Polo Forest Gujarat blog post - great tips for a for a FREE visit!

Polo Forest in Gujarat is still a largely unexplored and house some of the oldest Hindus temples in Gujarat. The best time to visit is during or right after the monsoon, when the places turns bright green. Its located near a place called Idar which will be your base as Polo forests have no hotels or guest houses where you could stay.

Here is a travelogue from Polo Forest and Idar town.

Remains of a temple at Polo Forests

Planning for Polo Forest

It was a plan made in a hurry, and we decided to go on this trip at absolutely the last moment. This was also the beginning of many trips we made together, many of which ended up as absolute disasters, though we still continue trying!

It was a name I came across while googling nearby places, and what stuck me the most were two words – temple ruins and forests. It’s not so easy for me to explain why I am so fascinated with ruins (temples, forts, palaces and so on), but somehow places like this pull me like magnet. And of course forests add that exotica to any such place. So without exactly knowing much about the place much, we boarded the bus without much planning and only later tried figuring out a place to stay in the town from our fellow travellers.

Idar: Where we Stayed

Idar is a popular Jain destination and so has many Dharmashalas, sadly most do not admit non-Jains. We got down as at the one a little outside the town, and begged for a place to stay. The caretaker was finally fine as I was a Brahmin and we were a married couple (lol). This strategy has helped get accommodation at many a places, ‘marriage’ works very well with most caretakers! The very basic room faced the open dark land and as it was already dark, we had no idea what lay ahead. It was cool there compared to the sizzling hot Ahmedabad at that time, and we slept peacefully.

The temple at the Dharamshala

The Jain dharmashala where we stayed

We were late for the morning Jain breakfast so had to eat only gathias with chai, little knowing that this would be the only food we’ll find till lunch. A half an hour jeep ride took us into the Polo forests, and left us at a point which led to the temples. It was amazing to walk all alone in a quite forest, and then stumble upon these very beautiful temple ruins. This part of Gujarat was once rich and prosperous, but now it’s a away from the prosperous present, with its share of lush jungles and adivasis.

On the way to Pplo forests, in the jeep...

Polo forest and it's temples

We spent a couple of hours sitting and walking around in the Polo forest, no one disturbed our solitude there. I wanted to go further deep into the forests, but had no idea what lay ahead so refrained from doing so. There are two main temples, one with a step-well as well. We both got busy with ourselves, I got busy taking pictures (despite having no camera), while she sat against a broken column and felt the space and the silence. Its a perfect spot for making love as well, though there always a risk of getting caught by other tourist (rare), adivasis or tribal (they live further into the jungle), or snakes (deadly poisonous).

Some lovely light at the temple

The main temple

Stepwells at the temple

Hands of the designer M :)

Polo Forests: Address

The best way of going to Polo forests is to take your own vehicle. Alternatively you can take the bus from Ahmadabad (which is what we did) and then take a jeep which goes towards the forests. You can tell the driver that you plan to go to the forest and he will drop you off on the road from where you can simply follow the trail and reach the temple ruins after a fifteen minutes walk.

Idar: Things to do

We came back to Idar for food, as there is absolutely nothing that you can buy in Polo! Idar is different from Polo, it’s a small town and there are many people and shops around. I had some idea about what to see here (thanks to google again!), and after some food we headed straight up the hill to the King’s ‘lost’ palace and later Queen’s palace. I loved walking through the rocky terrain (often in summers Idar is the hottest region in Gujarat), despite the heat.

The Palace courtyard

Worn out King's Palace

King's palace from top

We spent only a little while at the King’s place, which looks burnt down and really not a place for the king. There were kids playing hide and seek, and lovers looking for a place for a little make-out session. I was tempted to take more pictures (none noticed the phone camera), but was prevented from doing so!

A perfect spot for lovers!

It was warm still we decided to climb further to the Queen's little abode further up on the hill. Little remains of the palace now, but the view from there is breathtaking. We located our Dharamshala as also our next destination, Jain temples on the other side of the hill, hidden from any prying eyes. I strongly recommend going up early in the morning, the wind there is amazing and absolutely no one comes here. The climb up is not so easy (am not even sure if the small wooden bridge survives today), but the wind as well as the view are absolutely worth it!

These hills need to be climbed!

Down there - we stayed in those white buildings...

On the way to the Queen's palace

Idar: Jain temples

As is always the case, these were also beautiful temples, but with almost no one to see them. These are old, yet not so popular with the tourists, unless you are a religious tourist. The temples are not exactly very easy to reach, and require quite a bit of trek as well. They are located behind the King's palace, which itself requires trekking from town.

The other popular Jain temple is called Jal Teerth. The temple is an exact replica of Bihar 's world famous Pavapuri Jal mandir. It is located at on Highway no eight going towards Ambaji temple and  is at a distance of 1 km from the Idar village.

Our water was almost over so we started on another trek to reach back the town and refresh our senses. It was summers and we were completely drained out. A cola later, we were ready to head back home. I would recommend carrying enough water with you if you plan to go up the hills, and just carry chocolates for food. The stones get extremely hot and can drain you out easily and quickly.

The Jain Temple at Idar

Facade of the Jain Temple

As we waited at the bus stand, our friend Bhavin called up to ask if we could cancel the plans of coming back today and instead come the next day. There had been a series of bomb blasts which had left scores dead and wounded. Most routes were already blocked and thorough checking was going on at every entry point.

We decided to press ahead with our plans, and after many hours’ of delay reached home around midnight. It was an unusual time, there were no vehicles on the road as the city mourned for the dead. Such times are also dangerous, when tempers run high and rumours take precedence over logic. Thankfully, Ahmedabad was resilient and no untoward incident happened to avenge the dead. Peace prevailed, and so did humanity.

In a contemplative mood at the end of the day...

p.s. This was another trip without a camera, the pictures are from my old Motorola!

-- Siddhartha Joshi