Ancient Shiva Temple.
This is the main temple in the temple complex of Old Mahabaleshwar. Lord Shiva is the presiding deity. As you enter you have to cross a huge seated Nandi Bull facing into the inner sanctum. The sanctum sanctorum houses Shiva’s bed, looking like a crumpled bedsheet, his damru (drum) and his trishul (fork). You are not allowed to linger very long as there is always a lone queue of people waiting for darshan; you may pay your respects, light an agarbatti, collect prasad from the pujari and carry on. You can make a formal donation at the donation booth near the exit, and you will receive more prasad and holy ash in a self-addressed envelope later by post.
According to the ancient legend there were two demons, Mahabal and Atibal, who were killed by Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu respectively. Both the demons requested that they be immortalised by building temples commemorating them, and two temples came into being. This temple, dedicated to Mahabal is called Mahabaleshwar, and the Atibaleshwar Temple is the smaller one located about 200 meters from this one. This temple is more than 800 years old and rebuilt in Hemadpanti style.
After paying our respects at the temple we did a parikrama (circumambulation) around it and admired the architecture and beautiful scenery with a lot of greenery around it. Photography is prohibited inside but we took some nice pictures outside.
According to the ancient legend there were two demons, Mahabal and Atibal, who were killed by Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu respectively. Both the demons requested that they be immortalised by building temples commemorating them, and two temples came into being. This temple, dedicated to Mahabal is called Mahabaleshwar, and the Atibaleshwar Temple is the smaller one located about 200 meters from this one. This temple is more than 800 years old and rebuilt in Hemadpanti style.
After paying our respects at the temple we did a parikrama (circumambulation) around it and admired the architecture and beautiful scenery with a lot of greenery around it. Photography is prohibited inside but we took some nice pictures outside.
Date of experience: December 2019
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
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