Birla Mandir in Sharda Peeth

Birla Mandir in ShardaPeeth, BITS Pilani, was constructed in 1959 dedicated to Goddess Saraswati (goddess of knowledge). The temple’s beauty is marveled by white marble and is an exemplary model in of Indo-Aryan Nagara scheme.

Architecture 

The architecture of the temple is an example of bringing design to life and marble used (from Makrana, Rajasthan) enhances the beauty of the temple extensively. The temple is supported by 70 pillars and the height of the basement is 7 feet; spreading across an area of about 25000sq feet, the temple stands proud with its shikhar (top) rising to 110 feet. Each of the Shikhar is decorated with crowns in the shape of a “Kalash” (pitcher) and made of copper plated with gold. There are five different sections in the temple:

• GarbhaGriha
•  Pradakshinapatha
• Antarala
• ArdhaMandapam
• Mandapam

The temple is adorned by stone carvings of gods, goddesses, great saints, scientists, philosophers and statesmen on its outside edge. The interiors are also decorated with carvings on the pillars and ceiling. The top of the pillarshave beautiful figures carved with their hands pointing the ceiling. The link of the temple starts with the idol of Goddess Saraswathi in sight of Clock Tower of BITS, Pilani and finishes with Shri G D Birla’s statue.

How to Reach Pilani

By Air: Nearest airports to reach Pilani are Delhi and Jaipur.

By Rail:You can travel to Pilani through railway. The two train stations close to Pilani are Loharu, which is 26 km away, on the Northern Railways and Chirawa, which is 16 km away, on the North Western Railway.

By Road: There are direct buses available from Delhi and Jaipur to Pilani; which is located about 200 km on the west of Delhi and about 220 km to the north of Jaipur. Board the bus from ISBT, Kashmiri Gate in Delhi and RSRTC Bus Stand, Sindhi Camp in Jaipur. The time to travel by bus to Pilani is about 6hrs from either of the places and 4 hours by a taxi.

From Delhi (via Bhiwani-Rohtak or via Dadri-Jhajjar)

It takes about 5.5 hours to reach Pilani via this route. Buses leave from the stands in every half hour between 6am to 10am and in every hour during the rest of the day till 5pm; no buses ply post 5pm till 10pm and the last bus leaves at 10pm. 

From Delhi (via Narnaul-Singhana-Chirawa)

This route also takes about 5.5 hours to reach Pilani but needs a change at Chirawa (16kms from Pilani).

The buses which leave from both ISBT and Dhaula Khan in Delhi commute to Jhunjhunu or Churu or Sikar. Buses leave to these destinations in every half hour. And the passengers travelling to Pilani change their buses at Chirawa.

From Jaipur (via Sikar-Nawalgarh-Jhunjhunu-Chirawa)

As the distance between Delhi to Pilani and Jaipur to Pilani is almost equal, the travel time from both locations is usually the same, 5.5 hours.

Buses to Pilani leave from Sindhi Camp Bus stand in Jaipur every half hour. Private buses available from outside of the bus stand are also an option to commute to Pilani.