Just Tripping!: Do the Diu

The Great Gujarat Road Odyssey – Day 14: Somnath & Diu

The plan is to go see the Somnath Temple in the morning and then be on the way to Do the Diu. But the town is being locked down as the CM is supposed to arrive today for the conclave. Good sense is to leave the town immediately. You had stayed in Veraval, about seven kms north of Somnath. The towns were lit up last night as if it was Diwali.

One Word: Diu

I Love Diu

Few kms from Veraval is the Bhalka Teerth. Lord Krishna saddened by the Yadavas’ infighting and massacaring, retires to this spot to meditate. A hunter Jara mistakes his foot for a deer and shoots an arrow. Lord Krishna departed for Neejdham and was cremated at a nearby place called Dehotsarg. According to Purans, this happened on 18^th Feb 3102 BC.

Jara is forgiven because this was all preordained 36 years ago When Gandhari cursed Krishna for killing her 100 sons. Incidentally, Jara is Vali who Krishna had killed donning Ram’s avatar in another era.

Bhalka Teerth where Lord Krishna departed in Prabhas Patan

Bhalka Teerth is getting a makeover. Pillars have been erected and probably a temple will come over the white marble idol of smiling Krishna. There is a small kund which is probably the site where Krishna was meditating. Workers are sawing stones raising dust. Dust follows you everywhere in Gujarat. God is finally going to hear you.

Boat Yard in Veraval

Veraval: The Fishing Boat Harbour

Driving down the Bandar Road, there are thousands of fishing boats in the Fishery Harbour Area. By the road, a boat yard is building these timber boats. You saw one in Mandvi in Bhuj. Looks like this has been going on for thousands of years ago since the Lothal times when timber boats, probably similar to this one, would sail to Mesopotamia from coast of Gujarat.

Skirting the Somnath Temple, on the road to Diu, before the narrow bridge on River Hiran, you turn left to drive straight into the Sheetla Maa Complex.

Sun Temple in Prabhas Patan

View of Surya Mandir near Somnath - late 19th century

Next to the bathroom-tiled temple is a surprise. Amidst Angkor Vat like setting a forlorn and ruined temple stands, well barely. This is quite a find. You are sure Gujarat ASI has still not found time to come visit it in recent past. Even the sign has fallen and is lying among the fallen leaves - probably uprooted by the same nice folks who have scribbled inside and left all this dirt around. You still can’t believe how this temple has survived all the upheavals that happened just a short distance away to the West.

Deity of Surya

Sun Temple: The yellow marble portal to the mandap

The temple reportedly was built around 1350 by the Chudasama King Mahipaladeva and has all the elements - porch, octagonal mandap now with open roof, antaral, sanctum and ambulatory. The ambulatory is decorated with niches that has Surya depictions. The entire premises have thick overgrowth with a forest on top. This is our country’s paradox. While hills and forests are being cleared in the name of development, here on top of an almost 1000 year temple, a forest has grown. The place is littered and filthy. Broken images lie all around. This one frame, conveys the gap between the high profile tourism promotion and ground reality.

This can only happen under the watch of Gujarat ASI - perhaps the worst bunch of people

The temple built overlooking the Triveni and facing East with the Surya deity, must have been a temple of eminence, opines Henry Cousens. The front porch and the front of the Mandap seems to have been rebuilt clumsily. So the temple, just like the Somnath Temple within earshot, was mostly demolished with the shikhara and mandap thrown down. The surviving lower mouldings would have looked similar to the Somnath Temple. Later the porch and the mandap would have been rebuilt.

So what could not be destroyed by the iconoclasts, the barely surviving temple suffers at the hands of the present custodians who could not be bothered to take care of it. While we rue the demolished and disappeared temples, here an almost complete temple has been left to rot.

