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Panhalekaji Caves: A Travel Guide

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Panhalekaji Caves are located in a small village in Konkan region of Maharashtra and are a collection of twenty-nine Buddhist and Hindu caves. It's a protected monument but it's not at all well developed. Absence of tourists has ensured that the place is still not commercialized and relatively quite clean.

Some of the earlier caves...

Lord Ganesha in one of the Hindu cave

Another view of the caves...

Panhalekaji caves are about 4 hours drive away from Pune and is an absolute delight for lovers of history, architecture and religion. My trip to his gem of a place was rather random decision, and it came about of a conversation with the caretaker of Aryan Farms in Dapoli.

History

Beautiful structures like these are everywhere...no one to look after...

I was extremely curious about the history of the caves when I was there, and sadly found absolutely nothing on site. Coming back I did a little bit of internet research and found precious little detail about the place. All I could gather was that the caves are about a thousand years old. The collection of twenty nine caves have sculptures Hinyan Buddhist sect, Tantrik Vajrayan sect, and the Nath sect; though for a novice I like me that requires even more research.

The caves

There are a total of twenty nine caves here. They are a combination of Hindu and Buddhist ones, though am not sure how this combination actually happened. In fact there are other sites in Maharashtra which have Jain caves as well.

Entrance to one of the caves...

The caves are not all together but spread around, only a few actually even touch each other. This adds quite a bit of beauty as well as individuality to each cave. There is absolutely no information written about the caves anywhere at the site, which is quite unfortunate. I would have loved to know more the men (or women) who dwelled in these caves and a little more about the lives they led. Also the caves are not all same, some are minimalistic while others have elaborate carvings. Some area smaller while others larger. Of course, each of these would have served a different purpose but most of it left to the guesswork of travellers.

The caves at right next to a Kotjai river, and you can immediately see the practical usefulness of this. Even today the place is far far off and rather challenging to reach, back then living here would have been living a life of absolute seclusion. This also made it self sustainability critical to survival. River provided water, the forests provided food and the nature provided all the inspirations needed for meditation.

Trees on the left and the river on the right...

To reach

This is the journey we followed to the Panhalekaji Caves. We started from Dapoli towards Khed. Midway came Walkoli and we took a right turn towards the caves from there. It does not exist on Google map so mapping it is impossible. Unavare are hot water Springs closer by and you can map that to come closer by and then ask for directions.

The drive to the caves is also the most challenging part of the journey. I believe that it must be due to financial constraints that there is almost zero promotion of this place so you won't even know this place exists. As you take the diversion from the main road you can see the signboard but they disappear when you take the turn. The road is pretty deserted and there aren't too many people to ask directions from.

Some beautiful columns...

The distance to Panhalekaji Caves is only about 18km but it takes about an hour to reach the caves from the main road. A 4x4 is ideal for the road, especially the last third of the journey, and I felt we were pushing our dear Polo for this.

Here is a video of my trip there. If you like what you see, do subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more reviews and fun travel videos :)

What else can you do around Panhalekanji?

Unavare

These are natural hot water Springs and located quite close to the caves. These are famous for curing skin diseases. They are not frequented by tourists much so are quite clean and close to nature.

Dapoli

The lovely town is in the mountains and very close to the beach as well. It's a prefect gateway from the city life and hence is popular with residents of Pune and Mumbai. There are many beaches here but the best one is Karde beach.

Harne

Located about 18km from Dapoli, the small town has nice beaches, droves of seagulls, a fishing village (great for photography) and a fort.

Lakshmi Narasimha Temple in Antarvedi, Andhra Pradesh

Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, located in the coastal town of Antarvedi in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh, is one of the most important temple in the entire region and has people thronging to it despite it's remote location, especially on pilgrimages.

Inside the Lakshmi Narsimha Temple

As the name suggests, the temple is dedicated to Lord Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy, one of Lord Vishnu's incarnation. It was originally built Vedic Yagnas and hence it got its's name - Antarvedi. It is located close to river Vashishta, which is tributary of Godavari river. Close to the temple is the confluence of the river with Bay of Bengal and the sangam is also an important point to visit, especially for religious travelers.

Gopuram of the temple

Photographing Gods closely...

Architecturally, it's a stunning temple and I actually visited it twice to get these shots. The first visit was after sunset and without a tripod, but I could see enough to make a plan to come back again. You can also climb to roof of the temple (most temples don't allow this) and so there are even more opportunities to explore photography.


It follow the well known South Indian temple architectural form, with a prominent Gopuram, courtyard and the tall Vimana over the garbhagraha. The temple is also painted in rich colors which bring all the idols to life.

Here is a photo-story from the temple.

Another view of the Gopuram

An apsara...

Horses of Sun God

So many Gods in one frame!

Climbing up...

