Jain Temple, Ranakpur

• Ranakpur is 50 miles from Udaipur. A private vehicle will be handy to cover nearby Kumbhalgarh Fort as well in a single day. Start early.
• The Jain Temple does not allow entry in shorts or half pants hence dress fully. The campus also offers delicious thali at bare minimum charges.
• Do take an SLR to capture the intricate marble work. You need to pay nominal camera charges along with entry fee, all of which goes to maintain this magnificent structure.

The next morning we started for Ranakpur. It's 90 km from Udaipur through a tortuous but smooth road mostly into hills. The place is famous for Ranakpur Jain Temple which has exquisite carvings on marble. Whatever we had heard about this place was going to be dwarved by what we were going to witness.

Elaborate ceiling carvings @ Ranakpur

The first glimpse of temple comes on the way when abruptly the valley view opens and the spectacular structure is visible juxtaposed to a lake. We were lucky to catch this view and settled for a few minutes to absorb it.

1440 Pillar @ Ranakpur

The temple is a wonder. Pillars after pillars are carved with deftness - 1440 in all. Domes have radial symmetry - each with a different design so complex that you will need a high mega pixel camera to catch the art in truth.

Tirthankaras @ Ranakpur Jain Temple

Apart from pillars and ceiling, there are individual masterpieces here and there within the temple. Anywhere else in the world, they will fetch a throngful crowd by themselves but within the Jain Temple they seem just remarkable.

Exquisite carvings @ Ranakpur

Nearby to Ranakpur Jain Temple is Kumbhalgarh Fort known for massive fortification walls. Covering both in a day is tedious and the top of Kumbhalgarh is almost a trek. We gave it a pass and returned to the comfort of Udaipur by evening. Our next planned halt was Ajmer via Chittorgarh although that was not going to happen.