Torana to RajGad Circuit trek antic experience...

There was a schedule listed for upcoming treks on web site of one of the trekking and adventure club in Pune. There was a trek planned on 13th and 14th of March 2010. It became ire resistant for me to hold myself back as both of these forts I wanted to ascend since from the day I fall in love with Sahyadri!
However when I called up the coordinator for the trek he asked me to make up mind for some real adventure and asked me to be ready for a real endurance testing. To summarize the ridge which we had to cross in order to reach RajGad from Torana is a distance of around 12 kms and descending from Budhala machi of Torana and ascending towards Sanjivani machi of RajGad is not a common man’s task!
I made up my mind and my spirit to explore Sahyadri overcame my worries and fear and I decided to join the team of 9 people.
On fine morning of 13th March, Saturday I reached Swargate bus stand at 6.45 am and our journey stared from there. The first hinder in our journey was getting the bus to reach to the base village of Torana. We waited for more than an hour there at Swargate, still there were no chance of getting bus going directly to Welhe, base village of Torana.
We decided to board the bus for Bhor and got down at Chelati fata on Pune-Satara highway. From there we took a private jeep to Welhe.The local people over there run private jeeps as frequency of busses is said to be very poor.
We reached Welhe at around 9.30 and had breakfast. After having breakfast at around 10.30 we started climb. Even though the next climb for around 1.5 hour was not much difficult it was very much tiring. The Sun was on the go and our bellies were full, so with multiple breaks we reached till the first platue from where the plain climb ended. Next climb was not so easy.

From here as we look towards west we get to see a not so clear ,still splendid view of Lingana and RaiGad. From here RaiGad seems to be a perfect straight wall, soaring the sky! On south we get to see SinhaGad rising high with its two towers on the top.

Also the view below of back water of a dam on Kanandi river was spectacular. The water was very tranquil and apparent.
We took a halt there. A rural woman was having a small stall of fresh Limbu-Sharabat there. We revitalized ourselves with a glass of Limbu-Sharabat and rested there for 10 mins.Till that time it was 2 o’clock in the watch and we were aware of the fact that we were running much before the schedule.
On the way ahead the road was tricky. Some good hearted people have constructed railings on the rocks which helps a lot while climbing. The patch we made in next half hour and very happily reached to the first door of Torana which is built in Hanuman Buruj.
Also the view below of back water of a dam on Kanandi river was spectacular. The water was very tranquil and apparent.
We took a halt there. A rural woman was having a small stall of fresh Limbu-Sharabat there. We revitalized ourselves with a glass of Limbu-Sharabat and rested there for 10 mins.Till that time it was 2 o’clock in the watch and we were aware of the fact that we were running much before the schedule.
On the way ahead the road was tricky. Some good hearted people have constructed railings on the rocks which helps a lot while climbing. The patch we made in next half hour and very happily reached to the first door of Torana which is built in Hanuman Buruj.
Getting through this door,next we climb some rock cut steps to get to the main door of the fort.
We clicked some snaps from here and started ahead towards the Khokad take to get some potable water. We got our water bottles filled and again started towards the citadel without resting much. The citadel is easy to climb and hosts Megai Devi temple which is a main temple on the fort. The local people from base villages visit and worship this temple in Navratri festival.

As we reached the citadel the view of surroundings from there was breath taking. From here we got the first look of a giant fort of RajGad.We reached the temple, after having darshan we got sited outside the temple and had lunch, by that time it was around 4 O’clock.

The food was tasty and it was brought by all the participants. I had got some Parathas with me. By 4.30 we finished lunch and rested for a while. Then we headed towards the Budhala machi from where we were supposed to start our descend towards the ridge connecting to the Rajgad. In front of Meangai Devi temple there is a small temple in dilapidated condition. It must be a Shiva temple as there was a small Nandi in front of it.After bowing our heads there we proceeded ahead.
By this time we started getting splendid view of Zunzar machi of Torana. The fortifications of this machi are still intact and while looking at it, I got very much convinced for why its name is so. This is really a tough place to reach from base of fort.

As Torana is highest peak in Pune district the view from top was fabulous and breathtaking.
Without wasting much time we kept walking towards Budhala machi, as once Sun start setting it would had become difficult to get down from the machi as descend was not easy at all!
Slowly and carfully helping out each other we started getting down towards machi. By this time we got bonded like one team. In front of us we started to get view of Budhala machi. It is named so because when you keep the oil bottle upside down how it will look,the shame of this machi is similar to that,that’s why the name is. ”Budhala” in Marathi means a special kind of container made for storing oil in it.

