I had been planning to visit the temple of Lord Shiva at
Bhuleshwar since quite some time now; might have been months since I first
thought about it. I was able to finally make my thoughts transform to action
and I decided that Saturday, 11th August, 2012 was the D-day. Let me
first give an introduction of Bhuleshwar.
This is a Shiva temple, believed to
be first build around 1200AD but destroyed by invaders and then rebuilt around
1600AD. Its located at around 60kms from Pune. Reaching there is pretty easy:
Take the Pune – Solapur highway, pass through Hadapsar, Loni-Kalbhor,
Uruli-Kanchan on your way and about 2 kms before Yavat (Highway signboards can
help you here), take the Right turn and drive for around 10kms to reach
Bhuleshwar.
One of my friends agreed to accompany me this time and so my
friend and I started on my Honda Twister at about 2 PM. Since it had been raining
for the previous few days, we had anticipated that we could be drenched by the
time we reach Bhuleshwar and so we were mentally prepared for it. However, it
seemed, God had other plans for us J.
Crossing the traffic of Hadapsar seemed hectic so immediately after Hadapsar,
we decided to stop for a cup of tea. After a plate of ‘Kandaa Bhaji’ and a hot
cup of tea, we started again on our journey. Once you cross Uruli - Kanchan, just
about 5 kms before Yavat, there is Punjabi dhaba on the Right side of the
highway while you are going from Pune to Bhuleshwar. This can be regarded as a
landmark to decide where to take the right turn. This is because the sign board
indicating ‘For Bhuleshwar, turn right’, is pretty small and could be ignored
easily and this turn is pretty easy to miss too. Another important point to
note, as I have read from some of the other blogs, is that when you take this
right turn is that you travel on the Eastern banks of a canal after you turn
right. Also, there is a large enough gap in the divider of the highway exactly
where the right turn is to be taken.
I had expected that the ride beyond this point would be a
little bumpy but instead it turned out to be a pleasant ride; the road was
smooth and because there were not many buildings around, the wind blew freely
and we felt refreshed by it already. On your way, you could find a different
variety of sparrows (with very short legs and small neck too but I don’t know what
this is called since I am not much of a bird-watcher). These sparrows are also different
from the normal variety in the cities because they can be usually spotted in
groups of around 5-6. As soon as you have turned right from the highway, you
will find plenty of small Jaggery and the pleasant aroma fills your nostrils.
From this point, the temple can be spotted easily on a distant hill.
The temple itself is situated on a hill and you have to
cross a moderately difficult ghat section. We went there in August and yet the
roads were in great condition so riding wasn’t too difficult for us. A lot had
been written in numerous blogs about this ghat; that it is difficult or
dangerous but I could not find enough photographic information about this. So I
was not able to judge exactly how difficult is this ghat. So I decided to help
other poor folks, who might think of visiting this place. Here are some snaps
of the ghat section and depending upon your control, expertise and experience
on your bike, you must decide for yourself, how difficult this ghat is. These pics will give you an idea about how high the temple is located from base.
Once the ghat is complete, the wind blowing atop the hill is
so strong that I felt my bike moving laterally. Then there is a small patch of
around 2 kms of rough road and finally you reach the foothill of the temple. At
corners, you could find remains of a fort-like structure, actually believed to
be the fort of Mangalgadh.
The temple itself is situated on a rectangular
platform built of stone. At the entrance to the temple, there is a large bell
and its sound is loud to enough to ring your ear-drums. An interesting feature
of the temple is that the lower half of the temple is build from black stones
whereas the upper half is from yellow colored stone (which I think could be
sandstone). As soon as you enter the temple, one can notice that there are
numerous writings engraved inside the stone floors as well as pillars. The
pillars inside are so majestic and beautiful that one immediately feels like
having got ‘Timelined’ to 1600 timeframe. The sculpture in stone is miniature
in some places and the carvings, accurate and equally beautiful. After climbing
a few stairs on the right, we enter a room that seems full of pillars. There is
also a huge ‘Nandi’ that is placed inside a separate chamber-of-sorts, which I
believe is a rare sight since I have never seen a separate chamber for Nandi. And
then Lord Shiva’s ling is absolutely amazing. In ancient times, it was believed
that if you place sweets beneath the ling and if they vanish, then your wish
would be granted. These days, however, people are not allowed inside the
chambers – ‘Gabhara’ in the local language.
Once you exit the temple ‘Gabhara’, you can spot carvings in
stone on all walls of the temple. These carvings are so intricate that even
after all these centuries, these master-pieces are still intact. Another
special feature of the temple that can be noticed here is that the actual Shiva
temple is surrounded on all sides by another structure and there is gap in the roof
left, probably for some sunlight to enter and this gives us an opportunity to
click some wonderful photographs in natural light.
Once outside the temple, I was a little surprised to notice
the top structure of the temple. This top side of the temple is probably
influenced by Mughar architecture since, in my opinion, the Hindu temples do
not have rounded tops, but instead sharp triangular top. Plus the minarets-like
structures accompanying the main temple roof is also not seen in Hindu
architecture. But this seemed to be the case only for the upper half of the
temple, which was build in yellow stone. Probably this indicates that this
temple was rebuilt by some Mughal emporer!!!
