Lord Swaminarayan and His paramhansas often came to
Gondal and bathed in the waters of the River Gondali
in Gondal town. The temple near the river was inaugurated
in 1934. It is an attractive building with beautiful
murals inside.
The Bhuvaneshwari Ayurvedic Pharmacy at Gondal
has been manufacturing herbal medicines according to
ancient principles from the 1910s. A visit to the pharmacy
is arranged for guests. The palace management can also
set up appointments with the ayurvedic doctor at the
hospital for counseling or treatments. Ayurvedic massages
can also be provided in the rooms.
For groups, the management
can organize Art of Living and Yoga courses in collaboration
with renowned foundations.
Gondal is excellent for
birding with many species coming into the gardens of
the Riverside Palace and Orchard Palace to feed, roost
or even to breed.
The lakes of Gondal attract large flocks of winter migratory
birds like the demmossile and common cranes, white pelican,
geese and ducks. The vegetation around the wetlands
are important breeding grounds for resident ducks, ibises
and wading birds.
The Umbada Veedi is a large tract of rolling grassland
on the outskirts of Gondal where rufous-breasted prinia,
Syke’s crested lark, skylark, rufous-tailed lark,
short-toed lark, rock bush quail, grey and painted francolin
partridge, chestnut-bellied sandgrouse, Montagu harrier
and other birds can be seen. In the monsoon, the grassland
has often witnessed the breeding of the endangered lesser
florican.
Nilgai antelope, jackal,
jungle cat, black-naped hare and other mammals could
also be seen at the grassland as also reptiles like
the monitor lizard.
Gondal is also the
base to visit the Hingolgadh Sanctuary for chinkara
gazelle, Botad Dhakania grassland for blackbuck antelope
and the Gir Interpretation Zone for Asiatic lion.
Gondal is a centre
for beadwork, embroidery, spinning, handloom weaving,
woodcarving, silverware and brassware. 30 km south of
Gondal, the textile town of Jetpur is known for its
screen and hand-block printing.
Rajkot, 39 km north
of Gondal, has the Rashtriya Shala working to revive
ikkat weaving skills
Guests can also see
interesting pieces from the royal family’s collection
at the palaces of Gondal.
This stud farm is working towards breeding and promoting
indigenous breeds of livestock like the Gir cattle and
the Kathiawadi horse. It has won many prestigious awards
like the Gopal Ratna.
Gandhiji Charantirth Maharaj known as the author of
many books on medicine, astrology and philosophy at
the Bhuvaneshwari ayurvedic complex in 1915 and a plaque
here says he was welcomed as a Mahatma by the Maharaj.
Gandhiji's childhood home and school can be seen in
Rajkot, 39km from Gondal.
39km from Gondal, Rajkot has the excellent Watson Museum,
impressive school buildings and the childhood home of
Mahatma Gandhi.
Once part of the princely state of Gondal, Dhoraji has
impressive buildings like the Darbargadh.
60km from Gondal, the
picturesque city of Junagadh has a rich and varied history.
It has been associated with the Mauryan and Gupta empire,
the Chudasama Rajputs, the Gujarat sultanate, the Mughal
conquest of Gujarat and finally the Nawabs who prospered
during British rule in Junagadh. The city is filled
with historic monuments, and encircled by hills that
add to its scenic charm. Despite the bustle and grime
that follows urbanization and commercial growth, the
city is worth visiting for its immense range of monuments
and museums. The Uparkot fort, with
its high walls and imposing gateways, was a strong hold
of the Mauryan dynasty, which promoted Buddhism and
later the Guptas. After the fall of these empires in
the 5th century, Junagadh saw a dull period when Vallabhi
became the major city of Saurashtra. Then the Chudasama
Rajputs built the walls that are about 70 ft high and
about four km in length, after they occipied Junagadh
in the 9th century. Uparkot was subjected to 16 attacks,
one of them a long siege over a potter's daughter. The
girl was coveted by a neighbouring prince, and came
for refuge to the ruler of Junagadh, who promptly married
her. In the war that followed, the chivalrous prince
of Junagadh was killed in 1094 AD, and the girl committed
Sati on his funereal pyre. The fort fell to Sultan Muhammad
Bhegada in the 16th century.