While we where descending we got across the first rock patch. It was scary as from there it was a straight fall of around 3000 ft. you need to be very careful at the rock patches if you are getting down from Budhala machi,as you will not get another chance to correct your mistakes if you commit one 
We cleared the firt rock patch and then several others. We were asking the leader ‘How many such rock patches we need to cross?’ and he kept only laughing silently, which meant that ‘Be ready there are quite many ahead!’
While we everybody was scared enough while crossing rock patches and we got to see the next adventure waiting for us ahead!  There was a big ladder kept down to cross a straight fall of approximately 20 ft. that ladder was installed by “ShivDurga Sanvardhan Pratishthan” to help trekkers doing this trek.

The ladder was aligned very straight to the rock, it was shaking, when you will turn back and get down to get down, you will see upside down view of 300 ft deep valley…isn’t it scary?  Yes that is the real adventure (even though you pray to all Gods in mind for escape) 
One by one, encouraging each other got down from the ladder. There was not enough space to land your feet once you get down from ladder!
That was the last and most difficult part of the descend and from there to started to get the view of ridge connecting to Rajgad which we were supposed to cross on that same day (even though the adventure we had till that time was enough for the day! :-))

We got down on the ridge and took most deserved rest for 15 minutes. When we saw back the Budhala machi of Torana was standing tall and I forced myself to believe that ‘yes we crossed this series of giant rocks named Budhala machi!’ :-)

By this time it was close to 6.30pm and sun started setting. We saw the sun set from Budhala machi and made our mind to start walking towards Rajgad.

It was a walk of around 4 hours from there (12 kms approx), which means we were planning to reach the base of Snajeevani machi of Rajgad by around 10 pm. It was completely dark by this time and we had to cross the ridge in dark. We got our torches out and started walking ahead.
The way next was trough small bushes initially; however it became thick after some time, and we got entered into thick forest and were unable to view the both side of valley.
While we were walking guiding each other about the route and hurdles on the way, the next adventure was waiting for us. On that dark way going though forest we lost our way towards RajGad! And started getting view of Pali route going towards Rajgad through ‘Pali Darwaja’, which was not expected to get to see on the route. By mistake we were on the way to getting down into the Pali village. We stopped for a while and our leader got ahead in search of the correct way. By this time everybody was very much tired and exhausted.
By the time we made sure that we have lost the way towards Sanjeevani machi,few dogs from the base village down started barking in our direction and few people started shouting from down asking us whether we have lost our way. They saw the batteries are moving randomly at the same place the forest and they thought that some people have lost their way and might be need of help.
We were still trying to find out the correct way, however looking at everybody’s tried and exhausted condition our group leader decide to take help of those local people.
Our leader started asking them whether they can come up to take us to their place, they agreed to come up to help us. Within next 15 minutes the two local people along with her daughter came up for our help. They were very much used to the hidden routes in the forest and didn’t took much time to come up on the hill.
We were now hoping that we will get some rest soon. We followed them and they took us to their home. Latter we realized that it was not avillage, it was a small ‘Vadi’ of 2-3 houses. They allowed us to spend night in front of their house. It was a typical village house made up of ‘Gobar’ .
We had dinner and went to sleep. It was getting very cold there and I had single shawl with me, which was not sufficient at all for that cold and because of that I could hardly sleep.Rest everybody was snoring. :-)

We wake up early in the morning at 6 am, had tea and started our journey towards Rajgad.Actually according to schedule ,by this time it was expected that we should be at the base of Sanjeevani machi,however to reach to Sanjeevani machi from our halting point was a matter of 2-3 hours! And we were much behind the schedule! Now I got the idea that might be we won’t be able to explore the citadel of Rajgad because of lack of time! 
With this worry in mind we started trek towards Rajgad without taking much stops on the way.
By this time it was around 9am and as those were summer days Sun started his job early morning! We gains started getting dehydrated and stared feeling tired. At last we got the first look of Sanjeevani machi and also got the idea of the rock patch we had to cross  a thought came to my mind “No not again I want to do adventure” however we somehow pushed ourselves and crossed that rock patch. That was the last part and we reached the plane just below Sanjeevani machi.this was the place where we were supposed to take night halt! I tried to remember how we could have done the rock patches in the night! And didn’t forget to Thank God for losing our way last night! :-D

We took rest for 15-20 minutes there. A lady from base village came there to sell her buttermilk. We had buttermilk there and started walking towards the “Alu Darawaja”.
It was my dream to explore the great fort “RajGAd” and I was just few minutes away from my dream coming to reality! I was so excited!
Thoughts started coming to my mind “this is the same place where great Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj spent half of his life, most important years his life. For every Maharashtrian this is a place to be worshipped.
The fortifications of the fort are surprisingly in very good condition. As you started walking towards Alu darwaja one can start getting idea about the hugeness of this fort which is constructed beautifully.


