Anveshi Gujarat Chapter

आस्ते भग आसीनस्य, ऊध्वर्स्तिष्ठति तिष्ठतः।

Best yatra

Anveshi Gujarat Chapter

We are born anveshi – seekers by nature

  • 24th Dec – 28th Dec 2025
  • 5 Days 4 Nights
  • Gujarat
  • 37,999
  • 24th Dec – 28th Dec 2025
  • 5 Days 4 Nights
  • Gujarat
  • 37,999

Information

Man is born to search: for truth; for beauty and meaning in life; for Anveshana. The word anveshana means discovery, and the one who searches is called – anveshi – the discoverer.
Kashmir Shaiva darshana tells us that vimarsha – Shiva reflecting upon himself – is one of the highest goals of existence itself. According to another school of thought, nature nudged evolution to a point where a species would emerge, capable of reflecting upon itself and the mysteries of the cosmos, life, and existence. This element of discovery has mainly two dimensions – inner and outer. And the two are connected.
A favorite theme of literature is wanderlust – fernweh – the innate urge to go out and discover the world. This desire for discovery is fundamental to human nature – to seek the new, to unravel the hidden, to find joy in the very act of anveshana. Human history is shaped by such courageous journeys – taken by individuals and communities – that have transformed the course of civilizations.

We are born anveshi - seekers by nature

This urge is biological; most species possess the instinct to chart new waters and explore unknown territories. Yet, there is a deeper, inner dimension to this impulse. In discovering the world, we also seek to discover the self. In our pursuit of the new, we yearn for the eternal. In our search for change, we long for what is unchanging. In essence, every outer journey becomes an inner anveshana.
In Bharatavarsha and the Hindu dharmic tradition, these two seemingly opposing impulses are beautifully harmonized through the tradition of yatra to sacred kshetras – a journey where both the inner and outer quests are fulfilled in ways that are joyful, meaningful, and spiritually elevating.
Anveshi seeks to contemporize the ancient Indian tradition of yatra by taking modern seekers to sacred kshetras of India – places that are largely unexplored, yet are rich in architectural, sculptural, and cultural splendor. These go beyond just historical sites to living systems that have sustained vibrant cultural traditions for thousands of years.

Gujarat Anveshi

This time, let Anveshi take you to the westernmost part of India. The province which is tantalizingly close to Pakistan, and was one of the first to be destroyed in the path of Islamic invaders. And yet somehow survived.
The semi-arid, semi-desert state with one of the richest economies of India, as well as the richest natural and cultural heritage. The state where dharma was not just saved but revived and preserved with great care, and without neglecting the human aspect. The state where Sūrya worship was so vibrant it resulted in one of the greatest sun temples ever created in India.
The state which is famous for its Vaishnava sampradayas, and yet has an equally vibrant Shakta culture. The state which preserves not just temples and not just forests, but temples in between great forests; which preserves water along with elevating culture, sacralizing something as useful as step-wells. The state which is the very name of balance, of dharma and artha, of nature and culture.

This time, let Anveshi take you to Gujarat!

Yatra Gallery

Yatra Itinerary

Everyone arrives at Toran Hotel, Vadnagar and settles for the night at Mehsana – 1.5 hrs from Ahmedabad (stay for full trip 3.5 days).

Depart for the Sun Temple at 8:00 am (30 mins from Mehsana hotel).

Patan – Rani ki Vaav | Patan Museum

Palodar – Malai Mata

Modhera – Sun Temple

Lunch – Near Modhera / Unjha

Sander – Ekandaka Vishnu Temple | Shiva Temple

Sunar – Nilkanth Mahadeva | Harsiddhi Mata Temple | Unjha – Spices / Masala market

Sidhpur – Rudra Mahalaya

Dinner and Night Stay at Vadnagar

Ambaji Darshan (special instant darshan)

Lunch – Ambaji temple

Taranga Group of Temples

Vadnagar – Kirti Toranas

Dinner and night stay at Vadnagar

Asoda – Jashmalnathji Temple

Abhapur – Polo Forest Group of Temples

Lunch – Polo Forest

Khedbrahma – Brahma Temple

Dinner and night stay at Vadnagar

Check out and depart for Viramgam

Viramgam Group of Temples

Lunch – Near Ahmedabad

Drop at Ahmedabad airport

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  • Yatra Marg Darshak - Pankaj Saxena
Pankaj Saxena - Hindu temple architecture

A scholar of Hindu temple architecture, Hindu arts and aesthetics. Having visited more than 1600 ancient temples all over Bhārata, he has documented photographic, historical, and oral evidence of the living traditions centered around the Hindu temple. He writes on the meaning and purpose of the Hindu temple in Hindu society and history, and has authored various articles on that topic.

