Siddhpur, Patan and Modhera: Gujarat Part 4

Gujarat: The What, Where, When and Who

India

Gujarat

This post covers day 4 of a 14-day journey around Gujarat, following our circuit of Rajasthan last year. Smaller than Rajasthan, Gujarat is about the size of the Island of Great Britain and has much the same population.

5,000 years ago, Gujarat was a centre of the Indus Valley civilization and subsequently played its part in most of the major north Indian empires. When Islamic invaders reached northern India in the 9th century Gujarat held out until 1300 when it became part of the Delhi Sultanate.

After rearranging our schedule, today we visited Siddhpr, Patan and Modhera before heading south to Bajana.

An independent Muslim sultan seized power in 1391and Gujarat maintained its independence until becoming part of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century and later the British Empire, though local rulers of a patchwork of Princely States retained considerable autonomy. At independence in 1947 Gujarat became part of the State of Bombay, becoming a state in its own right in 1960.

With a long coast line facing the Arabian sea, Gujaratis have been seafarers and international traders for millennia.

Gujarat is the home state of both Mahatma Gandhi and the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

-o0o0o-

The Dawoodi Bohra, a Spectacular Step Well and an Ancient Temple

The three towns featured in this post may not be well known outside Gujarat, but all are well worth visiting.

South to Siddhpur

After successfully re-entering Gujarat with our liquor supply intact, despite my licence being locked in an unopenable case, L drove us to the small town of Ambaji where Vijay had spent the night. We found him waiting on a corner.

Although Siddhpur is less than 90km to the south, the journey took the best part of 2 hours. Part of the road was undergoing repair…

Indian buses should never be argued with - they tend to drive faster than many would think appropriate and bully all other vehicles out of their path

…though it was not busy…

Ambaji to Siddhpur

…not with vehicles, anyway.

Ambaji to Siddhpur

Siddhpur

The Houses of the Dawoodi Bohra

Siddhpur may have over a thousand years of history, but at first it resembled any other middle-sized Gujarati town. However, nearing the centre we started to notice residential buildings of an unusually elegant style.

Dawoodi Bohra houses, Siddhpur

Not just one or two but whole streets…

Dawoodi Bohra houses, Siddhpur

….indeed a whole residential district.

Dawoodi Bohra houses, Siddhpur

These are the homes of the Dawoodi Bohra, a community of over a million, most of whom live in Gujarat or Karachi, several thousand of them in Siddhpur.

In my ignorance I quite recently believed Islam consists of two monolithic blocks, Sunni and Shia. Then we met the Ibadis in Oman, and now it is about to become much more complicated. The Sunni/Shia split occurred early on, in the 7th century CE, the Ismaili diverged from the Shia mainstream in the 8th century, they split into Nizaris and Mustaali in the 11th and the Mustaali split into the Taiyyibi and Hafiz in the 12th. Most Taiyyibi are now members of the seven different Bohra groups who splintered off between 1426 (the Jaffari Bohras) and 1977 (The Progressive Dawoodi Bohras). And that is the simplified version.

Schisms in Christianity usually concern doctrine or religious practices, but in Islam it is the recognition of leaders that has caused division. Emphasis varies, but doctrine and religious practice are largely consistent, so the Dawoodi Bohra still regard themselves as part of the Ismaili branch of Shia Islam. /p>

Street of traditional Dawoodi Bohra Houses, Siddhpur

In matters of prayer and dress Dawoodi Bohra are conservative, the men traditionally wear a white tunic over white trousers with a white and golden cap while woman wear a two-piece outfit called a rida – a little red riding hood dress - in any colour except black.

Two Dawoodi Bohra women in rida - one white, one red - and three men in traditional white costume

In other matters they are relatively liberal, women have more autonomy than in most Indian communities and the Bohras are open to any aspect of modern/Western culture not specifically forbidden.

Bohras are relatively affluent, but not all the old buildings are inhabited or in good condition and from some angles Siddhpur resembles a run-down Indian version of Bath.

Not all houses are in good repair, Siddhpur

Few tourists come this way; if they did owners might capitalise on their interest, but the buildings are not necessarily valued and some have been demolished, their modern replacements adding little to the town’s ambience.

