Rudra Mahalay - Ancient Shiva Temple at Sidhapur in Gujarat State of India

There are many historical monuments in the state of Gujarat in India. Such historical monuments are in the form of old buildings, structures, forts, and palaces. One such famous historical monument is Rudra Mahalay, located in the city of Sidhapur, around 16 miles away from the city of Patan in Gujarat State in India. Patan was the capital of Gujarat State before around 1000 years. It is around 30 miles away from Mehasana, one of the major cities of Gujarat, and 78 miles away from Ahmedabad.

The famous Solanki ruler, Mulraj Solanki started building this Rudra Mahalay in the year 944. As per the records available in the history, this building was still incomplete in the year 1043. However, King Mulraj Solanki established the lingam of lord Shiva here in the year 1024. The construction of this building was completed by Sidharaj Jaisinh after around 175 years of its starting. Looking to the leftovers of this glorious building, its original glory can very well be imagined. It had 3 floors, supported on 48 large pillars all around. It has a base of around 300 feet by 230 feet. There are four doors in all the four directions of the main hall. All the halls were square in shape. There were 11 temples of lord Shiva all around it.

The Mogul king Uludakhan attacked and broke this most exquisite temple in the year 1298. Subsequently, the King of Ahmedabad, Ahmed shah broke this temple in the year 1415. In spite of that, the remains of this temple tell us the story of its past glory. At one time, there were 1600 pillars, 1800 golden statues with diamonds, 30000 gold temple tops, and 1700 flags were flying high on this most exquisite temple, telling us all about the old glorious days. There were 7200 dharmshalas made by King Sidharaj Jaisinh here for the pilgrims visiting this famous shrine. The history says that the construction of this temple was started by King Mulraj Solanki to suppress his guilt of killing many of his relatives to get the kingdom of Gujarat. King Sidharaj Jaisinh spent 140 million gold coins in the year 1200 to complete this historical shrine. These figures convey that the glory of this temple was terrific in those days. Its remains are also worth seeing, even today after around 1000 years. The Kings of Gujarat were regularly holding the public gatherings here in those days. There are only one and a half floors remaining now of this temple. The people are not allowed to go up in view of the very old and fragile structure of the temple. This temple is in possession of the archeological department of Government of India. Many visitors visit this historical shrine everyday. The temple remains open for viewing all throughout the year. It is suggested to avail government approved guide services, while visiting this temple, in order to get all the historical details. The guide services cost around Rs. 100 ($2.5) per trip. It takes around couple of hours to see and understand all the historical details of this shrine.

The best way to visit this temple is by hired car or taxi from any major city of Gujarat State. The State transport buses are also plying regularly from Ahmedabad, Vadodara,

Surat and Rajkot. This can be a one day's outing from Ahmedabad. You may start at early morning hours and can be back by evening. However, make sure to carry your own supply of bottled drinking water and the packed lunch from your hotel as there are only couple of small restaurants that serve native Indian food and are not certainly hygienic. The good hotels are also not available here to stay.

If you are a history lover and are interested to know about the ancient history of Gujarat, you must visit this temple to get the idea about the old glory of Gujarat. In such case, the availability of minimum facilities here would not matter to you.