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The Temples

The Temples of Anveshi Gujarat Chapter

Rani ki Vav

Rani ki Vav captures the quintessence of Gujarat. It is one of the largest step-wells in the semi-desert state of Gujarat. What nature cannot provide enough to Gujarat, is taken care of by its Hindu culture. The culture of creating step-wells to store water is paramount in Gujarat, and Rani ki Vav is the greatest example of it. And lest we forget the agency of Sanatana dharma, lest we mistakenly start thinking that there can be spaces on earth which are not divine, our ancestors turned even this step-well into a giant temple, a great celebration of Hindu darshana, iconography, sculpture and architecture. This chapter of Anveshi will explore Rani ki Vav and the deep Hindu design and wisdom that went into its creation.

Modhera Sun Temple

Gujarat is home to one of the greatest Sun temples of ancient India. While much of it was destroyed by the Islamic invaders, and the garbha-griha is gutted now, what remains, stuns the visitor beyond comprehension. Hindu sculpture in the north reaches its zenith in the great temples of Gujarat and Rajasthan, and the Sun Temple, Modhera is a great example. Its free standing mandapa is world famous with its pillars and ceiling displaying brilliant sculptural marvels. The temple has a step-well of its own, right in front of the temple which again is sacralized by putting up small temples at various of its nodes, once again displaying how Hindu culture refurbished nature while regaling its followers with great and transcendent art.

Palodar - Malai Mata

Built in the 12th century, this Solanki era temple sits in a quaint Gujarati village which has the holy trinity of an ancient temple, a wonderful lake which the village still uses, and a devout community which looks after the upkeep of the temple and the lake. The temple is built on a high platform and is panch ratha in style. It sports a shekhari style nagara shikhara and reflects and displays all aspects of a great nagara temple, in miniature. The exquisitely carved halfshikharas, the deva koshthas displaying deities and heavenly creatures, the pink hue of the ancient sandstone make it a wonderful teertha to visit. The temple is dedicated to the mother goddess.

Sander - Shiva, Vishnu and Shakti Temples

These temples display the evolution of Hindu architecture and sculpture along with the social structure and eco-system of Hindu temples in India. Built by the great Chalukyas of Gujarat, the three temples are dedicated to Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, and the Great Goddess Shakti, displaying how Hindu society had a great harmony of different sects and sampradayas. The Vishnu temple is the smallest and oldest, built around the early tenth century. The deva kosthas display various avatars of Vishnu. The Shiva temple is larger, built later in the eleventh century, and has a panch ratha plan with a brilliant shekhari shikhara. Its mandapa is world famous with a beautiful samvarana style roof and a greatly articulated ceiling with eight madanika brackets. The deva kosthas display Ganesha, Hanuman, and various other deities. The third temple of Shakti is completely renovated and still serves as the great center of devotion, showing how goddess worship became the mainstay of Gujarat after the medieval invasions.

Sunak - Nilakantha Mahadeva Temple and Harsiddhi Mata Temple

Sunak, a beautiful little village in Gujarat, has two ancient temples, one dedicated to Shiva and one to Shakti. The Shiva temple is called Nilakantha Mahadeva temple. It stands on a high platform and is panch ratha in style. It has a shekhari shikhara and the articulation of various half-shikharas clustering towards the top gives it a very beautiful profile. The mandapa has a samvarana pyramidal shikhara and the ceiling has beautiful madanika brackets. The mandapa is staggered and is open on two sides. The temple also has an articulated antarala. The deva koshthas display various forms of Shiva and Shakti. The other temple is dedicated to Shakti and is called Harsiddhi Mata or Shivai Maa temple. This temple is partially renovated and large parts of its shikhara and profile on the north side are now missing. This temple also has panch ratha style with shekhari shikhara. The mandapa is almost entirely reconstructed and the deva kosthas are misplaced but it still manages to stun as it gives the impression of a miniature replica of a great nagara temple.

Sidhpur - Rudra Mahalaya

One of the greatest temples ever built in Bharatavarsha was consecrated in Sidhpur – the Rudra Mahalaya. The enormous temple was built in three stories, surrounded by eleven shrines, dedicated to each of the forms of Rudra on all its sides. The temple complex was destroyed during Islamic invasions, first by Alaudin Khalji of Delhi Sultanate and later by Ahmad Shah of Gujarat Sultanate, from the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries. The destruction of this temple was so absolute that almost nothing of it survives, except partial remains of three sub shrines, a few porches of the one of the greatest mahamandapa ever created in Bharata, and a few of the eleven grandest of kirti toranas that were ever built in Gujarat.

