[mayuresh]

For the uninitiated, this is not Aundh area of Pune. This is a historic Sansthan of Aundh, about 40km eastwards off NH4 from Satara.

Following is a link to the map. One can take the NH4 bypassing Satara city on your right, reach till the other end where the last exit from Satara towards Karad joins NH4. Here you can take a left. Aundh - all the way up to the temple is about 40km from here. The route goes via Rahimatpur railway crossing and a number of villages - one of which is interestingly named as Nhavi (means barber in Marathi).

http://goo.gl/maps/srcmR

Aundh is known for hill temple of Goddess Yamai, Kuladaivat of many families in Maharashtra and a beautiful museum hosting a lot of historic paintings and sculptures by artists from various parts of India as well as Europe. Among other things there, what caught my attention and got registered in my mind was a letter in hand writing of Shivaji Maharaj.

Samadhi of the last ruler of Aundh, Bhavanrao (alias Balasaheb) Pantapratinidhi, from whose personal collection this museum is built is in the same campus.

For serious art lovers it can easily take one full day to go through the museum. For casual visitors, too, it takes at least an hour to see the museum fully.

Searching the web by "Aundh Sansthan" or "Aundh, Satara" will provide the historic details and information about patronage for art shown by the rulers of Aundh.


Also nearby (may be 20-30km) from here is the Mayani lake, which is supposed to be a bird sanctuary. We were told, due to drought there is hardly any water this year and dropped the plan to go there.


An earnest appeal from drought hit parts of Maharashtra

The overall drought situation here was already severe when we went here in Jan. We went down to the village to see an acquaintance of some guests who were accompanying us. What they were going through due to paucity of water was simply horrible. The lady from the house earnestly requested us to spare a thought for them if we ever throw away even a glass of water in city like Pune ...


Food arrangements

Virangula between Bhuinj and Pachwad (i.e. after crossing Khandala ghat and before Satara) is very good for breakfast. Maharashtrian items like Thalipeeth are really tasty here.

Aundh may have some household food facilities, though we came back to Satara and had lunch at Maratha Palace. It is very close from the highway - may be less than 1 km where vehicles from Karad side enter the city (right opposite to the Aundh turn I mentioned above.) Service here was a bit slow but the food was very good and we didn't even realize when our anger for the delayed service melted away! Besides popular Punjabi items, it serves delicious Maharashtrian food as well. We had bhakri and methi subji, of which taste still lingers on ..

[mayuresh]

The road after leaving NH4


Parking mid-way through the hill near the Samadhi and the museum


The Samadhi



The museum



You can walk upwards from here. I think 100 steps or may be more. (We were told there are 400 steps starting from the base.)



Or you can take your vehicles upward from here via this road. However note that, this road gets closed in festival seasons or on specific religious days. It is usually closed after a few hours in the morning. We were lucky to be early enough to take our vehicle up. When we returned, the road was already closed and people had to go by steps only.


A hairpin turn near the hilltop


Parking


Appeal to the devotees


We actually did not know this up front. But it was a Paurnima and the place was very crowded. Some of us took Darshan standing in the queue for a couple of hours. It was sad to see some people (majority of whom were city dwellers) trying to break the queue arguing with the volunteers to let them enter directly. The volunteers were doing quite a remarkable job of containing the crowd and they were not relenting at all to such pressures.


There is an idol outside of the main temple also


I don't know what his role or the ritual is. He was applying some "tilak" to the people.


Nandi (This is not a Shivamandir. Guess a Nandi otherwise is rare. Not sure.)


A tunnel??


Feeling the heat?

[mayuresh]

The old base and renovated Kalas


Some views of the Kalas




One may notice a blur view of wind mills in the background


Some close ups of the carvings

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[sidd25]

Wonderful...Goddess Yamai is our Kul Devi...Have been there once.