|| Om Shanishcharaya Nam: ||

Shri Shani Mahatmye has 5 chapters or adhyayas. It mainly tells you the story of Raja Vikramaditya of Ujjain who faced serious consequence for abusing Lord Shani. And mentions some examples from Puranas, Mahabharata & Ramayana where many faces difficulties because of Shani dasha on them. Finally everyone in their lifetime will face the wrath of Shani dev, even Mahadev Shiva is not spared. Anyhow by worshiping him in those difficult times, impact can be reduced and thus pass such bad days. 

Shani dev is considered the main god/graha among 9 planet lords / Navagrahas. As I was offering him pooja [24th May 2014] with the guidance of our archaka guru / priest, reminded me of the main Shani temples visited - Shani Signapura which is an hour from Shirdi, Maharashtra & Navagraha temple of Ujjain, Madhaya Pradesh.

Navagraha Temple [Triveni], Ujjain

Triveni Sangam [confluence of Gandaki and Shipra rivers, mythical holy Saraswathi believed to be the third]

On 9th June 2013, morning we left to see Maheshwar & Omkareshwar from Ujjain, where we had spent a whole day to have darshan of Shri Mahakaleshwar, Shakthipeeth Gadkalika and many other important places within the holy town. Just as we left, around 8km from Ujjain, our driver mentioned about a Navagraha temple being there which has a triveni sangam / ghat. We decided to get darshan of the Navagraha deities as well, a good way to start the day.

As we reached the place and entered the premises, it seemed as though a ceremony or a fair was held which might have seen a very large crowd. Because it was a bit messy around and some staffs had started cleaning early that day. We first went inside the temple and prayed with the 9 lords, who were installed (prathishta) at the direction of the respective lord's are meant to be. Each lords were dressed with the colour of their preference and idols were mostly soaked with gingelly (sesame seed's) oil offered by the devotees.

Then we got reminded of the Triveni sangam ghat (ouch.. we should have visited the sangam before temple darshan :-| hmm.. anyhow..), where confluence of Gandaki river with Shipra (Kshipra) takes place. The third river which meets here is said to be holy mythical river Saraswathi. As we went near, we were completely surprised to see heaps of clothes, footwear/sandals lying around all over the bank of the river at the ghat. A guy was instructing some workers to clean them up with whom we enquired and learned that previous day large number of people gathered as it was special day to visit there (Amavasya/New moon & Shanivaar/Saturday). Devotees who visit the temple take a holy dip in the triveni sangam and leave/dump their clothes, footwear.. !! It's believed that by this, bad omen (graha doshas) will be washed in holy sangam and will be left behind with the clothes !!!

30 June 2012: Shirdi is an overnight journey in bus. It's one of the richest temples in terms of donations it receives in India. Being Sai Baba's birth place, followers from all over the country keep visiting the place and take darshan. Some people do the paada yatra from their place till Shirdi whatever the distance !! Usually in such yatra they travel as a group with a truck/tempo assisting them with water and food. As we reached early morning, checked with a hotel for just to have bath and freshen up for the temple visit. Within a hour we finished the darshan, which was not much of a time as we expected will take and headed to the Signapura town in a cab which was around 73km from Shirdi. 

Shri Shani Maharaj at Signapura

We had heard that the town was unique and the belief is so strong among the people of that town, the homes/buildings doesn't have any doors !! And yes.. it turned out to be TRUE !! Just a screen was put in every house without any doors, even in the newly constructed ones !!! There were stories.. like if a thief steals something, he'll go through a horrible fate and the stolen items will be returned to the owners somehow. Such incidents are said to have occurred which multiplied the faith in Lord Shani, being a true protector of the people. As all such stories/legends were sinking within us we took the blessings from the lord with crow as his vāhana or Khagesha (lord of the planets) Shri Shani dev. Whatever is the fact, one has to admit.. Belief is everything :-)

Aurangabad - The city built by the throne !!

