Prasham
Armchair Traveller :(
A boat in Narmada at Kabirvad
Shuklatirth & Kabirvad - Bharuch (Gujarat)
Route: Ahmedabad - Baroda - Bharuch - Shulkatirth & Kabirvad
My Route: Surendranagar - Bagodara - Borsad - Baroda - Bharuch - Shulkatirth & Kabirvad
Distance: About 200 kms from Ahmedabad & 330 kms from surendranagar
Directions:
From Mumbai Side : Turn Right at "Jadeshwar Chowkdi" that is exactly after the Toll plaza before bharuch.
From Ahmedabad Side : Turn Left at "Jadeshwar Chowkdi" that is before the Toll plaza on NH8a towards Ankleshwar.
From this cross roads, shukla tirth is about 10 kms and kabirvad is about 2 kms ahead.
Info:
Shuklatirth and Kabirvad are located at 15 kms from bharuch on the banks of river narmada. Shuklatirth is a small holy village that has many old temples of Mahadevji, Vishnuji and other hindu deities like brahmaji and many goddesses. A temple of mahadevji claims to solve problems of children who are unable to speak.
Kabirvad as they say is a "VAD" (I don't know english name of this tree) that is spread in over 2.5 acres. Yes a single tree has over years polifrated into a tree with several trunks and spread in over 2.5 acres of land. Bigger surprise is that this tree is born from a "Datun - Ancient Brush" that was thrown here by "Saint Kabir". Added attractions are kabir temple, kabir museum, boat ride on Narmada river.
My Trip:
This trip was one of the most tiring of recent times. This trip was a mixture of business and leisure.
I had started in my Palio 1.9D at afternoon 15:00 Hrs for "Sumeru" Tirth - Jain pilgrimage place (5 kms off Karjan X Roads on NH8a). I reached there at about 22:00 Hrs. This place has good temple that houses lots of idols of other old temples that either are destroyed or are unable to handle daily rituals. About 100 rooms are on the offer to the pilgrims along with huge dining hall. Checked in there and slept at around 20:30 Hrs.
Got up at 07:00 Hrs next day, performed rituals at the temple, had breakfast and then started at 09:00 Hrs for Bharuch. Had to meet officer of a Limited co for some business matters. Reached Bharuch went to the office meet different officers finished meeting at around 13:45 Hrs. Went to lunch at "Nyay Mandir Restaurant" which is quite good as a highway hotel (The owner of this restaurant offers free 24 hrs ambulance service). It was 14:30 Hrs now and we were fast running out of time. We headed towards Shuklatirth & Kabirvad which is about 15 kms from bharuch.
Merc of the MD of the factory I had visited
Soon we reached Shuklatirth. Its a small village on the bank of river narmada. People of this small village are very pious. "Shukleshwar Mahadev" Temple & "Omkareshwarnath" Temple of Mahadevji & Vishnuji respectively are very famous here. Roads of village are made of concrete but are very narrow and for cars its very tough to navigate in these narrow lanes. There isn't anything special about these temples except great idols of different deities. Checked out both temples and there was one more temple, I don't remember its name but the saint informed me that following certain ritual at this temple could help children that can't speak. From shuklatirth we headed towards kabirvad.
Idol of Vishnuji at Omkareshwar Temple
Photo Frame of Vishnuji at Omkareshwar Temple
Idol of Mahadevji at Shukleshwar Temple
Enterance of another Mahadev temple
To reach kabirvad one has to ride on river narmada on medium sized wooden boats powered with diesel engine. Water at this point isn't clean but greenish in colour. Boat ride costs Rs. 12/- both ways. Went to the opposite bank. Kabirvad is under supervision of Gujarat's Forest Department. I was amazed to see more than 250 people of all ages at the venue. Few were busy visiting the kabir temple, kabir museum while others were observing the charms of Kabirvad (if you have forgotten, check the info given above). The view is really amazing. Spent some time there and as we were getting late we left for baroda. I am very sorry to say that like many other historical sites this is also being mis-handled by the locals as well as the visitors.
View of Narmada
Boat that took us to Kabirvad
Entrance of Kabirvad
Kabirvad
Youngsters enjoying on branches of Kabirvad
One more view of kabirvad
Kabir temple
Shree Paneshwar Mahadevji
One more view of kabirvad
Bad condition of the banks of narmada due to mis-behaviour of tourists
Baroda was one heck of place for me. Visit to another officer at one more ltd co., a supplier to my company, & 2 cousins. It was 20:30 Hrs by the time we left baroda. we reached back home at 00:45 Hrs and was tired to death due to wrong highway we had took. Road between Bagodara to Baroda is good but heavy traffic is abundant while from baroda to bharuch road is under maintenance. Covering around 700 kms in 34 Hrs I was tired ulike anything before.
This trip was quite memorable too. It would be really a treat to eyes in late august and early september due to lot of water flowing in narmada.
