Kolhapuri Misal

Kaustubh took the whole responsibility of arranging Kolhapur picnic. He has stayed in Kolhapur so he knows all the places very well. Saurabh, kaustubh's friend, who is also from Kolhapur made it easy for Kaustubh to arrange the things. Here onwards I won't refer Saurabh as Kaustubh's friend as it will be wrong to call him only Kaustubh's friend. He joined us as Kaustubh's friend four five months back in Shrivardhan picnic and since then he has become a confirmed member of our picnic group.

We had option of 3 long weekends to choose for and finally we decided on last weekend of 

September. Unfortunately our group has dispersed now. Some of the people have moved to other companies so we were only 9 members for the picnic. Kaustubh, Vinayak, Deepa, Atul(for a change he was with us, after his marriage he has stopped coming to picnics), Saurabh from Pune and Pravin, Pratima, Ranjana and me from Mumbai.

We reached Kolhapur early in the morning and took auto to reach our hotel which is very close to Mahalaxmi temple. We had 3 days to roam around. We got ready quickly and we were set for the first rocking day in Kolhapur. We had hired a car: Sumo.

 As everyone was hungry, we went to a small tapari type restaurant nearby. 

I had a misal as usual and we left to Jyotiba temple. It is situated on a beautiful hill calledJyotibacha dongar. We just heard that it was raining heavily in Mumbai and Pune but the weather in Kolhapur was fantastic. It was completely surrounded by clouds and we were experiencing a cold breeze. I love cold. We parked the car and went to Jyotiba mandir. It was not at all crowded so we took darshan of all gods comfortably :). We wanted to spend some time on the hill and enjoy the weather, so while coming back, we just stopped there. We clicked some snaps too. 

Our next location was Panhala fort. I was very much excited to see the fort. It has a huge history behind it. The history of bravery that motivates to die for the nation. The history of pain that brings tears to eyes. The history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his spirited mavale. 

In 1660 when Siddhi Johar attacked Maratha Empire, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj intentionally latched himself in siege to Panhala  laid by Siddhi Johar to keep him busy at Panhala and let the rest of the Empire be safe. The fort had capacity of feeding the army of Shivaji Maharaj for 3 years. But the siege continued for more that 3 months so Shivaji Maharaj put a high risk plan into action on a full moon night. Shiva Kashid who had physical resemblance with Shivaji Maharaj, dressed like Shivaji Maharaj and got himself captured to divert Siddhi Johar's attention. As expected Siddhi Johar killed Shiva Kashid when he found that he had been fooled and started chasing real Shivaji. Meanwhile Shivaji Maharaj fled to Vishal gadh with a small force lead by Baji Prabhu. As Sidhhi Johar's force was very close, Baji Prabhu forced Shivaji Maharaj to leave for Vishal gadh while he was fighting with a very huge army of Siddhi Johar. It was not easy to climb Vishal gadh as it was already under siege and Shivaji Maharaj had to defeat Bijapuri Sardar to reach Vishal gadh. Baji Prabhu continued his fight with his few men for almost two days despite serious injuries and inspired his men to fight against all odds. Baji Prabhu let himself die only after Shivaji Maharaj's safe journey to Vishal gadh was signaled by 3 cannon volleys. Ghodkhind, the place where Baji Prabhu and his men sacrificed their lives for the Maratha Empire was named as Pavankhind(Holy pass).

On reaching Panhala, we hired a guide who took us through every place properly and bombardedus with a lot of history.   Among many places Sajja Kothi was very special. Sambhaji Maharaj, son of Shivaji Maharaj, was imprisoned(najar-kaid) here. 

Then we visited 3 huge warehouses which were used to keep food grains. The size of these warehouses is just un-believable and the mechanism to fill in grains and empty it back is commendable. The guide told us the story of a lady named Ganga. The fort Panhala was developed by King Bhoj in around 12th century. After so many failed attempts to build a particular wall, he consulted an astrologer to know what the problem was. The astrologer advised him to sacrifice a pregnant woman to ensure the wall is built up successfully. A lady named Ganga (teli by profession) came up to sacrifice her life. In return she asked the king to take care of her two daughters: Jamuna and Saraswati. She also asked the King to do something so that the world would remember her. After Ganga's sacrifice the wall was successfully built. As promised the King took care of her daughters, got them married and also offered them good wealth. He also named 3 warehouses after Ganga, Jamuna and Saraswati. The hindi phrase "Kaha raja Bhoj, kaha Gangu teli" must have been originated here. This is the story as told by the guide.Now it was time for lunch.

We had already placed an order 1 hour back so we didn't have to wait much. It was a good lunch. 
We had Kolhapuri special Pandhara Rassa (white gravy) and Tambada Rassa (Red gravy) too. They taste fantastic. After lunch, we spent some time in the restaurant enjoying cool breeze again.

After lunch we went to Tabak garden. It is full of trees. Wherever we went that day, we were enjoying cold weather. It is not so big garden but you can spend some time there. It was almost 5 when we left Panhala fort. 

