Old Mahabaleshwar

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Old Mahabaleshwar
क्षेत्र महाबळेश्वर
Hill Station, historical place
Old photo of Atibaleshwar temple and Panchganga temple
Old photo of Atibaleshwar temple and Panchganga temple
Old Mahabaleshwar is located in Maharashtra
Old Mahabaleshwar
Old Mahabaleshwar
Coordinates: 17°55′25″N 73°39′31″E / 17.9237°N 73.6586°E / 17.9237; 73.6586Coordinates: 17°55′25″N 73°39′31″E / 17.9237°N 73.6586°E / 17.9237; 73.6586
Country India
StateMaharashtra
DistrictSatara District
Mahabaleshwar
Area
 • Total15.75 km2 (6.08 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total785
 • Density50/km2 (130/sq mi)
Languages
 • OfficialMarathi
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN CODE
412806
Sex ratio92 females/ 100 males ♀/♂
Literacy Rate96%

'Old Mahabaleshwar', also known as "Kshetra Mahabaleshwar", is a historical place and a village in Mahabaleshwar, of the Satara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra.[1] It's a hill station located around the Western Ghats, 7 km from Mahabaleshwar. It is home to three temples: the Panchganga Temple, Mahabaleshwar Temple, and Krishna Temple.

Geography[]

The Old Mahabaleshwar village is located at 17.9237°N 73.6586°E with an average elevation of 560 meters (1837 ft).

Located at about 150 km (93 miles) southwest of Pune and 340 km (210 miles) southeast of Mumbai, Old Mahabaleshwar is a vast plateau measuring 15 square km (5.8 square mi), surrounded by valleys on all sides. Its highest peak above sea level is known as Hanuman Temple. It reaches a height of 1,439 m (4,721 ft).

Old Mahabaleshwar includes Tandulni-Anand van Bhavan, Sambhaji Nagar, Gera Colony, and Dr. Keni Colony.

Tourism[]

Arthur Seat Point[]

A view from Arthur seat point

Officer Sir Arthur Malet (1806–1888) (not to be confused with the British-born actor of the same name) sat here and gazed at the Savitri River, where he lost his wife and children in a tragic ferry mishap.[citation needed]


Panchganga Temple[]

Old pachanga temple in the 1850s

The Panchganga Temple is constructed at the convergence of five rivers: Krishna, Vienna, Savitri, Koyna, and Gayatri. It is believed that five rivers originate from Gurmukhi inside the Panchganaga temple.

The temple was constructed in the 13th century by "Yadava King Singhandeo". The construction improvement of the Panchganga Temple was done during the 16th and 17th centuries by "Chanda Rao More" and Chhatrapati Shivaji. Panchganga temple in old Mahabaleshwar is said to be 4,500 years old. However, there is no historical evidence of this claim.

Mahabaleshwar Temple[]

Mahabaleshwar Temple was built in 1 AD as per historical records. This temple was built in Hemadpanti style.

The temple houses Shiva's bed, Damru, and Trisula which date back to approximately 300 years. It is believed that every morning, the bedsheet is found crumpled indicating Shiva's presence at night within the temple. This may or may not be a myth, hence the 'It is believed'.

Ramdas Math: Beside Mahabaleshwar temple is Ramdasi Math which has a copy of Dasbodh. Samarth Ramdas himself had edited (corrected) this dasbodh copy.[citation needed]

Krishna Temple[]

Krishnabai temple

Krishna temple, which is 1 km away from Panchganga temple, was built in Hemadpanti style. In front of the Krishna temple is Krishna valley. As per mythology, the Krishna river had jumped from this place.

Demographics[]

126 Families reside in Old Mahabaleshwar. The village has a population of 785, out of which 408 are male while 377 are female as stated by the 2011 population census. The average sex ratio of the village is 1,035 which is higher than the Maharashtra state average of 929. The literacy rate of the village was 96.89% compared to 82.34% of Maharashtra. In old Mahabaleshwar, the male literacy was 98.00% while the female literacy rate was 92.62%.

Maha Shivaratri Festival[]

Old Mahabaleshwar is famous not only as a hill station but also for the annual Maha Shivaratri festival.

Wildlife[]

Most of Kshetra Mahabaleshwar's forest is preserved, hence the wildlife diversity in this area is rich and mostly undisturbed.

Some of the wild mammals found here are:

Some of the birds found here are:

Some of the reptiles found here are:

References[]

  1. ^ India. Parliament. House of the People; India. Parliament. Lok Sabha (2008). Lok Sabha Debates (in Spanish). Lok Sabha Secretariat. p. 299. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
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