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Satara, Maharastra, India
20 April 2004

Visit to Mahabalesvara

As I write this we are preparing to leave Satara for Pune. This morning at 7:00 AM we drove up into the hills above Satara to a holy place called Mahabalesvara. At this place two demons, Mahabala and Atibala, were killed by Lord Visnu and Lord Siva after a battle that lasted thousands of years. At a temple whose history can be traced back thousands of years, the Mahabalesvara Sivalinga is worshiped. This linga is very unusual; if one can say it looks like anything within recognition, it resembles a meteor embedded in the earth. Although photography of the Mahabalesvara linga is forbidden, we managed--with the permission of the friendly priest who was on duty during our visit--to obtain a picture of it.

A short walk from the Mahabalesvara temple is the holy place where five sacred rivers spring from the rock of a cave. These rivers are Gayatri, Savitri, Koyna, Venna and Krsna. At the shrine established in the cave, the waters of these rivers flow from a cow's mouth so that pilgrims can sprinkle their heads with it or take a full bath.

A few kilometers from the Sivalinga temple and the shrine of five rivers is Mahabalesvara City. This is a hill station that the British established during their rule of India. Many of the buildings are from that period. There's a quaint atmosphere to the place. The cultivation of strawberries was introduced by the British in these hills; since India's independence, strawberry fields forever have been maintained. Served with whipped cream, they are a delicious testimony to the fact that all things foreign in India are not necessarily bad.

 

The night before (19 April) I did a namahatta program in the town of Coregaon.

 

 

 

 

 

The Krsna River seen from the way up to Mahabalesvara.

First sight of the Mahabalesvara temple.

 

 

This is the Mahabalesvara linga.
 

 

The shrine of five sacred rivers.

The holy waters mix together and flow from this cow's mouth.

 

This beautiful Deity marks the source of the Krsna River!
The other rivers flow from these sources.

 

 

 

 

Strawberries for sale.  

 

 

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