Visit to Great Town of Gondal in Gujarat State in India

The State of Gujarat in India is full of holy places of pilgrimage for the Hindu religion. Some of the places of pilgrimage are visited by the people following other religions also. The temple of Bhuveneshwari Mataji, which is situated in the city of Gondal near Rajkot, is one such place of pilgrimage. Thousands of pilgrims visit this holy temple with faith and trust to pray to Mataji to fulfill their desires of heart.

Gondal can easily be reached by all the three means of transportations, namely air, train, and by road. The nearest airport of Rajkot is only 25 miles away from Gondal. There are regular daily flights available for Rajkot from Mumbai. There are also direct trains available from Mumbai up to Rajkot. There are regular buses plying from all the major cities of Gujarat for Gondal. I would suggest traveling by the hired car or taxi from any major cities of the Gujarat State. Such taxis are available at the rates of around Rs.1200 ($24) per day with the minimum travel of 150 miles per day and an overnight allowance of Rs.200 ($4) per night. The temple of Bhuveneshwari Mataji is situated in the heart of the Gondal city near city center. The temple remains open from the sunrise to sunset time. The statue of Bhuveneshwari Mataji is made of beautiful white marble and the facial expressions are simply hypnotizing. This temple is said to be 350 years old and is one of the twelve Shakti piths of India. The artis are performed in the morning at around 7 am and 7 pm in the evening every day. It is really worth attending these arti rituals. Particularly, the arti of the evening is more powerful and generates lots of sacred waves in the minds of the pilgrims. The people say that the earrings worn by the Mataji in ears start moving at the time of evening arti due to presence of Mataji on the ears. I have myself witnessed this sight and still not able to explain the scientific reason behind it. Such vibrations of the earrings are not observed at the time of morning arti ritual. The temple is situated in the vast area of around 30000 square feet area. There is a large havan spot in the temple premises only. The regular havans are performed at this spot regularly. There is also a temple of Lord Shiva in the temple premises, which is known as Takheteshwar Mahadev. This temple is situated in an underground cave.

All the pilgrims visiting this temple are offered free lunch, dinner, snacks and drinks like tea/coffee, served through the temple management. This service is provided purely on the basis of donations received from the pilgrims. There is also a large ayurvedic clinic attached to this temple. Thousands of effective ayurvedic medicines are available here at the pharmacy that is operated by the temple management. Many visitors purchase such medicines from this shop and are cured of many major diseases. The trained and qualified ayurvedic doctors are also available to check the patients and suggest the medicines. There is a full fledged guest house, which is run by the temple management, is the best option for staying at Gondal. This guest house is situated just opposite to the temple. However, you need to book your room in advance as there is sometimes heavy rush, particularly during navrartri days. The stay of two days is sufficient at Gondal. This would help all the pilgrims to visit other important places of tourist interests like famous Swaminarayan temple and the ancient palace of king Bhagvatsinhaji of Gondal. The museum of this palace is worth seeing. The cleanliness and the city roads of Gondal are really unique.

If any of my AC friends or readers has plans of visiting Gujarat State during their next visit to India, I would suggest them to include Gondal in their travel plan.