Kutch nahi dekha to, Kuch nahi dekha. Kuch Din do Bitaiye, Gujarat mein !!!
1) White Rann:
White Rann is one of the Top places of Kutch to see. It is 100 Km from Bhuj.The dessert like Rann Of Kutch occupies a big part of the region. Mostly marshy, the Rann runs into the horizon. During summer it is dry and has a white coating of salt. In India’s monsoon, the flat desert of salty clay and mudflats, averaging 15 meters above sea level, fills with standing waters, interspersed with sandy islets of thorny scrub, breeding grounds for some of the largest flocks of greater and lesser flamingos. The Rann Of Kutch is home to a wide array of flora and fauna. Migratory birds deem it an abode during diverse weather conditions. The Rann is also famous for the Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary, the Little Rann of Kutch, where the last of three species of Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus khur or khar) still exists along with wolves, foxes, jackals, chinkara gazelles, nilgai antelope and blackbucks as well as 13 species of lark.
2) Khavda :
For those heading northwards, Khavda, 66 kms along the principal road going north of Bhuj, is a major stop and the last place to get bottled water and fruits before heading to other destinations. The center of town also has Kutchi food available.
The town has excellent potters and leather craftsmen (indicating a heavy Muslim presence, as Hindus do not use leather), and ajrakh blockprinting at khatrivas. The KMVS office in Khavda sells embroidered handmade dolls and other textile products and is run by local women. The Khavda area has a well-blended population of Meghwals (Hindus) and Muslims hailing from Sindh, leading to interesting combinations of work styles and social traditions. You will find Hindus, more likely to be woodcarvers, for example, and Muslims more likely to do leatherwork, working side by side in the same village.
Khavda is also the departure point to visit the world’s largest flamingo colony, at a lake in the desert out past Jamkundaliya, where a half million flamingos stop over on their migrations every year. The flamingo colony can only be reached by camel and is best visited in the winter (Oct. to Mar).
3) Banni Villages:
The villages of the Kutch region specialize in a different form of handicrafts. Some of the more important villages Niroona (Rogan Art and Bells), Hodko, Dhorodo and Ludiya, a permission is to be taken from the check post to visit this area due to its proximity with Pakistan.
4) The Black Hills (Kala Dungar):
25 kms north of Khavda, the top of the Black Hills is the highest point in Kutch, at 462 m. From here, the entire northern horizon vanishes into the Great Rann, the desert and sky often becoming indistinguishable. It is one of the few non-coastal locations where you feel like you are at the edge of the earth, on the brink of incomprehensible vastness that fades off towards infinity. Looking out from the Black Hills, you can understand the tremendous effort that those who undertake the crossing of the Great Rann have to make. Since this is one of the places where a civilian can get closest to the Pakistan border, there is an Army post at the top; beyond here, only military personnel are allowed. The hill is also the site of a 400-year-old temple to Dattatreya, the three-headed incarnation of Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva in the same body. Legend says that when Dattatreya walked on the earth, he stopped at the Black Hills and found a band of starving jackals. Being a god, he offered them his body to eat and as they ate, his body continually regenerated itself. Because of this, for the last four centuries, the priest at the temple has prepared a batch of prasad that is fed to the jackals after the evening aarti.
Reaching the hilltop by public transport is difficult; the only bus travels there from Khavda on weekend evenings and returns in the early morning. Hiring a jeep from Khavda is your other option. Visiting in the early morning or late afternoon is recommended, though with a few more hours there are nice hikes to do around the hill. Be sure to take your own food and water and if you want to stay the night, there is a dharamshala next to the temple.
Reaching the hilltop by public transport is difficult; the only bus travels there from Khavda on weekend evenings and returns in the early morning. Hiring a jeep from Khavda is your other option. Visiting in the early morning or late afternoon is recommended, though with a few more hours there are nice hikes to do around the hill. Be sure to take your own food and water and if you want to stay the night, there is a dharamshala next to the temple.
Kaladungar also known as the Black Hills, overlooks the spectacular Rann, the view from the top is a sight that one can never forget. One can spot some rare species of white foxes these beautiful, frisky animals staying in the wild respond to the call of the temple priest as he beats a steel plate yelling “langa” to suggest that food has been laid out for them.
7 Places of Bhuj Must See
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There are many places to visit in Bhuj. Here are the few must see places:
A) Hammisar Lake:
An excellent place to cool off on a hot afternoon, Hamirsar Lake is where people go to swim, or sit under a tree and enjoy the water, as well as where many women do their laundry. Walking along the lake’s edge is a great way to get from one place to another, with the Aina Mahal and Praga Mahal, the Kutch Museum, the Ramkund Stepwell and Ram Dhun Temple, the Swaminarayan Temple and the Alfred High School all located very close to the eastern side of the lake; a walk from the Aina Mahal to the Swaminarayan Temple (passing all the other sites mentioned) takes about half an hour. Further around the other side of the lake is the Sharad Baug palace, and the road to the royal chhatardis.