Somnath: River Hiran

Somnath Temple rises as River Hiran flows towards the Triveni

Somnath Triveni

You are back on the narrow bridge over the Hiran river. Downstream, River Kapila, along with the mythical Saraswati rivers meet to form the Sangam or Triveni. In the distance, Somnath Temple rises. This is probably the Dehotsarga where Krishna was cremated. From Mathura, to Kurukshetra, to Dwarka Bet and now to Bhalka Teertha and Dehotsarga, you have completed the journey with the Lord.

Gujarat Police Road Post at Tad - Respect All Suspect All!

The causeway that connects Gujarat to west Diu

Oh Yes!

So the Gujarati Chakdas can be seen across the state and now even in Diu

Even in the wildest dreams you would not have thought of one day driving from Delhi into the island of Diu. Here you are driving from Tad, the last village on Gujarat side, onto the causeway built over tidal marshes and saltpans into a different political entity for the first time – the Union Territory Administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

You remember from your school geography classes the little piece of land hanging from the mainland of Gujarat. The change in the landscape is immediate. Coconut palms line the shady road. You have finally shaken off the dust cloud. It is clean and fresh and breezy here. The seafront looks beautiful. You are going to love this island. You just drive around for first few minutes just trying to get a hang of this exciting looking part of India that was almost unattainable all this while and a foreign outpost till 1961.

Diu: Gateway to Heaven

Diu has two bridges that connect it to the Kathiawad peninsula – one that you came on from Tad; the other is on the eastern end that connects to Ghoghla village, a part of Diu, on the mainland.

Next few daylight hours are going to be rushed while the evening holds the promise of Diu Festival that goes on here for several winter months.

Diu Cross - the road goes north to Una in Gujarat; to the right is the Fort Road that goes to the western tip with Diu Fort

Jallandhar Beach, Diu

South Pole is just 12325 kms from Diu

Diu finds mention in Mahabharat where it is called Mani Nagar and like every place in India, Pandavas too came here during their exile. In mythology, Diu was called Jallandharkshetra because a demon-king named Jallandhar lived here who was killed by Lord Vishnu.

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Just a Thought

Just across the sea from Gujarat, Diu is everything what Gujarat is not – it is superclean, there is no dust, there are hardly any people and there is no noise. Diu Fort is well cared for and impeccable, the beaches are heavenly and there is helpful signage all around the island for a visitor who has just driven in for the first time.

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Diu is XL happiness in a pocket sized piece of land. It is calm, neat and there are probably more surprises per sq km than anywhere else. The island is just 11 kms long and 3 kms wide. A small island ringed with beaches and palms and lazy roads packs quite a punch. Everywhere you look there are colourful houses, bastions, churches, fishing boats and caves. And if you come in winters then every night Asia’s longest beach festival will keep the party going on. And spend at least two days here or you will keep repenting all your life.

Diu: The white washed wonder of St Paul's Church

The first stop is the pristine white St Paul’s Church that was built in 1610 and is dedicated to Our Lady of Immaculate Conception. The white exteriors and interiors remind you of Velha Goa’s Church of St. Cajetan. While Goa has Baroque influence, the St Paul's Church has Renaissant and Mannerist influence.

Diu: Fort Road Seafront

Diu: Vijay Stambh and Pani Kotha fortress

DD is for Daman Diu!

Diu Waterfront

You are back on the sea front as you watch life go by on the sea. Diu is actually beautiful. You are so taken in by the beauty and the neatness. You just float around trying to stay sane as you turn delirious. Best part of being in Diu after spending two weeks in Gujarat is that once you are away from the tourist heavy seastrip, rest of Diu is quiet, with no people and mot charmingly and no dust here.

The Zampa Gateway of Old Diu

The Zampa Gateway is an interesting painted red fortified entry to the old city. Just inside is a chapel horribly remodelled in 1950 with tiles but has a charming image of Virgin & Child and with a tablet that indicates a date of 1702.

