Visit to Somnath Ji & Dwarkadhish Ji

Suitable time to visit Gujarat is from Oct to March, yet we visited in the middle of June'11. We took a flight to Ahmedabad from Delhi and checked into Skylon Hotel for overnight stay. It was a fairly priced hotel in the heart of city, about 4 km from station. Next day we left for Somnath city by train. It was a full day journey. Somnath city was made our base for further visits. There we stayed in Hotel Sukh Sagar.

Next day, we hired a taxi for visiting Somnath Ji temple & other places. The driver was Lala Bhai. He was a young lad of about 25yrs. First we thought that we will not be comfortable with him, but Lala turned out to be a very nice person. So we kept him with us throughout our tour.

First of all we visited Somnath Ji temple in the morning, which is at the sea shore near the Arabian Sea. It was really a wonderful experience to see the Jyotirlinga. There were moderate number of devotees, yet the queue was in such a way that everybody got good darshan of first of the 12 Jyotirlings (as mentioned by Adi Guru Shankracharya-a great Hindu Scholar, in his one of the shlokas on dwadash Jyotirlinga). Shiv Ling was decorated with flowers, silver & Gold. Light & sound show is also performed in evenings. Hardly 200 mts from temple complex is sea & rising waves can be seen from the periphery of comlex. It was informed that the temple was earlier damaged by Md. Gazni.  The renovation of the temple was started by late Sardar Patel, the first Home Minister of free India. His statue is also outside temple. Due to security reasons camera, mobile, leather purse/belts are not allowed inside the temple, these can be locked in a locker in temple complex and shoes can be kept at the adjoining shoe counter.   

Old Somnath temple is near this temple. Prayers are also offered at this temple.

Driver/guide informed that there were triple gates by the name of Junagadh Gate which were also destroyed by Md. Gazni before entering the city.

In Somnath city, we visited Parshruram Temple. Lord Parshuram is considered to be one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

Suraj Mandir, the temple of Sun. Images of lions, elephants & birds were also found in temple.  

Visited Triveni Ghat at confluence of 3 rivers namely Kapila, Hiran and Saraswati near Arabian Sea & is considered to be the auspicious place. Here people cremate their beloved ones after death. Persons also take holy dip at this place, but the water was very dirty so we could not dare to take bath.

At Gopi-ka-Mandir, there is one pond in which a number of Gopis of Lord Krishna stated to have submerged themselves in the pond in the memory of the Lord Krishna. This pond is known as Gopi Talav. Mud of the pond is considered to be very good for the skin, which improve the complexion also. Mud is on sale at this place, same was purchased by us.

We also visited Panch Pandav Gufa, Kamathnath Mahadev Temple, Gita Madir, & Lakshmi Narayan Temple. Near this temple there is another small temple from which place, Bhim of five Pandavs believed to have left earth for Patal (the other world beneath this earth). His foot marks are stated to have been preserved in this temple. 

Next day visited Sasan Gir, about 45 km from Somnath city. Road journey took about an hour of scenic beauty. Safari tour of Gir Forest was undertaken in bus & saw 'the King of the Jungle' lions from very short distance. Also happen to see few stags, NilGai and other animals. Took a few photographs. On return from safari saw the museum in the complex and came back to our base at Hotel Sukh Sagar.

In the morning after breakfast we checked out from Hotel Sukh Sagar for Dwarka, which is about 230 km from Somnath city. We visited Bhaluka Tirtha on the outskirt of Somnath city. At this place Lord Krishna, while sitting in meditation under banyan tree, was hit at foot by an arrow of a hunter (bheel- by the name Jara) as he mistook the legs of Lord Krishna as a deer. Now a temple is at that place with idol of Lord Krishna in white marble. Alongside an image of hunter Jara with folded hands is also in the temple.

On the way also visited Nageshwar Mahadev Temple at a little distance in the forest off the main road to Dwarka. This is considered to be one of the 12 Jyotirlingas (but as per Adi Guru Shankaracharya’s shloka on Dwadash Jyotirlingas,  the Jyotirlinga is at Aundha Nagnath in Maharashtra by the name Nagnath Ji). Shivling at Nageshwar Temple is underground. Near this temple a Dharamshala is under construction by cheritable trust of Late Gulshan Kumar of T-Series fame. Outside temple complex a big statute of Lord Shiva (in sitting position) has been constructed. Devotees in large number were present there at the time our visit.

