Lonavala along with Khandala have been a destination that I have been trying to visit since 1995, when I first came to Pune and lived here for sometime. After all these years and multiple visits to Pune, I have managed to fulfill half my wish by visiting Lonavala. I had always heard of these two cities so many times in Hindi movies that every time I visited either visited Pune or Mumbai, I thought of visiting these very approachable places, but I guess my time to meet these places had yet not come.
This Saturday, I along with two other friends we drove towards Lonavala, with no specific destination in mind, but with a bountiful of probable destinations in mind, most of which were forts and caves around Lonavala. After a beautiful 1 hour drive on the expressway, we reached the base of Karla caves near Lonavala. It was still a beautiful morning, and we started climbing the stairs that lead to the Buddhist caves and the Ekavira devi temple. It is a 20-30 minute climb to the caves, most of which are inaccessible. The caves are supposed to date back to 1st century BC. The main hall is built in the Himayana style and is said to have Mahayana influence added later on. There are inscriptions on various walls which are apparently written in Brahmi and which are supposedly the names of the donors who contributed. There are about 16 caves, out of which the main hall is Cave no 8, and this is the only one open to public as of now. Interestingly this all stone structure has a wooden structured adorning the roofs, which is said to be a part of the original architecture and has survived 2300+ years. Looks like some time back, there may have been public access to caves on the upper floor which were primarily the viharas and the mandapas, but as of now the access is closed and you can see lot of water dripping in front of the caves. You can go around the rock and see a series of caves which to me looked like places where the monks stayed and main hall is probably where they studied or meditated.
The Ekavira devi temple just outside the gate of the main hall seems like a relatively recent structure. But today it seems most visitors visit this place for the temple rather than the caves. It is a usual Hindu temple, which is specially visited on Fridays as that day belongs to the devi and there is no entrance fees that is charged on that day. The orange of temple looks nice against the black stone background of the caves. Since the caves are on a
A few kms away from Karla caves is a small village called Bhaja and the caves here are obviously called Bhaja caves, which from a distance look quite similar to Karla caves to a naïve eye. From Bhaja village you can trek on a mild gradient towards the base of the Lohgad and Visapur forts. If the heat of the sun and the tiredness of the long walk drains you, there are a lot of shops selling Lemon juice, Kokam sherbet, Guavas and Cucumbers. Very close to the base of Lohgad fort, there are a series of eating joints most of which offer local food along with water, soft drinks and juices to rejuvenate you. If you can find a shade below a tree or elsewhere, you would be amazed by the breeze that gently and at times forcefully passes through your skin and your hair and leaving a bundle of energy with you.
There are steep stairs to climb the fort, at various places the stairs are in various stages of existence. Somewhere they are quite good, somewhere half broken and at some places you only find traces of their existence. But one thing that is consistent throughout is the steepness of the stairs, which you realize more while getting down than when you are climbing them up. On the way to the first or the entrance gate of the fort, you would see the beginning of a huge lake and the view of which keeps getting wider as you keep climbing higher. The first gate, also called the Ganesh gate is the entrance to the fort and there are 2-3 more gates that you see till you reach the vast open space on the top. The fort twists and turns through these gates. There are huge stone walls that are the only remains that tell that there was a fort here sometime. The last gate is the only one which is somewhat preserved. There are caves that have water, and those that have Shivalingas. There are some groups who apparently camp in the fort sometimes, though I am not sure if this is allowed. There are lime water and cucumber seller, who operates from one of the rooms of the fort. Through the windows built in the fort walls you can see beautiful views of the surroundings and also feel the strategic location of those holes that are like the eye-holes in today’s homes. They can show you the slightest movement in the wide angle view from those small openings, without giving in much on what is happening inside the fort.
After the last gate you come to vast plain ground which has lot of man made water tanks in various sizes. Towards the end of this plain area, there is a narrow long strip of hill, not wider than few meters that takes you to the edge of the hill as well as the fort. As you look at this strip you go through the feeling of standing on top in a very narrow space, an inability to move too much but with a bird’s eye view of everything around you. Is that how you feel when you are at the top?
After a two hour walk back to the Bhaja village, we proceeded to Lonavala to satisfy our hunger pangs, and then quickly drove to the lion’s point to see the sunset. Little did I know this is going to be one of the best times of a day well spent? There is a hill in the middle of the valley, called the lion hill and this is how this place gets the name. But if you look closely to the top of the hill, you would be able to see faces carved in stone, one of which has a good resemblance to Shivaji. If you could go to other side of the hill and look at a different angle may be you can also see a third face. The sunset could have been more beautiful but for the clouds who decided to play hide and seek with sun. The place was very peaceful and yet enigmatic. Something that said, be here, do not go anywhere…
Highly recommend all these places to anyone who like history and nature, that too when the two are intermingling with each other.
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