Ahmedabad - 107 KM
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About 40 km to the north of Nadiad is Dakor, originally called 'Dankpur'. As we approach it, from a long distance we can see the Flag flying on its tall and beautiful Shikhara inviting the pilgrims since ages.
As a place of pilgrimage grows older, the stories around it also multiply. A sleepy and mundane village, it used to have a large number of 'Khakhra' trees and was therefore often was called a 'Khakhariu gaam'. It had a lake named Gomti and on its bank stood the Danknath Mahadev temple. It is said that Rishi Dank had his Ashram here and so the temple and the village are named after him as Danknath Mahadev and Dankpur or Dakor respectively.
Due to the temple of Ranchhodrai here Dakor has become famous in India and pilgrims from all parts of the country come in large numbers here. Historical references also indicate that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Mirabai, two most well known devotees of Lord Krishna paid a visit to this temple for worship. Even in modern times such luminaries of performing arts as Pandit Vishnu Digambar and Pandit Omkar Nath, Khan Saheb Faiyaz Khan and the famous theater personality Bal Gandharva visited the temple for their distinguished performances.
In any place of pilgrimage we always find more than one place of An important Legend is about Bhakt Bodana of D'akor. He was a great devotee of Dwarkadhish. Every six months he would travel there on foot, and he grew a Tulsi plant in his hand to offer it to the Lord. This Vajesang Bodana was of Raj put caste. When after a long time he turned weak due 'to old age for his customary six-monthly travel, the Lord who was satiated by his devotion, appeared in his dream and told him, "Now if you cannot come to me, I shall come to your village." As per the instruction of the Lord, Bodana took the image of the Lord from'"the temple at night and began to drive to his village in a bullock cart. When next morning the priest noticed the absence of the Image, search for it began. As someone said the name of Bodana, he was followed. It is said that Bodana had rested for a while between Umreth and Dakor, and the Lord clutched one branch of the neem tree under which the cart rest, that branch had turned sweet unlike the rest of the neem. To commemorate this miracle, a folk song has a line in a devotional poem: 'Akha limdaman ek dal mithi, ho Ranchhod rangeela!' By the dawn, the image reaches the temple at Dakor, but to avoid the searching persons of Dwarka, it is kept hidden. It was deciqed that the image would remain at Dakor but the Dwarka was to be handed over fold of the weight equivalent of the image. How could a poor devotee Bodanahave so much gold? So, it so happened that when the weight of the image was taken, it turned out to be of the same weight as that of the ring of his wife, Gangabai. This was indeed a miracle of the Lord Himself, and even today the site where this took place is pointed out to all visitors. A weighing scale is also put up there.
worship besides the main one. The main temple of Dakor is of course that of Ranchhodrai and it has a grand architecture to. We find a unique blend of Hindu and Muslim styles of architecture in it. Shri Bha1chandrarao and other descendants of the builder of this temple, lnamdar Tambekar, are giving their services for this temple even today. To listen to the devotional songs sung so beautifully by Champavatiben Tambekar is an experience of lifetime indeed. Among the other ancient temples here are the Bodana temple, a vast and beautiful temple of Goddess Lakshmi, Shri Satyanarayan temple with its unique Shikhara, the Samadhi at the bank of the lake, and among the modem one we may consider the Punitashram, serving the pilgrims, as worth a visit. Among the various services of Punitashram are 'Ashaktashram' for the disabled and the Vriddhi Nivas. Among other attractions we may also count the
newly built Gayatri temple
With the changes in times the character of Dakor is also changing but it cannot go much farther away from its central attraction i.e. Ranchhodrai Even today especially on the Fairs of the full Moon days (poonam) of kartik and Aso months and also on festivals like Rathyatra Dassera Tulsi-vivah and Janmashtami etc devotees flock here in thousands This indicates the deep roots of the faith and devotion of the people and religious awareness they carry in their heart.
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