The Mysterious Pillars and Caves of Harishchandragarh Temple

Yesterday we read how I and my friend Raghu reached Khereshwar from Bhandardaara by bus and then did a 8.5 km long trek to reach Konkan Kada. After seeing Konkan Kada, we turned back and started walking towards our dream destination. The height of Harichandragad temple is 1422 meters from the sea level and this place is located in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.

Harishchandragarh Temple

Let's know a little about the temple, this temple is dedicated to Harishchandra, the incarnation of Hindu God Vishnu. King Harishchandra is a historical personality who is considered to be the embodiment of justice, it is believed that he never lied and when it came to lying, he got his neck cut. After this incident, this sentence is still famous that "Praan jaaye par vachan na jaaye".

By the way, inside the temple, there is a Shivling of Lord Shiva installed, which makes us feel its grandeur every moment, situated in the middle of water. The construction of this temple began in the sixth century during the reign of the Kalchuri dynasty. The construction of many caves around the temple was completed in the eleventh century. These caves are known as Kedareshwar Caves. This temple is built in Marathi style and every year thousands of devotees come here to see the idol of Lord Shiva.

This temple also has the title of mysterious temple and this is because this entire temple has been built by cutting a big rock. Not a single stone or brick has been added from outside in this temple and that is why this temple has the title of mysterious temple. There is also a story of the 4 pillars located inside the Kedareshwar cave, which is as follows;

In the photos you can see 4 pillars around the Shivalinga, out of which 3 are broken. These 4 pillars are the symbols of the 4 eras described in the Hindu scriptures. These 4 eras are as follows - Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapar Yuga and Kali Yuga. The 3 pillars are broken because the Satyug, Tretayug and Dwapar Yug have ended and the only pillar standing represents the Kalyug which is still going on. According to religious beliefs, when this last pillar falls, then Kalyug will end and Satyug will arrive again which has been mentioned in Hindu religious scriptures.

The height from the base to the top of the Shivling is 5 feet. Because the water collected around the Shivling has collected due to rain and there is shade here all the time, due to this the water remains as cold as ice. According to the belief, bathing in this water cures extreme diseases because this water has such elements which are beneficial for our skin.

There are some other caves also present here, one of which is filled with water only, it is believed that a Shivling is situated inside this water. These water filled ponds are very deep, their depth is said to be about 10-12 feet. When I saw these ponds, I was really scared that if I fell in it, I would die. In another cave, the statue of Shiva and Parvati is installed. There is no light here, so it is very dark, due to this darkness everything is not visible clearly.

In another cave, a very big statue of Lord Ganesha was installed, the whole statue is painted in orange color and like other caves, it was dark here too. After visiting the caves, when I came back to Kedareshwar cave, I saw a group of devotees showing their devotion by sprinkling water on the Shivalinga. People were singing hymns of God and worshiping by lighting diyas. The atmosphere had become devotional, I could not go inside the water because I was feeling strange.

After visiting the temple, we moved towards the other temple so that we could visit that temple as well. That's all for today's blog, I will write the description of the other temple tomorrow. I hope you liked this mysterious temple. See you in next post till then keep up the good work and stay happy.

Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to tranlate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from Canon 77D (18-55mm) and edited in Lightroom/photoshop.