Saraswati - Goddess of knowledge

Intricate work like this is what I love the most in South Indian temples

More intricate work

Sun God once again

Another view of the Gopuram

Walking around on the roof

The Lions - protectors of the temple!

To reach:

It's at a distance of about 100 km from Rajahmundry and 130 km from Kakinada. There is an airport at Rajahmundrywith decent connectivity through Hyderabad. From Rajahmundry you can also drive or book a cab to come here. The road is nice, but passes through many small villages so the journey takes a little longer than what you would imagine.

Address:

For any information, enquiries, bookings etc. please contact:
Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Vari Devasthanam,
Sakhinetipallimandal,

The lost and forgotten Shiva temple at Ladhoo, Kashmir

Siddhartha Joshi 7:35:00 AM 5 comments

Located far away from Srinagar in a small village called Ladhoo, the presence of the ancient Jeevnath Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is barely known anymore, even to many Kashmiris. However, when I was traveling through the villages in Kashmir valley on a project to discover old and lost temples of the region, I asked people around specifically for leads to old temple which didn't exist on guidebooks at all.

Here is the story of how I discovered the Shiva Temple of Ladhoo.

Shiva temple at Ladhoo, Kashmir

Idols immersed in the pond...

I started early in the morning from Srinagar with almost no plans but lots of hopes. I visited the relatively well-known Avantipore temples first, but then had a long day ahead and no more temples. I decided to ask the ASI guy at the temple for some suggestions of unknown temples, and he suggested the Shiva temple at Ladhoo. The only glitch - it as a bit far and I only had public transportation to commute. Tourists were still uncommon in Kashmir, and no-one certainly visited the villages. Of course, I didn't care about these things and after changing three different vehicles I finally reached Ladhoo village.

The local village market

There was nothing really special about the village, it was quite beautiful just like all the villages of Kashmir. But my entry to the village generated quite a lot of excitement and many people came out of their shops to see who this visitor with long hair was. I must confess that all this made me quite uncomfortable, but I had no other option but to befriend them. One of them invited me to his shop for some Kashmiri chai, and I agreed though I kept thinking that the tea could be spiked. Everyone had questions, and were quite surprised that I was a Hindu in search of old temples in the valley.

One young man and a boy volunteered to take me to the temple and tell me all about it. I bid the my curious new friends goodbye and walked further ahead. Within minutes we were at the temple and surprisingly there was very little that survived. But there was so much pride when they showed me the temple, and I could see why.

Details at the temple

Some more idols

The temple is really special because of the message of communal harmony it showcases. There are no Hindus at all in the village, yet the temple is still maintained by the caretakers of a mosque located right next to it. All that survives now is a small pond with few walls around and a Shiva idol somewhere inside. Apparently the idol becomes visible when the weather is dry, but this was time of rains and I could only imagine what it would look like.

Mosque next to the temple...

The caretaker also told me an interesting story...

'The temple was built during the time of King Avantivarman. There was a famous Hindu sage who did tapasya here and the village used to be completely Hindu back then. When Shah Hamadan came to the valley and he brought the message of Islam with him. The sage was also very inspired by Shah Hamadan and embraced Islam. After him the entire region also took up Islam.'

It was around 5.30 when I decided to leave. It was also azaan time and I could hear a beautiful voice asking the faithfuls to bow before allah. It was getting close to sunset and I still had a long way to go. It was quite tough to find a direct vehicle for Srinagar, so I decided to take lift from a local boy who hen dropped me at a crossroad a few kilometres outside the village. It was kind of dark and there was neither bus or anyone else with me there. I certainly did feel uncomfortable.

Here is a video I recorded as I walked back through the village after the visit...

பழைய மக்கள் மே சிக்னல் உயர்த்தப்பட்ட டிமென்ஷியா இடர் உள்ள ஏழை சமநிலை

தங்கள் 90 ஒரு நன்கு வாழும் மக்களின் எண்ணிக்கை 2050 ஆம் ஆண்டு நான்கு செய்ய நூற்றாண்டின் மத்தியில் திட்டமிட்டுள்ளது, 9 மில்லியன் மக்கள் 90 ஆண்டுகள் பழைய அல்லது பழைய இருக்கும். ஒரு முதல்-ன்-அதன்-வகையான ஆய்வில், இர்வின் கலிபோர்னியா பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் இருந்து ஆராய்ச்சியாளர்கள், மோசமான உடல் செயல்திறன் நான்கு வெவ்வேறு நடவடிக்கைகளை 90 மற்றும் அதற்கும் மேற்பட்ட மக்கள் அதிகரிக்கப்பட்ட டிமென்ஷியா ஆபத்து தொடர்பு இருக்கலாம் என்று சோதித்திருக்கிறீர்களா.

ஆராய்ச்சி அமெரிக்க ஜெரியாட்ரிக்ஸ் சமூகத்தின் இதழில் உள்ளது. (முழு திறந்த அணுகல்)

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