Kanyakumari-Kashmir Round Trip - Day 6 - Kalyanagad Fort - Karanje - Malshiras - Aurangabad - Grishneshwar

Day 6 - Kalyanagad Fort (Dhumalwadi) - Karanje Sri Kshetra Someshwar - Malshiras Bhuleshwar - Aurangabad - Ellora (Grishneshwar Jyotirling)

Kilometeres Covered - 430 Kms

Walking - 8000+ steps

We checked out from Satara hotel - 6 AM and drove towards Kalyanagad Fort - Dhumalwadi, Maharashtra. There are so many windmills throughout the ghat section. There's a Jain cave inside the fort premises - around 7 Kms off-road with many speed breakers. A slow and hectic drive took us 600 meters nearer to the fort. We parked the vehicle and started climbing. 

According to tradition the fort was built by the Silahara king Bhoj II, of Panhala. In 1673 it was surrendered, along with other Satara forts, to Shivaji. The Pratinidhi administered it until his struggle with Bajirao, the second Peshwa (1720–1740). In 1791, Major Price described it as looking like the hull of a ship of war, with another hill opposite it with some places of devotion on its summit.

After entering the fort, we marched inside the cave (noone in the surrounding hill and we were all alone). The cave was very dark and we couldn't go deep inside coz mobile torchlights couldn't shed enough light (for these kind of 34 days expedition, it's important to carry a good torchlight - we missed it though). A hanuman temple was there and couple of ponds. The fort has 2 gates and you can visit this anytime during the day - no locks or security. 

Post the trek, we started feeling hungry. We stopped in a village for breakfast, had hot puri bhaji - vada pav and misal pav - Maharashtrian breakfast. We couldn't find sabudhana vada - definitely missed it :( The next stop was Karanje Sri Kshetra Someshwar temple.

The temple was maintained cleanly, a big well was there inside the premises. We could see lot of tortoises inside the well. Post darshan, settled for couple of lemon sodas :)

Malshiras was the next spot - Bhuleshwar temple

The Bhuleshwar Temple is a Hindu temple of Shiva, situated around 45 kilometres from Pune and 10 km from Pune Solapur highway from Yawat in Maharashtra, India. The temple is situated on a hill and was built in the 8th century. There are classical carvings on the walls. It has been declared as a protected monument. The temple is also known for the folk-tale about it, when a bowl of sweet (pedhas) is offered to the Shiva Ling, one or more of the sweets disappear. Actor-travel writer Milind Gunaji writes about his experience with this in his book Mystical, Magical Maharashtra.

The temple also has an idol of Ganesha in female attire. It is popular as Ganeshwari or Lambodari or Ganeshyani. Along with Ganesha, Shiv and kartikeyan female version available besides Ganesha. This temple is said to have been built in the 1200 century by King Krishnadevaraya.

                                             

We passed through Ahmednagar towards Aurangabad. The lunch was at Maharaja restaurant, Ahmednagar. We settled for a Thali - roti, curry, panner, rice, dal, pappad and sweet. Saw couple of gates - Delhi Gate & Rangeen Gate in Aurangabad (there are many gates within the city - often referred as the city of gates)

We reached Ellora and were surprised to see a deserted town. We stopped the vehicle in the parking lot of Grishneshwar, Jyotirling, Ellora (5.30 PM)

We were informed that Ellora caves undergo scheduled maintenance on Tuesdays and hence crowd will be very less in the temple - wowww, that's good news. Had a peaceful darshan - visited the shrine 2 times - settled in a lodge next to temple premises - Kanhaiya Inn (a newly built lodge)

We took permission from the hotel, washed the clothes. We ordered plain rice to go with homemade dal powder, puliyogare, mango pickle and curd. It definitely helps when you carry homemade stuff during long tours. It'll ensure that you're treated with homely food often :)

Luv,

Krishna & Mahadevan

Insta - viswanatkr01