It feels wonderful to me to come to Ambaji, which is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas. Ambaji is a small pilgrimage town known for Ambe Temple and is thronged by large crowds at any given time of the year, especially during the Full Moon day. It is situated about 180 km from Ahmedabad and 50 km from Mount Abu on Gujarat and Rajasthan border. I went to the temple at 9 a.m., which was a good time, as I realised later on. That day being Sunday, I saw a long line that extended out to the road, with people waiting to get inside the temple to get a glimpse of the goddess.
The original seat of Ambe goddess is at the Gabbar hill top, which is three km from Ambaji. When I was going to Gabbar, I saw a man lying down and rolling his way from the Ambaji Temple to all the way up to Gabbar. This is the kind of faith that people have in the Ambe goddess. There is a cable car service as well to the Gabbar hill top, or you can take the stairs, as per your wish and faith.
I heard about a man who lives about half a km from Gabbar who claims that he has not eaten anything for the last 75 years and is quite famous in the area. I went there searching around to see the old man but could not meet him.
The Ambe Temple has a huge complex with shops lined up both sides inside the temple’s premises, selling sweets, flowers and all other religious items. It also has a small Siddhivinayak Temple of Lord Ganesha inside, which is also crowded. The temple also runs a food service, where anyone can have food for as little as Rs. 15 and Rs. 20 during Buddh Purnima.
This temple is visited by lakhs of people every year and some even visit it almost every month, my local friend informed me. Any sort of camera or mobile phone is not allowed inside the temple premises because of which I could not take good pictures.
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