A modern building taking the place of a demolished traditional dwelling, Siddhpur

Bank Minas

As we walked down the main street of the Dawoodi Bohra quarter…

Main street, Dawoodi Bohra quarter, Siddhpur

…. flocks of mina birds jostled among the traffic and around food sources. The common mina lives up to its name in India and throughout south Asia, but it does not usually flock like this, and its plumage is darker. Minas, I discover are almost as diverse as Islamic sects; there are 9 species of ‘true’ minas and another 17 ‘jungle and hill’ minas. These, I am fairly confident, are bank minas, limited to central India they are often found in flocks in cities.

Bank Minas, Siddhpur

Rudra Mahalaya Temple, Siddhpur

Vijay grabbed a tuk-tuk and after weaving through the traffic, pedestrians and mina birds for a few hundred metres we reached the remains of the thousand-year-old Rudra Mahalaya. The temple, skulking behind a wire fence, was guarded by a grim-faced man sitting on a plastic chair amid the rubble and long grass. Clearly this was not an ordinary ruin.

Rudra Mahalaya

Vijay proved as good with grim-faced guardians as he had been with smiling matriarchs yesterday, the padlock was removed and we were allowed in – on the strict condition that we took no photographs.

Columns in the Rudra Mahalaya - I was well out of sight of the guardian, so conditions did not apply

Building was started in 943 by Mularaja the founder of the Chaulukya Dynasty who ruled much of Gujarat and Rajasthan for 300 years. It was renovated in 1142 by his descendant Jayasimha Siddharaja, who made the town his capital and gave it his name. Gujarat was annexed by the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in the early 14th century and the temple was desecrated. 100 years later the Sultan of Gujarat destroyed part of the temple and converted the rest into a mosque.

Dome, Rudra Mahalaya, Siddhpur

The building has deteriorated over the last 600 years, but the reason for the fence and the guardian is that the site is claimed by both Hindus and Muslims. The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) who form the governments of both India and the state of Gujarat are Hindu nationalists. They often promote such conflicts, and the Muslims generally respond in kind. Gandhi was a devout Hindu, but fought (non-violently) for a secular, inclusive India and I would respectfully suggest both sides remember that.

Patan

The district capital, Patan is a 40min drive to the east. With 140,000 inhabitants it is twice the size of Siddhpur and equally (possibly more) ancient. Patan was first fortified in 745CE by Vanraj Chavda, a king of the Chavda dynasty who would lose out to the Chaulukyas 200 years later.

There was, however nothing ancient about the restaurant where we had lunch. In the shadow of a fly-over, we ate paneer handi, an 'everyday' curry named after the vessel it is cooked in, mopped up with a kulcha.

Ran Ki Vav

The Ran Ki Vav (the Queen’s Stepwell), Patan’s greatest gift from history, sits in its own park on the northeast edge of the built-up area.

Turn left for the stepwell, Ran Ki Vav Park, Patan

27m deep and 64m long, it consists of a well and a tank to hold surplus water.

Ran Ki Vav, Patan

Ancient texts suggest it was commissioned in 1063 and completed in 1083 by Queen Udyamati in memory of her husband the Chaulukya King Bhima I. Udyamati and Bhima were the grandparents of Siddharaja who named Siddhpur. The Ran Ki Vav is older and considerably larger than the Adalaj stepwell near Ahmedabad, and we thought that was enormous.

The well, Ran Ki Vav, Patan

Sometime in the middle ages, Ran Ki Vav was flooded by the nearby Saraswati River, silted up and, despite its size, forgotten. It was rediscovered in 1940 and was the subject of a major excavation and restoration by the Indian Archaeological Survey in the 1980s.

It is not until you start descending the steps…

Into Ran Ki Vav, Patan

….you realise the abundance and the quality of the carvings.

Carvings, Ran Ki Vav, Patan

Many gods are represented but Vishnu, as himself and in the guise of several avatars, is the most important here.

Vishnu (I think) Ran Ki Vav, Patan

There are female figures, too, goddesses, particularly Parvati, apsaras (dancing spirits of the clouds and waters) nagakanyas (the protecting daughters of the serpent) and yoginis (yoga practitioners).

Female figures, Ran Ki Vav, Patan

Obviously Ran Ki Vav was more than just somewhere to fetch water. Stepwells were places to meet and perform ceremonies. They can, perhaps be thought of as inverted temples.

The stepwell as an upside down temple, Ran Ki Vav, Patan

The Sun Temple at Modhera

45mins down the road is the small town/big village of Modhera. It claims to be even older than Siddhpur and Patan, citing the visit of Lord Rama who came here to perform yagna and cleanse the sin of killing Ravana while rescuing his abducted wife Sita. We have intersected this story from the Ramayana several times on our travels, in Sri Lanka where Ravana took Sita and in Rameswaram at the Indian end of the once passable Adam’s Bridge between India and Sri Lanka. Modhera is geographically the least likely place to insert itself into the myth.

