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Published: October 28th 2022
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Bhandasar Jain Temple
One of the rooms in Bhandasar Jain Temple in Bikaner Bhandasar Jain Temple In the
previous blog entry we ended by writing about a very odd temple in the town Deshnoke in Bikaner district in Rajasthan. To go to that temple we passed through the city Bikaner. There we visited the
Bhandasar Jain Temple, a temple with impressive wall paintings and artworks.
Havelis In Bikaner there are many so called
havelis, which can be described as a mansion or a townhouse in a city. The havelis are often quite spectacular buildings, heavily decorated with carved wooden reliefs and other works of art. It was interesting to see a few of these havelis. Unfortunately the streets were they were located were very narrow making it very difficult to take photos of them. We included one to give you an idea of what they look like.
Devi Kund Sagar In Bikaner we also visited a place called Devi Kund Sagar. It is a royal burial site or crematorium. The site contains cenotaphs of the royal Bikaner family from the 16th century and up until the 1980-ies. A cenotaph is a tomb or grave marker without any body or ashes. So it is more of a monument over the
Bhandasar Jain Temple
A roof in Bhandasar Jain Temple in Bikaner deceased than an actual grave.
Shimla/Kalka-Shimla Railway After Bikaner we decided to alter our travel plans a bit. We felt that the weather was too hot for us to be able to really enjoy the travels. Instead of travel more in Rajasthan we felt that we had to find a place where it was a bit cooler. Dharamshala, which we visited a few days earlier, was a lot cooler thanks to its high altitude in the Himalayas. We needed to find another place in Himachal Pradesh province so we could cool off a bit. Our guidebook recommended the town Shimla.
During the colonial years
Shimla was used by the British as a place to go to during the summer. When it was too hot in the lowlands the rich and powerful went to this mountain retreat where it was much cooler. Well, if it was good enough for the British we thought that it ought to be good enough for us.
To make Shimla accessible the British had a railway built there. The
Kalka-Shimla railway, as it is called, truly is a remarkable feat of engineering because the terrain in the Himalayas surely isn't suitable
Haveli
In Bikaner there are many so called havelis, which can be described as a mansion or a townhouse in a city. The havelis are often quite spectacular buildings, heavily decorated with carved wooden reliefs and other works of art. for railways. They had to build a total of 969 bridges and 103 tunnels to make the trains go from Kalka, in the foothills of the Himalayas, to Shimla, well up in the mountains. For good reasons the Kalka-Shimla railway today is recognised as a world heritage by UNESCO.
Shimla is a picturesque hill resort. One thing that surprised us is that many of the buildings there look just like they were brought in from Germany or Austria. Together with the mountains Shimla actually resembles the Alps.
In Shimla there is a statue that is meant to be of Mahatma Gandhi. We write "meant" because people have suggested that the face of the statue more resembles the actor Ben Kingsley, as he looked when he played Gandhi in the movie with the same name, than Mahatma Gandhi himself. Has a mistake been made or is it just that Ben Kingsley's facial features are so close to Gandhi's that you can't tell them apart?
New Delhi After Shimla our vacation was running out. We went back to New Delhi and spent the last days there. We then visited four different places that we are going
Devi Kund Sagar
Devi Kund Sagar is located in the outskirts of Bikaner to write about here.
=> Sulabh International Museum of toilets We have found that museums dedicated to a small theme can be interesting. We have over the years visited a
petrol museum, a
David Hasselhoff museum and
Body Worlds for example. In Delhi there is a wonderful little museum about toilets, the
Sulabh International Toilet Museum, that we can recommend. In fact in 2009 we published
an entire blog entry dedicated to this museum, that's how much we enjoyed it.
=> Red Fort The
Red Fort in Delhi was built in the 17th century. One of its main purposes was as the residence of the Mughal Emperors. Yes, the same people we mentioned when
we wrote about Jama Masjid and when we
wrote about Taj Mahal. We promise that the Mughal Emperor theme of our India blogs is purely coincidental.
The Red Fort is very large and there are several buildings within the compounds. Some of the more important of these are
Lahori Gate - the main entrance to the Red Fort
Naubat Khana - "is the drum house that stands at the entrance between the outer and inner court"
Diwan-i-Am - Hall of Audiences
Moti Masjid - a mosque
The fort is
Devi Kund Sagar
Devi Kund Sagar is the cremation ground of Bikaner Royal family today a UNESCO world heritage site. It wasn't in 2004 when we were there, but since 2007 it is.
=> Raj Ghat The cremation platform where Mahatma Gandhi's remains were cremated.
=> Gandhi Smriti Gandhi Smiti is a museum located in the building where in 1948 Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. In the compound there Gandhi's last steps have been laid out and the spot where he was killed is marked by a monument.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Cooling off in the hills
I can understand your need for some cooler weather. I would like to ride that train.