Our next stop was Rankala lake which is in the city. By the time we reached Rankala, it was already dark. We walked for some time on the bank of the lake. We spent some time there eating Pani puri, Paav Bhaji, Kulfi etc. It was too early to have dinner that time so we decided to go to room and get fresh. After refreshing we went to Mahalxmi temple. We didn't go inside the temple as it was in the itinerary of the last day. The setup of the temple is such that one can see the goddess from the gate of the temple also. When it was around 10 pm we decided to have dinner. We were too late to get any restaurant this late in Kolhapur. After a big search we managed to find a restaurant that served snacks. After coming back to room we played cards before sleeping. I spent the whole day in pain as my left shoulder had developed a boil. 

Next day started with rain. We were afraid that the rain would spoil the plan completely. Though it was raining very heavily in Mumbai and Pune, rain here was comparatively very less. We had a plan to visit Bahubali temple, Narsobachi wadi (place of LordDatta) and Kanheri math. We left for Narsobachi wadi after having breakfast. Bahubali temple is on the way to Narsobachi wadi but we were not sure whether to visit Bahubali temple first or not. After some travel the rain stopped so we decided to visitBahubali temple and then go to Narsobachi wadi.

The temple is place to see. It has a big idol of lord Bahubali.  Around the idol there are models of other places of lord Bahubali. Many Rushis (monks) have achieved Moksha (Spiritual liberation) from these places. These models also show count of monks who have achieved Moksha. We noticed few followers of lord Bahubali who were completely naked. Near this temple there is one more temple which has shape of a ship. We saw it from outside only as were running out of time.

It took us another half an hour to reach Narsobachi wadi. The temple is not very crowded that made it easy to take darshan. We spent some time in mandir. After buying prasad, we went to a restaurant. Ranjana and I were on fast so decided to have lunch and skip dinner as we were treating the lunch as prasad. 

After an hour journey back to Kolhapur we arrived at Kanheri math. This is a place of Siddhatek Maharaj. There is a Shankar mandir which looks too old but beautiful. There is a hall which has an idol of Siddhatek Maharaj (I guess). This is a nice place for meditation. I didnt do meditation but spent 20 mins inside the hall. Outside the temple there are two huge models of elephants. There is a mammoth idol of lord Shankar just in front of the math with Nandi (Bull). Kaustubh mentioned that there was a good museum in the math. Surrounding of the math is not less than a museum. Before entering into the museum we did shopping. I bought two sarees for my mother. When we came out of the shop it was almost dark. Nobody had enthusiasm to go in the museum except kaustubh, Pratima, Ranjana and me. Others had to regret. The museum starts with a long tunnel. 

On every 2 meters there are statues of ancientRushis (monks) including Vyas, Kanad, Gargi etc. There is also information on their contribution to the world. Unfortunately we were not allowed camera. Inside the museum, there are lots of models of people depicting life of every profession of rural life. The models are so realistic that sometimes we were wondering whether these were real people or what. We thought that we should have come much before in the museum so that we could have seen them properly in light. The people who didnt come inside missed something that they wont see anywhere. Museum staff told us that they were not yet done with all the models. What we saw was just 40% of the planned work. It means if we go there after 2 years, we will need a full day to see the whole museum.

Before going for the dinner we went to Saurabh's place. His mother treated us with Kande pohe. Unfortunately Ranjana and me could not eat it as we were on fast. :(.  Saurabh and his brother are great musicians. They play various instruments including Guitar, Sitar, Keyboard etc. We asked them to play some tune for us. He played "Duba duba" on guitar and we all were singing. It was a fantastic experience. Then he played Dilruba, which he had just started learning. we all were lost in the tunes of the instrument. Finally Saurabh and his brother together played few songs on Guitar and Keyboard. Everybody was enjoying the music and nobody wanted to leave the place. But finally we had to take a leave as we knew that if we get late we would not get dinner. After the dinner we arrived at home and started playing cards again. I spent another day with pain due to a boil on my left shoulder. Next day's plan was Mahalaxmi temple, Dudhganga dam and city palace.

We left for Mahalaxmi temple as and when we got ready as the temple was very close to our room. Recently I visited so many famous temples. But everywhere there is a lot of mess. Most of the temples are not clean and are  full of beggars. But this is an exception. It was very clean and i didnt see a single beggar. The queue was very well managed. The temple is very beautiful and stood on hundreds of pillars. It was marvelously decorated from inside with flowers. It didnt take us too long to reach inside the temple. 

Before leaving for Dudhganga dam, we had breakfast. Dudhganga dam is quite far from Kolhapur city. The road is also not good so it took us almost 3 hours to reach. The dam is very huge. As the place was open, wind was rocking and almost pushing us. Photography is not allowed there to protect it from terrorism. Atul wanted to see turbines, which are not functional, but they didnt allow us to go near turbines. Anyways we didnt enough have time. 

We had lunch on the way back. After another 3 hours journey we were back in the city to see the city palace. The palace is now a museum; obviously. You can see various things used by kings including their general accessories. You can also see different weapons possessed by those kings. Specialty of the palace is, it has live models of all the animals hunted by the kings. All the models are made using skin and horns of the animals. The models are recreated so brilliantly that they look like real animals. There is one garden near the palace which has peacocks and stags. 

It was almost 7 pm and we had to quickly come back to room, take our bags and go to station to catch our train back to Mumbai. Bye bye Kolhapur.....