Modhera

History

The town was known as Dharmaranya during Puranic age. It is believed that Rama had performed yagna here to cleanse the sin of killing Brahmin Ravana. He had built Modherak which was later known as Modhera. The Sun Temple was built during the reign of Bhima I of Chaulukya dynasty in 1026-1027 (Vikram Samvat 1083). The stepwell of Modhera probably belongs to the 11th century with the mandapa belonging to 10th century. Hawa Mahal is a building located on an elevated location. It is a sandstone pavilion with six pilasters and 12 pillars supporting a flat roof. Some pillars have kichaka brackets on their top. There is a jali window on its rear side and an ornamental geometric patterns on the edge of its plinth. It was erected from the ruined parts of the earlier structure from the Chaulukya era. File:Sun Temple, Modhera - Sabha Mandap 01.jpg|Sun Temple, Modhera File:Modheshwari Temple, Modhera (63415).jpg| Modheshwari Temple File:Modheshwari Temple, Modhera (36336).jpg|Modheshwari temple from inside File:Dharmeshwari Vav, stepwell in Modheshwari Mata temple, Modhera (92891).jpg|Dharmeshwari Vav File:Modhera Vav (36116).jpg|Modhera Vav File:Hawa Mahal, Modhera (31675).jpg|Hawa Mahal