A quiet afternoon on the banks of Krishna at Menawali

Menawali  is a village about three kilometres from Wai in the Satara district of Maharashtra, India. As Sunder had already visited the place long back with his photographic club friends, he wanted us too enjoy the quaint charms of ghats at Menavali. From symmetrically laid down steps, spread in vast area , the elegant wall of Wada of Nana Pahandwis, the temples at the ghat to peaceful Krishna flowing placidly, the green surroundings and simple daily chores being conducted on the ghats by the village folks.....everything at the place had a balmy impact on  heart. The leisurely pace with which life seems to move here provide a restful feeling.

There are two openings to enter the ghat. We entered from the lane near Vishnu temple. Even at the first glance one is bound to have a cozy , comfortable feel .The wall of wada running along the wide platform leading to steps provide a kind of privacy to this ghat. May be that was the purpose when the ghat was originally constructed. It might have been designed for the exclusive use of inhabitants of Phadanvis wada. Today too I feel it is used mainly by women folk or may be the time we reached there it was occupied mainly by women busy in washing clothes etc.

Vishnu temple is built  on the highest level. Long steps from it's outer wall descend to the level where Shiva temple is erected on a high ,wide. square platform. We could not go inside the campus of Vishnu temple as the door leading to it was closed. However had a nice, peaceful meeting with Lord Shiva. It felt as if Shivlinga was installed on the bank of River and then high squarish platform raised around it and then in the middle the temple walls and shikhara were erected. Why I felt that ? narrow steps lead us to the garbhgrah. The garbhgrah was very deep and dark. If not the recorded voices of Shloka playing continuously ,it would have been difficult to reach Shivlinga.

We sat for a long time on the platform at the back of temple. From there we could see the steps leading to Vishnu temple, it's Shikhara, the fields behind it, the forests , trees running on both the sides of Krishna river, the river itself flowing calmly and then turning , getting lost midst the trees. At a distance in front of us we could see the village belle coming with the loads of clothes on head. Few were already their washing clothes.At a distance a man was bathing his bullocks, a dog was leisurely swimming in the stream. Travelling from a distance the voices and laughter of women reached us in soft, tinkling notes. Ripples of Krishna added to the sweetness of the hour.The moment was wrapped in a blissful indolence.

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All the pictures by SUNDER IYER.

wai

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Long back once while returning from Pachagani - Mahabaleshwar , we stopped at Wai for half an hour or so that too on insistence of our cab driver. In fact it was quite late and we had to reach Pune so we wanted to proceed straight but our driver said at least we should visit the temple of Dholya Ganpati which is located near by only. At that time Sandhya Arati was being conducted. The temple was full of devotees. From that trip I could remember only the huge, colorful Ganesha idol, sitting comfortably, smiling benevolently showering happiness and alround positivity. Everything else around from river Krishna to adjacent Kashi visheswar temple were cloaked by the inky darkness.
This time we reached Wai early in the morning.The town has not yet shed it's slumber completely. Shutters of the shops were down. very few people were taking bath in the river , while some were sitting idly on the steps of ghats . Doors of temples were open. Dholya Ganpati sat there smiling as I remembered Him. In his smile I could as if read clearly, ' Look, you wanted to revisit and I called you." How calming and joyful to feel that assurance.
After our meeting with Ganpati bappa we entered Kshi Visheshwar temple.Behind the big Peepal tree in the premises, the early morning sun glistened , pouring it's ethereal golden light on the temple.Shikara...... and the rays danced tentatively in the courtyard too, Two Deep Stambh in black stone stood on the either side of a Mandap, erected behind Nandi.The unique feature of this temple is the figures etched on Shikhara of temple. This interested me a lot and arose my curiosity........whose idea and imagination it was - the sculpture or the royal authorities who built the temple, what was the thought behind creating such diverse images, a tapestry of social fabric of the time mingled with faith and beliefs.....I shall stop here and let you see yourself......

                                             All the images on Shikhara have been as if placed inside frames.

This couple -- it does not look like image of any God and Goddess. The turban style reflects traditional attire of that period perhaps.

               ..

can you spot that Buddhist monk image in the upper panel.

This bust stood like that in the middle of courtyard and on farther end is Nandi mandap

The deep stambh

.here comes our very own Lord Ganesha

.On front side Kartikeya and the other one are they Lord Shiva and Parvati

 Mahishashur Mardini

 These all are the pictures of Kashi visheshwar temple.

 There are seven ghats here on the bank of the Krishna river here in Wai and many small temples and shrines are around but the main attraction are Dholya Ganpati and Kashi visheshwar temple.

Wai falls in Satara district . It is very near to Pachgani - Mahabaleshwar.

All the pictures by Suner Iyer.