The city of Pune in the Indian state of Maharashtra
has numerous reasons to be named as “Cultural capital of the state”, and
Ghoradeshwar temple is a prime reason for this exceptional reputation earned by Pune.It was early
morning 5:30AM of 30th October,2016 when I packed my bags and started
for the journey to visit Ghoradeshwar temple@Ghorwadi Village. Ghoradeshwar is
merrily accessible from Chinchwad station in Pune,I boarded in the local train
at 6:00 AM and headed straight towards
BEGDEWADI station. It was a cool morning and the panoramic and
scintillating view of the mountain range all the way from Chinchwad to
Begdewadi was simply mesmerizing.I got a real feeling while travelling through this undiscovered and unexplored world.
Ghoradeshwar is a hot tourist spot near
Pune as it is a holy shrine of lord Shiva. This temple was constructed in the age of BC, some thousands year back. This place stays unnoticed from the
general public as compared to many other tourist spots near Pune. The shrine of
Lord Shiva has been brilliantly constructed over the hill top. The consummate
natural beauty of this region and lord Shiva temple engraved and embedded deep
in the hard rock are the additional reasons to make this place feel more
special.
I got down at Begdewadi railway station and
marched straight towards the road connecting the Lord Shiva temple. It took me
almost 15 minutes to reach the foothills of the mountain from the station. From
the foothills, I could then see in and around 350 odd steps directing towards
the hill top straight to the temple. The construction of these steps looked
majestic .It took me almost 15 minutes to reach the top of the mountain and I
can just say out of a fitness scale of 10 if you can cover this arduous part of
the journey in 20 minutes then you can mark yourself as 9 out of 10.
The whole temple was crafted inside a huge
rock protruding out of the mountain. The whole work looked pretty historic and
the entire temple was an ultimate and exceptional exemplary of the human
masterpiece [the architecture reminded
me of the Ajanta Ellora Caves].
There were few water cisterns placed near
the entrance of the temple so that one can wash off his/her feet before
visiting the sanctum of Lord Shiva. I witnessed a small idol of Lord Hanuman
built outside the temple. The shivalinga inside the temple is surrounded by a
brass snake and a pot containing milk was continuously dripping on the
ShivaLinga. The pious glimpse of the shivalinga made my heart full of solemnity
and serenity; I observed the monument of Nandi at the entrance of the temple. After worshiping Lord Shiva, I prayed to
Lord Hanuman idol outside the temple. The ringing bells and fragrance of
the fresh petunia/rose flowers added to the sanctity of the temple. I spent
almost 2 hrs in this majestic place and then decided to move back to the city.
It took me 10 minutes to reach the foothills and I reached the station little.
Though I left the place but the beautiful memories of the temple were still
alive in my memory.
I wish in the coming days, I can make a visit to this wonderful art of the nature and human craft sometime again in the coming days. Till then GOOD LUCK for your visit to Ghorwadi Shiva temple and WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY DIWALI.................. J
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| Outside view of the Shiva Temple |
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| Infront of the Shivalinga,engraved inside the mammoth rock |
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| The mindblowing genius construction |
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| An overview of the city |
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| Shiva Linga inside the temple |
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| Lord Ganesha Idol |
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| The foothills is just 2 kms from this local railway station |
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| Army camp ,on the way to foothills |
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| The path that leads to the temple |
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| Nandi Idol made of rocky construction |
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| The entire city is visible behind me: Loved this point |
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| Shivalinga with a brass snake over it.. |
