It was not a planned visit to this lovely village filled with history that dates back to 9th century when King Amoghavarsha ruled lands of India. Then a developed city but now a small village, lost its charm and fame to time.

Charthana (चारठाणा) was earlier also known as Charukshetra, charu meaning beautiful, a true description of the place. The city has almost 360 temples in the area but most of them fallen or buried. But the ones that can be seen now definitely makes a statement. And not just temple but other ancient structure also mark their presence and catch attention of visitors to the village.

Even being a remote village of Maharashtra, efforts are being taken by history lovers and Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Maharashtra to preserve what is left for the future generations.  There are six different sites that are protected under archaeology department and many more are preserved.


Jain temple in the village was on top in our list. A temple with torn out façade and small entrance was what we could see at first glance. At the centre group of idols can be seen which are worshiped in daily practice and then on the internal periphery some ancient statues can be seen. Some of these statues dates back to 1200 years. Namely statues of Lord Aadinath, Lord Parshwanath and Lord Neminath can be seen along with some other idols. After taking a bow at the temple discussion soon kicked off with locals and they equipped us with the rich history of locality and informed us about leaning or swinging tower near to temple. We moved our parade to the site.

gadhi
Beautiful facade of Old Mansions

On the way we could see multiple palaces and old crafted lanes. Beautifully designed galleries and elegantly decorated arches. Diwali festival was just over and decorations simulated how magnificent sight it would have been in the past.

After negotiating by lanes of the village, we reached Vijay Stambha, a dreadful sight was lying in front of our eyes. Filth was making its presence felt all over the area, shrubs grown in chaotic manner and pigs were taking mud bath …… a very sad and depressing scene, but Vijay stambha was still standing tall amongst all this ordeal. Soon locals joined us and informed that cleaning and restoration of the place is underway and changes will be seen soon, some good thing to hear in all this bad conditions 🙂

vijay-stambh
Vijay Stambha or Jhulata Manora (As called by locals meaning Leaning Tower)

Among the locals was a person namely Mr. Santosh Dukandar, a caretaker or keeper of the village appointed by archaeology department. He is fighting against all odds and against all negativity in the village and protecting remains of monuments in the village. Lack of funds and lack of manpower is big issue here. Even it is difficult for Mr Santosh to make his ends meet sometimes he is doing expenses from his pocket to spray pesticides and insecticides on the pests that grow up in the area.

He informed us that there are 6 prominent archaeological sites namely Jod Mahadev (जोड महादेव), Renuka Devi (रेणुका देवी), Gokuleshwar (गोकुळेश्वर), Ukandeshwar (उकंडेश्वर), Narasi Teerth (नरसी तीर्थ) and Vijay Stambh (विजय स्तंभ) out of which we have been to Vijay Stambha and played a glance at Renuka Mandir on the way to Vijay Stambh. Santosh also informed us that Narasi Teerth is outside village boundaries and Jod Mahadev shares the same temple complex as of Renuka Devi.

He offered us a detailed tour of all the places. The first place on the tour was Ukandeshwar temple which is in the same by lane of Vijay Stambh. This temple is dedicated to lord Shiva and one of the most prominent sculpture here is of “Sapta – Matruka”, 7 different Goddesses are depicted with 7 different vahana, a transportation medium used by Gods.

ukandeshwar
Ukandeshwar
sapta-matruka
Sapta – Matruka

Small path from the Ukandeshwar temple took us to main road and we were again at the junction which lead us to Renuka Devi temple, an old Hemdripanthi (Hemadpanthi as it is commonly called) structure catches eye of a visitor and one cannot miss it once we step in the village. It is said that peak of temple is made from light weight bricks that float on water… amazing isn’t it? All the temples are of the same structure style and can be dated back to 9th or 10th century. Inside Renuka devi temple one can see some amazing carvings of stone and statues. Santosh then guided us to Jod Mahadev temple, the name is so because there are two linga of Shiva in one temple. A gomukh is also seen in one of the inner sanctum of main linga.

renuka-devi
Renuka Devi Temple
jod-mahadev
Entrance of Jod Mahadev Temple
gomukh
“Gomukh” inside Jod Mahadev Temple

We were running short of time and were sad that we could not spend much time at this temple. Adding one more stop to itinerary Santosh advised to visit Golukeshwar temple. A small walk resulted in big surprise, this was the best temple out of all we had seen till now and comparatively maintained best out of the set and the best part was not the cleanliness but was the Pushkarani behind the temple. A huge water body with clean water made our last stop refreshing. This year’s monsoon had abundantly poured water into the Pushkarani.

gokuleshwar
Gokuleshwar
stone-work
Beautiful Stonework on pillars of temple
pushkarni
“Pushkarani”

My phone started to buzz and it was call from home. We had to wind up our “Temple Run”, making promise to myself that many more visits will happen again to this pretty village to unfold its untold history.

Virag

Date: 03-Nov-2016

Place: Charthana

Corodinates: N19.626245, E76.540328

Route: Pune – Aurangabad – Jalana – Mantha – Charthana

Distance: 380km

Travel Mode: Car

https://madhyalok.wordpress.com/2016/12/20/charthana-city-of-360-temples/