Umaid Bhavan Palace Museum

Latest Palace built in India

One of the best Palaces of India. Umed Bhawan Palace one of the largest palace of India. Built in 26 acres of which there are 15 Gardens. It is believed that about half a million donkeys were used for loads of earth to built Gardens, about a 100 Wagons for Makrana Marbles, about 2.5 million quintals of ice, a million meters of steel conduits, 15000 running feet of copper and lead wire weighing 200 tons, an electric network of 2500 KW for main building alone and a 300 ton of compressor for air-conditioning plant supplied by carrier at that time when air-conditioners were specifically for priviledge persons. It was built at a cost of Rs. 94,51,565.00 at that time. 

The king has one of the finest cars of that time which are on display just opposite the palace. Now they have made 3 Parts to the Palace. The part on the left side of the Palace is used by King & his family. The middle part is hold for museum for the general visitors to the palace and the biggest right part of the palace is a 5 Star Hotel managed by Taj Group of Companies. You would find all the antiques placed all over the palace and a lot of stories behind them. 

About my Trip :

It was a short trip to Jodhpur while passing from Osiyaji Temple to Ahmedabad. It took just two hours to complete the Museum part of the Palace which is open for general visitors. After reaching to the palace, we purchased entry tickets. I was stunned to find such a beautiful palace right in front of me. As i discussed, it is spread in 26 acres of land. There was all round greenary surrounding the palace. This Palace is situated on uphill from Jodhpur. We visited by our vehicle hence parked our vehicle in the parking area just opposite the entry point of the Palace. There are several entry points to the palace which are seperated for General Visitors of Museum, Hotel Visitors and the Royal Family itself which stays in the Palace. 

On entering the palace, i hired a guide dressed in traditional dress of Rajasthan with big mostache. He guided me throughtout the Museum. It was all about History of the King & Palace, Antiques used by the King, Moments captured on camera with big personalities around the world, Bodies of the animals hunted during their period for pleasure and Painting made by renowed Painters. There were many unique antiques, that would make u surprise for the time they were brought into the Palace. After getting through the palace, we took some snaps for our memories. Our Guide guided us to move to a place just near the entry point where King's antique Cars are on the Display. One of the finest cars of that time were bought by the King and were on display in the Garage with glass to protect the antique cars. Took snaps with cars and palace.

We left the palace after 2 hours to get back to Ahmedabad. 

Maa Sachchiyay Temple (Osiyaji Mata) & Lord Mahavira Jain Temple

Blessing of Maa Sachchiyay (Osiyaji Mata)

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Lord Mahavira Jain Temple, Osiyaji

Around 70 Kilometres from Jodhpur. A small town of Osiyaji has its Oldest Maa Sachchiyay Temple and also one of the oldest Lord Mahavir Jain Temple. It is one of the finest examples of heritage architecture built several years ago. There are around 200 Steps to climb to reach the temple. Maa Sachchiyay is also known as Maa Osiyaji. She is kuldevi of many castes residing all over india. Temple is worth viewing as there is lot of carving work done on this stone temple. Right from the base of the temple, you would found several gates carved in stone. There are several temples apart from the main khand. Maa Sachchiyay was devotee of Shri Mahavir Swami thus she built Jain Temple also and she is also considered effigy of Maa Chamunda. There are several stories prevailing regarding this temple as to how Maa Chamunda became known as Maa Sachchiyay. Suhag Chabdi is offered to the Devi. 

There are several Dharmshala's to stay in Osiyaji. After worshiping Osiyaji, it is believed that one should also visit Bade Bheru Mandir & Chote Bheru Mandir located in Osiyaji. Bade Bheru Mandir is located just few kilometers away behind a school & Chote Bheru Mandir is located in the Jain Temple of Osiyaji.

Built in the middle of the town and closely located to Maa Sachchiyay Temple is one of the oldest temple of Lord Mahavira. This Jain Temple has it's own Dharmshala which is best for stay in Osiyaji. They have their own Bhojnalay where delicious Jain Food is served at nominal cost. Chote Bheru Mandir is located in the premises of this Jain Temple. It is also a Heritage Temple spread over several acres.

About our Journey :

We started our journey at around 4:00 pm from Ahmedabad and reached Osiyaji at 11.45 pm. Road from Ahmedabad to Osiyaji was good enough to maintain around 80 km per hour. It was too late but we found Dharmshala, just on the entrance of Osiyaji. They had all kinds of rooms AC and Non AC. Early in the morning we went to Temple, purchased suhag chabdi, jaggery and ghee to offer at the temple. After taking blessing of Lordess we went to temple of Bade Bheru Mandir which was few kilometres away from the Maa Sachchiyay Temple. After taking blessing of Bade Bheru Temple, we went to Lord Mahavira Jain Temple which was in the midst of the town. It is beautiful and magnificiant temple, took blessing there and also took blessing of Chote Bheru idol which was inside the Jain Temple. It was nice visiting this temple. Our journey ended there. Note if you are heading towards Bikaner from Osiyaji, the roads to bikaner are not upto the mark. We headed back to Ahmedabad via Jodhpur.

