Location: Ranjangaon, Pune District.
How To Reach
Road: About 50 km from Pune on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway.
Rail: Alight at Uruli railway station on the Pune-Solapur line. The temple is situated 16 km from the station.
The Temple and idol:
The temple faces the east. The real idol is buried behind the idol that can be seen in the temple. Mahaganapati is believed to have eight, ten or twelve hands. According to some, the unseen idol has ten trunks and twenty hands.
Yatra:
Bhadrapada Shukla 4
Legend and history:
Shiva is believed to have worshipped Ganesha before fighting the demon Tripuraasura here. The mandap of the temple was built by Sardar Kibe of Indore Sardar Pawar and Sardar Shinde also contributed to the construction. Malharrao Holkar and Yashwantrao Chandrachud maintained the temple precincts. The sanctum was built by Madhavrao Peshwe. About sixteen km from the temple stands the samadhi of Shri Limbaraj Maharaj.
Text from Ashtavinayak Tours
How To Reach
Road: About 50 km from Pune on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway.
Rail: Alight at Uruli railway station on the Pune-Solapur line. The temple is situated 16 km from the station.
The Temple and idol:
The temple faces the east. The real idol is buried behind the idol that can be seen in the temple. Mahaganapati is believed to have eight, ten or twelve hands. According to some, the unseen idol has ten trunks and twenty hands.
Yatra:
Bhadrapada Shukla 4
Legend and history:
Shiva is believed to have worshipped Ganesha before fighting the demon Tripuraasura here. The mandap of the temple was built by Sardar Kibe of Indore Sardar Pawar and Sardar Shinde also contributed to the construction. Malharrao Holkar and Yashwantrao Chandrachud maintained the temple precincts. The sanctum was built by Madhavrao Peshwe. About sixteen km from the temple stands the samadhi of Shri Limbaraj Maharaj.
Text from Ashtavinayak Tours
Sarasgad is close to Pali, one of the places in Ashtavinayak yatra. I had been to this pace a couple of times since it was so much fun. We had to catch the first train from Diva which is a Diva-Panvel-Rohe passenger. We got down at Nagothane and took a bus to Pali (other option was the "dukkar rikshaw") Sarasgad can be identified by its four pinnacles. There are two ways to climb, one near the MSEB office and other near the temple. For climbing up the route near MSEB office was best for us since the other route had huge rock patches which are oriented such that climbing down is easy from there. Sarasgad has a excellent cave where 100 people can stay at a time. It has plenty of water supply (we went in monsoon). It has a shiva temple on the top and gives u a excellent 360 degrees view of all the mountain ranges surrounding this area.
This trek can be coupled with Sudhagad which then requires a night's stay at Pali. While coming back we went to Khopoli and took a local train to come back.
Height :
Ideal for : Beginners
Ideal Time : October to June
Water Supply : Plenty
Cave : Can accomodate 100 people
The two pictures are of Gaurang sitting on the Sarasgad pinnacle and me with my friend in front of the Sarasgad Pinnacles.
Text from Adwaitjoshi.com
This trek can be coupled with Sudhagad which then requires a night's stay at Pali. While coming back we went to Khopoli and took a local train to come back.
Height :
Ideal for : Beginners
Ideal Time : October to June
Water Supply : Plenty
Cave : Can accomodate 100 people
The two pictures are of Gaurang sitting on the Sarasgad pinnacle and me with my friend in front of the Sarasgad Pinnacles.
Text from Adwaitjoshi.com
Legend has it that a in the days of yore, a merchant by name Kalyan had a pious young son by name Ballal, who was a fervent devotee of Vinayaka. Under his influence, Ballal's peers, resorted to worship and prayer, much to the chagrin of their fathers, who lodged a complaint against the lad Ballal with his father Kalyan. The enraged merchant beat up the boy and locked him up. The lad resorted to prayer again; legend has it that his prayers were rewarded as Ganapati appeared in front of him, relieved him of his distress and took up abode permanently at Pali with the name Ballal Vinayak.
The Temple: An east facing image of Ganesha flanked by his consorts Siddhi and Riddhi is enshrined in this majestic fort like temple temple. The sun's rays fall on the image of Ganesha during Dakshinayana (July - December).
Text from http://www.templenet.com
In one of the articles in Times Of India, I read about Neelkantheshwar. Also I have seen Neelkantheshwar in one of the episodes of 'Bhatakanti', on Aplha TV-Marathi. As Neelkantheshwar is very near to Pune, we planned for a one day trip.
About Neelkantheshwar:
Neelkantheshwar is actually a big hill which is around 50 km from Pune. It is near Panshet. It got its name because of the temple of Neelkantheshwar, i.e. Lord Shiva.
There are two routes to reach Neelkantheshwar.
1. Go to Panshet by Pune-Khadakwasla-Donje Phata-Khanapur-Panshet. Panshet is having two dams- Panshet dam and Varasgaon dam. Follow the road to Varasgaon dam. On this way, you'll get a small road going to Neelkantheshwar. There is a board at this point. This road is in very bad condition. It goes straight at the base of Neelkantheshwar.
2. There is one small village between Khanapur and Panshet. I am not remembering the name. Small boats (hodya) from this village will take you to another village, across the river. Neelkantheshwar is around 4 km from this village across the river. If you come via boat, you
have to reach Neelkantheshwar base by this 4 km walk. But this walk is really enjoyable.
We follow the first route. By taking the bumpy ride on the bikes, we reached the base at 10.00 am. From base you have to proceed by walking. Its 30-40 min. walk. The road for the top is very wide, but it is very steep. So, we took a small break in between and got fresh for next part. We reached the top at 10.45 am.
Neelkantheshwar hill is very wide in size. It has a big temple of Neelkantheshwar. But the main attraction of Neelkantheshwar is hundreads of sculptures made from cement. The sculptures are mainly associated with Hindu mythology. Some scenes are also presented through these sculptures. Some of the sculptures I am remembering are- all the 10 Dashavatars, Ashtavinayakas, Bakasur-Bhim story, Vaali-Sugriv yuddha, Sant Dnyashwar, Sant Ramdas, Shivaji Maharaj, Jesus Christ and so on. The list is endless.
Sarjemama, a forest ranger, has made these sculptures. He only found the Shiva linga on this hill, built the temple around it and made those hundreads of sculptures. Sarjemama is also associated with 'Vyasan Mukti Abhiyaan'. As per the newspaper cuttings in the temples, Sarjemama rehabilatated 4-5 lacs of alcoholic people.
There is a small hotel just outside the temple where we had some bhel and limbu sarbat.
The view from the hill-top is amazing. You can see backwaters of Panshet, Varasgaon and Khadakvasla dam. You can also see Sinhagad from here. The view is very beautiful in the monsoon.
After having a photo session, we start descending at around 1.00 pm. On the way to Pune, we took our lunch in Kombdi dhaba near Panshet. Food was very delicious. After lunch, we left for Pune and reached at around 3.00 pm. Fortunalety / unfortunately, there was no rain for the complete day.
Text contents from Abhaynerurkar
Image from Aqshar.com