Pune by Walk - Shaniwar Wada, Nana Wada, Kasba Peth, Somwar peth

 Pooja and I decided to do a long walk along the old city of Pune - the Peth area as it is called. This was where the city of Pune began an grew from, where the Peshwas built a wada which looks like a fort and where they wanted to build a walled city. So we took an auto at 7 am and went to Shaniwar wada, the centre of the Peth area.

Shaniwar Wada - Seat of the Peshwas 

Another view

Baji Rao I

Shaniwar Wada (1732) was the fort where the Peshwas (Prime Ministers) of the Marathas  ruled from until their defeat at the Battle of Khadki in 1818. In 1829 the magnificent seven storeyed fort was burnt down due to unknown reasons (the fort was originally supposed to be built in stone but some courtiers of the Maharaj felt that the Peshwas could not build in stone - only the Maharaj could - so they built in brick and wood. Peshwa Baji Rao I was the first resident. 

Mastani Darwaza

With fountains, gardens and palace buildings the Shaniwar wada also had a separate gate called the Mastani Gate leading to the Mastani Mahal (which was later shifted to Kothrud thanks to palace intrigues). The gate that faced Delhi, the main gate, was called Delhi Darwaza and they say that this gate heralded the ambitions of the Peshwa to conquer Delhi. Other gates included Mastani Darwaza, Khidki Darwaza, Ganesh Darwaza and Narayan Darwaza (where Narayan Rao Peshwa was murdered in 1773 by his uncle Raghunath Rao.  With so much infighting it is a wonder how the Peshwas did all that they did. Apart from the walls, an impressive gate, the music room, the inside of the fort is burned down. A statue of Baji Rai Peshwa is in the front of the fort.

We stepped out and walked across the road to the left of the fort, passing the Mastani Darwaza as we went, turned off the road into a smaller lane to the Kasba Ganapathi temple. Kasba Ganapathi is considered the gramadevta and all Puneites pray here before taking up any important work.    

Kasba Ganapati Temple

A kamn with the Ashta Ganapati temples mentioned on it

A nice chowk

It is as old as 1630 when Jijabai lived there with young Shivaji, not far from the temple. It is a beautiful temple with wood work and a pavilion. People have chairs to sit which is so different from the push-push shove-shove culture of the South temples. The annual Ganesh festival processions initiated by Bal Gangadhar Tilak have Kasba Ganapathi leading the procession followed by Dagdu Sheth Ganapathi etc. 

Lal Mahal - the place where Shivaji grew up (reconstructed) 

Entry 

The reconstructed palace

We stepped out of the temple and walked to the left, hit a road and turned right. A little distance ahead we found Lal Mahal which was the place where young Shivaji lived with his mother Jijabai and grew up until he took over Torna Fort in 1645. Lal Mahal was built by his guardian Dadoji Kondadeo in 1630 AD. Shaista Khan, a Mughal Governor who took over the jagir and stayed in the palace with his men and harem, suffered when Shivaji carried out a daring guerrilla attack at night which resulted in Shaista losing four fingers. 

The Lal Mahal has since been burned down (the number of buildings that had been burned down is not funny). Today, the Lal Mahal replica is approximately in the same place where the original was supposed to have been, and is built by the PMC in 1988 for the public with life size oil paintings of Shivaji's childhood etc. And of course, for this fake building, they even have rules like no photos!

From Lal Mahal we stepped across the road to Nanawada, an 18th century mansion belonging to Nana Fadnavis a key figure in the Peshwa era who handled the Finance and Administration. 

Nana Wada - to the left the original wada and the right being a school

Nana Wada - Entrance

Interiors

The wada fell into disuse and one part was converted into a school and then someone had the sense to restore it and we could buy some tickets and go inside and check out stuff about the role of Marathas in the Freedom struggle. Stories of freedom fighters such as Umaji Naik, Vasudev Balwant Phadke, Lahuji Vastad Salve, Chapekar Bandhu and Lal, Bal and Pal are shown inside through pictures and story.

We walked down the road towards Mandai and on the way passed the Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapathi temple which was built around 1800 after the original Dagdusheth Halwai lost his son to plague. The magnificent idol is visible from the road, is very opulent, and is insured for 10 million. 

Dagdu Sheth Ganapathi temple

Front view

It has been part of the Ganpathi festival for the past 132 years. Interestingly the Laxmi Road is named after Laxmibai Dagdusheth Halwai. There is another Ganapathi in the Jagoba Dada Talim which is owned by Dagdusheth who was a wrestler.

We stopped for a bit of breakfast and found a tiny joint which served dosa and chai. Interestingly it had some pictures of the old freedom era and I asked the owner who was in the pic - and he showed me his great grandfather standing right behind Maulana Azad, Saradar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru who were sitting in the front row. Apparently his family would cater to the British soldiers those days.    

We walked further down to the Mahatma Phule Mandai which was formerly known as Lord Reay's Market which is a vegetable market in Shukrawarpeth. 

Mahatma Phule Mandai

Statue of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Inside the Mandai

A far shot - Mandai and the Metro

Built in 1886 it was named after the Governor of Bombay Residency Lord Reay. Now there is a Metro station right there - which seems to be an underground one. the Mandai has four arms along which vendors sit and sell their stuff. We looked around and bought some jambool and headed out. 

To the right of the Mandai we went to Tulsibaug Mandir where there is a famous Ram Mandir inside the Tulibaug Wada. 

Tulsibaug Ram Temple with the wood work pavilion

The Nagar Khana on top

Lovely paintings

Built during the Peshwa era in 1795 this temple is inside a bustling wada which has shops selling utensils and stuff. Once again, it had a beautiful pavilion made of wood where some satsang was going on. The temple spires were being restored so we could not see much of it. 

 From Tulsibaug we walked to Somwarpeth which was a 20 minute walk, passing by old houses. the Nageshwar temple is a 14th century Jyothirlinga built during the Yadava reign. 

Nageshwar Temple

From the back

The temple structure

The temple area is surrounded by an open area with the temple in the middle. Once again a wooden pavilion where people sit. the idol itself is below the ground and there were people praying to it. The temples wooden structure, deep sthamba, sabha mandapa are beautiful.

We headed back to the Pataleshwar temple in an auto where one well spoken auto driver told us in English that we could as well visit the Omkareshwar temple which was close by. the Pataleshwar temple is on Junglee Maharaj Road and is a 8th century rock cut temple from the Rashtrakuta period. 

Pataleshwar Rock Cut Temple

Nandi - cut out of rock

Lovely trees

The temple is made as the sculptors cut into the rock and one can see the circular Nandi mandapa in the middle. In front of it are 3 rock cut cave structures which originally were of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. The caves are known as Bhamburde caves or Pandoo caves and such. 

To get a sense. the rock was cut away to form the caves and this Nandi pavilion

The gardens in front of the cave temples are peaceful and have some beautiful trees. The Junglee Maharaj temple is right next to it.

That was a pretty long walk for the day. We pretty much did what we set out to and so we felt good enough to celebrate with lunch at Dorabjees.