Top places to visit near Ganpatipule and Jambharun As a part of our 3 days trip to Jambharun ( Blog Post :Hidden Gem - Jambharun ) , we had one day planned to visit the nearby places. Among them was Ganpatipule , which is significantly known for the revered Ganpati temple on the beach. I will list out the places to visit near Ganpatipule and Jambhrun in this post. Jambhrun is kind of a center point to all these locations, so you can start from one end and circle back to your homestay in Jambharun . 1. Lakshmi Keshav Mandir,Kolisare Keshav Lakshmi idol This was the highlight of all the locations that we visited. It had the same vibes when we visited Keshavraj temple in Karde(Post: Keshavarja Temple|Karde|Dapoli )
Tulja Bhavani Devi , Tuljapur
The ecology of Maharashtra comes alive during rainy season, be it hilly region or the plain lands everything just springs up green all around. Another such gift that this state has got is the locations of the important temples, most of them have tourist attractions around or just the journey is so satisfying.
All our recent short trips have been quite religious and all of them were spontaneous ones. We visited Bhimashankar, Ramdara Temple, Swaminarayan Temple and now visited 2 Shaktipeeth amongst three and half shaktipeeth present in Maharashtra -
- Tuljabhavani Devi, Tuljapur
- Mahalakshmi Devi,Kolhapur
We covered them on separate occasion so I will cover Tuljapur temple details in this post and come up with a separate post for Kolhapur Mahalakshmi temple.
Tuljapur
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| Yagna Mandap |
About Tuljabhavani Devi and Shivaji Maharaj
This temple is one of the shaktipeeth and Tuljabhavani devi is also considered as the Kuladevi of majority Marathas and nobles of Maharashtra. She is kuladaivat of great Bhosale dynasty, who had the great progeny and the founder of Hindavi Swarajya, Shivaji Maharaja.
It is believed by all his followers that Devi had gifted sword to Shivaji Maharaja to put an end to the cruelty of adharmis and establish Swarajya.
The temple is completely made of rock and is well fortified. There are 3 entrances to the temple
- Sardar Nimbalkar Mahadwar
- Raja Shahaji Mahadwar
- Rajmata Jijau Mahadwar
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| View from Rajmata Jijau Mahadwar |
As soon as you start descending the entrance, there is Gomukh Teerth at right side and Kallol Teerth on left side. Devotees take a dip in these holy water before entering the temple sanctum.
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| Gomukh Teerth |
- Siddhi Vinayak Temple is situated at the left side of the main gate.
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| Siddhi Vinayak Temple |
How to Reach Tuljapur and temple
This temple is located in Tuljapur, Osmanbad district of Maharashtra.
- Distance between Pune to Tuljapur - 288 km and it took 4 and half hours to reach.
- Rail option is also available from Pune to Solapur. From Solapur there are private jeeps, buses available to reach Tuljapur.
As usual we started early in morning at 5am, the main reason to start early was we had to reach the temple before 10 a.m for Abhishekh Pooja and also return back Pune same day. The road conditions are really good on this route, quite, straight and smooth journey.
Best time to Visit
- All seasons except summer as it gets very hot in this region during summer.
- Its good during rainy season but just be careful of the flash rains as it is plain land, it tends to just pour down heavily with no visibility at times on highway.
Tuljapur Darshan
We had got a contact of local Pujari in temple, who told us he would be able to get us entry for Abhishekam inside the temple if we can reach before 10.00am.
- If you are looking to book for Abhishek pooja, you can visit the official website of Tuljapur temple
We had left from Pune early and didn't even stop for breakfast so that we could reach early before 10.00am for Abhishekh.
But it turned out Abhishekam inside the temple requires prior online booking atleast 4-5 days and we got to know this just an hour before we reached Tuljapur.
It was very disappointing/frustrating 😠 after getting to know this. Anyways, we left it at that and went ahead for other option of Darshan Pass with help of another local pujari.
Availing Darshan Pass
- This can be availed by visiting Dharmik Karyalay in the temple premises next to Raja Shahaji Mahadwar.
- Proceed to the window of Darshan pass.
- Biometrics are taken for each entry and separate pass is issued to each person. No separate pass is required for Kids below 6 years.
- Entry is given in the Darshan pass queue only post security verification.
Tuljapur bhavani temple darshan timings
The temple is open from 4:00 am to 9.30pm.
- Abhishek darshan starts at 4:00am till 8:00am, post which the other pass entries start.
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Raja Shahaji Mahadwar,Tuljapur |
The Darshan pass is quite good option in case you are unable to make it for Abhishek pooja. You get peaceful darshan from 10feet in Pass queue while in general queue its about 20feet away and mostly has rush.
Apart from the queues, if people are unable to make it inside the temple for darshan, temple authorities have Live Online darshan telecast in the premises.
We were able to complete the darshan by 11.00 am. The pujari whom we had contacted before coming also had made arrangements for our lunch, so we went to his house.
The walkway to his house had many old wadas/ancient Large mansions made of rocks. There was also a big well, which seemed atleast 100 years old, while on the way. It had some beautiful carvings on it but it was not at all maintained. The water had been taken over by hyacinth.
We were already disappointed with the pujari on the Abhishek pooja incident but we experienced the saying
The way to man's heart is through his stomach
They had our weakness served in plate - Puran Poli with ghee, bhajji and varn bhaat, so there was no way we could keep regrets😛 .
Other tourists attractions near the Temple
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| Temple Shikhara |
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| Main temple structure |
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| Lakshmi Narsimha Temple |
One very funny instance happened with me at the Lakshmi Narsimha temple. I had heard that the darshan of Tuljapur is incomplete without visiting another temple but I wasn't aware of the temple. So I asked the pujari here and in reply I heard " Yeda ahe kai" (Are you mad?) 😐, I thought he felt offended for me asking such a question.
Later when I got to know the name of temple I realized its the same thing that the pujari said and the name of that temple was Yedai Temple 😂
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Yamai Devi |
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| View of Kalash from Exit |
It was Ganesh Festival when we visited and the temple premises had this very beautiful idol of Ganpati, which felt as if its is real, so I had to capture this one
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People coming to Tuljapur generally plan couple other important temple visits as it falls in between and stay can be done here. These important temples or places to visit are
- Gangapur - 80 km
- Akalkot - 71 km
- Pandharpur can be done on the way back to Pune or while coming to Tuljapur - 101 km
If you are traveling from Pune, it's quite easily possible to make it within one day.I would suggest to cover Pandharpur with a day stop at Tuljapur.
There was one more funny cum Karma moment for me in the temple.
As we had to go inside the sanctum within the said time, we were rushing in. While walking, a guy asked me to take photo from his phone with his friend but as I was getting late I couldn't stop and I had to deny him.
After we came out having darshan, we were sitting near the exit and wanted to take a group photo, so my father asked a guy to take a click for us. And What a coincidence! Out of so many people in the temple it had to be that same guy whom I had denied to take his pic was clicking one for us.😳
Felt as if Devi surely was giving me lessons inside the premises 😅
Let me know in comments, if you ever had such moments while traveling.
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