Nilkantheshwar Temple, Pune - Day trip to a nice place...

Nilkantheshwar, a lord Shiva temple is on the hill between Khadakwasla and Panshet dam. This temple was built by Sarje Mama. It is an ideal place to experience nature and mythology. 

Lord Shiva drinking poison (Halahala)

We were planning a day trip for Diwali holidays to nearby location and the main purpose was to show Aaravya a new place and a small break from the daily routine. To fulfill this purpose, we decided to go to Nilkantheshwar on the day of Bhaubeej i.e. 6th November, we were accompanied by my sister-in-law and her husband. 

Travelers for trip

After starting our journey at 8.30 am we reached the destination at 10.00 am, distance traveled was around 45 km. 

Please refer the below route as it shows another Nilkantheshwar temple near Donje and you may mislead. Road is little narrow but good in condition except few rough patches. 

Route to Nilkantheshwar

As it was morning, the weather was very pleasant. I can imagine how beautiful the scenery and nature would be in the rainy season. The temple was located almost a km from parking and was a climb uphill. After 45 mins of puffing we reached at the top of hill. You may get your fitness tested here!! The road is very steep so you should wear shoes and carry napkin and water bottles. 

The view of the surroundings were simply wonderful, the shades of coloures grey, brown, blue and green were awesome. 

Way to Nilkantheshwar temple

We were tired of climbing and needed something cold to drink. An old lady was selling lemonade and buttermilk, so we quickly satisfied ourselves with a glass with buttermilk and lemonade. This was the only stall we saw there. Though the climb was a bit laborious, we enjoyed it meticulously.

Once you enter the temple, you are greeted by a huge sleeping Hanuman. 

Sleeping Hanuman

After reaching the top we saw numerous statues from Indian mythology which include statues from Ramayana, Mahabharat, Deshavatar etc. On the left beyond the statues there is a valley below, and the view of Panshet-Varasgaon dam from there is breath-taking which will stay in your mind for a very long time.

Panshet-Varasgaon Dam view 

You can easily spend 2 hours on the top seeing each and every statue and trying to recollect the story behind the same. You have to walk little long to see all those statues and are no roofs for many statues, there are very few trees in the yard so no option to stay in the shade after walking so keep an umbrella or avoid visiting the place in summer.

Draupadi Vasraharan

Pandavas, Shakuni and Duryodhana

Lakshamana cuts off the nose of Shurpanakha

The waking of Kumbhakarna

Bheem and Bakasur

Shri Gurudev Datta
PC - Sachin Tambekar

After the darshan of Lord Shiva, we saw sabha mandap, idols and the surrounding area, just as we were leaving, we smelled hot kanda bhajji and our footsteps automatically turned to that only shack there. My son Aaravya ate sabudana khichdi which was very soft and tastier than Kanda bhaji. After having a cup of tea, we started to descend and reached our vehicle within 25 mins. 

There is a temple of Someshwar but as very tired so we did not go there and headed straight towards Panshet Dam. On the way we had lunch at MTDC's restaurant, meals were served within few minutes and taste was okay, except bhakri…bhakri was not made properly. 

Heroes at MTDC

After the lunch we went for boating in Panshet, enjoyed boating and a long session of photography, we set off in 1 hour. On the way back to Pune, our intention was to have quick stop at Khadakwasla, but seeing the crowd there, we canceled the plan and reached home around 5.30 in the evening.

PC - Sachin Tambekar

Highlights - 

Trip duration - 1 day (11 November 2024)

Distance travelled - 120Km

Budget - 5K

Quick Trip To The Purandar Fort, Pune

Purandar Fort actually consists of two forts - Purandar and Vajragad. The latter is the smaller and is on the eastern side of the main fort. Purandar fort is also known for birthplace of Sambhaji Maharaj (son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj). Our gang has made a plan of a day trip to the Purandar Fort on 2nd Oct as it was holiday to all. Our gang includes 8 members: me-Kiran, Abhijit-Snehal, Rohit and Rahul Patil Bandhu, Sachin dada and Mai. The plan was to leave @ 8am from Pune, so that we can reach the fort around 10.30am. I and Snehal had couple of calls a day before to decide what food can be taken with us. She decided to take Upma and I thought to make parathas, and we were set for the trip.

   

Travelers :)

That day Kiran and I got ready around 8am and called Abhijit, It would take them 10 minutes to get ready. I packed everything like parathas, chutneys, and pickles. It was decided to buy curd on the way. In 10-15 minutes, Abhijit and Snehal came to our house and we called other folks. It would have taken them a long time. We chatted till then and after every 15 minutes, we were continued the round of calls to those folks. So at about 10 o'clock everyone gathered at our place and we finally headed towards Purandar. 

The climate was very calm and pleasant because of the monsoon and we were riding our motorbikes, it was so much fun. As soon as Dive Ghat arrived, everyone wanted to stop there and see the beautiful scenery around and no one could stop clicking photos, everyone tried their photography skills. The cold weather made Kiran and me crave for tea, and as soon as we share our desire for a cup of tea, everyone nodded, and before reaching Saswad, we enjoyed 1-1 cup of tea. We resumed the journey but only after 15 minutes Mai said what is there to eat because some people are hungry because they didn't have breakfast. But we managed to convince them to wait from some time. Then we stopped at Saswad to Purandar Road to see the temple of Changa Vateshwar Temple on the bank of Karha River.

Changa Vateshwar Temple, Saswad

We had had our lunch there and walked the entire temple. Temple is beautiful but not neatly maintained, not so clean. That’s why we went to the terrace of the temple and had our lunch there as we brought our meal with us. After starting the journey towards Purandar soon it rained heavily and we got soaked but we decided to go to the fort and reached Purandar at around 5 o'clock. It was very cold due to getting wet in the rain, so all wanted hot kanda bhaji and tea immediately.

On the Fort there is an ancient temple of lord Shiva, also a statue of Murarbaji Deshpande the commander (killedar) of the fort who gave up his life in order to protect the fort from the Mughal. 

We walked around the fort but not climb till top as it was late. But the climate was very pleasant because of the cold weather, we sat near a big water tank for an hour. 

It was our sudden plan hence could not manage to cover the fort and even did not get a chance to gather the information about the fort but I would definitely like to come to this fort sometime after keen planning.