Ancient Surya Narayan Temple of Ranakpur, Rajasthan - A special venue with huge Amphitheatre where Ranakpur Festival takes place
When in Ranakpur of Rajasthan to explore the famous Jain temples, this beautiful temple deserves a stop. This Sun temple of Ranakpur is older than the huge Jain temple close by and there are many other reasons to not miss this gem. A visit to Ranakpur Jain temple can be overwhelming in many ways and there is so much to explore & appreciate when it comes to architecture. That experience of Ranakpur Jain temple may make you feel that this temple is very small, but still worth exploring because of many reasons. This blogpost will share more about Sun Temple in Ranakpur, why it's special and worth a visit.
Above photograph gives a sense about beautiful surroundings of Shree Surya Narayan Temple of Ranakpur with trees and colourful bougainvillea creepers. This photograph is clicked from the platform on which Sun temple is built.
Related Blogpost - Neelkanth Mahadev Temple inside KumbalGarh Fort, Rajasthan - One of the few active temples inside Second Longest Wall of the World
Ranakpur Sun temple is very close to the popular jain temple complex. This Sun temple is just next to the boundary wall of Jain temple but the nearest gate is usually closed, so you need to walk from main gate of Jain Temple to Sun temple. If you are done with visit to Ranakpur Jain temples, then you can drive to Sun temple which is hardly 2 mins drive.
Above photograph shows relatively new amphitheatre which is special built for Ranakpur festival celebrations. Just imagine how this space must be during evening light and some of the great performances from Rajasthan and other states of India.
There is parking space for 3-4 cars inside Sun temple campus, which is sufficient as you don't need lot of time here in comparison to time you need for exploring Ranakapur Jain temples. Even if parking space is full inside the temple, one car park the car outside Sun temple gate as there is enough space.
Sun Temple of Ranakpur is a famous Sun or Surya temple which is well known as the Surya Narayan Temple. This is 13th century temple, which was rebuilt in the 15th century after destruction. Sun temple is built with white limestone in Nagara style with a delicate ornamented work you can see in above photograph. Nagara style of architecture is a style of classic Hindu temple architecture that is different from the Dravidian architectural style of the South Indian temples. Sun temple is built on a raised stone platform with no boundary walls.
Related Blogpost - Vedi Temple inside KumbalGarh Fort, Rajasthan - 3 Storey Octagonal structure standing strong on 36 pillars around world's second largest wall
Ranakpur is a small town that around Aravalli ranges in the state of Rajasthan is mainly famous for Ranakpur Jain Temple. This Sun Narayan Temple is at walk of about 350 meters.
Like other Sun temples, Ranakpur Sun temple is facing to the east direction and in this Surya Temple, the Lord Sun idol is shown as riding his chariot. Ranakpur Sun Temple wall has beautiful carvings of warriors, horses, and celestial bodies which represent the artistic excellence of the people of that time. This sun temple in Rajasthan has an octagonal mandap before the sanctum.
Related Blogpost - Hamerpal Lake - A place which needs serious reconsideration by everyone visiting Kumbalgarh & Rajasthan Tourism for conservation of it's great natural ecosystem
Sun Narayan temple is visited by many devotees as well as tourists from all around the country. Many devotees also visit the nearby temple of Amba Mata. This Sun temple in Ranakpur is managed by the Eklingji Trust. Eklingji trust was created in 1955 by the late Maharana Shri Bhupal Singh of Mewar (Udaipur) with the aim of continuing the worship and taking care of the famous and historic Eklingji Temple and other temples of Mewar.
Related Blogpost - Badal Mahal in Rajasthan - A brilliant palace inside Kumbalgarh Fort for Panoramic Views of the mountains surrounding second largest wall of the world
Recently we had also visited Modhera Sun temple in Gujrat and now after visiting Ranakpur Sun temple, we feel like planning for other Sun temples in India :
- Katarmal Sun temple in Uttarakhand
- Sun Temple in Gaya
- Surya Pahar Temple, Asam
- Suryanar, Kumbakonam
- Sun Narayan Temple, Araswali
- The Bhramanya Dev Temple at Unao in Madhya Pradesh
- Martand Sun temple, Jammu
- Sun Temple, Gwalior
- Sun Temple, Ranchi
- Surya Narayana Temple, Domlur
If we talk about location and how to reach this temple from some of the key places in Rajasthan, then it's important to know that Ranakpur Sun Temple is located on the Rajasthan State Highway No. 32 and 93 kilometers away from Udaipur & 33 kilometers from Kumbhalgarh.
Related Blogpost - Will you be surprised if I say that World's Second largest wall after Great Wall of China is in India - The Wall around Kumbalgarh Fort of Rajasthan
Before coming back to Kumbhalgarh, we spent some time around Ranakpur Sun temple and it was a good decision to explore this gem along with famous Jain Temples. Please do share your suggestions/inputs/questions through comments section below.
If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
1. Manage your waste well and don’t litter Use dustbins.
2. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
3. Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
4. Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
5. Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite.
.jpg)