Posted in Heritage Places, Historical Place, Photography, Travelogue, tagged "Lord Shankar", Around Pune, Explore Pune, God, God Shankar, Hindu, Hindu temples, Lavthaleshwar, Lawthaleshwar, Lord Shiva, Near Jejuri, Outings, Pune, Shankar, Shankar temple, Shiva, Shiva linga, Shiva temple, Shivalinga, Temple on April 29, 2010|
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I badly needed a ‘bhatanki-break’ to kill my boredom. On saturday night, I started hunting for a place to drive and suddenly ‘Lavthaleshwar’ stuck my mind. Actually ‘Lavthaleshwar’ needs to be clubbed with Jejuri as it is 1-1.5kms just before Jejuri but i had not been there earlier in my Jejuri visits. It is known to be an ancient cave temple of Lord Shiva. I felt keen desire to visit here. I got up early in the morning and took up Solapur highway.
To reach Lavthaleshwar:
- Take Solapur highway
- Drive up to Hadapsar and take right turn to Saswad.
- On the way to Saswad, you have to cross Dive ghat.
- From Saswad, take road to Jejuri.
- 1.5 kms before Jejuri, look for ‘Lavthaleshwar’ temple entrance on right hand side.
- Total distance from Pune is around 48 Kms.
It is good drive of around 50 kms to reach the temple. Amazing fact about this place is – the temple is underground and not easily seen from road side. I parked my vehicle near the entrance name and literally searched for the temple. Later found some deep steps leading to the temple door. I descended and found this cave temple. Another unique thing about ‘shiva-linga’ was, it was placed perpendicular to the entrance of ‘gabhara’. Mostly shiva lingas are horizontally placed in ‘Gabhara’. Being cave temple, it was cooler inside. I bowed in front of almighty and sat in peace. I generally like to visit temples in off-season where in I can spend my own sweet time there and conversing with God in leisure. This time it was exactly same. Then I came outside the temple and spent some time observing the surroundings. It was peaceful and shady.
It is said that Swami Ramdas on the way to Jejuri halted at this temple overnight. He composed famous Pooja Arati – “Lav lavathi vikrala brahmandi mala…” here derived from the name ‘Lavthaleshwar’.
I started my return journey, took a ‘Misal paav’ break in Saswad. It was good drive of 60 odd kms and the place was worth visiting.
Lavthaleshwar can be clubbed with Jejuri. For all those who want to be at peace this is THE place to be. 🙂
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