The next day, another building was on the agenda: the Sun Temple in Modhera. It dates back to the 11th century and is no longer used as a temple. There is only a small one on the grounds with a man:
The large one consists of a kind of gate with 2 pillars, 2 buildings and a water basin. It was built so that the first rays of the sun illuminate the sun god (Surya) during the solstice. During the longest sunny day of the year, the temple casts no shadow at midday. There are also many marvellous stone carvings etc. here, but I was missing something to marvel at. And to discover. Thinking about it later, I realised that for me there is a difference between sightseeing (something you expect, already know from pictures or similar) and exploring (seeing something new in the ‘familiar’, finding some surprises or so) – and I find sightseeing boring in principle and exploring great. Here are a few pictures anyway:
Once again, there were hordes of schoolchildren out and about, screaming around in a very excited way.
What I was more looking forward to and eagerly awaiting was the visit to the village of Modhera, which is said to be India’s first solar village. Unfortunately my driver didn’t quite get it and wasn’t that enthusiastic and so we didn’t see all the solar panels and battery energy storage system on 12 hectares, which is 3 kilometres outside the town. 1300 out of 1600 houses are supposed to have solar panels on the roof, but I actually hardly saw any. Instead there were these special electricity meters. The project cost almost USD 9 million and was funded half by Gujarat and half by India. I wandered around a bit and had some nice encounters. It was a bit more like exploring and I enjoyed it.
After that, I was able to add one more to my ‘collection’ of strange temples in India. In one place, children had once died of thirst and since then there has been a kind of temple where people donate water bottles. They form a pile and ‘ask’ that no one dies of thirst again.
Then another surprise awaited me: the houses in Siddhpur. From the 19th century onwards, pastel-coloured Victorian-style houses were built here by the Bohra community, Muslim traders. Today, many of them are abandoned, but you can still see their beauty. It is a whole block where there is little going on in the street. Very special.
We drove on through pretty mountainous countryside, but I didn’t take any photos. I don’t know why. It actually looked like South Rajasthan, which is not far away. In any case, the mountains are also part of the Aravelli range and are inhabited by tribals such as Adivasi, Garasiya and Rabaris. There are also old palaces with royal families who have converted part of them into heritage hotels. Well, there is at least one in Poshina. I stayed there for 2 nights. I actually felt like I was in Rajasthan and the following day’s programme was more like it. And I realised that I somehow like Rajasthan better. Although Gujarat is definitely more varied.
As a little teaser for the next day, here’s a picture of my room. You really have to climb up into the bed.
What is special about the accommodation and the area is that Gujarat is actually a dry state, i.e. there is no alcohol. However, the landlord has a special arrangement. And the tribals brew their own booze. In Modhera, too, it seemed to me that some gentlemen had already indulged in alcohol in the morning.