Have you heard of Dungarpur in Rajasthan? There is slighter chance that you have been there unless you are a travel aficionado. People usually visit the more popular places of Rajasthan and less people travel towards the interiors. Whereas, the remote Rajasthan is more beautiful one to be in. It is still authentic, gorgeously traditionally and even historically richer. There are many places in Rajasthan that have not yet been scarred with the greyness of urbanisation and Dungarpur is one of them.

Location of Dungarpur

Dungarpur is situated in the southern most part of Rajasthan and the railway line between Udaipur and Himatnagar in the neighbouring state of Gujarat runs through the town. Dungarpur town is at a short distance of 20 kilometres from the NH-8 and it is on a very convenient location if you want to visit.

History of Dungarpur

It is the upper limb of the Udaipur based Sisodiyas and the lower wrung is that of the Maharanas of Mewar. Rawal Veer Singh founded this city in 1358 AD. Mewar’s ruler at that time was Karan Singh, and Rawal Veer was the eldest of his sons. They all are successors of Guhilot Dynasty’s 8th ruler Bappa Rawal. He was also the originator who founded the Dynasty of Mewar in the year 734 AD.

Mahup, Karan Singh’s oldest son, became the chief ruler of Mewar. This was during 12th Century AD. His descendents are all those who ruled Dungarpur later and they call themselves Maharawals. Mahup’s descendent Rawal Veer Singh founded Dungarpur when 14th Century was coming to its end. He named it Dungaria after a chieftain whose assassination he was responsible for. With time Dungaria became Dungarpur and people today call it by that name.

After these rulers, Dungarpur has seen the rule of the Mughals and the British. Time has given it many scars of many battles and many have conquered its crown and it moved from hand to hand.

Dungarpur was ruled by the last ruler by the name His Highness Rai-i-Rayan. His full name was Lakshman Singh Bahadur and he was a Maha Rawal. He was appointed as a Rajya Sabha member for two times, once in 1952 and another time in 1958. He also became an MLA under the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan once in 1962 and for the second time in 1989.

Places to See and Tourist Attractions in Dungarpur

There is no dearth of the places to see in Dungarpur. You can take a few days to go around the place because there is just too much to see. Rajasthan has one speciality. It has so many thousand forts and palaces that it attracts the tourists from across the world just because of the marvellous architecture it has. The places in Dungarpur that will enthral you are as follows.

• Udai Bilas Palace
• Shrinath ji temple
• The historical District Library
• Juna Mahal or it is also called Old Palace
• The Government Archaeological Museum
• Shri Adinath Jain Shwetamber Temple
• Sarneshwar Mandir
• Rakodia Ganesh temple
• At a distance of 45 kilometres from Dungarpur is the Beneshwar Dham
• The Shri Samorji temple in Aspur
• Gap Sagar Lake

Look around the places and you will see at the end of the day that you have learnt so much around the place. If you are the kind of tourist who wants to know every intricate detail about every place you visit, then make it sure that you roam around Dungarpur with a local guide who can narrate to you the entire history of the place.

There is a list of some other tourist attractions where you can visit by chalking out a decent schedule. Here is a list of many other places which you can absorb when you are in Dungarpur. You can study about these before you plan a visit to the place.

• Ghotia Amba fair
• Urs in Galiyakot
• Beneshwar fair at a distance of 45 kilometres from Dungarpur near the Shiva temple
• Vagad festival
• Deevo
• Garba dance in Purnima
• Vitthaldeo fair
• Stone throwing (Holi)
• Bhedmata fair in Antri
• Shri Samor Sai temple in Kherasamor
• Jammu Khand Dhoni

There are some places nearby where you can a day’s excursion. Broad village is at a distance of 41 kilometres from Dungarpur and it lies in the Aspur tehsil. There is an old Shiva temple made of white stones and the local villagers have interesting stories for you there.

The Beneshwar temple has the most worshipped Shiva ‘linga’ of the area. It is situated at a distance of 1 kilometre from Nawa Tapra village. Sabla is at a distance of 53 kilometres from Banswara, 45 kilometres from Dungarpur and 22 kilometres from Aspur.

There is a fair that is held on the Magh Shukla Ekadoshi to the day of the Magh Shukla Purnima.

83 kilometres away from Dungarpur is village Solaj. There is situated the Boheshwar Mahadeo Shiva temple. It was constructed in the 1179 AD.

The Bhubaneshwar Mahadeo temple is the Shiva temple which is at a distance of 9 kilometres from Dungarpur in Kanba village

24 kilometres from Dungarpur is the Deo village and it is on the north eastern side. It is a 12th Century temple and it still has devotees coming to worship and offer prayers from various parts of the country.