Mamleshwar Temple

It was almost 5;30 pm when we finished with our omkareshwar temple (You can click on this link to read about the visit to Omkareshwar) darshan we moved towards the banks of river Narmada to take a boat and ferry across the other side of the river to reach Mahamaleshwar Temple, As i had mentioned that the Yatra of Omkareshwar is not complete unless you pay your respects to both the temples.

Two minutes ferry ride

The ferry ride is hardly of two minutes and for which you have to shell out Rs 10 per head.(Travel Tip: The boat guy will tell you 20 Rs. per head or any amount like full boat so drive hard bargain. India surely can make you hard bargain master).

One can easily reach the Mahamaleshwar temple by walking on the bridge, so taking boat is not mandatory. But when I am travelling I want to absorb the fun of each method of transportation. Setting sun and the golden sheet of the river enriched the ambiance of the place. 

Ambiance drenched in gold

As I said, the boat ride was very very short and we soon touched the banks of Narmada on Mamleshwar side. Standing on this side one can absorb the richness of the religious India, ancient India, towering on other side is the prominent Omkareshwar temple and behind it the Omkareshwar Palace.(which I missed visiting this time around)

Omkareshwar Temple with Omkareshwar Palace behind it

We offered the prayer to Narmada river, and started our walk towards the market at the end of which is the Mamleshwar  temple situated.

Market place through which one gets to the Mamleshwar temple

The sun was sinking fast and I was worried that I wont be able to capture the pictures of the temple. We looked less like a tourist and more like runners especially with my daughter,my wife and myself dashing around to reach the temple.

Family of Road runners

Under the dimming sunlight we entered the Mamleshwar Temple. Believe me I found this temple more rich in architecture and intricate carvings and sculptures. 

Mamleshwar Temple Complex

The temple as you can see is housed in a huge complex with a main temple at the beginning and surrounded around it small clusters of temples.

Small temples around the main Sanctum 

We entered the main sanctum and paid our respect to jyotinlinga of Mamleshwar.

Shivling of Mamleshwar Temple

 Next I went to another temple next to the main temple the punjari told me it is called Vridhkaleshwar temple. 

Vridhkaleshwar Jyotiling with ancient relics around it

It also had a shivling. this temple was not as bright as the main temple. I had to use torch to click the picture.The temple had many ancient relics around the jyotiling and the entrance of the temple had very interesting sculptures. 

Interesting Sculptures

Once I finished with the temple and worshiping I moved on to the something that I love, of course capturing the beauty of ancient carvings and sculptures. Come and have an eyeful along with me.

It was now dark and the knew I will have to hurry to reach the Bus stand If I had to catch the last bus from Omkareshwar bus stand which the auto guy told me leaves at 7.30 pm. If I missed that bus then i would have to again take bus or auto to Sanawad and from there to Indore.Luckily for me I was in time to catch one bus earlier to that, it a different matter that as the bus was full so we got to sit in the driver's cabin.....well someone once told me the best view is always from the front. Musafir hoon yaaro so anything goes.

Thank you

OMKARESHWAR TEMPLE- INDORE

There was this long weekend coming so my wife and me decided to take advantage of that. She being a religious person suggested that we visit the Jyotingling of Indore and Ujjain. I been on a lesser side of religious beliefs was initially little reluctant to go but then decided to make a win win situation for both and added visit to Mandu the historical town near Indore,

We took Avantika Express which reached Indore at 9.30 am. After checking into the hotel and grabbing a quick bite dashed to Sarvate Bus stand where one can easily find buses going to Omkareshwar Temple. I noticed that these private buses take ages to move out of the town, trying their best to gather as much passengers as they can.Thankfully we were able to conquer a window seat. The journey was uneventful, the bus kept moving through villages , field and infact the route goes through mountainous region.It's a 77 kms journey from Indore. it took us 2.5 hours to reach Sanawad bus station. (Travel tip: check if the bus will go to Omkareshwer or only till Sanawad. Bus guys fool you. Sanawad is 12 kms before Omkareshwar). Though we were told that the bus will go till Omkareshwar but at Sanawad  we were informed it is the last stop.For a traveler, especially in India struggle never gets over. I inquired about the bus going to omkareshwar from there, finally saw a mini bus all set to go and boarded the same. This journey was about 15-20 minutes which ended at Omkareshwar Bus stand. There are sharing Rickshaw or you can hire individual to go near the temple complex, which is about 1-1.5 kms from here.Some people walk and go from here, as I was short on time and as it was already 4 pm so I took auto to the temple complex which begins from the bridge across river Narmada.

Entry of the bridge from the market to the temple

We started our walk from this bridge and crossed the river. the view from bridge is simply amazing and the setting sun made it more exotic.

Festival of Colourful Canopies

Narmada river flowing so serene adds the mystic to the place, series of temples dotting the banks of the river and the colourful canopies give the festivities kind of tinge to the place.

Exotic view on the left side of the bridge

Walking on the bridge and looking out on the right side one can see Narmada Dam and the second thing that you see is suspension bridge,and ahead the Omkareshwar Temple.

