Come monsoon, and if you are in Pune, you feel the verdant
nature calling you to step out and soak in the beautiful green all around. This
July we had Amma too along with Anu and Ajit with us so as abundant precaution
Rajeev pre-booked us at the MTDC Aurangabad and Lonar. MTDC Aurangabad is under
renovation and the rooms allotted were dank and dirty so we almost checked out to
a nearby hotel but they gave us their VIP rooms and convinced us to stay on.
The MTDC at Lonar has been newly renovated but they have forgotten to change
their old plumbing. Anyway as we needed to stay just a night it wasn’t too bad.
As usual we started early morning and after our breakfast
halt at the Smile Stones reached Aurangabad by lunchtime. Unfortunately we
wasted that day trying to find another hotel but then the sight of the huge,
airy rooms on offer at the MTDC made us happily stay on. Discovered a small but interesting
eating joint nearby called Italios, where we trooped in every night for dinner.
Second day we started our sight-seeing in earnest as the
others were seeing the place for the first time. (Read a detailed account of
our earlier trip to Aurangabad with Dennis and Maggie http://justtravelmusings.blogspot.com/2012/08/aurangabad-ancient-and-medieval-india.html .) Just like the last time we started with Daulatabad and the
Ellora caves first then proceeded to Khuldabad. On the way back Amma stopped to buy
some gifts from the Paithani outlets on the way. She bought an Aurangabadi bed
cover which she observed me appreciate, and surreptitiously left in my cupboard
when leaving.
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| THE SWEET DENIZENS OF DAULATABAD! |
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| AND A BEAUTIFUL CRESTED BUNTING BUSY BUILDING A NEST IN TUGHLAQ"S CAPITAL |
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| SINCE WE LAST VISITED KHULDABAD A CHAIN OF POSSESION OF THE RELIC OF THE PROPHET'S GOWN HAS BEEN DISPLAYED. THE GATE TO THE ROOM WHERE THE RELIC IS KEPT HAS ALSO BEEN BEAUTIFIED.👇 |
On the third day we started for Ajanta bright and early as
it was a 109 kms from our place of stay. While the others trekked up the slopes
to the caves, Amma and I spent over 2 hours at the MTDC restaurant, the staff
fussing over us full time. Who says government employees are rude and not
customer friendly!
LONAR
On the fourth day we were off to on our much awaited trip to
Lonar. Last time in the August of 2012 we had missed seeing it. In fact,
perhaps, we were so focused on Aurangabad we had completely over looked its
existence.
This small town in the dry Vidarbha region has a rare meteoric
crater which was formed some 2.6 million years ago in what is called the
Pleistocene Epoch. It predates the evolution of man! The thought of seeing
something that rare and ancient had us all sitting agog awaiting a glimpse. The
last stretch of the road to Lonar is full of potholes, made worse by the rains.
Our excitement for seeing the crater at
the end of it made us even more impatient.
THE LONAR CRATER
The first glimpse of the blue-green lake in the almost
circular crater made us collectively go “AAH”. The potholes were forgotten.
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| THE LONAR CRATER LAKE |
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| AMMA TOO TREKKED HALFWAY DOWN TO THE CRATER! |
The water in the lake is saline and highly alkaline and was
devoid of any biological growth until recently. The absolute silence and
stillness inside the crater gave rise to a number of legends and myths and
people were scared to go inside. A number of temples have been built in and
around the crater. The ones inside the crater are quite dilapidated. Two sweet
water streams called Purna and Penganga drain into the lake. A large Devi
temple has been built at the spot.
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| DEVI IDOL INSIDE THE TEMPLE |
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| TEMPLE AT THE CONFLUENCE OF PENGANGA AND PURNA |
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| A PYRAMID SHAPED TEMPLE. LOOKS LIKE A VASTU TEMPLE TO WARD OFF UNFAVOURABLE ENERGIES |
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| DILAPIDATED TEMPLES INSIDE THE CRATER⇅ |
DAITYASUDAN TEMPLE
We soon settled down and after a few enquiries started our
exploration of Lonar. We started with the Daitya Sudan temple which dates back
to the Chalukyas (6th to 12th centuries). There is a legend in the Skanda Purana of a
demon called Lavanasura or Lonasura (lavan or lona is salt in the regional
language), who resided in the crater and plagued the simple folks of the
surrounding area. Vishnu had to appear in his Daityasudan avatar as a handsome
young man, to kill the demon and rid the place of his scourge. The legend
explains the salty lake as the remnants of the demons flesh and blood.
