Visit the Sun Temple at Modhera in Gujarat State in India

India is country that is full of temples. However, there are very few sun temples in India. One such famous, historical sun temple is situated at Modhera in Northern Gujarat. This sun temple is one of the oldest and has a long history behind it. Modhera is situated at a distance of around 60 miles from Ahmedabad and you can reach here via Mehsana by road on the national highway 8B. There are State transport buses also available from all major cities of Gujarat State. If you want to travel by train, nearest station is Bechraji that is around 6 miles away from Modhera.

You can start from Ahmedabad in early morning hours and reach Modhera by around 9 am. You may spend around 2 to 3 hours here and then, return back to Ahmedabad or your destination. You may hire a car or taxi to come to Modhera as it would provide you sure way to return back to your destination without long waiting for the bus. As the frequency of the buses is very less, it may take sometime 3 to 4 hours before you get a suitable bus. You must carry bottled, mineral drinking water along with some food items with you only as the food and water available here are not hygienic and may cause some severe illness to you. At the most, you may order hot tea or coffee at the restaurant at Modhera. Try to visit Modhera during winter season from October to March as summer is extremely hot here.

This sun temple was built by King Bhimdev Solanki in the year 1026. Solankis were the worshippers of sun and hence, most of the sun temples in Gujarat are made by them. Though Modhera's temple is a sun temple, there is no statue of sun in this temple at present. It is said that the statue was taken away by the Muslims during one of their attacks to this historical Hindu temple. This temple is the specimen of the Indian art of engraving on the stone. Though, the temple is in very bad condition now, it still shows the importance of the Gujarati civilization and the stone arts. There are statues of gods, birds, animals and the flowers all around the temple. The art of sex is also presented in the most artistic way on these stone engravings. The animals also are shown doing sexual activities in all the variations thinkable. Some statues are also showing the combined sexual activities of human beings as well as animals. These sculptures prove that the sex was considered as one of the most vital aspect of the human life, even during those ancient days. Though, some of these sculptures are damaged over these many years, its original beauty is still visible through these damaged stone structures. The most vital aspect of all the sun temples is that the first ray of sun at the time of sunrise falls directly on the statue of sun, the god. The entrance of the temple is designed in such a way that this happens invariably on all the days during the year.

There are few other temples of lord Shiva, lord Rama, and Hanuman here. There is a large water reservoir where each visitor was supposed to take bath before entering the temple. However, it is not followed now as the water of this reservoir of the temple is full of impurities. This water pond was also built along with the temple and there are 12 small Shiva temples all around it at exactly 30 degrees each so as to form a full circle of 360 degrees. The entrance to this temple is slightly higher and you are required to climb around 36 large steps to enter. There are no hotels available for stay here. You must return back to your destination by evening.

Though, many visitors do not visit this ancient historical temple today, I would still suggest you all my AC friends to visit this temple in order to feel the closeness to the ancient history of Solanki rulers in Gujarat and the beautiful architecture of the temple.