Pandharpur Kolhapur Yatra - Part 2

Despite sleeping well past 11 p.m. on 25/11/21, the enthusiastic group of Yatris were ready by 6.15 a.m. for another darshan of Lord Vittal on 26/12/21. Only one yatri who was tired didn't join the group.

We proceeded in the TT towards the side where the queue starts. As we neared the spot, we found a lot of devotees already in the line. And many more were converging from various places. We walked barefoot till the end of the queue which was several hundred metres away from the temple. The line was moving steadily though. Some of us felt that waiting in the queue for too long would impact the rest of the programme and hence we decided to come out.

We were standing in the tiny lane deciding what to do next. Suddenly, a man came to us and told us that in this month (Margashish), it is believed that the Lord resides at a nearby place called Vishnu Paad (feet). He suggested that we go and have darshan of the Lord at this place.

We then decided to have tea at a roadside vendor. While we were having tea, another couple of guys standing there suggested that we should go for Vishnu Paad darshan. When we showed our inclination, they offered to ferry us on their boat there at a nominal price of Rs. 100 per person.

We agreed and arranged for the TT to go to our hotel which was 2 kms away and bring the yatri who was left behind there. In the meantime, we visited three small but nice temples near the river banks.

The first temple we visited was that of Dwarakadeesh (Krishna). A beautiful temple which had no visitors but us. A lady rung the temple bell as we stepped into the temple making us feel specially blessed. The temple priest had just stepped into the sanctum and was lighting the lamps. The atmosphere was peaceful & serene.

There is a small flight of stairs near the entrance which we climbed and soon we were on the terrace which had a breathtaking view of the Chandrabagha* river. It was dawn and the Sun had just come out. There was a slight fog and the vision was hazy yet heavenly.

*The Bhima river is called Chandrabagha here as it flows in a crescent shape near the temple.

We took some pictures in this scenic spot. And stayed a while to absorb the beauty of the moment 

We then came out and visited a Shri Ram temple opposite this temple. This temple opens only at 8 a.m. we were told. We could still view the deities from a distance. It is believed that Lord Ram came here during His exile while searching for Sita Devi.

Later we had a darshan of Lord Shiva at a tiny temple adjoining the Dwarakadeesh temple. It is in a poor shape & poorly maintained but still has positive vibrations. An old lady was inside the sanctum offering worship to Lord Shiva.

While we were having darshan of the temples and waiting for our co-yatri to join us, the boatman was hanging out nearby. He was patiently waiting for his first income of the day and fending off competition by saying this group is already booked with him.

By 7.30 a.m. we were boarding the small row boat. It was shaking in the water making it slightly difficult to maintain balance. All 15 Yatris were soon aboard and our boatman pushed the boat into the waters and himself climbed in.

Bhagvat (our boatman) made sure that the team was seated evenly and the boat was balanced well. Swiftly & strongly he started taking the boat towards the middle of the river. The weather was nice and the silence coupled with the cool morning breeze was pleasurable. We were far away from the shore and there was nothing around us but clean fresh water. Bhavat informed us that the depth here was approximately 40 feet and we suddenly realised that we didn't know how to swim and had no life jackets. We were at the mercy of Lord Vittal and the skills of Bhagvat.

In all my past visits, I had never seen the Chandrabagha so full of water or so clean. This year, the Bhima river is especially holy with the presence of Pushkaram after the Jupiter Transit in November, 2021. The presence of Pushkaram specially purifies the river as well as everyone who resorts to it or bathes in it. We were blessed to sprinkle ourselves with this holy water. Some of us would have loved to have a holy dip too but time was a constraint.

Almost 2 kms away from the river bank, we came to a spot where we could see the top of the Narad Muni temple which was submerged in the river. Bhagvat took the boat around the temple in a clockwise direction. He also told us that people pray to Narad Muni here to have conjugal bliss & harmony. It is believed that Narad Muni visits here daily to have darshan of Vishnu Paad which is less than 50 metres away.

Bhagvat also mentioned that there are 12 Jyotirlingas in the waters below which are submerged and can be seen only when the water levels go down. He mentioned that the waters are full due to heavy rainfall in the recent past. Also, there is Tisangi dam nearby which holds the water in the river from flowing away.

He then took us to the nearby Vishnu Paad temple which was on the shore but just inside the river. When we walked into the small temple, we were suprised to see hundreds of Swallows flying in & out of the temple. They have made nests on the ceiling of the temple using the soil from the river which mixed with their saliva forms the walls of the nest. All nests are conjoined with each other much like row houses. The opening of the nest faces the floor. The birds go in by first clinging to the doorway and then squeezing in. Each bird makes it a point to only enter its own house and avoids the hundred others nearby. How they find out and how they maintain discipline is a mystery but certainly worth learning from.

