwara, and Kumbhalgarh
2nd Jan 2023
Nathdwara is a famous place for Shrinathji’s temple. This temple built in 17th century. On Shrinathji’s name, this place called Nathdwara. Along with Shrinathji temple, Vishwas Swarupam (Statue of Belief) is there. Construction of this statue was going on from long time. It inaugurated few months back only. This is around 280 feet tall. Lot of people come here to see this place.
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On 2nd Jan, first we went to Shrinathji’s temple for darshan in morning around 11 am. There was a huge crowd. I got to know that this kind of rush used to be there throughout the year. This temple is very famous in this region, where lacs of devotees come throughout the year. Thousands of devotees comes from neighboring state Gujarat as well.
It took around 1 hour for us to do darshan. We came out and visited local market. Nathdwara is a small town. There was a small market in the surrounding area of the temple. After little shopping, we returned home.
In the evening, around 4 pm, we visited Vishwas Swarupam. There is a laser light show that happens in the evening around 6:30 pm. It opens for visitors only at that time only. There is an entry ticket required to see the laser light show and to enter this place. The ticket costs around 400/- Rs. There is a base area below the statue where a lift takes you up to the heart of Lord Shiva. The view from the gallery is simply amazing.
This was my first time; I went to such a tall structure. This viewing gallery is a covered area with glasses at bottom. When walk on this, you can clearly view things down there. It becomes little scary, as you can see things down from your side view as well below your feet also. So overall an awesome experience.
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After seeing this beautiful view, we came down to an open theatre kind of place where we could sit and see the laser show. Around 6.30, sun set, and it was dark. The laser show started on time. It was all about the origin of universe, and about history of lord shiva. It was a very nice experience. We returned home after watching this show. Next day’s plan was to visit Kumbhalgarh fort, which was around 50 km from Nathdwara.
3rd Jan 2023
On 3rd Jan morning, we thought to start early, but as it was a winter morning, we all woke up late. Finally, around 11 am, after having our breakfast, we started for Kumbhalgarh. This fort situated in Aravalli Mountain range, and part of Mewar region. Kumbhalgarh fort is having perimeter walls that extend 36 km (22 mi), making it among the longest walls in the world.
One special thing which we noticed while going there, was until we were in front of the fort, we could not see it. From all sides, surrounded by mountains, making it impossible to attack from any of the side. We reached there around 1 pm, parked our car down only and started climbing.
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It was a bright sunny day. Therefore it was difficult to walk. Somehow, we reached it’s top. There could see old horse stables, palaces, and other places where kings and other family members used to stay. All structures constructed in such a way that every place was having proper sun light and air. Few places we felt very relaxed, felt like we were sitting in some AC or air cooler.
Then we went to the topmost place, the terrace of the palace, where the view was just amazing. We could see till few kms, as this place was at so much height. We spent some more time, seeing the old architectures, then returned to base.
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There is a very famous lord Shiva temple. Here Rana Sanga, who had such a huge body structure, used to cover the big Shivalinga by both his hands. Next, we went to see the famous wall. This wall is 15-20 feet wide. This was one more reason to make this fort the safest one.
Around 3 pm, we started from there, and on the way we had our lunch at one local restaurant. We returned to Nathdwara around 6 pm in the evening. It was a nice trip, could see one of amazing fort of Mewar region, which was long pending in my list to visit.
4th Jan 2023 – 5th Jan 2023
Next day on 4th Jan, we were resting at home only and did not go anywhere. It was just family time. Next day on 5th Jan, we started back for Ahmedabad in the afternoon. We reached Ahmedabad around 9.30 pm. Next day our plan was to go to Statue of Unity, near Vadodara. Kids wanted to visit this place from long time. It is statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, prominent freedom fighter, free India’s first deputy Prime Minister and home minister.
Dec 2022 – Winter Vacation Trip – Part #3