Bhimashankar

I still remember that night 3½ years back; it was raining heavily outside. In the morning I woke up at 5 and my mom said, "Don't go, it's not right to go on a 220 km motorscooter ride in such rainy time." I said, "No, I will go; I enjoy it like this." I picked-up my camera and headed for the heavenly Bhimashankar. There are no words to explain how beautiful this place is — there is no boundary between the clouds and the mountains, the land has its green blanket, the visibility is just 10 meters, the atmosphere explains "Nirvana", the water defines purity, the soil shows the magic, the cool wind blows off your tensions, the rain showers GOD's blessings, the GOD is in front of you. Believe me, this is all what happens when you visit Bhimashankar in July (please respect the nature if you do visit).


This is the forest area.


A well on the roadside. What a view it was! I still regret getting delayed by 15 seconds. By the time I stopped my motorscooter and took out my camera, the fog had lessened. If I would have succeeded in clicking this 15 seconds prior, the picture would have been more beautiful.


This is me enjoying the walk :)


Can you believe that this photograph was taken on midday? The truck's headlights were on full beam. But because of the dense fog, the headlights gave a very special effect instead of ruining the photograph.


This is my friend Pramod. He's standing on the steps down to the temple. Indians must be amazed to read "down" as most of the temples in India are built on a higher ground. You need to climb up to reach the temples, not climb down. This is a unique feature of this temple. There's so much rain out there that the steps act like small streams of water. Can you see the water flowing down on the steps?


This is the temple's photograph. Bhimashankar is one of the 12 Jyotirlings of India. All Jyotirlings are the temples of Lord Shiv.


This is called "Deepmaal", which is common in the temples of the Maharashtra State of India. Each branch of this structure is lit every night during prayers. It looks very spiritual at that time. Sorry to say that I don't have a photograph of the lit one yet :(

Bhimashankar is named by joining the words Bhima and Shankar (other names of Lord Shiv). Bhimashankar is the source of the Bhima river. It is said that on the request of the GODs, Lord Shiv took abode the Bhima form to kill a demon named Tripurasur. He slayed Tripurasur, and the sweat released from Bhima's body due to the rigorous fight, formed the Bhima river.

The place is important not just with the spiritual point of view, but many other ways also; it's the trekkers' paradise; it's a home for the unique "Shekru" — giant squirrels (probably its scientific name is "Rafuca Indica Elphinstoni"), black eagle, and many wild animals; it is important from scientific and research point of view also, due to many unique species of flora and fauna found in the reserved forest area — Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary.