The inaugural celebrations for Khodaldham temple situated in Kagvad, Rajkot, will begin on 17th of this month and will continue till 21st. Entire Leuva Patel community in the area will be present in the opening ceremony of the temple made at a cost of £6 million.
A grand procession is planned for 17th January, when the idol of Goddess Khodal will be taken to Kagvad from Rajkot's Race Course grounds. The procession which will span over 30-35 km, will include 3,000 cars, 7,000 bikes and 300 buses. Khodaldham Trustee Paresh Gajera said that the temple was built on money donated by members of the Patel community. Over 5000,000 Patidars are expected to join the celebrations from different parts of the world.
Statues of gods and goddesses in other temples in the area will also be taken out along with the procession. Over 1,008 havan kunds have been built for pooja. Engineer Trivedi said that the temple was the result of over five years of hard work and perseverance. Only choicest stones from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have been used in its making. The grand ceremony will also include a maha prasad for which, a massive spread will be prepared for over 200,000 people.
Leaders of Khodaldham Trust, led by president Naresh Patel, had even met Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar, to extend an invitation. Gajera said, "We are having a major religious function at Kagvad on January 21, for which we visited a number of Leuva Patidars in Ahmedabad. Since the CM is from our region, we informally met him."