The fort has the palace of Rani Ranak Devi, which Sultan
Mahmud Bhegada tried unsuccessfully to convert into
a mosque, the Adi Charan Vav stepwell said to date from
the 11th century and is named for two slave girls, the
Navghan Kuva dated from 1060 AD and named for Navghan,
the Rajput ruler of Junagadh at that time, with flights
of spiralling steps taking you down 120 feet to the
water source through a 10 ft wide pas¬sage, the
Nilam canon whose bronze inscriptions in Arabic state
that "the canon was cast in 1531 AD to fight the
Portuguese who are infidel enemies of state and religion"
and the smaller Ottoman canon,which were brought here
after the sultans and the Ottoman allies failed to protect
Diu from Portuguese conquests.
Girnar hills whose 3660 foot high summit is crowned
by some of the finest and most religiously important
temples in Jain religion. The climb is a
steep one and best undertaken in the very early hours
of the morning, with several thousand steps broken by
level stretches, through scrub forests, thermalling
vultures and kites, and trees full of Hunuman langur
monkey. You could also splurge on a doli(sling chair)
on which people are carried up at a steep price. The
hilltop enclosure is well filled with temples of both
Hindu and Jain religions, but only five Jain temples
are really impressive-the Neminath temple, built from
1128-1159 AD, with delicate carvings of the Tithankars
of Jainism, Mallinath mandir, erect¬ed in 1231 AD
by Vastupal and Tejpal, the brothers responsible for
such marvels in marble as the Dilwara temples of Mt
Abu, Rishabdeo temple (1442 AD) and a 15th century Parshwanath
temple called Meravaksi. Other temples are the modern
Panchbhai temple, 1803 AD Parshwanath temple with a
cobra pro¬tecting the marble image, the Amba temple
and the 12th century temple built by the Solanki dynasty,
which is responsible for many of the finest Jain and
Hindu temples in western India.
The Babi governors of Saurashtra, appointed by the Mughal
emperors after the conquest of Junagadh, declared themselves
independent after the fall of the empire and built Venetian-Gothic
palaces. One of them is now a museum with its Durbar
Hall appoiinted with silver plated thrones and chairs,
fine carpets, European mirrors and huge chandeliers.
Right next to the main hall is a collection of howdahs
and palanquins, the prize exhibit being an exquisitely
carved silver plated howdah with silver mermaids at
the corners and a silver
tiger guarding the velvet cushioned seats. In another
room, the carpets and other textiles include a red silk
carpet set with diamonds like stars of a crimson sky,
and some carpets lavishly embroidered with gold thread.
The royal armoury exhibits Nepalese Kukris, armour,
turtle shell shields, swords, daggers, medieval weapons,
rifles and period hand guns.
Two great landmarks of
Junagadh are mausoleum complexes known as Maqbaras.
The older complex near Chitkana chowk offers some remarkable
18th century architecture with vertical columns, delicate
carved arches, cornices and domes in a range of sizes,
the whole accentuated by a wealth of bril¬liant
stone carvings. The newer complex, near the town gates,
is even more impressive and attractive, with an almost
fun-fairish flamboyance! The new complex was begun by
His highness Mahabat Khanji in 1878, completed in 1892
by his successor, HH Bahadur Khanji. Also enshrined
here was His highness Rasul Khanji in 1911 AD. The complex
is shared by the mausoleom of Baha-ud-din, minster of
Nawab Rasul Khanji, which is the most spectacular of
the mausolea - two sets of minarets with pir¬ouetting
spiral staircases, a facade rich in stone carvings,
beautiful silver doors and massive domes mark the architec¬ture
of this tomb of Baha-ud-din, who was called Vazir-e-azam
or the great minister to the Nawabi dynasty of Junagadh.
Next to it is a mosque, dated to 1886-97 which has geometric
rows of variously coloured pillars leading to a cool
marble minbar, and an Islamic religious school.
The Baha-ud-din college with a massive façade
and a huge central dome has a 160 sq ft assembly hall,
with intricate wooden ceilings and brackets.
Set in the Sakkarbagh zoo complex, this museum has an
interesting collection of pre-historic and proto-historic
implements made from stone and bone, stone sculpture
including a 9th century Vishnu, bronze sculpture of
the medival period, copper inscriptions and manuscripts,
silverware, glass, porcelain, wood carvings, traditional
textiles, folk art and some miniature paintings.
Ahmedabad: 259 km
Bhavnagar: 200 km
Bhuj: 258 km
Dwarka: 250 km
Jamnagar: 110 km
Junagadh: 64 km
Palitana: 150 km
Porbandar: 149 km
Somnath: 149 km
Sasan-Gir: 124 km
Vadodara: 330 km |
