North Gujarat & Patan – A Fabulous Architectural Heritage Trail

The main objectives of travel for any tourist are to check out the region’s exquisite arts, culture and architecture and to mesmerize in its splendour and beauty. The state of Gujarat is known to be a wonderful destination for comprising of numerous ancient sites of great importance. Hence, tourists who prefer to visit heritage sites are sure to fall in love with it.

Different interesting places to visit and items in Gujarat

There are numerous places to visit in the state of Gujarat and hence, the planning needs to be a well-made one. Also, it will be useful to book the best hotel rooms in Ahmedabad, so that the stay is made a grand one.

• Rani ki Vav: It is an 11^th century stepwell located in North Gujarat’s Patan area. It has been recently declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO. With regards to architecture, Gujarat entered a golden phase with the Solanki dynasty during the 11^th & 12^th The rulers of this dynasty had commissioned imposing forts and palaces at Jhinjwada and Dadbhoi, having exquisite carved gateways. Also, here are located few of the fest Hindu temples of the country like Rudramalaya at Sidhapur, Sun Temple at Modhera, Jain Temples at Palitana, Taranga, Girnar, Mt. Abu and Kumbhhariyaji. The distinctive feature noticed about this particular period is the development of water retaining structures such as the vavs (stepwells), kunds (stepped tanks) and talaos (lakes). They had been created for tapping the region’s limited water resources. Walking down the steps will make the tourist to view the beautifully crafted stone sculptures upon the walls. It includes Goddess Durga and Vishnu Avatars. Solar discs can also be found to be carved on the platform columns. There are stated to be sculptures of around 800 pieces in the step-well. Over well shaft can be noticed reclining Vishnu’s’ fine carving. At its base is carved Ganesha in niches. Close to the step-well is the Saharasralinga talao, which is an artificial lake that is enclosed by beautifully carved Shiva shrines.
• Patola: It is regarded to be among the richest of all silk fabrics found in the world and also the most technically executed of the world pre-industrial textiles. It is also regarded to be among the few fabrics that had been woven using double ikat process.
• Vadnagar: It is a town that is mostly ignored by the tourists. The fact it, this place does boast of having good number of monuments. A Buddhist site has been revealed through excavations and it was probably Anantpur town as described by the famous Chinese traveler Huien Tsang, to be a wealthy place having viharas. At the site also has been found Buddhist sculpture in Mathura style, utensils and toys of different types.
• Ajitnatha Temple: It is located in Taranga and set amongst huge boulders. A wall encloses it that had been erected during the 12^th century by Raja Kumarapara. It is a large temple and still well preserved.

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