Moving from myth to history, the Sun Temple, built on the village’s western edge by Bhima I - the ruler commemorated by the Patan stepwell - firmly links Modhera with the Chaulukya Dynasty. No precise construction date can be given though the style is typically early 11th century. Shortly after succeeding his uncle in 1022, Bhima was faced with an invasion by Mahmud of Ghazni. The Muslim Ghaznavid empire ruled present day Afghanistan, western Iran, most of Pakistan and parts of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan so they were formidable opponents. After retreating from his capital, Bhima made an unsuccessful stand at Modhera in 1024 or 25. Mahmud destroyed whatever religious buildings were here and continued south, plundering, massacring and desecrating temples before heading home with his loot. It is believed the present temple was built shortly after he left.

Sun Temple, Modhera

The temple has three sections, at the front is the Kunda, a large tank or reservoir. I would call it a stepwell - it looks exactly like those in Rajasthan if not in Gujarat. The locals describe the structure below the tower (foreground below) as a stepwell, but it is not separate from the main tank.

The Kunda, Modhera Sun Temple

Above the Kunda and in front of the Sabhamandapa (assembly hall) are two pillars…

The pillars of the kirti-torana, Modhera Sun Temple

… all that remains of a kirti-torana (triumphal arch).

All the cool kids get to go through the kirti-torana
Lynne and Vijay, Modhera Sun Temple

The Sadhamanpada is octagonal, the dome supported by eight columns linked with torana - decorated cusped arches rising from the lower brackets of the pillars. We had previously noticed these in the Friday Mosque in Ahmedabad; they are a frequent feature of Gujarati temple architecture, equally popular among Muslims, Hindus and Jains.

Inside the Sadhamnadaapa, Mohera Sun Temple

Behind is the rectangular Gudhamandapa (shrine hall). The temple was dedicated to the sun god, Surya but as it is now a historical monument rather than a functioning temple, the shrine is empty.

Into the Gudhamandapa, Modhera Sun Temple

The external carving on the Gudhamandapa is impressive…

The Gudhamandapa, Modhera Sun Temple

…and contains a small representation of the ‘Churning of the Ocean of Milk’, my favourite story from the Mahabharata. It has its own post which now includes this speciment. It is eroded enough to perhaps be 1,000 years old, unlike the sharp, new carving on Angkor Wat.

The Churning of the Ocean of Milk, Modhera Sun Temple

On to Bajana

We continued south to Bajana, en route passing a family on the move.

Just part of a family on the move, near Bajana

Bajana is a small village with a shiny new mosque and a freshly painted Hindu temple. Those two buildings apart, it is a scruffy, broken down place.

Bajana

A few miles further on the car was rocked by an explosion as we passed a lorry going the opposite way. Fortunately, there was more sound than fury and looking back we could see that one of the lorry’s tyres had disintegrated.

The Royal Safari Camp, a short distance further, consisted of a semi-circle of comfortable bungalows, an admin block and restaurant.

Those who have read the previous post will know that the combination lock on our suitcase malfunctioned this morning. We had just enough time before dinner to work through from 000 until we found its new self-chosen combination. It did not take long, doing a couple of hundred each and resting sore fingers in betwen. The hundreds tumbler, we found, had set itself one higher, meaning we were worryingly close to 999 and beginning to wonder what to do if this approach failed, when it sprang open. What we would have done faced with four tumblers rather than three is a question we fortunatey did not have to answer.

The buffet dinner fed to the small number of mainly European travellers required to fill the bungalows was good, as buffets go, and we retired feeling well fed.

Gujarat

Part 1: Ahmedabad (1) Liquor Licences, Mosques and Tombs
Part 2: Ahmedabad (2) A Stepwell, Gandhi and a Thali
Part 3: Meeting the Locals
Part 4: Siddhpur, Patan and Modhera
Part 5: Salt and Wild Asses in the Little Rann of Kutch
Part 6: Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar
Part 7: Bhavnagar
Part 8: Palitana and the Temples on Shatrunjaya Hill
Part 9: A Lion Hunt and a Visit to Junagadh
Part 10: Gondal
Part 11: Gondal to Bhuj
Part 12: Bhuj
Part 13: To the Great Rann of Kutch, Craft Villages and a Salt Desert
Part 14: Going to School and Other Entertainments in the Great Rann of Kutch