The temple itself is small and open from all sides. It has 16 pillars supporting the ceiling. In the centre is a stone which has the footmarks which are believed to be those of Lords Vishnu, Vittal and Krishna and some cow hooves. On the first day of Margashirsha the sandals of Lord Vitthal are taken to Vishnupad Temple and on the last day of the same month the chariot of Lord Vitthal is brought to this temple in a grand procession.

We had darshan of the Vishnu Paad, heard the story of the place from the priest and then clicked some pictures of ourselves. We then proceeded to the small Janabai shrine which was about 50 metres in the shore. 

Janabai was a low-caste maidservant and poet. She was taken as a five-year-old child to the temple of the god Vitthal. She refused to leave, telling her parents that although they loved her, they would in time have to give her away in marriage, and instead she wished to remain in the temple and devote herself to God.

Janabai was then taken in by the poet Namdev as his maid. Janabai was also a poet, and is said to have composed over 300 hymns to the god Vitthal. The deity was said to have appeared to her and helped her with her daily tasks – her songs described him as her fellow serving maid. They are usually shown grinding at the mill together.

At this shrine also, there is a rock which has foot marks which are believed to be of Lord Vitthal. After this, we came back to the boat and were quickly rowed back to the boarding point by Bhagvat.

We thanked him profusely for giving us an amazing experience.

Pandharpur Kolhapur Yatra - Part 1

Our trip to Pandharpur started very early on 25/12/21. The Tempo Traveller (TT) picked up 12 Yatris from Chembur as well as our packed breakfast. Three of us got on board at 7.30 a.m. and we were on our way. The road was crowded with many vehicles going out of the city to enjoy the long weekend. We were on the expressway towards Pune by 8 a.m. At around 9 a.m., after the first toll at Khalapur, we stopped for breakfast. 

The packed 'surprise' breakfast comprised of Kesari, Pongal & Vada with coconut chutney. It tasted heavenly and we washed it down with tea from a nearby shop.

By 9.30 a.m. we were on the road again when we encountered severe traffic jams on the expressway. It was partly due to the ongoing repair work at various stretches and partly due to the breakdown of several vehicles which were not in good condition. We were crawling slowly and started getting worried about the same.

Thankfully, the group of 15 were keeping ourselves engaged with banter & humour. We also had some good devotional songs being played on the music system of the TT.

As we reached the outskirts of Pune, the TT driver who did not have any GPS to guide him decided to take his familiar shorter route. That probably was a bad decision as the road here were chock-a-block with vehicles of all types. We were still in Greater Pune till 2.30 p.m.when we stopped at a roadside restaurant called Elite for lunch.

The restaurant had good washroom facilities for the guests and also served food as fast as possible. The place was clean and the food was good. The pricing was also reasonable - about Rs. 200/- per person.

After the refreshing meal, we were on our way towards our destination. The traffic had eased by this time. The rest of the journey was smooth as we reached our hotel Marigold Regency at around 6.45 p.m. This is a relatively new hotel having been inaugurated only a few months before. The hotel had quite a few teething issues like geyser not working, bathroom door not closing etc. After freshening up and doing our evening prayers, we changed from the travel attire to a darshan attire (meaning the ladies wore Sarees and the gents wore Dhotis).

We left for the temple by around 7.30 p.m. There wasn't much crowd there. We were told that since the advent of Covid19, only darshan from a distance was allowed. This is called Mukh-darshan. In the past, we could get Charan-darshan where we were allowed to put our head on the feet of the deity.

One of the Yatris had some local contact who facilitated early darshan by breaking into the queue. As we were a large party, only 12 could get this. Three of us joined the regular queue and it took us approx. 35-40 minutes to get His darshan.

The Lord Vittal was adorned in beautiful yellow cloth and looked very attractive & adorable. He was wearing His crown made up of a cloth of matching colour and was also wearing a single garland. He seemed as eager to see us as we were to have His darshan. The viewing distance was approximately 25-30 feet. As the 3 of us who joined the queue were among the last Yatris of the day, we were allowed to stand for a longer time. We could chant a few slokas during the time we stood there. We were blessed with a wonderful darshan of the Lord.

We came out by 9.45 p.m and the entire group went for dinner at a good Thali restaurant called Savera located at Shivaji Chowk, Pandharpur. The food as well as service was excellent and we were famished. After a hearty dinner (costing just Rs. 230 per person), we went back to our Hotel by around 11 p.m.

Thus ended the eventful & hectic first day of our yatra.