"Muhammad-bin-Tughluq (The brutal and foolish ruler of Delhi Sultnate, 1325-1351 AD) wanted to make Devagiri second capital so that he might be able to control south India better. Devagiri was named Daulatabad by him later. However, after a couple of years, he decided to abandon Daulatabad largely because he soon found that just as he could not control south India from Delhi, he could not control North from Daulatabad." - All must have read these lines in their school days. This Devagiri is 25km from Aurangabad city of Maharashtra now, was initially capital of Yadava kings but captured by Ala-ud-din Khilji of Delhi. Anyway rather than that, we wanted to visit Aurangabad to see another marvel of our olden days architecture, UNESCO heritage sites, Ajanta and Ellora !! There's one more place, a pilgrimage, a jyotirlinga temple where the lord Grishneshwar resides :)

Aurangabad (meaning - built by the throne) is a district at the center of Maharashtra which has a capital city by the same name. It is one of the industrially developed and fastest growing city of the world. The state government has declared this city from medieval period as the Tourism Capital of Maharashtra. And because of the 52 "gates" it's nicknamed 'City of Gates', but out of which only 13 such gates have survived to the present days.

Mumbai to Aurangabad is around 8-9hrs journey in train. As planned me, karthik, akshay, harsha, sunil and sreejith reached on 24th Sept, 2011 Saturday morning in devgiri express. Just outside the station, our typical dressing as mumbaikars with shorts and t-shirts might have made that cab driver understand correctly as tourists and offered us to show all of the Aurangabad. We liked him, he was sensible enough to understand our places of interests and hence a deal was made with him. Firstly he showed a budget hotel room for 6 to stay just for Rs.600 for a day.

Every Jyothirlinga temples have their own legend. They are the place where Lord Shiva himself descended to earth. There are 12 such temples in India. 3 of them in Maharashtra itself. One of them is Grishneshwar Temple 23km from Aurangabad city and 5km from Ellora. Go through the following link for the legend behind the temple. We had started the first day by taking blessing of Lord Grishneshwar and headed towards Ellora Cave temples.

Paithan is another city of Maharastra, 56km south to Aurangabad where a variety of fine silk saris are woven by hand called by the name Paithani Saris, is one of the richest saris of Maharastra. They are characterized by borders of an oblique square design, and a pallu with a peacock design (Haha, don't be amazed at my knowledge regarding a sari, just took help from Wiki to get the words :P :D). But simply to say, even I found it impressive, well-made ones and took one of them to Mom :) Surprisingly, she even liked my choice of color !! :P Sunil also took a sari and a chudi piece for his sister. Another variety of fabric made of silk and cotton called Himroo is also a specialty they have got. Himroo shawls, bed covers are famous for its unique style and design. Harsha had bought one shawl which definitely will come to use in Hassan, esp during winter :)

Devgiri hill fort from a distance

As mentioned earlier, Devgiri/Daulatabad Fort is 16 km from Aurangabad city. The fort is situated on an isolated cone-shaped hill rising abruptly from the plain to the height of about 190 metres. Quoting from MTDC website regarding its history - "Though the city of Devagiri was founded in 1187 AD by the Yadava king Bhillan V, the fort was constructed during the reign of Singhana II (1210-46 AD).  It was captured by Ala-ud-Din Kalji in 12 94 AD, marking the first Muslim invasion of the Deccan. Finally in 1318 AD, Malik Kafur killed last Yadava Raja, Harapal. Then in 1327 AD, Muhammed-bin-Tughluq sought to make it his capital, by transferring the entire population of Delhi and changing the name from Devagiri to Daulatabad. Then it was in the possession of the Bhamanis till 1526 AD.  The fort remained in Mughal control till Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 AD., when it passed on to the Nizam of Hyderabad." 

What fascinates to see is the fortified walls surrounded by water (may have contained crocs during those times !!). Fort is also designed strategically to defend from enemy attacks with canons and "dark passage" to confuse, scare the intruders (read the description in the pic). The orange colored Chand Minar, about 63 metres in height  adds attraction for the visit. Visit in rainy will give a beautiful lush green view from above the fort making you feel relaxed. :)

Water trench surrounding the fort..

