Architectural Miracle, rather only sculpt @ Transfixed Ranakpur..!

My jaunting sets in motion on late of Dec 2010 around 10 am with my cousins, friends and of course my cam. Heading towards Ranakpur temple located right @ 10^th Km towards Udaipur from my native town named Sadri in Pali district which is situated right in between Jodhpur and Udaipur in a valley on the western side of the Aravalli Range.

It took nearly 15 mins by road to reach Ranakpur temple along with a pleasure of lavish landscapes, as well as variety of birds and animals such as Monkey, Pigeon, Owl, eagle, Peacock, Squirrel and piggy’s which are commonly seen on roadside. A typical scene of village in which Rajasthani women wearing a colorful traditional dresses with a of course a long “GHUNGHAT” covering her forehead , eyes , and nose, touching her pair of lips, along with a set of bangles in both hands and many other traditional ornaments make them look really beautiful . After a couple of minutes various red and white flags were hanged fluttering in the breeze along with moving small bells to a constant tinkling were visible as well as audible, which signified the nearness of destination, within no time my excitement turned infinite.

And finally we entered the temples extremely large premises and got our Tempo Traveler parked. The premises was entirely changed with what one I saw a decade back, now it’s burgeon with lush green trees and plants & various other structures which facilitates the tourists and visitors for their stay. Its one among the famous tourist destination in Rajasthan known for its splendid architectures which magnetizes many travelers and sightseers from all around the globe. This temple is considered as one amongst famous enchilada for Jains.

A rare front view of a temple.

The renowned Jain temple is dedicated to Lord Adinatha who is known as first Thirtankara of Jainism, was built in the 14^th century, Ranakpur is named after the ruler “Rana Kumbha” whom Dharna Shah, a Jain businessman, approached for land when he envisioned of building a great temple around 700 years ago. He spent crores together around 7 centuries ago, and was successful in seeing his vision coming true. And till the date, 17^th generation of the same family continues the legacy of changing the flags (Dhwaj) of temples annually, in a Leman, its anniversary celebrations.

White marble for this temple was quarried from the mines of Makrana in Rajasthan, which also has the credit of supplying quality white marble to Agra’s Taj Mahal; it occupies an area of approximately 60 x 62 meters and is spread in 48000 sq ft of area. The temple, with its distinctive domes, turret and cupolas rises majestically from the slope of a hill.

Soon I rushed towards the temple and saw several foreigners with their guides in queue @ depositor’s counter where everyone need to deposit their belongings like cell phones, camera, leather ware, I handed over all my belongings except some cash in pocket and walked towards main entrance of temple. Before I started climbing steps, the board on the left side of the entrance said “The regulations for entering a holy Jain temple”. Shoes must be removed, black clothing is not permitted, neither any leather article like belts, wallets, &with a new amendment of avoidance of cell phone and cameras into the temple. And I was qualified to step in.

On entering in the main temple, with a cool shrine ambiance I could see main 4 sculptures of Lord Adinatha installed on a altar pedestal facing 4 cardinal direction (Chaumukha), a charming, delightful and peaceful face of a statue seized my attention and left me spell bound, I had no words to describe this mesmerizing beauty of the statuette, a fore head covered with golden strap, a glitzy Diamond studded Tilak, and sparkling eyes made up with a mixture of several precious gems as well as metals embellished it, I then offered my prayers, gave pradakshinas ,and moved on to have a look around the place.

The center hall is too colossal and has a large engraved doom in center with a beautiful chandelier hanging, and to my surprise it is not lighted using electricity, instead only oil lamps which were placed in several funnel shaped glasses which are sufficient to provide light in main hall of temple. 2 huge bells weighing around 100 kgs each were also dangled on side which sounds damn loudly & continues to echo for couple of minutes, A temple has four entrances (Chaumukha) facing 4 cardinal directions, There are more or less 1444 marble pillars supporting 29 halls, carved in exquisite detail, all the pillars are differently carved and no two pillars are the alike, not even a bit of place in a pillar and wall is left uncarved. It is also said that it is impossible to count the pillars, (gave a try with count, but held up being at sixes & sevens) by and large people who try either fell short of, or else count more then the actual number . Each wall and pillar is carved with unique designs ranging from sumptuous dancers to geometric & beautiful floral patterns. Many other miniature and mammoth statues can be noticed on every nook and corner. There is also one beautiful carving made out of a single marble rock where there are 108 heads of snakes and numerous tails. One cannot find the end of the tails. There are also several unique, unparagoned & unimaginable trinkets on figurine creatively carved.

Some Amazingly sculpted Miniatures on ceiling, walls and pillars..

At some point I met a pujaari of temple, a typical airplane talker, who is serving since 6 an a half decades, he shared many things about the temples architecture, there is one pillar which is intentionally kept leaning, you can find it at the right side of the main temple if you are facing the temple. He said that pillar was kept so as to avoid the evil eye, as the temple is so beautiful that it invites envy from most visitors. There are many clandestine and privy beneath the temple, which were built to avoid an unexpected damages and loss from attack by mughal rulers and dacoits. He also said that around 400 workers were on job while construction, and salary to all was paid in terms gold and silver only, the quantity of marble powder out while carving was exchanged with same quantity of gold and small pieces and chips of marble out were exchanged with silver, Many earned ingots in gold n silver, so this system ensured more superior and minute engraving, the same system was even followed in Dilwara temple of Mount Abu he added. He compared the architects with Alchemists who converted a shapeless marble into such a fine art; I believe architects were really born with Midas power.

After spending an hour and a half in temple, pujaari ushered me to a dining hall were I had my lunch, later I make a move, and my opinion regarding this spot stands glorious to contemplate. The three other temples in the same compound, including a temple of the Sun God, are all well worth to visit. A kilometer away from the temple complex is the temple of Ambe Mata. It’s said that these temples are made out of working over time by labors after working on main site . The Art was as beautiful and flawless as in main temple, and here my small trip comes to an end relishing the blissful place. Some spots like kumbhal gadh ghati and Parshuramji which I wished to visit went in for toss and ultimately my next stopover was Mount Abu & Dilwara temple.

Comments Are always Welcomed
THANKS!!