On our way back from Abhaneri with the blessings of Harshad mata and hearts filled with abha (refer previous post in series) we visited the Galtaji temple near Jaipur. We hadn't read about it or seen photos so weren't expecting much and what a wonderful surprise it turned out to be! It's a whole complex of beautiful temples carved into the Aravalli hills, like it literally looks like an ancient town hidden amidst the hills!
It was an onslaught on the visual senses, I couldn't figure out where to focus; there were grand pink sandstone temples, intricate carvings, painted ceilings, mythological frescoes, and macaques and langurs so many of them! At the entrance itself we saw several small one can say castles made of bricks and stones like sand castles kids make on beaches. I approached the women making them and asked what are they for but they all just smiled coyly and left from there. Ye mystery aage jake solve hui. (So you have to continue reading 😛)
Our driver had informed us that this temple is also called "Monkey temple" and warned us the monkeys here are notorious and snatch edibles and even mobile phones but we reached there well into the afternoon and the monkey population was more interested in their afternoon siestas than troubling us (or maybe looking at us they figured ye humari hee biradri ke lag rahe hai so baksh dete hai 😬)
The Galta Ji Temple is regarded as a highly sacred pilgrimage place, it was built in the 18th century by Diwan Rao Kriparam, who was an attendant at the court of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. Near the entrance are two huge haveli like temples of Ram and Krishna but navra decided let's first explore ahead and come back to them. Explore ahead toh batati hun but letting you know how navra was wrong is more important! By the time we came back those magnificent temples were closed for entry because Gods also need to have an afternoon nap! Goes without saying that navra got darshan of Chandika Devi 🤪
Further inside the complex and a little uphill is the temple dedicated to Galav hrushi, who it is believed did penance here for a thousand years. The Gods then blessed this place with abundance of water directly from the Ganga. There is a natural spring which flows from the top of the hill filling about 7 sacred kundas of which the Galta kunda it is believed has never dried up till date. Pilgrims can wash away their sins in this kunda but goes without saying it was only males bathing in it and faltu ka underwears ka ad dekhna pada! Vaise bhi we women don't have any sins to wash off 😎
Uphill from Galav hrishi temple, we were told by the locals is a Surya temple with views of entire Jaipur from the top. The injured foot had started making lot of agony filled awaz by then so I decided to sit it out while navra explores the temple. But the locals were having none of that! They sold us on the bike service jisme double seat bethke upar le jayenge. It had been years since I sat on a bike and in the famous words of Shree Baburao Ganpatrao Apte - "mereko toh aisa dhak dhak ho rahela tha"! It was a steep, uphill road and the bikes looked from baba Azam ka zamana. The driver on the whole path up was telling me how he has taken people fatter than me without any mishaps. At this point, my brain couldn't figure out whether to be insulted or relieved.
We finally reached the top after the adventurous bike ride, I took some time to walk straight again. We were told this is a wish fulfilling temple and to ask for mannat and come again next year when it's fulfilled. Ab itna budget toh hai nahi to go to same place again next year so we just folded our hands to say thank you and left mannat to SRK. The view though was worth the dhak dhak bike ride!
As we saw more stone castles here, this time we asked the bike gang and they explained the belief here that if you want your own makan you build a little one and you will get a large scale version of it! This has turned into a ritual for all mannats, whatever your wish you say it while building a small stone castle but not say anything to anyone to have it fulfilled. This was the reason the local ladies didn't tell us anything as they quietly built their makans. The bike ride down was equally scary, the slope was so steep that the bike was turned off and only gravity took us down. My only mannat was reaching the ground safe with all bones intact (but i smartly asked for this mannat to my own ghar ka bappa).
On our way out a pujari called us inside the closed temple complex and took us inside a cave like structure. We walked for several minutes in darkness inside a cool, damp place. Needless to say the dhak dhak was back but we finally reached a small Hanuman temple inside the cave. This we were told is called the "Akhand Jyoti" temple because the flame supposedly has been burning for 500 years!
As we kept some dakshina there pujari toh full Josh mein aa gaya, a small jhadu was moved over us (I could hardly contain my laughter) and then sacred threads were tied to our wrists. I mean to each his own but we both don't believe in jhadus and threads and such so the whole experience was a little funny. Having said that one does tend to feel spiritual in a dark cave like space with a big jyoti burning there as mantras are chanted making one almost believe it's been aflame for 500 years.
But bhagwan aur spiritualism ek jagah aur bhook ek jagah! We hadn't had lunch yet so after soaking in the space for a short time we left the land of hidden shrines, intricate carvings, mythological paintings, natural springs, hill top temples, mannat castles and sleeping monkeys to move on our further exploration and food!
For more photos - https://www.facebook.com/share/p/MG5w25e878LpygJV/?mibextid=oFDknk
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