The Chand Minar at Devgiri/Daulatabaad

The next day we wanted to visit 2 places - Bibi Ka Maqbara (aka The Mini Tajmahal) and the famous Ajanta Caves. Bibi Ka Maqbara was built between 1650-57 A.D by Prince Azam Shah (son of Aurangzeb) in the memory for his mother Dilras Banu Begam. But who thought it'll be strikingly similar to the Tajmahal of Agra !!? Yes, it is.. but a smaller version !! Hence also called Taj of the Deccan or Mini Tajmahal. Its too a UNESCO heritage structure with 5Rs per person ticket. Simply remarkable to see the structure with well maintained garden around. As we had reached early opening hours, it was only us which gave us an advantage to enjoy roaming around and have enough photos :P

Bibi-Ka-Maqbara (The Mini Tajmahal)

Next we headed towards the magnificent caves of Ajanta which is beauty on its location along with its sculptures and paintings. I think it's better to write on Ellora and Ajanta in a separate post..

Here's my-note-to-consider about Aurangabad: Need 2 days at least to see all the places. Grishneshwar Temple, Bibi-Ka-Maqbara, Devgiri fort, Ellora and Ajanta not to be missed. Remember, here Ellora and Ajanta should be allocated half day for each. If you have an extra day, visit Lonar which is at 160km from Aurangabad. Its a crater believed to have been caused by a meteorite hitting Earth around 52,000 years ago !! Now its world's only salt water lake in basaltic rock and thus geologically interesting. But we couldn't visit the place because of time crunch. And don't forget to visit Paithani silks saree shops which will be found all over the Auragabad. For reference check my map below to plan :)

Magnificent Sun Temples of Konark & Modhera

[Disclaimer: The description, facts i'm mentioning here are largely as told by the local guide of Modhera Sun Temple. He was well informed and very narrative. Thanks to him. Other details are from wikipedia and other internet sources.]

There were 12 Sun Temples in grand olden days of Hindustan. Its well known fact that the Arab invaders like Muhammad Ghori, Muhammad Ghazni killed many, demolished, looted again and again all over the country, mainly the rich & prosperous, the symbol of faith and the place of worship, The Temples. It included these places where Surya bhagwan was worshiped. (Surprised by the mention "was" ?!! Sadly, Yes..!! As we are aware, once the main idol is destroyed, they are no longer worshiped by Hindus). Its said that only 4 are remaining nowadays: 1) Konark Sun temple, Odisha. 2) Modhera Sun temple, Gujarat. 3) Martand Sun temple, Jammu & Kashmir. 4) Multan Sun temple, Pakistan. (All are linked to their respective wikipedia pages. Besides these, there are many sun temples built on later days which i'm not considering here). With regards to Multan sun temple, when I googled, came to know that now it's in total ruins :( Thus remaining 3 Sun temples in India are now maintained with some restoration by the Archaeological Survey of India as heritage sites. A common legend to all these temples is that they were built by Samba, the son of lord Krishna, to get relief from leprosy, which means around the times of 3000 B.C. !! But the present existing temples are built by the kings of various dynasty. 

In March 2010, I along with my friends, when we traveled Bhubaneshwar on the purpose of training from our newly joined company, had the opportunity of visiting Konark's famous Sun temple. And as of Modhera it was in June 2013 along with Karthik and Akshay during 3 days visit to Ahmedabad and surrounding places. I'm not sure whether I will visit Martand of J&K, but having seen the other 2, the Konark and Modhera let me tell something about them. Surprisingly many things come in common when we discuss these 2 great sun temples. And as there are already many facts descriptions in the internet regarding the both, avoiding much details I will go through both of them together.

