Old Mahabaleshwar

Old Mahabaleshwar

क्षेत्र महाबळेश्वर
Old Mahabaleshwar क्षेत्र महाबळेश्वर
Hill Station, historical place
	Old photo of Atibaleshwar temple and Panchganga temple
	Old Mahabaleshwar
	Coordinates: 17°55′25″N 73°39′31″E / 17.9237°N 73.6586°ECoordinates: 17°55′25″N 73°39′31″E / 17.9237°N 73.6586°E
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
District	Satara District
Tehsil	Mahabaleshwar
Area
• Total	15.75 km2 (6.08 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	785
• Density	50/km2 (130/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Marathi
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN CODE	412806
Sex ratio	92 females/ 100 males ♀/♂
Literacy Rate	96%

Old Mahabaleshwar is a historical place and a village in Mahabaleshwar, Satara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra.^[1] It is a hill station located around the Western Ghats. Old Mahabaleshwar is also known as "Kshetra Mahabaleshwar". Old Mahabaleshwar is about 7 km from Mahabaleshwar. This holy and sacred place has three temples: Panchganga temple, Mahabaleshwar temple and Krishna temple.

Geography

The Old Mahabaleshwar village is located at 17.9237°N 73.6586°E. It has an average elevation of 560 metres (1200 ft).

Located about 150 km (95 mi) southwest of Pune and 340 km (210 mi) from Mumbai, Old Mahabaleshwar is a vast plateau measuring 15 square km (5.8 square mi), surrounded by valleys on all sides. Its highest peak above sea level is known as Hanuman Temple. It reaches a height of 1,439 m (4,721 ft).

Old Mahabaleshwar contains some places such as Tandulni-Anand van bhavan, sambhaji nagar, Gera colony, and Dr. Keni colony.

Tourism

Arthur seat point

A view from Arthur seat point

Officer Sir Arthur Malet (1806–1888) (not to be confused with the British-born actor of the same name), sat here and gazed at the Savitri River, where he lost his wife and children in a tragic ferry mishap.^{[citation needed]}

Panchganga Temple

File:Temple of Siva (Mahades), Source of Chrisna. Mahabaleshwar. (12488633084).jpg

Old pachanga temple in the 1850s

The Panchganga Temple is constructed at the convergence of five rivers Krishna, Venna, Savitri, Koyna, and Gayatri. It is believed that five rivers originate from gaumukhi inside the Panchganaga temple.

The temple was constructed in the 13th century by "Yadava King Singhandeo". The construction improvement of the Panchganga Temple was done during the 16th and 17th Centuries by "Chanda Rao More" and Chhatrapati Shivaji. Panchganga temple in old Mahabaleshwar is said to be 4500 years old. However, there is no historical evidence of this claim.

Mahabaleshwar Temple

Mahabaleshwar Temple was built in 1215 AD, as per historical records. This temple is built in Hemadpanti style.

The temple houses Shiva's bed, damru and trishul which date back to approximately 300 years. It is believed that every morning, the bedsheet is found crumpled indicating Shiva's presence at night within the temple.

Ramdasi Math: Beside Mahabaleshwar temple is Ramdasi Math which has a copy of Dasbodh. Samarth Ramdas himself had edited (corrected) this dasbodh copy.^{[citation needed]}

Krishna Temple

Krishnabai temple

Krishna temple which is 1 km away from Panchganga temple is built in Hemadpanti style, In front of the Krishna temple is Krishna valley. As per mythology, Krishna river had jumped from this place.

Where to stay

Old Mahabaleshwar is located 7 kilometers away from Mahabaleshwar Market. Three hours away from Pune. Old Mahabaleshwar has various hotels, homestays, and campsites to choose to stay at. There is one 4 star luxury resort 'Ramsukh Resorts & Spa', Super Premium Luxury Vacation Bungalows, a modern heritage bed and breakfast property called "Advait Wada", the heritage Prospect hotel and campsites like "Advait Valley Camp", Eco Camp for nature lovers, backpackers, and school trips.

BOUNDARIES:- The distances of old Mahabaleshwar from major cities are as follows:

From Mumbai – 292 km, from Pune – 150 km From Mahabaleshwar – 7 km, from Satara – 60 km and from Wai – 39 km

To the east of the old Mahabaleshwar are Golegaon, Balkavdi Dam, Nakinda village, and Nagewadi dam, to the west, there is Dare, to the south is Mahabaleshwar and to the north is Jor village.

The temperature in Old Mahabaleshwar is around 8°C during the winter, and sometimes reaches 29°C during the summer; however, the humidity level is very low. The monsoon rains hit here hardest and the rainy season spans between June and September, allowing the region eight months of relatively dry weather.

Demography

Old Mahabaleshwar has a total of 126 families residing in it. The village has a population of 785, out of which 408 are males while 377 are females as stated by the Population Census 2011. The average sex ratio of village is 1035 which is higher than Maharashtra state average of 929. Literacy rate of the village was 96.89% compared to 82.34% of Maharashtra. In old Mahabaleshwar male literacy was 98.00% while the female literacy rate was 92.62%.

Mahashivratri Festival

Old Mahabaleshwar is not only famous as a hill station but it is also famous for the annual Maha Shivaratri festival. Subscribe to Vipe_RB

Wildlife

Most of Kshetra Mahabaleshwar's forest is preserved and hence the wildlife diversity in this area is rich and mostly undisturbed.

Some of the wild mammals found here are:

Some of the birds found here are:

Some of the reptiles found here are:

General information

Old Mahabaleshwar is not just limited to three temples; many others were built by some historically famous people during the olden times.

References

↑ India. Parliament. House of the People; India. Parliament. Lok Sabha (2008). Lok Sabha Debates (in español). Lok Sabha Secretariat. p. 299. Retrieved 3 September 2018.

[India._Parliament._House_of_the_People_India._Parliament._Lok_Sabha_2008-1] India. Parliament. House of the People; India. Parliament. Lok Sabha (2008). Lok Sabha Debates (in español). Lok Sabha Secretariat. p. 299. Retrieved 3 September 2018.

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