India is a land of historic monuments, amazing temples, churches, mosques and mausoleums. A veritable treasure trove for history, culture and architecture aficionados. Apart from the well-known sights and sounds, India has some wonderful surprises at many nooks and corners of its vast expanse which are relatively unknown.
The quest for something unusual took me to Jamnagar, a city situated on the western coast of India, in the state of Gujarat. The city is famous for housing the World’s largest oil refinery nearby. Jamnagar was a princely state known as Nawanagar and was founded in the year 1540 and one of its most illustrious Kings or Maharajah was the legendary cricketer Ranjitsinghji.
But it was not the love of cricket nor was it any latent interest in oil refining that brought me to Jamnagar.
What had stimulated my interest and drawn me like a magnet to this historic city was a small, ordinary looking Hindu temple dedicated to the childhood form of the Indian Monkey God, Hanuman. Outwardly and inwardly there was nothing extraordinary about this temple. One can find such temples in any village, town or city of the country in dozens.
As you enter the temple you are greeted by the mellifluous ring of the bells and a sweet humming chant soothingly touches your ears and enters your heart. On looking closer you spot a group of men and women who are chanting a Mantra in praise of the Indian God Ram. The words are simple enough but the devotion with which they are chanted transform them into a divine paean. The visitors to the temple would sit down with the group chanting the Mantra and join in the chanting of the simple words, “Shri Ram, Jay Ram, Jay, Jay Ram”.
But this is nothing extraordinary, this again happens in temples all over the country.
What is really incredible is the fact that this chanting was started on the morning of the 1st of August, 1964 and has been going on uninterrupted now for more than 52 years!
Young boys have grown into old men, the world has changed in so many different ways, but the chanting goes on. The devotees take turns in a relay system and this devotional audio offering to their beloved God continues in a perpetual and melodious flow of prayer. Rain, storm, earthquakes, wars, nothing has interrupted this devotional tribute. The temple has been featured in the Guinness Book of World Records twice and is now an important place to visit, when in Jamnagar.
How to reach Jamnagar, Gujarat, India
By road: Jamnagar is about 90 kilometers from Rajkot and around 305 kilometers from Ahmedabad. Gujarat state transport buses and private luxury coaches connect Jamnagar with various cities of Gujarat.
By rail: There are daily trains from Ahmedabad.
By air: There is an airport 10 kilometers from Jamanagar town. Various domestic airlines connect Jamnagar to Mumbai.
If you happen to visit India and happen to be in Jamnagar, do pay a visit to this unique temple which is known as “Bala Hanuman Temple”, a temple that has been echoing to the uninterrupted sonorous notes of devotion for 52 years! It is also known as Shri Balahanuman Sankirtan Mandir,Jamnagar.
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I want to hear this myself!
What an offbeat place to go! I am glad you highlighted this.
Wow, this is incredible. It’s cool to learn that such a a cool tradition continues and will hopefully continue for many years to come. We would love to visit India someday and when we do we will be sure to add this to our itinerary. Thanks for this valuable information! 😃
Vyjay, Next time I’m in India I’m going here. I would love to hear that chanting….amazing!
They’ve been chanting there for the rest of their lives? Oh my god that’s what you call devotion. No wonder it’s recorded in the Guiness book of Record. And I wanna hear it for myself.
Looks amazing! Definitely adding this to my bucket list of places to go. I really want to hear the chanting someday.
This is a beautiful historic place. Such great architecture! Makes me want to visit some time.
I’ve never heard of Jamnagar, it sounds like a peaceful place where you can go to relax and meditate and just free your mind from stress. This temple is definitely one of the things that I’ll go to when I visit this place. It sounds amazing!
Thanks for sharing. Very Informative.
It’s so cool that the chanting has continued for so many years! Is the chanting done by religious leaders, or can anyone join in?
Chanting for 52 years non stop? Ohhh my that’s really interesting. I’m actually putting India on my top list. I swear I really would love to go here soon. And if I have a chance would love to hear this chant that never ends!
I always learn something from your posts. This is quite amazing and beautiful. Love the history of places and the fact that it’s off the beaten path. Thanks for sharing.
This is not only interesting, but inspiring as well. Such dedication, and beauty in it. It would be a fortune to witness.
Fascinating and inspiring. I’ve been to Jamnagar, but never heard of it…must visit the next time I’m there!
Wow! This place sounds awesome. You have definitely put Jamnagar on the map for me. What a cool place to visit.
52 years? that’s pretty incredible. Would love to experience this.
I would have never thought to visit Jamnagar if not for this post. What a magical ceremony. Were there a lot of tourists there or is it one of your secret finds?
This sounds so cool! I don’t think I have ever head of it before- such an offbeat place! I would love to hear it.
I love going to historic places because I love learning about our past. It’s awesome to be able to go here and just visit all those sights. History is one of the best things that you can learn in a new place.
This is just hte kind of travel I like to do. It’s been awhile and I’m def. ready to go again.
Wow this is incredible and unbelievable. Non stop chanting for so many years. It’s hard to believe but that is what India is all about !!! Thanks for sharing.
I have heard a lot about Indian cities along their traditions and also about the history of religious places as well. It is nice to see a temple being featured in the Guinness Book for the longest continuous chanting. Just amazing!
Damn, this is my home town and I dont know about this. Time to explore it again. 😀 Thanks for bringing it to my notice
It is incredible how this is coordinated, I would love to hear it! Thanks for putting it on the map, wouldn’t have known this place otherwise.
This is absolutely interesting! India have so many beautiful landmarks, I wonder how long it will take to get to know them all – history, tales and culture!
Truly India is a place to visit. I heard a lot of good thing about this country and I want to go and visit this place. No wonder, this has been in Guinness book of records because it is really one of a kind temple. The history behind it is what makes it more interesting and worth the recognition.
LaiAriel
Heared a lot about Jamnagar but never knew there is a temple too with the name in Guinness book. Great to know something new.
This is so incredibly fascinating! I have never heard of this place and didn’t know about the ongoing stream of chanting that has been going on for more than 5 decades: how magical.
I am so glad that came across this post. It’s great to hear about something so beautiful from our very own country. Thanks for highlighting this.
I am now so tempted to visit here and hear the chanting. And the fact that it’s been going on uninterrupted for so long is really unbelievable!! Thanks for sharing, I had never heard about it
Wow, I will surely visit that temple! It looks very interesting! I’ve never been to any temple! I am very interested to visit any temple this year and I think this will be on my first list!
I wish I could visit this place! A lot of times when we go to India, we stay around the Delhi area because we have family in that area so we spend a lot of time visiting them! I never really get to travel around India!
Such a glorious place. I’m always fascinated with India’s culture and myth/history. The place just emits that kind of glow!
I’ve never been to India before, but have always been fascinated with their temples. Must have been an amazing experience to see the Jamnagar Temple up close! 🙂
What an incredible historical place to visit! It’s really great that this amazing temple featured in the Guinness Book of World Records twice!
Uninterrupted for 52 years?! That is really amazing. Thanks for the post.
I’m from Jamnagar and it’s 54 years now and still going strong. 🙂