After two nights in Jodhpur we departed to Ranakpur on Wednesday the 17th. Our original plan was to see the sights in Ranakpur in the afternoon and then drive to Udaipur and spend two nights in Udaipur, essentially having only one day to explore Udaipur since we probably wouldn’t arrive until early evening. We decided to explore the Jain temple in Ranakpur, spend the night in Ranakpur and then skip Udaipur and head straight to Pushkar. We’re gaining one night by skipping Udaipur which we will either use in Jaipur or Varanasi where we really don’t want to feel rushed. We know Udaipur would have been great to see but we unfortunately can’t see everything and we would like to slow down a little in Jaipur and Varanasi.
Ranakpur is home to one of five of the most important Jain temples in the world and the renowned temple in Ranakpur is considered to be one of the best. It contains 1,444 exquisitely carved marble pillars and no two are alike. There are five distinct ceiling domes carved in marble (the whole temple is carved in marble) and the detail in the domes and quite frankly the whole temple can only be described as mind blowing. The temple was built by 2,500 craftsmen and took fifty years to build. Walking through the temple was one big WOW!
There are several other smaller temples in the area and on our way back to our car, right across the parking lot was what we were told is the Kama Sutra Temple. I couldn’t find anything specific about this temple or if it is in fact called the Kama Sutra Temple but the carvings were exquisite with a few intertwined bodies and body parts and inside, “Photography Is Forbidden” Joyce happened to mistakenly get a good pic of one of the many Jain deities.