Trambakeshwar Shiva Temple and Saputara

Shiva's Blessings and Picnic at Saputara

Best Time to visit Trimbak is Round the year & for Saputara Hill Station strictly during Rainy Season or Winter Season

Trambakeshwar Shiva Temple is located in Trimbak City about 28 Kilometres from Nasik (Maharashtra) & 108 Kilometres from Saputara Hill Station on the bank of Godavari River. It is one of the twelve Jyotirlings which each hindu should visit during his life. This Jyotirling is special as there is Lord Brahma & Lord Vishnu surrounding Lord Shiva in the Jyotirling itself. It is ancient stone temple covered all around with mountains from all it's sides. Significance of this place is that it is surrounded by mountains of different cuts like rectangle, pointed as pyramid etc. Even the Godavari River is considered to be originating from nearby mountains at Trimbak. It is one of the major rivers of India. Plenty of Dharmshala's & Hotels are there according to your preference.

Saputara is located in Dang District of Gujarat and is about 160 Kilometres from Surat. It is only Hill Station of Gujarat. There is a lake in Saputara & a place called Table Top above a mountain, reachable with vehicle. There are several activities carried out at Saputara like Para Gliding, Boating in the lake, Ropeway from Sunset Point, Camel Riding, Horse Riding & Bike Riding at Table Top Mountain. It is advisable to visit this hill station during Rainy Season else in Winter Season. In Summers it is sometimes pleasant & hot. This hills are covered all around with forest. Route to Saputara from Gujarat is also viewable with scenic beauties. There is also waterfall which can be viewed in Rainy Season. There are many hotels for stay like Lords and Lake View with close proximity to lake.

About the Journey :

We started our journey to Trimbak from Surat about 240 Kms at 2.30 PM. Entire streatch to the place is lush green & covered all with mountains after few kilometres from Surat. Recommended route to Trimbak for good roads is via Saputara Hill Station from Gujarat. On the route there were several farms of Grapes, Orange etc. We purchased this fruits for our journey. The route from Surat to Trimbak via Navsari-Chikhi-Dharampur-Trimbak is not advisable, as it was under construction & the road was not upto the mark. It took much time to reach Dharampur. Locals advised that Road directly to Trimbak is not good, hence we opted to move to Nasik & from there we continued our journey to Trimbak. It is good to take route from Surat via Waghai-Saputara-Bypass to Nasik-Trimbak, which we took in return journey. We reached Trimbak at 9.00 PM. We moved directly to the temple but were disappointed with the crowd & time left for the temple to be visited. Hence we opted to visit temple early in the morning & moved to take our dinner & take rest. Market of Trimbak were open till 10.00 PM. We hired a Priest for the next day pooja in temple.

Next Day early in the morning at 6.45 am sharp, we went to priest's residence to take him along with us. We came to know that without Dhoti (Kind of Indian Male dress), you are not allowed to touch the jyotirling, Moreover Ladies are not allowed to enter the main khand (Main area where jyotirling is placed). We were made to wear Dhoti at priest residence itself & moved along with him to the temple. We offered all the pooja's (worship) as precribed by priest. Childrens and Ladies have to do worship from the outer corrider from where the jyotirling is visible. After performing the pooja, we went to have some breakfast which was available near the temple. Then we went to Hotel cum Dharmshala to pick up our luggage and move to our next destination Saputara.

Route to Saputara was beautiful with extraordinary scenic beauty. It passed from Forest Area. As we reached to Saputara, directly we went for boating in the lake. We took pedal boats for 30 minutes. We found activities like Ropeway, Rolling Balls over the lake with persons inside it & Paragliding activities seen from the boat. After boating we went to take lunch at Sugar & Spice Restaurant in Hotel Lake View which was near the lake. There was also Hotel Lords which was much nearer to lake. Food was tasty and we took it according to our choices. After taking lunch we went to Table Top Mountain with our vehicle, where we found activities like Horse Riding, Camel Riding, Motor Bike riding in the sand etc. Table Top Mountain was on the top of the hill, hence it was nice atmosphere then the atmosphere found near the lake. There were places from which you could click photos from the top. There was also Sunset Point & other Points which we were unable to cover due to time constraint, though we enjoyed a lot. Finally we left for Surat as to reach by evening.