Location
Ajmer is an ancient city of state Rajasthan in India. In summer the temperature may go as high as 44°C and winter may be harsh. It is well connected by road and trains to entire India. Kishangarh airport is 25 KM from here. Jaipur is 135 KM from Ajmer.
Where to stay
We stayed in Hotel Khadim of Rajasthan State Tourism (RTDC). It is an average hotel with big compound with peacocks and average but spacious restaurant. It is in heart of city. I recommend to stay here.
Hotel booking – Hotel Khadim
Our 18 Days Itinerary
Exploring Ajmer was part of our 18 days trip to Rajasthan. After spending three days in Jodhpur we caught train from Jodhpur which touched Ajmer at 1.30 AM. We came out of the railway station and just walking few meters got auto for Rs.100 to drop us at RTDC Khadim hotel (1.5 KM). This hotel is in huge compound, restaurant and rooms are OK.
Our Itinerary in Ajmer
Day 1 – Checked in hotel at 2.30 PM. We had lunch in RTDC Khadim and caught auto to drop us at Ajmer Sharif dargah. He charged Rs.150 and dropped us just at walking distance from dargah. Took the ‘chaadar’ to offer at dargah.
After this we came out of Dargah and asked some locals there the route to Dhai Din Ka Jhopra. We followed very narrow, crowded and dirty lanes with lot of meat, confectionary and biryani shops when walking about 1.5 KM we reached Dhai Din Ka Jhopra.
After seeing this, we again came back to dargah. By this time it was already 3.30 PM and caught an auto to drop us at Akbar fort. We saw Akbar fort in just one hour. From there took an auto to Anna Sagar lake which was very near from there.
Day 2 – Today we fixed an auto to see the distant places around Ajmer. The auto was fixed at Rs.800 to first show us Pushkar and Gurudwara and on return show us Soniji ki Nasiya and Nareli ka Jain temple.
The auto was reasonable guy.
Pushkar
Half day is enough to see Pushkar. Pushkar is mentioned in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas, suggesting its significance in historical and religious tradition of Hinduism. Meat and eggs consumption are forbidden in the city.
Pushkar means Flower in hand. There is a legend about this place in Padam Purana. Once Lord Brahma decided to do a long penance and he chose this place which was full of forest and flowers. He performed this penance for 1000 years. In end of penance lotus fell from his hand (Pushp from kara) and caused heavy tremors on Earth. Semi Gods were afraid and on suggestion of Lord Vishnu they met Lord Brahmha in Pushkar. Brahmha told that he killed a demon Vajranabha by dropping the lotus on him and so was tremor and a lake formed called Pushkar lake. Pushkar is mentioned in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas suggesting its significance in historical and religious tradition of Hinduism.
Hindus visit this place to have darshan of Lord Brahma in the temple here. After fall of Mughals this area came under Rathores of Jodhpur kingdom. They built many temples here. The Brahma temple was constructed by Seth Gokul Parak Oswal.
Most of the temples in Pushkar are after 18th century as most of them were destroyed by Muslim invaders.
In Pushkar, there are a few temples and Ghats which normally pilgrims visit. These can be covered on foot and takes about 3 hours in below order. In this trip I could only cover Gurudwara sahib.
Gurudwara Sahib – dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh
Varaha Temple (150 feet high) – Was destroyed by Jahangir
Ati Prachin Shri Atamteshwar Mahadev Mandir -Whole family of Lord Shiva
Old Rangji Temple -famous for its workmanship and architecture.
Brahma Temple – The only in world
Ghats – You can cover few Ghats during this tour. Yagya Ghat, Gandhi Ghat, Gobind Ghat, Gau Ghat, Badri Ghat, though I did not do this in this trip.
Ajmer Sharif Dargah
Moinuddin Chishti was a 13th-century Sufi saint (Sunni) from Iran and migrated to Ajmer during the reign of the Sultan Iltutmish in first quarter of 13th century. He acquired reputation of possessing miraculous qualities, clairvoyance, and visions of angels in ending years of his life. After his death in March 1236AD his tomb was built here and even Iltutmish visited here to pay respect. Iltutmish died next month of that.
All Mughal kings visited Dargah and Moinuddin Chishti tomb regularly.
Akbar with his wife Jodha Bai visited here in 1566AD barefoot in the hopes of having son born to them.
From all over world devout and believers visit here and offer chaddars (sacred sheets) to the shrine.
Do not confuse with Sufi saint Salim Chishti of Fatehpur Sikri who died in 1572, nearly 300 years after Moinuddin Chishti.
Dhai Din Ka Jhopra
I have blogged the details about this great monument at Visit to Dhai Din Ka Jhopra.
Akbar Fort
I have blogged the details about this great monument at Visit to Akbar Fort, Ajmer.
Soni ji ki Nasiya – Jain temple
Founded by Seth Moolchand Soni in 1864 but work had not completed on his death in 1892. The Ajmer Jain temple, also known as Soniji Ki Nasiyan, is an architecturally rich Jain temple. The main chamber, known as the Swarna Nagari “City of Gold”, has several gold-plated wooden figures, depicting several figures in the Jain religion.
Kurt Titze, in his book, “Jainism: A Pictorial Guide to the Religion of Non-Violence” mentions about this temple. Kurt Titze was a free-lance writer, with a great admiration and sympathy for the Jain doctrine of radical non-violence.
Here are few snaps inside Soni ji ki Nasiya temple.
Nareli ka Jain temple –
Nareli Jain Temple or Shri Gyanodaya Tirth Kshetra, is a new Jain temple located on the outskirts of Ajmer 7 kilometers from the city center. The main temple was built by Dinnath ji Jain after him the construction is completed by Deepak Jain and his family.
Gavin Thomas, in his book, “The Rough Guide to Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra” (2010, p. 257), writes on Nareli Jain Temple
This temple is mainly for Digambar Jains.
The auto driver told me that Ashok Patni of RK Marbles constructed this temple. The estimated cost of this temple is 100 crores.
Anna Sagar Lake
Anna Sagar is a big lake and beside is a garden which looks like collaboration of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Archaeological department. Garden is modern effort and about 11 pavilions are medieval effort of Shah Jahan. These both and the artificial Anna Sagar lake are indelible from memory.
Visitors must not miss Anna Sagar, specially in evening this is mystically beautiful to pass time in green gardens here. 11 marble pavilions were built by Shahjahan in 1637 while the bund on Anna Sagar lake was built by Grand father of Prithviraj Chauhan in 1135 AD.
Anna Sagar lake views in evening.
Epilogue
The visit to Rajasthan can not be said to be complete until you see Ajmer. This city is blend of two religious pilgrims – Pushkar, Ajmer Sharif Dargah and Jain and Sikh temple. Along with this Dhai Din Ka Jhopra and Akbar fort are two places which as venue hold important place in history of India.
Two days are enough to see Ajmer including seeing the main markets on second day evening. Ajmer is quite developed with some parts are old. On an average the city is kept clean.
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