Mosques and Temples of Amdavad

The Mosques - Sidi Saiyad’s, Bai Harir’s, and Sidi Bashir Mosques

Melanie and I visited three small mosques while in Ahmedabad. The first was easy to find as it was across the street from our hotel. The second we happened upon by accident when visiting a step well. The third we only found after much confusion, bad directions, and an argument with a rick driver. Each in its own way was spectacular.

Sidi Saiyad’s Mosque is small, but stunning. It features tree of life motif jalis that are breathtaking. It was built by an Abyssinian, who was in the service of Rumi Khan, around 1572. He died four years later and is buried within the mosque grounds. With the exception of the jalis it is very simple, which makes them stand out even more.

Bai Harir’s mosque is tucked away behind the Dada Hari step well on the outskirts of Amdavad. We not only got to see the mosque, but the caretaker took us to the top roof. It was also quite small, but stylistically similar to the neighboring step well. Both were built within a few years of each other. On the grounds of the mosque was a separate building housing a few burial sites.

Finally, the Sidi Bashir mosque is famous for its shaking minarets. In fact, they are basically all that remain of the original structure. The shaking minarets were ornately carved and clearly function as planned because they have survived many earthquakes that have bested other shaking minarets. As they are still whole and because they are an impressive 70 feet tall these are often considered the finest example in Amdavad and I assume therefore everywhere.

Temples - Two Swaminarayan Temples & the Jain Hatheesingh Temple

One day, after completing what SEWA had planned for us we went in search of the Swaminarayan Temple in the old city. Apparently there are three Swaminarayan temples in Amdavad. We were originally taken to the wrong one. Eventually we walked to the one we had hoped to see, but not before getting a little lost. The temple itself wasn’t totally spectacular, but the wood carving on the surrounding havelis was incredible. It was very ornate and brightly painted. It was definitely worth the hike just to see the woodcarvings.

The happy outcome of being taken to the wrong Swaminarayan temple was that we had to walk past this Jain temple. I loved this temple! It’s completely different from the Jain temple in Sarnath. Unlike in Sarnath there are no paintings, but there are amazing stone carvings. While we were there a crew was working on either restoring some of the interior stone or replacing damages pieces. It was possible to tell where prior replacements had been made because the stone was different. The stone carvings were amazing, but, unlike the paintings in Sarnath, I am not sure what the carvings meant within the cosmology or belief system of the Jain religion. Also, in the temple were dozens of little niches with figurines in them. They all seemed remarkably similar and again there was information about their significance to be found. Nonetheless, it was an awesome and interesting sight. Particularly because there was a stone carved tower in the outer courtyard. I am not sure the reason for, or importance of, the tower, but it was stunning. It was removed from the temple entrance by a couple hundred feet and, again, there was no information about it or why it was there. Stylistically it was mostly the same as the temple carvings, but the stone appeared to be different.