Sawariyaji Temple – A Place No Visitor To Udaipur - Chittor Should Ever Miss!

Rajasthan - a land of heroes & heroic deeds, of honour &valour. They are not just Kings like Rana Pratap and Rana Kumbha; but also Queens like Rani Padmini andRani Karmavati; and commoners like Panna Dhai , Hadi Rani and so on. In fact the honour goes to the innumerable unknown people who have turned this land into the land of grandeur with their valiant acts.

This was what made me fall in love with this place and I held for long a dream to see this majestic land, especially Chittorgarh which had all the glory in it.

So in November 2016, along with my family and that of my sister in law from Mumbai, we decided to visit Udaipur and Mt. Abu. Here let me tell you that if you want to see Rajasthan in one stretch you have to give almost one and a half month. Otherwise you will have to plan a number of trips, so that you would be able to see some few places in one go.

As is the tradition, before we start something new we usually go to the temple. Since this is my first post on this blog I decided to start writing about the Sawariyaji Temple which is located in between Chittor and Udaipur.

When I planned to go to Udaipur, visiting Chittorgad was on top of the list. So the very next day we set off to the place. The driver of our car was one Mr. Shaitan Singh.  According to him it was a very cute name. Many times during the journey we had inquired if he was sure that he wasn’t up to some shaitani i.e mischief during his childhood days, that he was named Shaitan Singh.  

So now our Shaitan was ready with the car and the first question was “Madamji, Chittor jane se pahle Sawariyaji ko chalengey?” Since Chittor was the topmost priority in mind and since I had never heard of this temple, I wasn’t that enthusiastic about visiting it.

“Nahi pehle Chittor chalte hain, phir time hoga to chalengey Sawariyaji ko”, was my reply. Thank God while returning back he kept on persisting and finally I gave up and he took us to this temple. And believe me when I say I have never regretted visiting this temple to this day.

SHRI SAWARIYAJI PRAKAT STHAL MANDIR

The temple is a modern structure built in the 19th Century. The story behind this temple is as follows:

According to the legend, a milkman near the village of Bhadsoda had a dream. He dreamt of three statues which were buried under the ground. On his insistence the villagers started digging the place and they found the three statues of Lord Krishna exactly as the milkman had seen in his dream. Out of the three, one statue was taken to Mandaphiya, another to Bhadsoda and the third remained in the very place where it was found. Temples were built and these statues were placed in these temples. Today these temples have important place in the life of the followers of Vaishnava sect.

The temple is simple to look from outside. All of us climbed the stairs to the main door and the world changed. Till now I always ranked the ISKON temple at Bengaluru as the topmost Krishna temple in my list. But the rank changed when I saw this temple. There are no words to describe it. The temple which looks so simple from outside literally changes colours once you enter. The whole temple is fitted with small pieces of colourful glass and the lights of the chandeliers hung above all over the temple makes them sparkle like anything. It is an altogether out of the world experience which you have to see for yourselves. The glasses are not random but they are fitted to turn and form into images.

The splendour is not only inside the temple; even outside where you circumambulate, the ceiling is divided into squares and the whole roof is painted minutely depicting the story of Lord Krishna from birth till the end of the Mahabharata war. Looking at those paintings, you really get awestruck. I was like, “Gosh, the artist has to lie down horizontally to draw this.” Not even a single point in the ceiling is left unpainted. And paintings are done with very minute details. They are drawn by some artist from Jaipur and I really admired his patience and his creativity. Salute to such artists.

While walking round the temple, on your right hand side the tall statues of Gods and Goddesses can be seen.

There are two limitations here, you just cannot photograph and there are no shops outside where you can buy photographs. All the photos that we clicked are of the temple from outside.

                                    

Decorative lamp post

After this I was really very grateful to Mr. Shaitan Singh who took us over there. This particular place is very famous among the locals but is not in the tourist itinerary. I would say that it is worth visiting when you go to Udaipur just to see the splendour of this temple.

My suggestion to all my friends: DO NOT MISS THIS TEMPLE

How to reach Sawariyaji Temple:

• The temple is on the Udaipur- Chittor highway.
• Its about 90 km from Udaipur and about 40 km from Chittor.

One can plan a day trip to Chittor and while coming back to Udaipur can pay a visit to this temple.

Will get back to you soon with more of my meanderings..

~~ Meghana ~~