Insight Guides Pocket Rajasthan (Travel Guide eBook) by Insight Guides

Author:Insight Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Rajasthan
Publisher: Apa Publications
Published: 2019-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

Kumbulgarh’s huge crenellated ramparts stretch for over 38km (26 miles) across the wild and thickly wooded surrounding hillsides and are claimed to form the world’s second-longest wall, beaten only by the Great Wall of China.

Ranakpur

Nestled in a wooded valley deep in the Aravallis some 100km (60 miles) north of Udaipur, the Jain temples of Ranakpur › [map] are amongst India’s most exquisite religious monuments. At the centre of the temple complex is the magnificent Chaumukha (“four-faced”; daily noon–5pm; free), dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankara (revealer of truth, or literally, ‘ford maker’). One of the largest and most complex of all Indian Jain temples, the Chaumukha is encircled by lofty boundary walls and built on a high plinth, with five towers rising above the shrines within. Three entrances lead through columned courts into the main halls – a dazzling design of mandapas and courtyards spreading over 3,600 sq metres (40,000 sq ft). The 29 halls containing a staggering 1,444 pillars, each individually carved with a own unique set of astonishingly intricate designs, centred on a 100-pillared shrine housing a white marble image of Chaumukha himself.

A further trio of temples can be found nearby, including two further Jain shrines, built in the 14th century and dedicated to the tirthankaras Neminathji and Paraswakathji, and a more modern polygonal Hindu temple dedicated to the sun god Surya, embellished with a running band of solar deities seated in racing chariots.

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