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Exploring Kutch by Jayant Doshi
On my annual trip to Mumbai I decided
to explore Kutch – the largest district of Gujarat
and north of my ancestral homeland -
Saurastra. Instead of taking the fast route by
air we decided to take the leisurely trip by
train. Instead of the rush to the airport, check
in, going through security and all that hassle,
the train journey was peaceful and relaxing.
Accompanied by my nephew and his wife from
Poona, who booked and planned the whole
trip, we left Bandra soon after lunch and
arrived at Bhuj, main city of Kutch, at
breakfast time next morning. Our time was
occupied by playing cards. Sleeping in the air conditioned coach, with the rollicking of the carriages
and the noise of the rails gave a reminder of our train journeys in childhood in Kenya. We had a
cabin of four for us with cushioned berths and
bedding provided.
Unlike most places in India, where
swarm of porters would scramble for your
baggage, we could not find any porters in Bhuj
and had to carry our baggage over the bridge
to the other side of the station. Bhij seemed
like a dusty small town with mostly single
storey buildings. But after the devastating
earthquake of 2001 I am told that lot of new
buildings have sprung up in this town. The
town was surrounded by low lying hills.
Kutch is basically a salt marsh – it submerges
in water during rainy season and when water dries the ground becomes snow white and it is
famous for that. Unlike other deserts it does not have loose sand. While there are some grains,
vegetables and cotton are grown in Kutch, most arid areas have thorny bushes. Underground
water in most parts when brought out is salty. As such Kutch has severe water shortage but that
issue will be resolved in the near future with waters of Narmada dam coming to Kutch. In spite of
its huge land mass it has a population of only
1.5 million though I am told that after the
earthquake the numbers have reached this but
before that it had dropped to half that figure
due to large scale migration of population.
Just like Suarastra, Kutch was barren
and economic prospects were not too bright
which led to many of its people migrating to
other big cities or migrating to Africa and
further afield. Those migrants prospered,
specially large numbers of Jains who left
Kutch, but they kept their ties to their
motherland. Today, those prosperous Kutchis
are doing lot of charity work and helping
Kutch to prosper. Many of these migrants
have maintained and built homes in their
place of birth. Jains have built lots of new
Derasars or renovated and refurnished old
Derasars. I am told that people of Kutch, even
if they have migrated, have great loyalty and
love for their homeland. I can vouch this from
my experience on this trip.
We have relatives in Mumbai whose
parents came to Mumbai long time back. The
person arranged hotel for us, booked a taxi,
drew up a plan and gave all instructions.
During our week stay he phoned several times to ensure that everything was going well and
checking on what we had seen. He phoned the hotel everyday to ensure that we were properly
looked after. He phoned the taxi driver to ensure that he took care of us. As if this all was not
enough he flew to Bhuj for a day, took us to his home village where they are rebuilding their family
home, accompanied us to a few derasars and spent the evening with us which was wonderful.
What he did for us cannot be described in words but it made our trip successful and so wonderful,
but it also showed his love and loyalty to his homeland even though he himself was born in
Mumbai and has spent his life in Mumbai.
After arriving in Bhuj we arrived at
Hotel Prince, had breakfast and freshened up
before we left for our sightseeing at 11.00.
While the hotel was old, it had been
refurbished to a very high standard. The
rooms were very spacious, and the
furnishing, the decor and workmanship was
of exceptionally high standard. I was amazed
to see such a good hotel in a small town like
Bhuj. We had our breakfast and dinners at
the hotel and found the food also of very high
standard.
Our first visit was to the village of Bhadreshwar where we visited the Vasai Jain Temple. It
is said that 45 years after Lord Mahavir’s Nirvana, one of his disciples came to this place and built
this derasar. Over the centuries the temple must have built and rebuilt several times. In 2001
earthquake the hundred year temple was badly damaged but with generous donations from the
rich Jain community, who had migrated decades
before, the temple is now in immaculate
condition. I was informed that one idol in the
temple was 900 years old while rest were new
ones.
Our next stop was at Mundra which has
an ultra modern sea port but visitors were not
permitted to visit the port. The town is famous
for its bandhni sarees. Obviously the ladies
could not forego the chance to do some buying.
After lunch we visited 72 Jinalaya Derasar in
Kodai near the beach resort of Mandvi. The
temple has hundreds of idols. These include
idols of previous 24 tirthankars, 24 of the
present tirthankars as known by Jains today
and 24 of the future tirthankars – and hence
the name 72 Jinalayas. There was a board
naming all these 72 tirthankars, the period
when they lived, name of their parents, their
height (in bow length) and how long each one did or would live. To a non-Jain or a non-believer, the
heights and the ages mentioned would seem incredulous.
In the same compound a new temple had been built for a sadhu who managed to do 44
varsitaps (alternate day fasting for 44 years) and whose 100th birthday was being celebrated
during our visit. The statute of the sadhu also had sunglasses which I assume he wore during his
life time.