The way going towards the Alu darwaja was so narrow that at a time only one person can walk.

We entered into the fort through Alu Darwaja.As we went ahead and climbed few steps and we got to see around 15-20 water tanks constructed and all the tanks had enough water even though it was summer time.

Now as we moved back we got to see the awesome view of Sanjeevani machi running beautifully like a snake on that gigantic hill. By this time we had started getting view of Citadel.




We rested for some time near the water tanks, had breakfast of biscuits and energy bars ,got our water bottle filled. After having enough rest we stared moving towards the most graceful machi of the fort “Padmavati Machi”. This machi used be the most happening at that time as it used to bear the castles of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,the place of Darabar,the Rani vasa,the famous temple of Goddess Padamavati is also on this machi. The temple of Rameshwar is also on this machi.the tomb of Rani Saibai is also on this machi. The most beautifully constructed “Padamavati lake” is also on this machi. Is contains very tasty potable water all over the year.
We visited Padmavati temple,Rameshwar temple,the lake and Saibai tomb. There were many trekkers we had came to the Padamavati temple for night halt and temple was fully occupied by the trekkers. It is recently renovated by local people and can accommodate around 30 people at a time.

One Day Trek To Purandar!

The beauty of Sahyadri is hard to describe in words. And the forts of Sahyadri are built on its top are like its Crown.
I always keep finding opportunities to explore these treasures of Maharashtra. However despite of living in the Pune city an historically important fort was unexplored for me, it is- The Purandar Fort
One of my uncles asked me whether I would be interested in trek to Purandar, I instantly said yes without thinking for a second :-)
The huge hill rock of Sahyadri on which this fort stands out is called as ‘Indraneel Parvat’ .And saga about this hill is, while Lord Hanuman carried the hill containing Sanjeevani from Himalaya, a small part of it fell down and it is called as Indraneel Parvat.Later a fort was constructed on this gigantic hill rock.
Even though this fort resides on hill range of Sahyadri, it is not part of the main Sahyadri range which runs from North to South parallel to the west sea shore.
This fort resides on a hill range which has been bifurcated towards east from the main Sahyadri Range.
So after collecting the necessary information about the history of fort we decided to explore this mighty fort of Purandar.
On one fine morning of Saturday we started at 6 am from home and managed to reach at the base village by8.30am.The fresh Wad-pav and warm Jalebis were waiting for us. Without wasting time we filled our bellies and started towards the fort base.
By that time it was 9.30am.Till the time we reach base, nobody can make out that there is a huge fort built over this huge hill. The fort walls and bastions are constructed in such manner that it is very difficult to make out the actual fort location.
As we started climbing the fort, and fort walls and bastions started looking visible. By 10 am Sun started showing its influence. Within 45mins we reached the fort.(which is only a half of climb). A beautifully structured door welcomed us, it was Bini Darwaja. Still after so many years it is in a good condition and is still witnessing those glorious days of Maratha Empire.


We sat down for while at the door and had water and glucose drink. Clicked few snaps and tried to locate out vehicle parked at the base village. It was appearing like an ant! :-)
One can see small rooms created in the door for army people to rest, those are called as ‘Paharekarancha Devadya’ in Marathi.
After relaxing for a while we started walking ahead. Just immediately after crossing Bini Darwaja there are remains of a Church constructed by British people. This Church is huge and is still in a quite good condition. It can easily accommodate around 25 to 30 people.


We tried to imagine those days of British era and continued walking ahead. From here two ways goes towards the main darwaja. One is a coarse road which goes straight till the Padamavati Lake and Shivaji Statue and a second short cut road on immediately right side goes up towards Main doorway. This second road is bit difficult as it involves steep climb and rock patches.
We took second road and reached the stair case way going towards the Main door. This door is main door to the citadel i.e. balekilla and facing north. It is named as Dilli Darwaja. This door is also in good condition.