Narmada Dam and the Suspension Bridge

Glimpse of the Omkareshwar temple from the bridge

Hardly a walk of 5 minutes and taking a right turn you enter the usual site of souvenir shops markets which we so often see outside the temples.

Before going for the Darshan of this Temple lets brush up little history and some really interesting folklore connected with it.

Folklore:

There are 12 Maha Jyotiling spread all over India, Omkareshwar is one of that prestigious Jyotiling.The temple is situated on the mountain Mandhata, next to shores of Narmada river in Malva, MP
and on the next shore of river Narmada is Mamleshwar Temple.

Mamleshwar temple on opposite side

In a way it is a twin Jyotinglinga and there is a folklore behind this according to which it is believed that Omkareshwar and Mamleshwar are two halves of the same ancient Shivling that lord Shiva himself created and the divided into 2 halves. Local shopkeeper told me that the pilgrim to this temple is not complete if one doesn't visit both the Shivlings.

Now time for the next story. This is the story of Vindhya Parvat, Once Narada who was often travelling across the universe and more famous for carrying tales once sang praises of Mount Meru, describing its beauty and magnificence to Mount Vindhya. Now hearing such lavish praises made Mount Vindhya jealous and consequent to this he prayed to Lord Shiva for magnificence and splendors greater than Mount Meru. Lord Shiva granted the wish of perpetual growth in height but with a condition that this growth will in no way hinder his devotees. But after receiving the boon, Mount Vindhya forgot everything and to be more magnificent grew it's height so much  that it covered the Sun and the moon. The harassed devotees then approached Sage Agaste , who tricked the Mount Vindhya to not to grow more till he and his wife is there and then he didn't leave at all.

we entered the Omkareshwar Temple climbing few steps, In fact I got my first peek of the temple between the narrow buildings.

First glimpse of the temple

Omkareshwar Temple is basically a 5 storied building housing different God at different level.A local informed me that Mahakaleshwar,sidhnath,Dhwajeshwar and Gupteshwar temples were located on the higher floors.

Exterior of Omkareshwar Temple

I was not able to visit the same due to paucity of time so I clicked the photo of the exterior of the temple. 

Exterior of the Temple

As there was not much crowd so we were able to have darshan of the Shivling;

but not before passing through some of the amazing ancient carved pillars.

Paying our respect to the Omkareshwar Shivling we moved down the stairs till we reached Adi Shankara Cave and from there we moved towards the river bank to board the boat to Mamleshwar Temple( Click on this link to read the blog) which I shall cover in my next blog. Stay tuned. 

Mamleshwar Temple Blog

Moving towards the river bank 

Thank You

Kugaon Killa : Forgotten Legacy Series

Last week after exploring the submerged temples of Chandori Village (Click on this link to read Chandori Temples blog ) which not only left me awestruck but also pained.
One may be surprised by this statement of mine but the fact remains that despite being such a treasured and beautiful art of architecture these temples of Chandori were totally ignored and wasted.  The heart can only cry in agony over the antipathy of the locals and the authorities on seeing ancient art scattered around here and there on the dried river bed of Godavari river. A small efforts from them can save such treasured ancient legacy.

It was during our exploration of Chandori Temples someone among our group informed me that there is another such kind of submerged temple which again due to torrid summer can be seen as the water levels of the river has receded here too. The temple we were talking about was Palasdeo Temple, near Indapur and Kugoan Killa aka Inamdarcha Wada.

Armed with this information me and Shashikant Dumbre started working on a plan to visit these places. Information regarding Kugaon fort was not there on the Google so we went around checking with our common friends to dig the details of the route and other things.Finally within a week time we were ready with our plan and decided to leave Mumbai by night at 9.00pm because we wanted to catch the sunrise at Kugaon Fort. 

Gotto catch the sunrise at Kugoan

Our Journey:
We all met at 9 pm at Ambarnath and boarded the hired Tavera, all set to go for our next exploration trip.Driving through the night on the deserted roads is an experience you don't get everyday.The distance to be traveled was suppose to be more than 300 kms one way and our route was Mumbai-Pune-Bhigwan-Palasdeo-Warkute Fata, taking the Solapur Highway.

Start of the journey with breaking of Coconut

It was 4 a.m when we saw the Palasdeo signboard on the Highway, Initially our plan was to visit Palasdeo Temple first and then move on to Kugoan fort which is around 9 kms ahead of this.We therefore stopped here for a tea break as lots of tea sellers were operating at this point and we also wanted to catch on with their tea and local information.

Drive through the Night

The tea seller informed us that the first boat to go to Palasdeo will start at 9 am so we thought it would be futile to waste time sitting here hence we decided to move on to the Kugoan Fort.We drove about 8-9 kms till we reached Varkute Phata,from where we took left turn,this small road which leads to the Kalasi village can easily be missed had it not been the advise by the tea seller who said to watch out for the left turn before petrol pump.Taking a left turn and around 10-15 minutes of bumpy ride we reached Kalasi Village.

It seems to be becoming a routine for us guys to stalk the empty streets of deserted villages in the wee hours of the night. As usual not a soul was to be seem who can guide us as to where do we go. so we kept looking around until we found one solitary man walking towards us, who finally showed us the way. Well the beach is at a distance of about half kilometer away from this village and the road is kind of dead end.

