TRIP BLOG
Photo: Dhruva Punde · CC BY-SA 4.0
Hazur Sahib in Nanded, Aundha Nagnath, Lonar Crater Lake, Shegaon and Narnala Fort.
This route crosses the plains of central Maharashtra. Day one is Nanded's Takht Sachkhand Hazur Sahib, one of the five Sikh takhts. Day two visits Aundha Nagnath Jyotirlinga and then Lonar, a crater lake made by a meteorite impact; walk down to the old temples along its shore. Day three goes to the Gajanan Maharaj temple at Shegaon and ends at Narnala Fort in the Satpura hills. October to February is best.
On the banks of the Godavari at Nanded, Takht Sri Hazur Sahib is one of the five Takhts of Sikhism, marking the place where Guru Gobind Singh died in 1708. The gurudwara was built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the 1830s, and relics of the Guru are kept in its inner room.
The Nagnath temple at Aundha is revered as one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva. The lower part, in richly carved Hemadpanti style, dates from the Yadava period of the 13th century, and the sanctum lies in a small chamber below ground level.
Formed by a meteorite impact tens of thousands of years ago, Lonar is one of the few craters in basalt rock on Earth. A saline, alkaline lake fills its floor, ringed by forest and old temples, and a trail leads down the crater rim to the shore.
The samadhi temple of Gajanan Maharaj, a saint who appeared in Shegaon in 1878 and died in 1910, is one of the most visited shrines in Vidarbha. The trust is known for its discipline and cleanliness, and runs the nearby Anand Sagar gardens.
On a hill in the Satpuras north of Akot, Narnala is a large fort with walls running for kilometres and a finely carved Mahakali Gate from the 15th century. It lies within the Melghat Tiger Reserve, and its tanks and ruined palaces are surrounded by forest.
Seasons from 20 years of NASA POWER climate data.
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