Theur, Narayanpur and Baneshwar

I am writing after a long time. We had a new addition in our family, so travelling became a rarity. So is photography, get ready to read with no clues from the pics.

After doing a lot of research we opted to visit Narayanpur, i was a bit reluctant but the trip turned out to be a memorable one. The visit had few unexpected surprises :). When we were checking for the blogs on Narayanpur we found that there is also a place near-by which we hadn't known earlier. The plan was to visit Theur-Ramdhara-Shiv temple in Saswad-Narayanpur-Baneshwar.  Due to time constraint we had to skip Ramdhara and Lord Shiva temple in Saswad.

We started our journey from Keshavnagar(Mundhwa).

Theur

Theur has one of the Astavinayak Ganapatis of Pune. It is pretty close to our place but we didn't know about it till we were planning this trip. The Ganapati here is referred as chintamani Ganapti. It is said that Lord Ganapati retrieved the chintamani jewel
from greedy king Gana and returned it to sage Kapila(Source: wiki).
We didn't face any difficulty in reaching there. We took the Manjri road from Keshavnagar, crossed Mula-Mutha river twice. We reached Theur in half an hour. There was a political meeting organized near the temple, so we had to travel a bit further to reach the temple. The temple is engulfed in the village. The rush was nominal and we had our Darshan without any delay. There is also a small temple for Shiva and Hanuman. One can enter the shiva temple and offer prayers.

In Hanuman temple the deity is etched similar to the Ganapati in the main temple. Of the entire idol the eyes where prominent. We tried to take few photos as soon as we have taken the camera out the security guard was upon us. Later we found that many people where having their pics taken with cell phones. We returned with no pics inside the temple compound. The major visitors were the the tour members. There are many tour operators who provide an entire tour covering all the Astavinayak temples.

PS: The guavas here are mouth watering, both the red colored ones and the usual white ones. :)

By then it was 10  and we didn't want to take a halt at Ramdhara or Saswad as we want to be in narayanpur by noon.

Narayanpur

From Theur we took the Phursungi-Saswad route to Narayanpur. If you are planning to visit Ramdhara then you can take the route from Loni. The road through Saswad is in very bad condition. We traveled through the same route two years back, then it was pretty good or may be we went on two wheeler so didn't feel the road much then. The road is good after crossing Saswad town.

I was told that this temple was built by a private organization and later went into the custody of TTD(Tirumala Tirupati Devastanam).

By the time we reached Narayanpur it was around 11:30am.. We went a day after Dasara, had we remembered that the 'Bhramotsavam' will be held during these days..we could have visited early. need to plan for next year. I remembered this because of a commotion near the temple pond.  I was envisaging a huge queue. But to our surprise, there was no queue. We went straight to the main temple. The more surprising part was there was not shouting or pressing to move forward. We had ample time to see the main deity and offer our prayers. There  Lord Venkateshwara was beautifully decked with all ornaments and it was a pleasure watching him. We then visited Padmavati devi and Goda devi,both the goddess are very beautiful. Even now I have a doubt that the jewels must be of real gold, they were resplendent.

Then there was a possession, in which the idols were carried around the temple and placed near Godadevi temple. Had a chance to hear the traditional drum beats and sannai. As we were watching the possession Laddu prasad line increased. We waited for some time hoping that the line will reduce , but it kept on increasing. We joined the line and to our luck they asked to split into two lines and we were first in the new line. :-)

By the time we had our prasad and left for having lunch..the visitors increased and we could see them waiting in the queue. The lunch was good. Number of items are less but you can have unlimited servings. The cleanliness was good. We sat for some time in the premises and left for Baneshwar.

There are two other temples in Narayanpur village. If you are coming from Saswad, you can visit these in the village and then visit balaji temple. If you are coming from Banglore highway, you can first visit Balaji temple and later these temples in the village.

The Datta mandir in the village is very famous. The other temple is an ancient temple of Lord Shiva. We visited these temples last time when we visited Narayanpur. I even tasted Anjeera fruit for the first time here(and fell in love) .

PS: The other important thing that reminds me is the chirping sound of sparrows, they made me nostalgic. These days we can't find a sparrow often. It was as if they are welcoming you into the temple.

Baneshwar

The adjacent park and the waterfall is an added advantage to this place. The temple is small and quiet. The temple is built in the Peshwa time(Were told by a person there). We could see many people who had been at Narayanpur along with us.

One can go inside the temple and offer prayers. The main linga comprises of five small lingas, but normally we can see only one. It is like a cover on the actual 5 rock lingas. You can see the picture of the 5 lings inside the temple. Only during the puja time 8-10am visitors are allowed to see the actual lingas.

When we inquired the person inside the temple and in the shop told us that this place doesn't have any historic importance. But I personally feel that there is more into it. Looking around the temple one can easily tell that the natural resources and the unique 5 lings carved on rock carry some story with them. On the left side of the temple you can notice water rushing from underneath the temple and falling down, we were told that they are coming from the kund on the right side of the temple. When we saw the kund the water were stagnant and had bad smell. Nothing to support his statement. In front of the temple too there are two small ponds, each pond contains many fish and tortoises. Children enjoyed watching tortoise. One of the ponds also contain shiva linga inside it..only Lord Shiva should know what all these indicates...how much information has been lost entwined in the centuries..lot of archaeological opportunity but no funds or career in it.

The temple has a huge park around it. The entry fee is minimal, only 5. The paths reminded me of Matheran. Praneeth was sleepy so I couldn't explore more areas. We were a bit tired and were looking for a bench to sit, but all of them were occupied by 'couples' who needed some privacy. At-last we found one, had a break. Later we found that there is good place were you can sit have a picnic party. The place has some open area which is entirely under the shadow of the surrounding trees. We rested there for sometime and were planning to leave. 

Then our friend has explored a bit and found that the waterfall was nearby, he even took a video to make us visit the place. We reluctantly proceeded. Praneeth became very irritable as he had no proper sleep, so I stayed back. 

We enjoyed a tree shade as others were enjoying the waterfall. We could hear a distant thunder, but weren't anticipating any rain. We left the place satisfied. We reached the highway and it became so cloudy that it was obvious to rain. It rained heavily after 10 mins till we reached Katraj.

A good trip after a long time, albeit less photos.