The temple is shaped like a multi-pointed star in the
Hemadpanthi style specific to Maharashtra. The main entrance is from the east.
It was said to have been a Sun Temple as supported by a carving of the Sun God
at a vantage point of the temple. The original idol, however, got stolen and
now a statue of Vishnu made of a very shiny, mettalic black stone was got
installed by the Bhonsle rulers of Nagpur.
The whole temple structure is decorated by carvings
reminiscent of the Khajuraho temples and was built around the same time.
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| THE SUN GOD CARVING |
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| THE NEW VISHNU IDOL WITH LONASURA UNDER HIS FEET |
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| DAITYASUDAN TEMPLE |
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| THE REMNANTS OF AN OLDER TEMPLE |
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| IN FRONT OF THE DAITYASUDAN TEMPLE A ROCK WHICH LOOKS SOMEWHAT LIKE THE FIGURE OF HANUMAN HAS FOUND AN ALTAR! The broken wall , if you look closely, is full off the Swifts nests. |
MOTHA MARUTI MANDIR or the BIG HANUMAN TEMPLE
There is a temple with a large statue, made of a highly
magnetic rock, of the Lord Hanuman. The statue seems to have fallen down
(possibly because of sheer weight). There is a small lake near the temple
called CHHOTA LONAR or AMBAR LAKE about 700mts from the main lake formed
probably by a splinter of the main meteor.
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| MARUTI TEMPLE FROM OUTSIDE |
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| THE RECLINING HANUMAN IDOL |
THE STEP WELL
While we were at the Daityasudan temple we met an employee
of the Archeological Survey of India who directed us to an amazing piece of
history which finds no mention anywhere. It was a fairly well preserved step
well or “bavdi”, where the queens of yore went to bathe. Nothing has been said
about its history but at least it has been wire fenced and a watchman unlocks
the gate for visitors. The lane outside had Gausia Nagar displayed so one could
find it if you asked a local for directions to that.
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| THE NAMELESS BAVDI |
The Lonar MTDC looks quite attractive except for plumbing
problems it would be quite comfortable too. That night Anu taught us how to play a version of the Monopoly and the sheer pressure on our minds made us sleep like babes. We didn’t mind the leaking or non functional taps (as the case may be) and left with just a few tips on
cleanliness and hygiene in the canteen.
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| OUR ROOMS AT MTDC LONAR |
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| GREAT TITS HAPPILY NESTING IN CLAY POT NESTS. While the wooden nests I've hung up in my house are still un-rented😒 |
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This little Swift got entangled in a spider web in the canteen and had to be saved by a staff.
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We were back in Aurangabad by evening on the fifth day and
decided to finish our sightseeing with a revisit to the Bibi Ka Maqbara and the
Panchakki which we had missed seeing on our last trip.
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| BIBI KA MAQBARA |
On the rustic route from Lonar to Aurangabad saw some birds and interesting sights you rarely see in cities.
PANCHAKKI
The Panchakki, or water-mill, dates back to Mughal times. it was built in 1624 for a Muslim saint Baba Shah Musafir, so called because he had come all the way from Russia. The mill was run by water brought through underground channels from a reservoir some 6 kms away.
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| BABA HAZRAT SHAH, WHO HAD COME FROM RUSSIA, SET UP AN ORPHANAGE AND REFUGE FOR THE GARRISONS AND SOLDIERS |
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| THE PANCHAKKI WHICH GROUND MOUNDS OF FLOUR EACH DAY |
We started back for Pune on the sixth day after a very easy paced trip to suit Amma, who is really quite a soldier and enjoys travelling more than any of us (which is saying something!). The weather which had held all this while, came pouring down once we reached back and the rain clouds did not let up till a few days before our friends returned home.
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