Ambaji

One of the most important Shakti Peethas is in Ambaji, nestled in the Aravali hills of Gujarat. The legend goes that the heart of Mata Sati fell at this place. The temple was destroyed many times. It is believed that the Gabbar hill is the original abode of the goddess, where even today a sacred fire is burning as the symbol of the Great Goddess, continuously for centuries. The temple that is reconstructed at the foothills worships the goddess in the form of a Shri Yantra. The entire town exists just for the temple. This beautiful Gujarat temple town is a wonderful testimony to the fact that in Bharata, temples created towns and not viceversa.

Taranga Jain Temple

The Ajitanatha temple at Taranga is one of the great Jain kshetras of Gujarat. The temple is built in a mixture of bhumija and shekhari sub-idioms of the nagara style of architecture. While the lower three layers articulate the bhumija pyramidal tiers, the shikhara above these layers reflects the shekhari idiom. The temple is dedicated to the second tirthankara of Jains, Shri Ajitanatha. The original temple was built in the twelfth century by the Chalukyan king Kumarpala but was irreparably destroyed by the Islamic invaders. It was then rebuilt in the early fifteenth century by Govinda. Since then, the temple continues worship uninterruptedly without any desecration. The place came to be called Taranga because of the worship of goddess Tara by all three communities of Hindus, Jains and Bauddhas.

Kirti Toranas, Vadnagar

A kirti torana is a gate erected in the memory of a great military victory. Hindu and Jain kings have built many such toranas all over Bharata. The twin toranas of Vadnagar were built in the twelfth century and might have been the entrance gates to great temples which no longer exist. The temple complex was completely destroyed by the Islamic invaders. Since the toranas were considered a less important part by them, they are the only part of this temple complex that still remains standing. The toranas are built in two tiers with exquisite sculptures which are in a degraded condition today.

Jasmalnathji Temple, Asoda

This beautiful example of a panchayatana temple was built in the tenth century by the Chalukyas. The main temple is dedicated to Shiva and houses a Shiva Linga, while the subsidiary shrines have replaced vigrahas, which were originally dedicated to four primary deities of Vishnu, Surya, Ganpati, and Shakti. The main temple is panchayatana style with a beautifully articulated shekhari tower with urushringas, decorated with gavakshas. The mandapa has beautiful samvarana style shikhara with staggered open mandapa. The deva koshthas on three sides display various forms of Shiva, like Nataraja and Andhaksuravadha. The subsidiary shrines on four corners also have beautiful shekhari superstructures.

Abhapur Temples, Polo Forest

At the northern extremity of Gujarat, the land rises into the foothills of the Aravallis, encountered along the borderlands of Gujarat and Rajasthan. This area is still overgrown with virginal forests, protected eco-systems replete with ancient temples, pristine lakes and pure rivers flowing quietly through dense jungles. The Aravallis are among the oldest mountain ranges in the world, and against this backdrop were built some of the most beautiful temples of Gujarat in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, such as the Sharneshwar Mahadeva Temple, the Shiva Shakti Temple, and the Jain temple complex nestled deep within the forest. This group of temples is a testimony to the co-existence of nature and culture as the deepest of forests and natural ecosystems were preserved along with the creation of great temple complexes.

Brahma Temple, Khedbrahma

Brahma temples are very rare and while the most famous is in Pushkar, Rajasthan, there are a select few more strewn across Bharata. One of them is in Gujarat and will be a part of the itinerary in Gujarat Anveshi – the Brahma temple of Khedbrahma. This temple has unique architecture with valabhi style shikhara, indicating that the original temple, built in eleventh century, must have been dedicated to a form of Shakti, but after the destruction of the Islamic invasions of Bharata, it was transformed into a Brahma temple in the post-invasion period. This temple is now a great contemporary center of devotion, testimony to the fact that Hindus never forget their sacred kshetras even if the original sect disappears due to invasions.

Viramgam Group of Temples, Viramgam

The small village of Viramgam, near Karnavati has a lake which is still in use. The lake is called Munsar lake, and around this lake is a unique display of the sacred universe of Hindus. It is a testimony to how Hindus sacralize everything. Like Rani Vav which converted a step-well into a sacred kshetra, similarly, here in Viramgam the circumference of the lake is converted into a sacred areas with over a hundred small temples dotting the beautiful landscapes and with two pairs of twin temples gracing the entrance of the lake. These pairs of twin temples are unique, since they represent a very rare example of a common mandapa in a shekhari nagara style of architecture, where a common samvarana mandapa in two stories connects the two great temples on either side built in shekhari style.

Sevashram

A center dedicated to service and community upliftment. It offers a chance to observe and learn about living a life of compassion.

Sevadham and Sevakunj

Hostels for boys and girls, these spaces embody devotion through action. Spending time here helps ground the lessons learned during the yatra.

information

FAQs

Participants should have innate śhraddhā (reverence) in the Sanatan culture and be open and willing to experience it. Also, as this is an in-person retreat, prepare in advance to be physically present and capable at the venue. Participants should be medically fit to endure physical exertion.

