>KartikMistry at 11:49, 24 September 2021

2021-09-24T11:49:59Z

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'''Dhinodhar Hills''' are located near [[Nani Aral]] village, in [[Nakhatrana Taluka]], [[Kutch District]], [[Gujarat]], in [[India]]. Dhinodhar Hill is a tourist and pilgrimage spot.<ref name="Desai">{{Cite book|author=Desai, Anjali H.|year=2007|chapter=Kachchh: Than Monestery and Dinodhar Hill|title=India Guide Gujarat|location=Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India|publisher=India Guide Publications|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gZRLGZNZEoEC&pg=PA325 325]|isbn=978-0-9789517-0-2}}</ref>

==Geology==
Dhinodhar Hill, is a [[volcanic plug]] rising above the local [[sandstone]],<ref name=researchgate>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Field-photographs-of-the-central-Kachchh-plugs-a-Dhinodhar-388-m-looking-roughly_fig4_226156439|title=Mafic alkalic magmatism in central Kachchh, India: A monogenetic volcanic field in the northwestern Deccan Traps}}</ref> and composed of relatively fresh, very fine-grained, black to dark grey, largely aphyric (largely without [[phenocrysts]]), [[aphanitic]] rock, rising to an elevation of 386 meters,<ref name=researchgate/> it shows several near- vertical, [[dike (geology)|dike]]-like tabular intrusions with well-developed columnar jointing, and a roughly circular ring breached to the east, enclosing a pronounced crater-like central depression.<ref name=researchgate/> Dhinodhar is not a vent itself but the eroded remains of a subvolcanic intrusion emplaced at the time of the [[Deccan Traps]].<ref name=researchgate/>

==Dhoramnath shrine==
[[File:Dhinodhar Temple.jpeg|thumbnail|Dhinodhar shrine]]
On the highest peak of Dhinodhar hill, there is a small, domed, somewhat cracked shrine of limestone and mud plastered with cement, built by Brahma-Kshatriya Shethh Sundarji Shivji in 1821 ([[Samvat]] 1877). The shrine faces the east and has no doors. Its measurements are 5{{3/4}} feet square and six high, with an entrance 4{{1/2}} feet high and 2 feet wide. This shrine is sacred to the holy [[Dhoramnath]] or [[Dharmanath]], who, after destroying Mandvi, repented of the loss of life, and determined to mortify the flesh by standing on his head on some lonely hill. Travelling to the north he began to climb the highest hill he could see, but it became ''Nanao'', "weighed down", by his sin. He chose another hill, but for it too the burden of guilt was too great and it became ''Jhurio'', "broken down". He chose a third hill, and climbing it backwards it bore him, and he called it Dhinodhar, "the patience bearer". At its highest peak, resting it on a conical stone, he stood on his head for twelve years, a Charan woman feeding him with milk. Such merit and power did this penance bring that the gods took alarm, and, sending a deputation to wait on him, asked that his penance should cease. Dhoramnath said, wherever he first looked, the country would become barren. The gods arranged that he should first look at the sea. This dried up under his gaze and left the desert hence [[Rann of Kutch]] came into being. Fearing that the death of so many fish would lose him his merit, Dhoramnath moved his eyes and looking at the hill it split into two. Then Dhoramnath came down, kindled his fire, built a monastery, and established the order of the Kanphatas (literally ''split-eared'').<ref name="Desai" />

In the shrine is a red -smeared triangular conical stone in which Dhoramnath is said to have rested his head when performing penance. Outside of the shrine is the original ascetic's fire, dhuni, which is lighted three days in [[Bhadrapad]] (August–September), when the head, Pir, of the monastery comes to worship and receives homage from the people of the neighboring villages. At the foot of the hill, amongst the monastery buildings, is another temple to Dhoramnath on a raised platform facing the east, about seven feet square and with walls about seven feet high. Inside is a three feet high marble image of Dhoramnath, some small [[linga]]s, and other brass and stone images, and a lamp always kept burning. In a large shed near is an ascetic's fire, ''dhuni'' said to have been burning since the time of Dhoramnath. In August and October, at the [[Janmashtami]] and [[Navratri]] festivals, rice and wheat flour sweetened with sugar are cooked and given to the people.<ref name=dd>''There may be some relation between Gorakhpur and Dhinodhar where the Yogīs are known as Dharamnāthīs. Yet, the pīr at Dhinodhar belongs to the Santnāth sect of the Punjab and Nepāl.'' {{Cite book|author=Briggs, George Weston |year=1989|title=Gorakhnāth and the Kānphaṭa Yogīs|location=Delhi|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publications|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DXPa3jZDQZUC&pg=PA35 35]|isbn=978-81-208-0564-4}}, reprint of the 1938 edition.</ref><ref name="gbp">{{cite book|title=Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Cutch, Palanpur, and Mahi Kantha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dLUBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA210|year=1880|publisher=Printed at the Government Central Press|page=220}}</ref><ref>''In Western India they are generally known as Dharamnāthī (or Dhoramnāthī) after a famous disciple of Gorakhnāth, by that name. In other parts of India the names Kānphaṭa and Gorakhnāthī are commonly used. It is said that the practice of splitting the ears originated with Gorakhnāth, and that the designation Kānphaṭa (literally, 'Split-eared') was a term of disrespect applied to these Yogīs by Musalmāns.'' {{harvnb|Briggs|1989|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DXPa3jZDQZUC&pg=PA1 1]}}</ref>

==Tourism==
The hill is pilgrimage centre due to Dhoaramnath shrine.

Atop Dhinodhar, there are views of the Great Rann and the [[Chhari Dhandh]] wetland. This area has abundant wildlife and flora and is a trekker destination.<ref name="Desai" /> Every year since 2011, a trekking competition has been organized between December and January.<ref name="www.divyabhaskar.co.in 2011">{{cite web | title=ધીણોધર, થાનને વિશ્વકક્ષાએ ટુરસ્ટિોને આકર્ષવા મોટી તકો મળશે | website=www.divyabhaskar.co.in | date=21 February 2011 | url=http://www.divyabhaskar.co.in/news-fb/KUT-1216393-1870225.html | language=gu | accessdate=18 July 2015}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
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* This article incorporates [[Public Domain]] text from {{cite book|title=Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Cutch, Palanpur, and Mahi Kantha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dLUBAAAAYAAJ|year=1880|publisher=Printed at the Government Central Press|pages=220}}

{{Coord|23|27|18|N|69|20|31|E|type:city_region:IN|display=title}}

[[Category:Geography of Kutch district]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Kutch district]]
[[Category:Hills of Gujarat]]

Dhinodhar Hills - Revision history

>KartikMistry at 11:49, 24 September 2021