While walking around the compound of the Derasar I saw some sadhvis walking down led
by two young sadhvis carrying the fans – and
they were not even 12 years old at the most. I
was shocked to see such young sadhvis.
When I commented on this I was told that in
Palitana, the most important pilgrimage
destination for Jains, it was common to see
children as young as 10 years being made
into sadhu and sadhvi. How a child that
young can make the big decision to renounce
life and accept a life as sadhu for life was
beyond my comprehension. A few cases of
abuse of young boys by sadhus have come
out in the recent years – and those boys were
not even sadhus. If young children are
persuaded to become sadus, what is there to stop their abuse? To renounce life without knowing
its implications is something a child cannot visualise or decide. The question came to my mind –
who is to blame? Are those who convince them to become sadhus are guilty or those who follow the
religion and allow this to happen?
As a visit to Mundra port was refused
for security reasons, we went to see Mandvi
beach. The beach had a few people around
with games for children, camel ride etc. While
the beach was nice, swimming in the sea was
prohibited because it was dangerous.
Next morning we visited Kothara – a
sleepy little village and dusty like most of
Kutch. Like other villages we visited to
worship at Jain Derasars, the number of Jains
remaining had dwindled in this place. Most
Jains from Kutch have migrated and very few
families are left to take care of Derasars,
Dharamsalas and kitchens operated by them.
Instead of hundreds of Jain families most
villages now had dozen or so Jain families left.
The Derasar in Kothara was painted in silver
colour to preserve the particular type of stone
with which it was built. A huge bell was made
in London (1860) and the Derasar was 151
years old. One crore rupees (approx.
£120,000.00) was spent on the Derasar after
the earthquake damage. Even if a small
proportion of that amount was to be spent on
the village the difference it would have made would been great.
Our next stop was at the village of Suthri. The derasar was well made and the finish looked
expensive. It had residential facilities also. All these were maintained by generous donations from
Kutchi Jains who migrated and had done well in life. Most of these facilities were not much used
as number of visitors was limited. After this we visited Derasars in Sandhan, Tera and Lakkho.
Lakkho Derasar was 164 years old. I was told that the Jain population had dwindled from 750
families to 22 families. The last Derasar for the
day was in the village of Naliya. This Derasar I
was told could be anywhere between 160 and
400 years old. We passed the village of
Madhavpur which is considered as the richest
village in Kutch with posh bungalows and
houses built by rich Kutchis who could afford to
build these in their home town, and use them
when they visit their home town. In the evening
we went to Bhujodi which was destroyed in the
earthquake and has been totally rebuilt. A
wonderful shopping park has been built to
display and sell handloom products.
There is not much economy to look forwards to in Kutch though since the earthquake new
developments and investment in industries has improved the prospects. One can see influx of
people from poorer states of India flocking to Kutch. All the staff at our hotel was from Nepal. We
also met people from Bihar, Rajasthan and others during out stay.
While we visited only Jain Derasars, it must be remembered there are lots of Hindus and Muslims
in Kutch and we passed their temples and mosques during our travel. But there were enough
Derasars to see to give us any time to visit any other place.
Next morning we had a surprise by the arrival of our relative and friend from Mumbai. He
took us to his home village of Dohn where the family home was being completed and decorated.
While the house was made to a high
standard, our friend was frank to admit that
he was not very sure if it was a good idea to
build the house as he was very doubtful if he
and his wife would really come much to this
place, and that he was sure children would
hardly ever visit it. But sentimental
attachment overtook logical decision. After
that we visited the home village of his in-laws,
Dedhia where a huge Derasar also had a
replica of Samet Sikhar (the holiest pilgrimage
site for Jains) built in its compound. The
replica was big enough for one to actually
walk over the small mountains and get the
satisfaction of having done Samet Sikher jatra.
Kutch is part of the State of Gujarat. Gujarat has the fastest growing economy in India and
has been promoting tourism in a big way. As a part of this it has Rann Utsav (literally translated
“Desert Festival”) which is being held for the
last seven years. Because of its success it has
been extended to 45 days this year. While most
of the year Kutch is unbearably hot, it gets quite
cool during winter and that is when Kutchis
who have migrated visit Kutch. As such the
Rann Utsav is held in December and January.
After breakfast in the hotel we went to
the pickup point to travel to the Rann Utsav
which was about two hours drive from Bhuj to
Dhondo where the Utsav was being held. We
reached the location of Rann Utsav, had our
breakfast and then went to our tents where
our baggage was delivered. We settled own in
our tents, had a few games of cards and it
was time for lunch.
The arrangements for the Utsav were
very impressive. Our tent was large with two
beds, side lamp, main light, air conditioner,
fan, heater, torch, fire extinguisher, towels and
good quilt and blanket. At the back was a sink, toilet and shower tray where we had boiling hot
water. There was accommodation for roughly 600 guests. Some tents were without air conditioning
while some tents were for VIPs. There were also huge tents for dining, film, library, arts and crafts,
games, etc. The ground was covered with
plastic sheets to avoid dust. Each group of
tents had a “help” tent, sitting facilities and
swings. A place was reserved for yoga.