In our culture, there is no age restriction as to when one can embark on an exploration in life.

However, from our experience of such yātrās, we have learnt that the below guidelines have been helpful:

  1. Participants must be between 18 and 60 years of age.
  2. Participants below the age of 18 must either be accompanied by a parent/guardian or submit a letter of parental consent.
  3. Participants above the age of 60 must be in good health that allows them to participate in the itinerary joyfully. Please also ensure all regular medicines/aids are also packed well.

This is not a regular tour programme and our focus is always on the darshan, understanding the history, culture, rituals, lore and traditions of the places we visit. Hence, daily travel can span anywhere between 3-5 hours with brief recesses. It’s also important to remember that the itinerary is subject to changes based on local contexts such as weather, pilgrimage crowds/queues, temple festivals, rituals, schedules etc.

We ensure clean and comfortable hotel stay with basic amenities. The room will be on a twin-sharing basis. Special requests for single rooms will be charged on twin room tariffs, payable additionally (not included in the tour fees) and on a first-come-first-serve basis.
We intend to visit religious institutions and local communities. Prepare to dress modestly, keeping the religious sentiments and local culture in mind. Avoid sleeveless and short clothes for temple visits. Male Participants: Please carry a pair of traditional clothes along with you. Female Participants: Please carry traditional Bhāratīya attire like a saree or a long kurti with dupatta/stole to cover.
We recommend you check the weather and forecast to be well-prepared for a hassle free yatra. In case of additional questions, you can email or call us.
We recommend you to take required precautions and preparation as you would during your own travel plans. We recommend anyone with asthma or any special medical conditions to have a chat with us before you plan enrollment.
Your health is of utmost importance to us and while we will strive to get assistance for any emergency situations, we recommend that you take sufficient stock of your regular medications/aids for regular and or special ailments as we cannot guarantee that these would be readily available during travel.

Cost includes:

  1. Food – We will provide three vegetarian meals per day i.e., breakfast, lunch and dinner. We will explore local flavours and delicacies. We will also get the opportunity to have food in some temples. Excluded from the trip cost are additional snacks, special dietary requirements, and personal mementos or special medicines.
  2. Accommodation – We ensure clean and comfortable hotel stay with basic amenities. The room will be on a twin-sharing basis. Special requests for single rooms will be charged on twin room tariffs, payable additionally (not included in Tour fees) and on a first-come-first-serve basis.
  3. Local Travel- The trip cost covers cultural experiences of all places in the itinerary. Not covered are any shopping or other individual outings or expenses.
  4. Interaction with some prominent locals and authors also.

All the tour related expenses are already covered in the travel cost. However, personal expenses during the trip such local snacks, shopping, souvenirs etc should be kept in mind. Also, participants will bear expenses in case of evacuation due to medical emergencies or natural calamities such as earthquakes etc towards travel, boarding, lodging and medical costs.

Click on the ‘Register Now’ button on the webpage. Proceed to the Google form and fill the required details, upload the documents requested and submit. We will process your submission and verify documentation within 2-3 working days of your submission.

After 3 working days, you can expect a confirmation email (which will be sent to the email id with which you registered) which will have: Payment details and Enrollment Completion Form. Make payment using the payment details and upload the payment screenshot in order to secure your admission into the program. We will send you an acknowledgement email confirming this. After this step, you can proceed to book tickets and plan your travel/logistics to reach meeting point on Day 1. In any of the above steps, if you have questions, please do contact us over email or phone. A WhatsApp group will be formed closer to program dates for planning and coordination.

We will be there to assist you at each stage of the process and you can reach out to us at bikaner@yatrautsav.com  for any query. In the meanwhile, you can try to avoid the following mistakes to make the registration process easier: Incomplete and incorrect information: Name, Email id, Phone Number etc. Uploading unclear photo or ID proof or B&W photo. Do remember that filling your name, email address and phone number is just the first step showing your interest in the programme. Be sure to check email for acknowledgement of your payment and receipt of enrollment completion form.

In case you are not able to join the yātrā due to any avoidable or unavoidable reason(s), you should notify us at the earliest in writing at payments@yatrautsav.com.

Our Refund Policy:

Cancellations

  • made up to 45 days or more before departure – 90% of programme fees
  • made 35 to 44 days before departure – 75% of programme fees
  • made 22 to 34 days before departure – 50% of programme fees
  • made 21 days or less before departure – no refund

To register for Gujarat Anveshi, or for any inquiries,
please write to us

Email: anveshi@bodhainstitute.in

Mobile: +91 93099 70536

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