B) Sharad Baug Palace:
The king’s residence right up to 1991 when the last king of Kutch, Madansingh died, the palace is now a museum. With beautiful gardens of many flowering and medicinal plants, the palace grounds houses many migrating birds as they stop for a rest on their way.
C) Royal Chhatrdis:
About a 20-minute walk southwest of Hamirsar lake, through open areas that no longer seem like you’re in the city, are the royal cenotaphs (memorials to those not actually buried there and, in this case, not buried at all but cremated). Many of the monuments are in ruins due to earthquakes, but those of Lakhpatji, Raydhanji II and Desarji are still quite intact. The site is very quiet, out in the middle of a field, not surrounded by buildings, and is very peaceful in morning or evening, though in the middle of the day it can be quite hot under bright sun.
D) Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan:
A Kutchi cultural center, located further south along College Road (which leads away from the lake past Alfred High School, the Ramkund stepwell and the Swaminarayan temple), the B.S.D. contains an excellent collection of Kutchi folk art and crafts, especially from the more remote regions of the district, collected by a forest service official as he traveled around doing government work. There are also exhibits of rural architecture, paintings, textile arts and archaeological specimens.
E) Kutch Museum:
During Visit to Bhuj Town must see is the quaint Kutch Museum-the oldest in Gujarat. Regarded as one of the best, this museum has an excellent collection founded in 1877. Walking through the maze of winding streets takes visitors to the exquisiteAaina Mahal (palace of mirrors). The Prag Mahal is a beautiful Italian Gothic style palace built by Maharao of Bhuj.
F) Handicraft:
Kutch is also known for its intricate and appealing handicrafts. Rann Utsav is the ideal time to purchase the handicrafts since artisans from many parts of Kutch will flock the region with their best piece of work. Each of these brilliant crafts stands testimony to the creative ingenuity of the artisans of Kutch. The region has a great history of foreign trade in handicrafts with various countries. Even today the artifacts of Kutch have great demand in the national and international markets. Ethnic style embroidery, hand block painting, wood carving, silver work, pen-knives and nut crackers and sea shell toys and it goes on.
G) Swami Narayan Temple:
Like most Swaminarayan temples, this one has the typical brightly colored woodcarvings around the building, mostly depicting Lord Krishna and Radha.
Bhadreshwar Jain Temple
There are a number of temples built by Jain followers in Kutch. The Bhadreshwar temple, one of the most ancient temples situated in Bhadrawati, considered a very holy place is one such. Bhadrawati was ruled by King Sidhsen in 449 B.C (according to the Hindu calendar) who renovated the place. Later it was ruled by The Solankies who were Jains, and they changed the name to Bhadreshwar. Then in 1315, a great famine struck Kutch, after which the place was renovated by Jagadusha.
Perhaps one of the most under-appreciated sites of great significance for India’s religious history is Bhadreshwar, barely a kilometer from the coast, 69 km east of Mandvi, past Mundra, and 75 km south of Bhuj. The Jain religion, like other religions of Indian origin, places considerable importance on the act of pilgrimage and Bhadreshwar is one of the major centers of Jain pilgrimage in Gujarat. Unreliable reports claim the city was founded in 516 BC, and oral accounts state that the first temple was built “2500 years ago, about 45 years after the death of Lord Mahavir,” but there is no evidence to either support or debunk that claim. The main temple is strikingly beautiful, in all white marble with majestic pillars. Around the central one are 52 smaller shrines, one of which reputedly holds the original Parshavanath idol from 500 BC Non-Jains cannot spend the night in the temple complex, but other lodging is available in town.
In addition to the Jain complex, there are also two mosques which are reliably dated to the late 12th century, meaning they predate the well-known Islamic architecture of Ahmedabad by 250 years or so, making them in all likelihood the first mosques built in India. Their existence indicates that Iranian seagoing traders arrived on the coast of Gujarat at least 50 years before Islam swept into Delhi by land. As such, they are much more stark, austere, constructions, without the flowery embellishments of the later period, but they are also the first mosques to incorporate Indian architectural elements into Islamic constructions. According to at least one researcher’s extensive study, the style indicates that this blending was not done because they plundered Hindu temple ruins for parts or only employed Hindu craftsmen, but was a more deliberate incorporation of design elements according to the tastes of the builders
