Ghatan Devi Temple: A Day of Adventure and Tradition

Today is May 1st and today is also Maharashtra Day. I dedicate this post to the state of Maharashtra.

Had a lot of fun climbing Kalsubai Peak yesterday. It was a lot of fun doing the trek because as soon as I lay down in my tent after having dinner at night, it took me under its custody in my sleep. I slept so deeply that I opened my eyes at 8 in the morning. Meaning, even after sleeping for 9 hours, I felt as if I needed to sleep more. But Raghu's voice coming from outside the tent woke me up. After freshening up, we have breakfast and think about what to do today.

collage created in adobe photoshop

Raghu tells that today's group is coming from Mumbai and we have to stay with them, take this group to Ghatan Devi temple and show our tribal traditional dance which will be organized in Uddavane village. After explaining the whole scheme, Raghu looks at me and says that if you are tired because of yesterday's trek, then there is no problem, I will go alone with the group. I was really tired but did not want to miss this opportunity to help Raghu...so when I said yes, we got ready and left.

The group is coming by a bus and we will reach Shendi village from where we will board the bus with them and travel further together. I have a daily ritual here and that is that I do photography around Krishnawanti Dam every day. Because it was not much time since sunrise, there is yellowness all around. I click a photo of the gate of the dam through which we pass every day.

I myself throw a stone in the dam and click on the big bubble created by it, I play with a puppy named Sheru present at the campsite, I click 2-3 photos of the date reflection seen in the dam, some photos just now I click on the Neelkanth which is looking very beautiful. In one photo, a black duck is sitting on some stones in the middle of the dam water and is waiting to catch a fish. After clicking a photo of a pink flower, the paw of Sheru's sleeping mother and a villager crossing the road built on the Krishnawanti Dam, we leave.

We park the bike in Shendi and board the bus. There are about 20-22 people in the bus who have come to visit the temple of Ghatan Devi located here and we will help them in this. Park the bus in Uddavan village. I just keep looking at the landscapes here. The most famous mountains of the Deccan Plateau, known as Alang, Madan and Kulang, are visible from the back of the bus.

Stopping at Uddavane village, he tells us today's plan that Ghatan Devi Temple is only 15 km away from here, hence those who want to leave their belongings can leave here. A little girl is watching us from the window of the room where the luggage is kept. I want to talk to him but neither do I know Marathi nor does he know Hindi. Everyone also visits the temple of Uddavane village. We have to return here after visiting Ghatan Devi Temple.

The bus has started to cross a small segment of 15 km and take everyone to Ghatan Devi Temple. It does not take much time for us to reach and in about one and a half hour we reach Ghatan Devi Temple. It takes us so much time because there are many potholes on the road here. By the time we reach the temple, it is on the verge of sunset. This temple is in very bad condition and no one is paying any attention to its maintenance. I felt sad that people come here in such large numbers but no one does anything to repair the temple.

This temple is situated at 890 meters and is dedicated to Ghatan Devi. Ghatan Devi, which protects all the ghats of Maharashtra, hence the name of this goddess is Ghatan Devi. There is a Peepal tree along with the temple, because Peepal tree has a special place in the whole of India, hence people had worshiped this tree also. In the sanctum sanctorum of the Ghatan Devi temple, there is a stone idol of Ghatan Devi, along with the main idol, there are idols of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. Orange color is applied on all the idols, this color is applied so that God becomes pleased and blesses the devotees with a healthy body.

There is a pond behind the temple which is believed to cure serious diseases by bathing in it. We did not take bath, but everyone did the puja one by one in the temple for which everyone had come. We all witness the sunset here and take the blessings of Ghatan Devi and leave for Uddavane village by bus.

Everyone in the village enjoys the tribal dance and after the dance, after having dinner, this group from Mumbai goes back. By the time they leave from here it is 8 o'clock. Everyone goes with one voice saying that next time they will stay for a few days and visit all the places. Raghu and I bid goodbye to everyone and end our day. It was a long and beautiful day...I had a lot of fun.

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 (70-200m) and edited in Lightroom/photoshop.