Roda Group of Temples

The Roda temples stand 18 km from Himmatnagar, between the villages of Raisingpura (Roda) and Khed Chandarani in Sabarkantha district, beside a seasonal stream that feeds the Hathmati River. The name comes from the Gujarati word for brick-bats, after the rubble found here. The east-facing temples date from the late eighth to ninth century, under either the Gurjara-Pratiharas or the Rashtrakutas, and M. A. Dhaky called them the 'great-grandfather' of Gujarat's Solanki architecture.

Six temples survive and a seventh is known from photographs. The first two can be reached by road: a Shiva shrine and the Pakshi Mandir, named for its carved birds. About 500 metres on is the Ladushah kund, a stepped reservoir with surviving corner shrines to Shiva and Vishnu. Across the stream are the Navagraha temple and a ruined Ganesha temple, the largest of the group. The shrines were built without mortar and were restored after the 2001 earthquake. Nagrani Vav, a stepwell, stands at the entrance to Khed Chandarani.