Naida Caves in Diu

Diu: The incredible cavescape of Naida Caves

The Buddhist Caves of Junagadh were mindbendingly amazing. But here in Naida Caves of Diu, there are no clear answers. Did the monks came here too for some training? Some say the caves have been formed by the quarrying by the Portuguese to build the Diu Fort. But quarrying is random and all destruction; not art.

A perfect canvas of Naida Caves

The Naida Caves are art in stone. This is like an art studio where the sculptor has created this installation for you to gape at wonder eyed. And then the sculptor was gone without leaving a clue. It is afternoon and the sunlight makes the rockface glow orange. There is a method to it all. The seemingly skylights cut into the roof directs shafts of light to light up the interiors; while others have curtain of fig's roots descending. And then just for fun, steps have been cut into the face that leads to nowhere. This cavescape is hard to imagine that it was done by humans.

Now that you think more about the caves, it does seem that the caves are indeed an art installation. They are like a diorama with symmetry and cubism; the perfect squares of the skylights and the angular planes of the rock faces. The experience as you walk through them is immersive as if you provide time and motion to the artwork. The artist has used the technique of Chiaroscuro with exaggerated use of light and darkness that helps create a three-dimensional volume. All in all, Naida Caves are Gesamtkunstwerk - A Total Work of Art.

Causeway over the double moats into Diu Fort

Moat and Bastions guarding the Diu Fort from the land attacks. The fort is protected by sea on three sides

Panikotha: View form Diu Fort

Diu Fort: Wish you could take a boat from the jetty to Pani Kotha

View of Panikotha and north sea front of Diu from St. George Bastion

Diu Fort: View of the St George Bastion

A masonry tank in Diu Fort to harvest rain water

Diu Fort is one of the most beautiful forts in many ways. It has the perfect setting as if rising from the blue waters of Arabian Sea. The ramparts are in good shape and have this European look giving you a feeling that you are somewhere on Scottish coast. In the distance, there is the island fortress of Panikota. The premises are neat and the sun is spreading the golden light and even though there is time for the sun to set and that is when the heritage places close but the fort closes at five so you will be scampering around the fort before they decide to lock you in. Yes the guards are threatening to lock you in. Diu's jail is inside the fort and the proposition does not look promising!

These howitzers would have seen action in 1961 during Operation Vijay to liberate Diu from Portuguese occupation

Diu Fort: Way to St. Philip and St Nicholus Bastions

The ruined St Tiago Chapel

Diu Fort: St Tiago Chapel

The fort is armed with all the paraphernalia that makes this a complete fort. The Portuguese did make it look all so, well, Portuguese. There are bastions named after saints, there are cannons and howitzers, there is that double moat, double gateways, there are chapels, there is an armory, there are grave stones inscribed with script that you remember from Velha Goa and all the Portuguese places you have seen in Kochi to Kolkata. There are African Hoka Palms and there is the Light House and that reminds you that you have still not been able to climb one. And there are dungeons and there are temple parts and you know how the Portuguese went medieval on temples in Goa and elsewhere. It is just so perplexing that how small places like Diu, Goa and Assam so lovingly take care of their heritage while places like Gujarat and Maharashtra leave their heritage to die.

Diu: INS Khukri Memorial

INS Khukri

These seas around Diu have seen warships from medieval ages. Along with the Portuguese and Gujarat Sultanate ships, a Turkish armada too floated in. The Portuguese emerged victorious and would stay here till 1961. In more modern times, these waters saw action during India- Pakistan war of 1971. On 9^th Dec 1971, INS Khukri, a frigate was torpedoed by the Pakistani submarine Hangor and went under water along with the Captain, 18 officers and 176 sailors, about 40 nautical miles off the Diu Coast. This is Indian Navy’s only loss of a ship in combat. This is a solemn moment as you look out into the sea to remember the fallen men.

Sunset Point in Diu

INS Khukri Sunset Point, Diu: you were concerned when you saw this person hop and jump to the farthest rocky ridge into the waters. Tide could have come in. But he probably knew what he was doing. The sightseeing done, he unfazedly jumps back to the shores.

