Modhera Sun Temple

December 17, 2022

We are a country with rich Heritage and values and the only country in the world to have 2 Sun Temples ...

The abv pic is from the internet👆🏾

Info below copied from trip advisor

One of the Two sun Temples in India

Reviewed 9 September 2016

This place is around 2 hours 30 minutes from Ahmedabad. This is one of those ancient architecture which is centuries old and only one of its type. There are only 2 sun temples built in India. One is in Konark, Odisha and other in Modhera, Gujarat. This temple has a fantastic architecture, which has a lot of historical stories associated with it. You should definitely hire a quide (with a good bargain) to understand the details.
The architecture built is in such a way that on days of equinox, which happnes twice a year, the first ray of sun when it rises falls directly into the main centre of the temple where the Sun god was seated. It used to have a diamond on its head, which used to glow up the whole temple.
It also has a man-made pond next to it, with beautiful step architectire and around 108 small temples built in it.
The surroundings of this architecture is nicely maintained with good lanscape and a musuem with some old ruins. However the interiors of this architecture needs to be maintained properly.
I would recommend that you can spend a couple of hours while on your enroute to Becharaji, Mahudi or patan.

So...

Finally visited this beautiful marvel in Modhera (not the un famous Moderna as my smart phone would like to change my words to its whims) ...the grand Sun Temple ...

To our bad luck there was a film crew and they were restricting tourist movements... The public did get annoyed and restless as they were holding up people to complete their shots...

The below info is from Google...

Pix are all mine

History

The shrine proper of the Sun Temple was built during the reign of Bhima I of Chaulukya dynasty.^[A]^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] Earlier, during 1024–1025, Mahmud of Ghazni had invaded Bhima's kingdom, and a force of around 20,000 soldiers had unsuccessfully tried to check his advance at Modhera. Historian A. K. Majumdar theorizes that the Sun Temple might have been built to commemorate this defense.^[5] On a block in western wall of cella, there is an inscription "Vikram Samvat 1083" upside down carelessly incised in Devnagari script which correspond to 1026-1027 CE. No other date is found. As the inscription is upside down, it evidences the destruction and reconstruction of the cella. Due to the position of the inscription, it is not firmly considered as the date of construction. On the stylistic ground, it is known that the Kunda with its corner shrines was built earlier at the beginning of the 11th century. The inscription is rather considered as the date of destruction by Ghazni instead of the construction. Soon after Bhima had returned to the power. So the temple proper, the miniature and the niche shrines in the tank were built shortly after 1026 CE. The dancing hall was added much later in the third quarter of the 12th century along with the gateways, the porch of the temple proper and the doorframes of the temple and the cella during the reign of the Karna.^[6]

The temple is built on 23.6° latitude (approximately near Tropic of Cancer).^[B]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11] The place was later known as Sita ni Chauri and Ramkund locally.^[C]^[12] No worship is offered here now.^[3] The temple is the Monument of National Importance and is maintained by the Archeological Survey of India.

Artifacts row leading to the museum...

Below info from Google

Stepwell

The stepwell on the west of Kunda has one entrance and two pavilion-towers. It is moderately ornamented. The door-frame has lotus and leaves and the ruchaka type pilasters indicate it belongs to 11th century. The small mandapa above the ground level and located on the second kuta of stepwell may belong to tenth century.^[17]