Reaching the dead end of the road
 to find this view

We moved out of our car and in pitch darkness we kept finding our way till the creek.Once we reached the creek we knew that next few hours shall be the waiting period for us to view the sunrise.

Waiting for the sunrise

Sitting here and watching the nature unfold the spectrum of colours  was simply amazing, I'll go one step further and say that it was the moment to die for. A moment, for which I can come again and again to watch.My true feelings of the moment can be guaged from this quote:
Right in this moment,
I can't even remember what unhappy feels like

This is the moment I can die for

Early morning bliss

The creek of Kalashi village not only offers one of the best visual delight in terms of exploding colourful skies but also is home to some of the wonderful migratory birds.

I was later informed by one of my friend that these birds are basically those which come to Bhigwan Bird sanctuary.
Hence we were lucky to catch glimpses of such wonderful species.

Migratory birds 

Everyone was busy capturing the birds and another reason for us not rushing to go to Kugaon fort was that one needs to take a boat to reach the Kugoan fort which is situated in the waters of river Bhima. We were informed that the boatman comes at 7.30 am so we were simply bidding our time.

Chilling in the boat,
Waiting for the boatman to arrive

Time now was 6.30 am and there was still one more hour to go,so we all had some photo fun on the boat which was anchored at the shore.

Photofun on the boat

After a long wait finally the boatman arrived and we were all set to sail to our destination which was waiting for us right across. Yes The Kugaon Killa or Inamdarcha Wada.

Inamdarcha Wada      (PC Dr Neha Mehta)

A very short ride of hardly 5 minutes for which you shell out Rs 40,gets over before it starts and you find yourself at the entrance of the Kugoan Fort,Fort which has no entrance gate to greet you, its only the crumbling rubble stone through which you wade your way to enter the famous Inamdarcha Wada.

Unusual entrance through the rubble

History :

Before we set our foot on this place it is very necessary that we should know about the history of this place.In the year 1976 Ujani Dam was constructed on the river Bhima due to which many big and small villages,temples got submerged under the waters of Bhima river which included this Kugaon's Inamdar's wada(Kugaon fort)too.

Partially submerged Kugaon Killa

The story goes that in those day the Nizam who was the ruler here gave Devrao Inamdar, Jijaba Inamdar and Nagoba Inamdar this Kugaon Killa and five villages around it as a gift in form of jagir.

This fort was built around 400 years back by Inamdar brothers on the banks of river Bhima river. There are four bastion in the four corners of the fort.In currents times these bastions are in ruins.

Crumbling bastions 

During the current times only one bastions is in proper shape rest have being partially destroyed.

Bastion on the right

The Main Darwaja or the Entrance gate is bigger than the Pune's Shanivar Wada. It is believed that during ancient times there used to be pedestrian way from the shore to the fort gate.

One of the entrance gate of the Kugaon Killa

The main entrance has two tall pillars on each side of the entrance gate, a close look at these pillars give an impression of minars type construction.

Minars at the entrance

Exploring the Fort we see there is a small well too within the fort area.

Well on the fort

Just adjacent to this fort but at a small distance we see a beautiful structure. We were informed that it is a temple. As one can see in the picture given below that there is water between the fort and the temple so I was not able to see it from inside however few adventurous among us swam across to have a closer look.

Temple little away from the main fort

I was informed by my brave friends who swam across that in this structure there is an idol of Hanuman and Shivling.We requested the boatman to take the boat closer to this place but he said the water is quite shallow so not possible.

From here on we moved towards the entrance of the fort from inside.This whole place has white colour looks which kept reminding me of the white dwelling places of Greece.

Inside view of the gate

The entrance has many sections, a small roomor a passage with a place to keep lamp or as they say devadi in marathi.

Passages within ( PC Dr Neha  Mehta)

Few more passages ( PC Dr Neha  Mehta)

I was told that there is one chor darwaja too.As the fortifications were in dilapidated condition so checking out for chor darwaja was difficult.

Searching for that hidden Chor Darwaja

Though the main entrance is in dilapidated condition still there is some structure left sharing below for your eyes only.

After exploring the fortification I moved on to the top of this entrance gate to get a birds eye view of the fort.The view from the top offers a very good panoramic view of the surroundings and the inside of the fort.

Panoramic view from the Top

The Fort is built on two acres of land and it is believed that the outer wall fortification was around 15 feet in width. The entire complex though is in ruins, still is able to hold its head high because of the intense beauty that surrounds it.

I am simply mesmerised !!

It was 11.00 am and the sun was hitting hard and we could feel the thirst in our throats,So quenching our thirst   it was time for us to move back and explore our next destination Palasdeo Temple another submerged Temple now visible.

Quenching our thirst 

We all regrouped and sat at the same spot where the boatman had dropped us waiting for our boat to arrive,The boat finally arrived bringing with it new batch of people and we all soon jumped into the boat for our return journey.We shall now be moving on from here to Palasdeo temple. Palasdeo Temple blog coming