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Monday, October 28, 2013

29. An enchanting trip to the sacred Bhimashankar




We have been to Bhimashankar, the sacred site of one of the four ‘Jyotirlings’ in Maharashtra, before, but for some reason this time it truly felt enchanting. It was, perhaps, because we took a lesser trodden route and the day breaking over the Northern Sahyadris added a magical quality to the picture postcard beauty of the landscape.  

We drove a distance of just over 120 km from Pune via Chakan, over NH50, to Ghod over SH54. We happened to take a detour at Khed to Ghod, avoiding the shorter route via Manchar. It proved to be a very lucky mistake because we passed through a most scenic countryside resonating with the chirping of birds all around and the best part was that we did not encounter any other vehicle till we met up with road leading from Manchar. The extra 6 Kms made the trip a memorable one.

The River Bhima originates in this region (hence the name) and ultimately merges with the Krishna river near Raichur.


The Temple is in the Nagara style of Architecture dating back to the 13th century. The Shikhara as also the Sabhamandapam were added by Nana Phadnavis in the 18th century. A huge bell dated 1727, which was brought and presented by Chimaji Appa  from the Vasai Fort after he won a war against the Portugese was also installed by Nana Phadnavis in front of the Shani Temple in a Hemadpanthi structure.
The old structure is built over a 'Swayambhu' ie self emanating (ie not manmade) Shivling called a Jyotirling. As mentioned earlier 4 of the 12 Jyotirlings are in the state of Maharashtra. 

A nice breakfast place on the route




India shaped lake!

A Bay-backed Shrike sitting on the road!

The Bay-backed Shrike on its more usual perch

Teak wood trees

No temple in India is bereft of these

Shiva's favourite - Dhatura

Pedas (sweetmeats to be offered to the God) being made

Rajeev has discovered the shop-keepers personal coin collection!! unbelievable!

The Bhimashankar Temple




Shiva slaying Tripurassura

The endearing god Hanuman


The "Deep-Maal". One can only picture how beautiful it  looks with little lamps on each of the upturned elephant tusks

Communing with Nandi and his consort
People whisper their petitions to Lord Shiva in Nandi the Bull's ear so that he can request Shiva to fulfill the wishes (Nandi is Shiva's ride). One lady was at it for a very long time till she caught me looking at her.

Hemadpanthi structure in front of the Shani (Saturn) temple

Bell won by Chimaji Appa from Fort Vasai

A sweet mangy dog - eating too much 'prasad'


Bhimashankar is surrounded by a conserved forest area and a wildlife sanctuary with some rare and threatened species of animals as also a variety of birds, insects, flowers and plants. The rare red squirrel or “shekru” can be seen in the deep forest. The Blue Mormon butterfly too can be seen here. On an earlier trip we went into the forest upto the ‘Gupt Bhima’ where the river appears to have cut little structures in the rock which look like shivlings. I saw the Blue Mormon butterfly too on that trip but alas I could not take a picture. 

Walk into the reserve forest




Gupt Bhima

Shivlings formed by the river

This one looks manmade!


On the way back the sun was overhead and nobody was looking forward to driving. The magic had gone a bit. So we took the same way back and stopped at the lake to dip our feet in the water.

Nisha in the lake - Sketchers shoes and all!

flowers growing wild

Dam on the River Bhima

There are a number of legends attached to this temple. One such legend has it that the demon called Tripurasura earned the gift of immortality from the ever so magnanimous Shiva by virtue of his long penance. As is wont to happen, Tripurasura became arrogant and destructive forgetting Shiva’s advice to use his gift of immortality for the betterment of the people at large. Shiva was called upon by people the demon was victimising to put an end to the Asura’s life. Shiva requested his consort Parvati (Kamlaja Mata) to help him in this task and took on the form of “Ardh-Narya-Nateshwar” or ‘Ardhnarishwar’  (ie the half female god) and slayed Tripusura on Kartik Purnima also called “Tripurari Pornima” in these parts. Shiva was also assisted in this task by the Asura's wives Shakini and Dakini therefore this place is also called Dakini Bhimashankar.