Baneshwar is a temple of Shiva located in the village of Nasarapur about 35 km southwest of Pune. It is a pleasant and calm place amidst a jungle. The temple was constructed in 1749 by Balaji Baji Rao, son of Peshwa Bajirao I. Baneshwar was recently declared as a small bird sanctuary hosting a decent amount of rare birds with many Malabar grey hornbills seen. The place is a conserved forest area and wildlife sanctuary where a variety of birds, flowers, plants can be seen. Baneshwar is worth visiting for forest lovers and trekkers as well as for pilgrims.
I wanted to visit Baneshwar after seeing the photos of the waterfall, stream and greenery there and had been thinking of taking a short trip for the coming weekend. I decided to go on Saturday because Sunday is a bit crowded.
We left from Pune at 7am in the morning as planned and reached Baneshwar around 8.30 am straight away. Due to the rain, the place was very green and the weather was very pleasant. Ample of parking space available in the dense shadow of tall trees. We entered the temple after washing our feet. There were a couple of shops for selling puja items and few eateries items too. But better to carry your food as there were very limited options available for snacks and no good hotel around.
The idol of Baneshwar is very beautiful and the temple architecture is old –fashioned with lots of place available at surrounding for a pradakshina/walk. The temple has Shivling, Hanuman temple, Ganapati Temple, Nandi the bull and the Laxmi temple. There is a huge bell hanging at the entrance, which has some history to it, that it was captured by Chimaji Appa after defeating Portuguese in the battle. In the temple, there was a holy pond in which few fishes and softshell turtles can be seen. You can spend some quiet, silent relaxed time there.
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| Baneshwar Temple |
After taking blessings from Lord Shiva we went to botanical garden there. The botanical garden in the temple premises that has bamboo groves, exotic trees and river beds. After wandering around the garden for a while, went to play slides near the parking where kids can play. Just behind the temple, dense trees make a pleasant forest to roam around and spend relaxed time there. There was a scenic waterfall amidst a forest, there was not much water in the waterfall as we visited a little early. You can enjoy that waterfall but be careful of the potholes which are naturally created there. Just be careful while playing in the water when it is fully flooded as it could be risky.
We walked around the whole area and enjoyed watching flora and fauna there and sat on the bench and chatted. Didn't want to come back from there but then remembered the lunch as we all were hungry. So left at 1 pm and had revel in South Indian cuisine at Vitthal Kamat and reached home at 4.30 pm.
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