Narayan Sarovar
Narayan Sarovar is situated far west of Kutchh. It is famous for the temple of Trikamray. It was built by Rao Shree Desalji's queen, Maha Kunverba, 200 years ago in 1790 AD.
This is a place of major religious significance as far as Hindu's are concerned. To visit this place is to realise a major religious goal in life. It is a place of "yatra", that is to say that a place that needs to be visited in ones lifetime to fulfils ones religious goals.
Amongst five sacred lakes of Gujarat, one of the most famous is situated here. There is a Shiv Temple less than two kilometres away from Narayan Sarovar, which is connected with the story of Ravan in Mahabharat.
There is an annual fair or a mela associated with this place, as there are with most places of significant relevances. This is during 29/10 to 03/11. Transport now is by daily state transport bus, or private vehicle.
I recall visiting this place as a youngster, with my parents and grand parent. This is a place of tremendous religious significance. Its trademark, literally is, what is known as a Chhap, (A Narayan Sarovar Chhap). This is "branded" on visitors arm by a religious person, and is carried by an individual with pride, as a mark of having visited this place. I have to admit, this required, I would be a suitable candidate to stand up and be counted. The state transport in those days was a bus which came once a week. It started in the morning, arrived just before dark, stayed the night, and set off back to Bhuj in the morning, again arriving at Bhuj, just before dusk.
I have heard from my parents and grand parents, that before the state transport, people used to travel to this religious place of pilgrim, on bullock carts. The journey would take about a week to get there, with continuous travelling, except for the rest periods. During the day, men will sleep on the cart and women will walk, and during the night, women sleep on the cart and men walk. This was because of the increased danger from thugs during the night. It was a regular occurrence for the travellers to be robbed along the way.
Try to imagine a journey of 100 miles taking a week to accomplish, in an age when we complain, in the strongest terms, if our journey of about 5000 miles takes more than several hours. Yet, we are only talking about an era that is less than two generations apart.
I am sure that a good many people out there have made the journey and have had an interesting experience, if they feel they wish to share this, then they are most welcome. There must be people who have heard interesting tales about this unique place, again, if you wish to share them with us, we will be very grateful.
I would like to invite any of our members, and
non-members who visit this section of our site, to write to us with any information
they have on this place of special significance in Kutchh.
Email us your views and comments to rvbhudia@cutchcultural.org.
Ravji