The sinking sun is signalling the end of another day on the road. You are barely able to balance yourself as you climb this eroded rock shelf. People have taken up position on the rock as they watch skies take brilliant colours. Waves lap gently below.

There is something about sunsets on the road. While they treat you to these magical scenes that are rare in an urbanscape, the sunsets bring that inexplicable longingness that usually lies in there somewhere, unfelt, to the surface. Now only if you could figure out what it is. The setting sun does not ever help. It brings those feelings up and by the time you look for answers it disappears. And it keeps doing it to you.

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We Don’t Have Any Branches – this Palm does

As you move towards Diu beyond Kodinar, there is a surprise as big as the Sun Temple in Prabhas Patan. Palm trees which usually grow straight have evidently been hit by lightning and their trunk has split into branches. And now the ramrod straight palm seems to be undecided and is growing in every direction possible. You have never seen anything like this before. There are more scattered ones on the way and you have to stop and investigate and take photos.

Branching African Hoka Palm

In Diu, there are whole clumps of these branched palms apparently happy in the dust free salty air. Palms are acutally creating these orchard like shaded groves with the breeze being fanned by their well fan like leaves.

बड़ा हुआ तो क्या हुआ, जैसे पेड़ खजूर |

पंथी को छाया नहीं, फल लागे अति दूर ||

Diu: Gingerbread Tree

Diu Fort: African Hoka Palm or Doum Palm - Hyphaene dichotoma

Of course, Kabir wasn’t lucky to have come to Diu otherwise he wouldn’t have belittled palms for not offering shade to the traveller from faraway.

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Festa De Diu Nights at Nagoa Beach

There are times when you don’t wish for things just because they are so far out and you just don’t want to bother Him, instead saving your wishes for the times when they are more realistic.

But of course God has other plans. First you are sent to the Hornbill Festival on the Eastern tip of India and now, so incredibly, you find yourself on the Western tip at the ‘Festa De Diu’. It is so unbelievable that you stop wondering why this is happening to you and just try to make the best of it. So the second night, on your way onwards to Palitana, you drive back into the prettiest town of Diu for another night of festivities.

At Festa De Diu, Nagoa Beach, Diu (Asia’s Longest Beach Festival – 1^st Dec to 15^th Feb 2016)

Festa De Diu

The Diu Village at Festa De Diu

Lambada, a Pune based band performing at Festa De Diu

Festa De Diu is the longest Beach Festival of Asia and runs through winter from Dec to Feb. So you can drop in anytime and get treated to live performances. This part of Nagao Beach looks plush as the lights come on. This is Diu Tourism’s Diu Village with luxury tent cottages that are way beyond your budget. You will just have a look around. Apparently, there is lot to do around here and the whole shebang includes Bungee Jumping and Hot Air Ballooning. For now you will go to the concert site that is almost empty and take in some local rock gigs.

Diu: Zampa Gateway that leads into the packed old Diu town

Back into the city, the Zampa Gateway is lit and. The empty roads sparkle. The vibe of the town is carefree. You seem to belong to this place. You could cruise on the roads all night.

Diu: Zampa Gateway

You are ready to fall in love with Diu.

The journey continues.

Day's Stats

Route Taken – Veraval to Pranchi to Kodinar. From Tad, the last village on Gujarat side you cross into Diu
Distance covered today – 120 kms
Total Distance covered so far - 3180 kms

References

Somanatha and Other Mediaeval Temples in Kathiawad by Henry Cousens, 1931

Imperial Gazetteer of India – Vol IV, 1885 – Page 305

Report on the Antiquities of Kathiawad and Kachh, 1874-75 by James Burgess

Bhalka Teerth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTrohIVWc-k

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhalka

Sun Temple

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/i/019pho0001000s7u00794000.html

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/other/largeimage57204.html

Branching African Hoka Palm

https://outreachecology.com/landmark/category/common-name/palm/branching-doum-palm/