Transport for elderly and disabled was
provided.
After lunch we were taken to visit
handicrafts in a nearby village. There was not
much to see. After that we were taken to see
the sunset and white sands of Kutch desert. It
had rained two days earlier and as such the
grounds had puddles of water and had
become slushy. A road had been built on the
desert grounds to allow coaches to go as far as
possible. We saw the sunset which was nice but for the white sands the buses could not go any
further as the ground was water logged. The brave ones removed their shoes and walked to see
the white sands. When the grounds are wet, the salt in the sand comes out and gives white look to
the desert. I am told that in dry weather the same grounds look almost black.
The Rann Utsav normally covers two
nights three day periods but it has two slots of
three nights and four days which we had
selected. The next morning, soon after breakfast,
we left to see the Indo-Pakistan border which
has more a fever of nationalism attached to it
rather than a site worth visiting. The border with
Pakistan near Amritsar was a very exciting
affair so this was a huge disappointment. When
we reached the end of our journey we found out
that we were not allowed near the border - the
coach stopped at least a kilometre before the
border. So all we could see from a very long
distance was some buildings and some fence.
After this disappointment lunch came as a pleasant surprise. Lunch was organised in tents which
were brought in the morning from our abode,
and our delicious hot meal was cooked on site.
But it became a long day sitting in the coach
and seeing nothing to remember. Almost
twelve hours in the coach over roads which
were good but still had pot holes and bumps,
was tiring long day for all.
Next day we left at 8.00 soon after our
breakfast. Today we had the choice of either
Mandvi beach or Narayan Sarovar. And as we
had been to the former we opted for the later.
Adjoining Narayan Lake is Koteshwar Temple
and Mata Madh Ashapura. Each one is
surrounded by certain myths and that is why they are important pilgrimage sites. We got a poor
coach and the trip lasted for almost 14 hours making it a very tiring day. Narayan Lake, no bigger
than a large pond, was green with moss. Unless the visit was out of religious fervour, it was a
wasted day.
Arrangements for Rann Utsav were
fabulous. The food arrangements were perfect.
Food was served hot and varieties over the
four day period were mouth watering. With
almost 600 people to feed, even rotis were
served one at a time straight from the fire.
With so many tents the organisers could have
arranged for some sort of entertainment during
daytime so those who do not wish to go on a
long ride could stay and enjoy. Rann Utsav
would have become memorable if it had been
made enjoyable also. Instead of hours of
travelling to see some places it would have
been better if participants were given a
glimpse of Kutch life and culture.But our two days spent on the coach did not give us much, if any,
enjoyment.
Every evening, after dinner, there was cultural program depicting ras, garba and dandia ras
of Gujarat. The program was from one and
half to two hour duration. Compereing was of
poor standard – the compere was not sure
whether to speak in Gujarati, Hindi or
English and mixed all and made a mess of it.
I was hoping to see cultural program that
reflected the local life style but I was
disappointed. The performance was given by
a professional group from Bhavnagar.
Naturally the performance was of a high
standard and we enjoyed the same. Some
Kutch cultural performances with a touch of
Kutch costumes would have been icing on the
cake but I guess they did what they thought
was best - or they had their limitations.
Rann Utsav was over and after
breakfast we packed and boarded our coach.
On the way back to Bhuj we were taken to
Kala Dungar (Black Mountain) which is
surrounded by hills and a disappearing jungle
with wild animals. A fox appears twice a day
at arti time at the temple which has been built
on the mountain. I assume the fox has got
used to the fact that food will be available at
that time and it appears – though to the devout
pilgrims it is a miracle they see. Kutch overall
is very flat. Only Bhuj has some hills
surrounding it. I was told that Kala Dungar
was the highest point in Kutch at 458 metres. From this mountain one can see the white desert at
a distance.
We arrived in Bhuj, had our lunch and then we embarked on sightseeing in Bhuj. We visited
the museum which was quite interesting as it showed the rich culture, the range of arts and
handicrafts and its glorious past. Rajasthan
was prosperous when the silk route to Middle
East and Europe was buzzing. But with the
discovery of sea route from Europe to India,
the silk route faded and people moved on in
search of a living and that is when many
moved to Gujarat and Kutch. Kutch museum
gave a glance at the clothing and arts of Kutch
which were a reflection of Rajashthan and a
glimpse at its rich culture and past. After that
we visited the impressive and huge
Swaminarayan Temple. No expense was
spared in making this huge temple complex.
Our next stop was at the Queen’s Palace
which gave a glance at the past glory of the kingdom of Kutch. We did some shopping, went to our
hotel, collected our luggage and left to take our train back to Mumbai.
Our tour was over. Kutch has not much to offer except lots of Derasars who wish to do a
pilgrimage but for us it became a memorable trip thanks to our friends in Mumbai who put all the
efforts and their heart in making our trip so successful.
(email : [email protected] and website www.jayantdoshi.yolasite.com)