Highlights of Gujarat

Barely glimpsed by many travellers scuttling between the state of Mumbai (Bombay) and Rajasthan, Gujarat is an easy side-step off the well-beaten tourist trail. Here, its capital, Ahmedabad, retains some charm amid its chaos. Ahmedabad, also called Amdavad, Ahmadabad or Ahemdavad is Gujarat’s major city and a startling metropolis with a long history, many remarkable buildings, and a fascinating maze of an old quarter, excellent museums, fine restaurants and fabulous night markets.

You need a little stamina to get to know the city better, as it’s quite spread out and moving around can be a bit of a task. The old city lies on the east side of the Sabarmati River and used to be surrounded by a 10km-long wall, of which little now remains except 15 formidable gates standing as the forsaken islands amid swirling, cacophonous commotion of the city. The new city on the west side of the river, nearly all built in the last 50 years, has wider streets, several major universities, and many middle-class neighbourhoods.

Roughly 300 kilometers from Ahmedabad, Jamnagar is another little-touristic but interesting city, brimming with ornate, decaying buildings and colourful bazaars displaying the town’s famous, brilliant-coloured bandhani (tie-dye) – produced through a laborious 500-year-old process involving thousands of tiny knots in a piece of folded fabric. Perhaps best of all, people here are exceedingly friendly. Before Independence, Jamnagar was capital of the Nawanagar princely state.

Dwarka literally feels like the end of the earth. Enter the city of the God, a remote pilgrimage spot at the extreme western tip of the Kathiawar peninsula. This is one of the four most holy Hindu sites in India, where Krishna Vasudeva built his capital after leaving Mathura. The lord here blesses his devotees with wide, benevolent eyes, gazing for time immemorial, from his seat, 60 miles away from his submerged kingdom of 32,000 years old, which is twice the size of Manhattan.

The port town of Porbandar, located between Veraval and Dwarka, is famed as the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. This friendly beachside town on the southeast coast is Gujarat won’t let you swim, due to rough, repugnant seas; in fact, you can stroll the tree-lined streets enjoying the invigorating sea breeze, visit the former house of the loin-clothed fakir, or pay respects at a neighbouring shrine.

Back towards Jynbeeli Bridge you’ll find some lovely mangroves replete with birdlife. In ancient times, the city was called Sudamapuri after Sudama, a compatriot of Krishna, and there was once a flourishing trade from here to Africa and the Gulf. The Africa connection is apparent in the number of African-Indians, known as Siddis.

Behold, as the famous, phoenix-like temple of Somnath will stand gazes at you in neat gardens above the beach, 6km southeast of Veraval. The sea below gives it a wistful charm of the endless time. Somnath celebrates Kartik Purnima, marking Shiva’s killing of the demon Tripurasura, with a large colourful fair, a spectacle worth witnessing. Legend had it that the moon God Somraja first erected Somnath, a temple made of gold. This was rebuilt by Ravana in silver, by Krishna Vasideva in wood, and by Bhimdev in stone; all bedecking the Phallic Stone, the heart of the temple, one of the 12 most sacred Shiva shrines, known as jyotirlinga.

Witness the self-illuminating temple in the coastal serenity that even prompted the most unwelcoming visit of the infamous looter Mahmud of Ghazni from Afghanistan. Gazni was baffled with the wealth of the temple, which also included 300 musicians, 500 dancing girls and even 300 barbers. It took two days to take the temple town, where 70,000 Hindu defenders were slaughtered. So began a pattern of Muslim destruction and Hindu rebuilding that continued for centuries. The temple was again razed in 1297, 1394 and finally in 1706 by Aurangzeb, the notorious Mughal ruler. After that, the temple wasn’t rebuilt until 1950.

Visit Diu, an island with difference. This tiny island linked by a bridge to Gujarat’s southern coast is infused with Portuguese history; its major architectural landmarks include three churches and a seafront fort; the streets of the main town are remarkably clean and quiet once you get off the tourist-packed waterfront strip. With Daman, it is still governed from Delhi as part of the Union Territory of Daman & Diu and is not part of Gujarat. The northern side of the island of Diu, facing Gujarat, is tidal marsh and salt pans, while the southern coast alternates between limestone cliffs, rocky coves and sandy beaches.

Spend some majestic time with the majesty in Gir, whose history has a strong and long connection to the antiquity. Be in the dwelling of the Gir lions, once which stretched west, across Asia, as far as Greece. These were the lions that Anthropolis and Deniel faced, the lions of ancient Greece and Bible. These were the same lions that the Romans set up on the Christians in the coliseum. Grab your chance to visit the very last of this ancient race, still living in Gir.

Baffle your senses to discover the mystic connection between the local people and the beast around. Although, the lions are here since time immemorial, and so did the African populace, the Siddis – possibly arrived in the 18th century with an East African princes, who married the Nawab of Junagarh, the local Indian rulers. Perhaps Gir is the last place left in Asia, where the semi-nomadic community of distinctively dressed Maldhari, has been here, amidst the ancient beasts, living on easy harmony with the large predators, as all their ancestors once did. Know how these people are living here for centuries, grazing their herds beneath the nose of the large feline neighbours.

Secluded from the movements of the tourists, Junagadh is nestled against some of the most impressive topography in Gujarat. at the base of holy Girnar Hill, it is an ancient fortified city with 2300 years of history. In fact, its name, Junagadh literally means ‘old fort’. The Nawab of Junagadh opted to take his tiny state into Pakistan at the time of Partition – a wildly unpopular decision as the inhabitants were predominantly Hindu, so the nawab departed on his own. It makes a good jumping-off point for seeing the lions at Sasan Gir.