Heritage autorickshaws to reels: PM Modi’s hometown in spotlight ahead of his birthday

Earlier this month, the Gujarat Government announced a reel contest on the theme, ‘Vadnagar: Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi’, inviting “original” entries featuring eight aspects including its cultural and historic traditions, its “transformation,” its “glorious past and promising future”. The contest closes on September 11 and, as of Saturday, had received 43 entries that were under review.

This week, the Western Railway announced the extension of the Ahmedabad-Bandra Lok Shakti Express to Vadnagar from August 13. The train will now be known as the Vadnagar Lok Shakti Express.

The announcement followed a project to refurbish autorickshaws in the historic town around a heritage theme, with the famed Vadnagar torans painted on their rear windows.

Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi inaugurated the Shravanotsav on Thursday, leading a morning procession through the town. The event featured 108 artists simultaneously playing the damru, or rattle drum, alongside residents and social groups. The procession wound past several landmarks, from Sharmishtha Lake to the Hatkeshwar Mahadev Temple.

Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi also took a ride in one of the refurbished autorickshaws (Express photo)

and later shared a video of it on social media.

Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (GSFC), through its CSR fund, has undertaken an initiative to give old autorickshaws in Vadnagar a heritage-themed makeover, showcasing the historic town’s rich cultural legacy.

The state government plans to rope in more than 300 autorickshaws registered in Vadnagar taluka. More than Rs 50,000 is being spent on retrofitting each vehicle, with the initiative aimed at attracting tourists while also supporting local autorickshaw drivers. In the first phase, 21 autorickshaws were selected, and their refurbishment has been completed.

“Traditionally, natives of Vadnagar return to the town during Shravan month to pray at the Hatkeshwar Mahadev Temple. This month plays an important role in bringing them back to their roots wherever they are. Through different activities, we have tried to reconnect people with the heritage and cultural importance of Vadnagar,” Kuldeep Arya, Tourism Secretary, told The Indian Express.

Other activities include Sunday cultural events at the popular Sharmishtha Lake, youth-oriented events, including Mahamrityunjay chant competitions and social media reel contests, and the launch of a new heritage auto-rickshaw tourism service.

‘People take selfies with my auto’

“Every passerby is curious to see the autorickshaw and gets compelled to pause and take a selfie with it,” said 55-year-old Narendrakumar Ramanlal Chauhan, one of the 40 auto-rickshaw drivers in the town who have got his vehicle refurbished under the ‘Vadnagar Heritage Auto Project’ this week.

“If the drivers want to be trained as tour guides, we can provide that as well,” Harshvardhansinh Solanki, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited (TCGL), Vadnagar, told The Indian Express.

Chauhan has also undertaken the tour guide training offered by the Tourism Department. “It has been nearly a fortnight since I have been driving this refurbished auto-rickshaw. I have started noticing a major change in the way tourists and people are looking at it. Many visitors who reach the town in cars during the Shravan month park their car and take a tour on this auto-rickshaw. This new look is generating curiosity and a sense of pride over Vadnagar’s heritage,” Chauhan said.

A ‘Mahamrityunjay chant competition’ is also being held among the Sanskrit schools across Gujarat and is expected to draw more than 4,000 students, officials said.

Music on banks of Sharmishtha Lake

Meanwhile, Sharmishtha Lake will come alive with music, meditation and devotional programmes every Sunday evening from August 16 to September 6. Light-and-sound shows will also be held as part of the effort to highlight Vadnagar’s cultural and historical significance.

Following archaeological excavations that underscored the importance of the nearly 2,500-year-old town, several projects have been developed to preserve and showcase its heritage. These include the Vadnagar Archaeological Experiential Museum and the Prerana Parisar experiential school, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi received his elementary education. Both facilities have opened to the public over the past two years.

At the same time, several state government departments involved in Vadnagar’s infrastructure and development projects are being regularly reviewed by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi. The government has also appointed IAS officer Rajkumar Beniwal as the nodal officer for Vadnagar to oversee and monitor various development projects.

Archaeological significance

Vadnagar was first excavated in 1953 by archaeologists B Subbarao and RN Mehta of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, primarily to understand its “ceramic sequence”. The excavations revealed evidence of a flourishing chank industry, including bangles and other artefacts made from conch shells.

More recent excavations conducted by the Gujarat State Directorate of Archaeology between 2005 and 2012 yielded substantial evidence of Vadnagar’s emergence as a thriving centre of Buddhism.

In 2014, the year Narendra Modi, then Gujarat Chief Minister, became Prime Minister, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) began excavations at Vadnagar’s Ghaskol, Darbargadh and Badi Garbano Sheri areas. The excavation continued for eight field seasons until 2022, to establish the town’s cultural chronology and document its associated cultural remains, as well as contributing to the development of the Archaeological Experiential Museum.

The excavations uncovered a wide range of remains, including fortifications, a Buddhist monastery, votive stupas, an elliptical structure and stupa, antiquities, sealings, house complexes, lanes and streets, and industrial hearths. The findings span a period from before the 2nd century BCE to the Gaekwad period in the 18th and 19th centuries CE.