• 9964432222
  • Mail Us
  • Appointment
  • Locate Us
  • Chat Now
  • Courses
  • Login
  • Register
Manifest IAS
JournalsOfIndia
Manifest Learning Academy
  • Home
  • SNIPPETSfor Prelims
  • ARTICLESfor Mains
  • BROWSEBY SOURCE
  • DOWNLOADS
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • SNIPPETSfor Prelims
  • ARTICLESfor Mains
  • BROWSEBY SOURCE
  • DOWNLOADS
No Result
View All Result
JournalsOfIndia
No Result
View All Result
Home History

Modhera sun temple

July 27, 2022
in History
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
Modhera sun temple
236
VIEWS
Share on WhatsAppShare on TelegramShare on Facebook
image_pdfMake PDF

In news– The Union Home Minister has recently announced that Ahmedabad Railway Station at Kalupur in Ahmedabad City will be developed on the theme of Modhera Sun Temple in the next five years.

About Modhera Sun Temple

  • Modhera Sun Temple is located at Modhera village of Mehsana district, Gujarat, India.
  • Modhera finds a mention in the ancient scriptures like Skanda Purana and Brahma Purana. 
  • The old texts also refer to Modhera and its surrounding areas as Dharmaranya or the forest of righteousness.
  • It is situated on the bank of the river Pushpavati. 
  • It was built after 1026-27 CE during the reign of Bhima I of the Chalukya dynasty. 
  • The place was later known as Sita ni Chauri and Ramkund locally.
  • No worship is offered now and the temple is the Monument of National Importance and is maintained by the Archeological Survey of India.
  • The temple is built on 23.6° latitude (approximately near the Tropic of Cancer).  
  • Earlier, during 1024–1025, Mahmud of Ghazni had invaded Bhima’s kingdom, and a force of around 20,000 soldiers had unsuccessfully tried to check his advance at Modhera. 
  • Historian A. K. Majumdar theorizes that the Sun Temple might have been built to commemorate this defense.
  • On a block in western wall of cella, there is an inscription “Vikram Samvat 1083” upside down carelessly incised in Devnagari script which corresponds to 1026-1027 CE.
  • The Tourism Corporation of Gujarat organises an annual three-day dance festival known as ‘Uttarardha Mahotsav’ at the temple during the third week of January, following the festival of Uttarayan.
  • In 2014, Modhera Sun Temple entered the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Temple structure-

  • The temple complex is built in Māru-Gurjara style (Chalukya style). 
  • The temple complex has three axially aligned components- 
    1. The shrine proper (garbhagriha) in a hall (gudhamandapa),
    2. The outer or assembly hall (sabhamandapa or rangamandapa).
    3. A sacred reservoir (kunda)
  • The reservoir has steps to reach the bottom and numerous small shrines. Kunda is known as Ramakunda or Suryakunda. The stepwell on the west of Kunda has one entrance and two pavilion-towers and is moderately ornamented. 
  • The Garbhagriha or sanctum sanctorum is designed in a way that the first rays of rising sun lit up the image of Surya during solar equinox days and on summer solstice day, the sun shines directly above the temple at noon casting no shadow.
  • The walls have 12 niches showing the different aspects of Surya in each month. Other figures include eight Dikpals, Vishwakarma, Varuna, Agni, Ganesha, Saraswati.

Bhima I of the Chalukya dynasty-

  • He was a Chaulukya king who ruled parts of present-day Gujarat, India. 
  • Bhima’s father Nagaraja was a son of the Chalukya king Chamunda-raja. 
  • The early years of his reign saw an invasion from the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud, who sacked the Somnath temple. 
  • Bhima left his capital and took shelter in Kanthkot during this invasion, but after Mahmud’s departure, he recovered his power and retained his ancestral territories. 
  • He crushed a rebellion by his vassals at Arbuda, and unsuccessfully tried to invade the Naddula Chahamana kingdom. 
  • Towards the end of his reign, he formed an alliance with the Kalachuri king Lakshmi-Karna, and played an important role in the downfall of the Paramara king Bhoja.
  • The earliest of the Dilwara Temples and the Modhera Sun Temple were built during Bhima’s reign.
  • The construction of Rani ki vav is attributed to his queen Udayamati. (Rani Ki Vav or Queen’s Stepwell’ is a stepwell situated in the town of Patan in Gujarat, on the banks of Saraswati river. It has been listed as one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites since 2014. It is one of the largest examples of its kind and designed as an inverted temple highlighting the sanctity of water, the stepwell is divided into seven levels of stairs with more than 500 principal sculptures and over a thousand minor ones combining religious, mythological and secular imagery)

Further reading: https://journalsofindia.com/martand-sun-temple/

image_pdfMake PDF
Source: The Indian Express
Tags: NewspaperPrelims

Related Posts

Ahmadiyya movement

Ahmadiyya movement

February 4, 2023
Shumang Leela

Shumang Leela

January 31, 2023
Eric Arthur Blair -George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair -George Orwell

January 30, 2023
The Ramcharitmanas

The Ramcharitmanas

January 30, 2023
Mughal Gardens renamed as Amrit Udyan

Mughal Gardens renamed as Amrit Udyan

January 30, 2023
Beating Retreat Ceremony

Beating Retreat Ceremony

January 30, 2023
Hareka Religion

Hareka Religion

January 28, 2023
Egypt unveils  may be the oldest and “most complete” mummy

Egypt unveils may be the oldest and “most complete” mummy

January 28, 2023
Etikoppaka toys

Etikoppaka toys

January 28, 2023
Military parade during Indian Republic Day

Military parade during Indian Republic Day

January 27, 2023
Please login to join discussion
JournalsOfIndia

Our vision is to orient the readers to grasp the facts objectively and analyse critically. In the rush of reaching first to the readers, the websites miss the balanced opinion, which is the need of the hour. We aim to reach the readers with more crispness, preciseness and relevance. We bring the articles in UPSC way for the civil services aspirants and the Wisest Way for general readers.

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Disaster Management
  • Economy
  • Environment
  • Ethics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Geography
  • Governance
  • History
  • Law & Policy
  • Opinion
  • People in News
  • Places in News
  • Science & Tech
  • Security
  • Society
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized

Browse by Tag

AIR All India Radio BBC Business Line Business Standard dow Down to Earth DownToEarth DTE Economic Times ET FAO Financial Express GS-1 GS-2 GS-3 GS-4 Hindustan Times IE India & the world Indian express Indiatoday India today Kurukshetra Livelihoods portal LiveMint Mains News News Paper Newspaper PIB Prelims PRS India RSTV Science Reporter Survey The Hindu The India Express The Indian Express The Print the wire Times of India TOI TOPPERS Yojana

Newsletter

The most important UPSC news and events of the day.

Get Journals daily newsletter on your inbox.

© 2020 JournalsOfIndia - A free initiative by Manifest Team.

  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Home
  • SNIPPETS
  • ARTICLES
  • BROWSE
  • DOWNLOADS
No Result
View All Result

© 2020 JournalsOfIndia - A free initiative by Manifest Team.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In