Front View of Konark Sun Temple

Konark Sun temple was built on 13th century by King Narasimhadeva I (1238-1250 CE) of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty (It is said to have took 12 years to build completely). Around 65km from the capital city of Orissa state, Bhubaneshwar, the small town Konark exists where we find this magnificent temple. While Modhera was built in 1026 AD by King Bhimdev I of the Solanki dynasty (It is said to have took 36 years to build completely). Its situated at 95kms from Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat, in Mehsana district. So former in the east and the latter in the west side of our country. And its evident that Konark is much bigger with more elegant sculptures than Modhera, but latter is in better condition now. Yet, both simply make us awe by the sight of the whole structure with their own art and architectural marvels !!

Konark's entire complex was designed in the form of the Surya Bhagwan's huge chariot drawn by seven spirited horses on twelve pairs of exquisitely decorated wheels at its base. The huge wheels carved at the base of the temple are one of the major attractions. The spokes of the wheels serve as sundials and the shadows cast by these can give the precise time of the day !! But as said earlier most of them are in bad shape because of the attack by the Muslim rulers.

The Main Sanctum of Konark

Modhera's temple still has a beautiful large rectangular stepped lake in front, which has 108 miniature shrines carved around them. Its called Suryakund or Ramakund. It is said that 49% of the temple was destroyed but restoration were carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India to preserve its beauty. During the restoration they realized that the temple is built without any foundation stone and yet was intact withstanding the natural calamities like earthquake !! Reason??!! These huge stone blocks used for the construction were placed one above the other with sesame wooden logs inserting through the holes drilled on those stones were acting as a lock and key system. Thus even though, the whole block may shake a bit during the earthquake,  doesn't fall apart !! Also the other most interesting part here is, this particular temple lies in the area where the Tropic of Cancer passes through !!! Amazing right?!!

Carvings at the Modhera Sun Temple

Temples in India were always a place of education. In those days temples were carved for not just to enhance the beauty of the temple structure but also to educate the people visiting them. Both Sun temples are built using sand stones and significantly have stone carvings telling everything. For the children its statues of animals & birds; stories from epics Mahabharat & Ramayan; ladies can learn lifestyle lessons of hair styling, dressing, dance steps; adults can have sex education with different sex forms and positions.. etc. Do you know that Modhera Temple's assembly hall has 52 pillars (yes !! indicating 52 weeks of the year) with 365 ladies carved in different hair styles .. (That's like every day of the year to have different styles) !! And regarding kamasutra's erotic sculptures, they are thoughtfully done above 5ft from the ground so that it can be barred from children's sight.. :)

Now let me tell the legendary part of these two temples.. It is said that the main Surya Bhagwan idols in both temples had a diamond placed in such a way that, Konark in the eastern part and Modhera in the western part of India gets their morning sun rays, directly passing through Audience/Assembly Hall which will reflect from those diamonds placed at the idols in the main sanctum !! (Exactly to say, this phenomenon seems to happen on 2 days of the year - 21st March & 22nd September, days of Equinox, when sun rises precisely at the East ie., the sun rays passes exact along the line of Tropic of Cancer !!). One more popular belief of the local guides at Konark is that the main pratima (idol) was believed to be floating in the air because of the unique arrangements of the main magnets and other series of magnets from all the sides inside the main sanctum !!!! Hmm.. anyhow we just have to imagine this mind blowing scenarios by ourselves now.. forget the diamonds or magnets, not even main idols are spared by the ruthless barbarians (it's said magnets are robbed by Portuguese) :( 

Take a look at some snaps below to feel better and wonder at those marvels :)

The famous symbolic chariot wheel at the Konark's Main Sanctum

The full view of the Modhera Temple Complex with the pond on front side

The beautiful stepped pond (Suryakund) at the front of Modhera Sun Temple

A view through the Assembly Hall of Modhera Sun Temple

Main Sanctum of Modhera Sun Temple

Two standing alone pillars at north-east of the Modhera Sun Temple (Pls ignore the idiots at the pillar :-P)

|| om namo bhagavate suryaya namah ||