We continued our journey to Dwarka by visiting Mul Dwarka temple. Dwarka is a small city at the western tip of Gujarat. Night was spent in Hotel Damji, which is at a walking distance from Dwarkadhish temple. The accommodation was reasonably good. Only tea, coffee & snacks were available in room service. For lunch, dinner one had to go down stairs in restaurant for thali system. In the evening, we visited Dwarkadhish Ji temple. It is believed that due to destruction by sea, Dwarka submerged a number of times (according to some, Dwarka submerged 6 times and the present one is considered to be 7^th one).  Camera, Mobile phones, leather purse/belts were not allowed in temple, so we left these articles in hotel itself. The temple is on the radar of terrorists, thus we had to pass through security checks & got good darshan of Lord Krishna’s idol made of black stone. This temple is one of four Dhams of Lord Krishna as mentioned by Adi Guru Shankrracharya. On return from temple, we took dinner in the restaurant of hotel & food was nice with minimal spices. Before checking out of hotel in morning once again visited Dwarkadish Temple. On the scale of 5, the hotel is rated at 3.

We left for Okha, which is 30 km from city. Distance between Okha & Bet Dwarka is just 6 km for which one has to take ferry from jetty at Okha. Bet Dwarka, is an island in the Arabian Sea, which was once residence of Lord Krishna. Trip to Dwarka is not considered as complete without a visit to Bet Dwarka. An idol of Lord Krishna is also kept in Bet Dwarka Temple.

On return visited house of Mahatma Gandhi where he was borne at Porbandar. Now the place has been converted into a museum. Visited Sudama temple also at Porbandar, known as Sudama Puri.

 Shortly retuned to Somnath city & checked into Hotel Sukh Sagar.

In  morning visited Diu at a distance of approx. 87 km from Somnath city. Diu (a Union Territory of India) is an island in Arabian Sea & is connected with main land with Gujarat by a road. Diu was ex-Portuguese colony as the island was under their possession for more than four centuries, so here culture is under Portuguese influence. At the entrance of Diu, there is a small mkt. We purchased old songs CDs (which are rarely available in Delhi). Vegetables & fish mkt. was on back of this mkt. Statue of Vasco-de-Gama (outside Govt. offices complex) was nearby. Radhika resort & restaurant was very close to it. Here we took our lunch. Nagoa Beach is just opposite resort and across the road. Before visiting Diu Fort (in which present day Central Jail is situated) we passed by Diu’s Airport. In this jail 2 prisoners were lodged at that time. A little distance in sea from the fort, remains of erstwhile old central jail (known as Kalapani & not in use) are visible. Driver took us to Jalandhar Beach. This beach was closed for public as has been declared dangerous. Above this beach & on rock there is a garden. The replica of INS Khukhri (which was drowned by Pakistan during 1971 war). 

Glass covered replica of frigate is placed at the top of hill with list of persons drowned with it. Soon we reached Gangeshwar Mahadev temple on the sea shore. Here five Pinds (Shiv Lings) are in cave considered to have been installed by Pandavs. Every now & then, sea water comes in cave with force and wash away all offerings on Pinds into the sea as if sea water is doing Abhishek (worship) of Pinds. After visiting St. Paul’s Church, we came to Nagoa Beach & stayed there for over an hour. Sea water was clear and we took a stroll in it. Airport could be seen from beach. In evening returned to Somnath city. 

We left Hotel Sukh Sagar in morning. Considering all aspects, this hotel is rated at 5.   

Boarded train from Somnath city to Ahmedabad & checked into Skylon Hotel.  In morning took taxi for sightseeing. Driver also acted as our guide. Visited Lord Jagannath temple (a replica of temple at Puri), Teen Darwaja (gateway to Ahmedabad city stated to have founded by Sultan Ahmed Shah), Sidi Saiyad Mosque, Jama Masjid, Julta Minar, Hathee Singh Temple (a Jain temple), Sardar Patel National Musuem (also known as Moti Shah Mahal), Sabarmati Ashram-alongside Sabarmati river. Struggle for India’s independence was started from this Ashram.

Same taxi took us to Gandhi Nagar (named after Mahatma Gandhi) at a distance of 30 km from Ahmedabad. This is capital of Gujarat on the west bank of Sabarmati river. The city has been planned very nicely with greenery all around. Here visited and paid obeisance at Akshardham temple-made of pink stones with carvings. About 15 km from city saw unique architectural piece of 15^th century known as Adalaj-Ni-Vav (in Gujarati Vav means stepwell). Here a large number of steps lead us to  water, many meters below ground. People informed us that whatever be the season water is always (even in drought) available in the well. All the walls have very good engravings from top to water in well. 

Saw statues of Dinosaurs in Dinosaur Park. In park we visited Python cage, Snake Park, Aquarium. On way back we visited replicas of Mata Vaishno Devi & Tirupati temples. At Children’s park we found lake with boating facilities, toy train and other amusements for kids as well as for adults. This park is in big area. It seemed that whole of city was there in the evening. It was brilliantly illuminated during evening hours.

Next day we took flight to Delhi from Ahmedabad.