Here also we can see ‘Pahekaranchya Devadya’ constructed. After crossing the Dilli Darwaja we immediately took right and another door welcomed us. This is Kedar darwaja.
After crossing Kedar Darwaja we get to see few remains of castles.

There is also one water cistern which had refreshing cool water, even though not potable water, we halted there for while.

From this water cistern as we moved ahead, on right hand side we get to see remains of Rajgadi. This is an elevated place of Citadel which used to host the main castle of fort.Sambhaji Maharaja was born at this place on Purandar. Way to this place is in devastated condition.

As it was very hot and we were about to finish our stock of water, we decided not to climb the Rajgadi, and directly go to Kedareshwar temple, have food and rest for a while.
We kept walking straight towards the Kedareshwar temple. We saw some villagers, they were returning from Kedareshwar temple.

There are very beautifully constructed staircases to reach the temple. This temple is the highest point of elevation of the fort, and would have been difficult to climb if stair cases would not have been made here.
The Shiv Linga of the temple is said to be existing from time of Shivaji Maharaj.

The temple had very calm environment with a Nandi and two Deep Mala present on its front side.


It is believed that Peshwe innovated this temple, that’s why it in a good condition till date.
From this point we can view Narayanpur village and a ghat stretch going towards Ketkawale village.
One can see Sinhagad on its right front, Torana and Rajgad on left front from this point.
We had lunch in the shade of temple and rested for a while. Here we met one group of trekkers, they were having their lunch. Those guys had planned to go to Torana after getting down from Purandar.That group was of good hearted people, as they shared some of their water stock with us :-).
After having lunch we decided to get down and while returing we decided to visit the remaining places on the fort, Padamavati lake, Shivaji Mararaj Statue and Murarbaji Statue and Purandareshwar temple.

The water of Padamavati Lake was refreshing. This lake reconstructed by Govt.
While returning we saw many bungalows of British era, all are in devastated condition now and looks like haunted housesJ. But staying in those bungalows on the fort in Monsoon season must be an experience comparable to staying on a hill station.
All the bungalows looked lavishly constructed and must be looking beautiful at British time.
While moving back towards the Statue of Great Murarbaji Deshpande, we get to see Purandareshwar Temple on left hand side. This temple was constructed by Peshwe and is in a good condition. This temple is also worth visiting.
Just outside of the temple in one of the Bungalows’ constructed by British, there is a hotel set up by some local people. We had refreshing Linmbu-Sharabt there, and also got our water bottles filled.
After having refreshment we visited Maurarbaji Despande’s statue. It is located at great location on the fort with Dilli Darwaja at its background. We get feel like this hero of history is still fighting bravely with weapons holding in his both hands.

We bowed our heads towards the brave officer of Shivaji Maharaj and started descending through Bini darwaja towards Narayanpur village.
By this time clock was showing 2pm and Sun was active like anything. While returning we did little adventure as we missed the way by which came up. Then we searched for an optional way to get down and managed to trek down to Narayanpur.
After sitting down for a while at Narayanpur, I was looking up at the fort and felt like we have visited a grand fort which has witnessed many ups and downs in its life time. It has celebrated birth of Sambajhi Maharaj and Madavrao Peshwa. It has witnessed Murarbaji and Baji Pasalkar giving up their lives for Maratha Kingdom. It was an important fort in the kingdom of Shivaji Maharaj.
I felt very much contended after traversing in the history of this fort. We started our journey towards Pune and reached city by 6pm.

Kasarsai Dam

I was heard about this small dam near Pune,and decided to visit it on one weekend.I started from my home in the afternoon and it took 1 hour to reach there,it is about 16 kms from my place that is Pimpri.Dam was full to its capacity and the view was awesome.It is sorrounded by a range of mountains from all the side.It is a small dam with only two doors and it supplies water to PCMC region.

Note:-The water level appears to be not very deep,however the local people there suggests not to try any adventure with water as it is very deep and may be dangerous.

Trishund Ganapati temple

It’s an ancient temple,located in Rasta Peth area of old Pune city.
This temple was built in 1754 in narrow lanes of Somwar Peth near Kamla Nehru Hospital.It is known for its rare architecture & stone work.
One can see the artistic sculptures carved on the black stone as part of the temple.
This temple houses a very rare form of Shri Ganesh idol,having three "Shunds".
The temple conatains underground water "kund" which contains water streams.It is said that there is a hidden door which opens to this "kund".